The Host (The Host 1)

"Jared promised," Jamie muttered to him.

"Yeah, but Kyle didn't," Ian answered.

They walked back out into the light. I followed slowly behind them, not sure what I was feeling.

Ian noticed for the first time what I carried. "No dishes now," he told me. "Let's give them a chance to clean up and move on. "

I thought about asking him why he was dirty, but probably, like Jamie, he would refuse to answer. I turned to stare at the tunnel that led toward the rivers, speculating.

Ian made an angry sound.

I looked back at him, frightened, and then realized what had upset him-he'd only just seen my face.

He raised his hand as if to lift my chin, but I flinched and he dropped it.

"That makes me so sick," he said, and his voice truly did sound as if he were nauseated. "And worse, knowing that if I hadn't stayed behind, I might have been the one to do it. . . "

I shook my head at him. "It's nothing, Ian. "

"I don't agree with that," he muttered, and then he spoke to Jamie. "You probably ought to get to school. It's better that we get everything back to normal as soon as possible. "

Jamie groaned. "Sharon will be a nightmare today. "

Ian grinned. "Time to take one for the team, kid. I don't envy you. "

Jamie sighed and kicked the dirt. "Keep an eye on Wanda. "

"Will do. "

Jamie shuffled away, casting glances back at us every few minutes until he disappeared into another tunnel.

"Here, give me those," Ian said, pulling the bin of dishes from me before I could respond.

"They weren't too heavy for me," I told him.

He grinned again. "I feel silly standing here with my arms empty while you lug these around. Chalk it up to gallantry. C'mon-let's go relax somewhere out of the way until the coast is clear. "

His words troubled me, and I followed him in silence. Why should gallantry apply to me?

He walked all the way to the cornfield, and then into the cornfield, stepping in the low part of the furrow, between the stalks. I trailed behind him until he stopped, somewhere in the middle of the field, set the dishes aside, and sprawled out on the dirt.

"Well, this is out of the way," I said as I settled to the ground beside him, crossing my legs. "But shouldn't we be working?"

"You work too hard, Wanda. You're the only one who never takes a day off. "

"It gives me something to do," I mumbled.

"Everyone is taking a break today, so you might as well. "

I looked at him curiously. The light from the mirrors threw double shadows through the cornstalks that crisscrossed over him like zebra stripes. Under the lines and the dirt, his pale face was weary.

"You look like you've been working. "

His eyes tightened. "But I'm resting now. "

"Jamie won't tell me what's going on," I murmured.

"No. And neither will I. " He sighed. "It's nothing you want to know anyway. "

I stared at the ground, at the dark purple and brown dirt, as my stomach twisted and rolled. I could think of nothing worse than not knowing, but maybe I was just lacking in imagination.

"It's not really fair," Ian said after a silent moment, "seeing as I won't answer your question, but do you mind if I ask you one?"

I welcomed the distraction. "Go ahead. "

He didn't speak at once, so I looked up to find the reason for his hesitation. He was staring down now, looking at the dirt streaked across the backs of his hands.

"I know you're not a liar. I know that now," he said quietly. "I'll believe you, whatever your answer is. "

I waited again while he continued to stare at the dirt on hi

s skin.

"I didn't buy Jeb's story before, but he and Doc are pretty convinced. . . Wanda?" he asked, looking up at me. "Is she still in there with you? The girl whose body you wear?"

This was not just my secret anymore-both Jamie and Jeb knew the truth. Neither was it the secret that really mattered. At any rate, I trusted Ian not to go blabbing to anyone who would kill me over it. "Yes," I told him. "Melanie is still here. "

He nodded slowly. "What is it like? For you? For her?"

"It's. . . frustrating, for us both. At first I would have given anything to have her disappear the way she should have. But now I. . . I've gotten used to her. " I smiled wryly. "Sometimes it's nice to have the company. It's harder for her. She's like a prisoner in many ways. Locked away in my head. She prefers that captivity to disappearing, though. "

"I didn't know there was a choice. "

"There wasn't in the beginning. It wasn't until your kind discovered what was happening that any resistance started. That seems to be the key-knowing what's going to happen. The humans who were taken by surprise didn't fight back. "

"So if I were caught?"

I appraised his fierce expression-the fire in his brilliant eyes.

"I doubt you would disappear. Things have changed, though. When they catch full-grown humans now, they don't offer them as hosts. Too many problems. " I half smiled again. "Problems like me. Going soft, getting sympathetic to my host, losing my way. . . "

He thought about that for a long time, sometimes looking at my face, sometimes at the cornstalks, sometimes at nothing at all.

"What would they do with me, then, if they caught me now?" he finally asked.

"They'd still do an insertion, I think. Trying to get information. Probably they'd put a Seeker in you. "

He shuddered.

"But they wouldn't keep you as a host. Whether they found the information or not, you would be. . . discarded. " The word was hard to say. The idea sickened me. Odd-it was usually the human things that made me sick. But I'd never looked at the situation from the body's perspective before; no other planet had forced me to. A body that didn't function right was quickly and painlessly disposed of because it was as useless as a car that could not run. What was the point of keeping it around? There were conditions of the mind, too, that made a body unusable: dangerous mental addictions, malevolent yearnings, things that could not be healed and made the body unsafe to others. Or, of course, a mind with a will too strong to be erased. An anomaly localized on this planet.

I had never seen the ugliness of treating an unconquerable spirit as a defect as clearly as I did now, looking into Ian's eyes.

"And if they caught you?" he asked.

"If they realized who I was. . . if anyone is still looking for me. . . " I thought of my Seeker and shuddered as he had. "They would take me out and put me in another host. Someone young, tractable. They would hope that I would be able to be myself again. Maybe they would ship me off-planet-get me away from the bad influences. "

"Would you be yourself again?"

I met his gaze. "I am myself. I haven't lost myself to Melanie. I would feel the same as I do now, even as a Bear or a Flower. "

"They wouldn't discard you?"

"Not a soul. We have no capital punishment for our kind. Or any punishment, really. Whatever they did, it would be to save me. I used to think there was no need for any other way, but now I have myself as proof against that theory. It would probably be right to discard me. I'm a traitor, aren't I?"

Ian pursed his lips. "More of an expatriate, I'd say. You haven't turned on them; you've just left their society. "

We were quiet again. I wanted to believe what he said was true. I considered the word expatriate, trying to convince myself that I was nothing worse.

Ian exhaled loudly enough to make me jump. "When Doc sobers up, we'll get him to take a look at your face. " He reached over and put his hand under my chin; this time I didn't flinch. He turned my head to the side so he could examine the wound.

"It's not important. I'm sure it looks worse than it is. "

"I hope so-it looks awful. " He sighed and then stretched. "I suppose we've hidden long enough that Kyle's clean and unconscious. Want some help with the dishes?"

Ian wouldn't let me wash the dishes in the stream the way I usually did. He insisted that we go into the black bathing room, where I would be invisible. I scrubbed dishes in the shallow end of the dark pool, while he cleaned off the filth left behind by his mystery labors. Then he helped me with the last of the dirty bowls.

When we were done, he escorted me back to the kitchen, which was starting to fill up with the lunch crowd. More perishables were on the menu: soft white bread slices, slabs of sharp cheddar cheese, circles of lush pink bologna. People were scarfing down the delicacies with abandon, though the despair was still perceptible in the slump of their shoulders, in the absence of smiles or laughter.

Jamie was waiting for me at our usual counter. Two double stacks of sandwiches sat in front of him, but he wasn't eating. His arms were folded as he waited for me. Ian eyed his expression curiously but left to get his own food without asking.

I rolled my eyes at Jamie's stubbornness and took a bite. Jamie dug in as soon as I was chewing. Ian was back quickly, and we all ate in silence. The food tasted so good it was hard to imagine a reason for conversation-or anything else that would empty our mouths.

I stopped at two, but Jamie and Ian ate until they were groaning in pain. Ian looked as though he was about to collapse. His eyes struggled to stay open.

"Get back to school, kid," he said to Jamie.

Jamie appraised him. "Maybe I should take over. . . "

"Go to school," I told him quickly. I wanted Jamie a safe distance from me today.

"I'll see you later, okay? Don't worry about. . . about anything. "

"Sure. " A one-word lie wasn't quite so obvious. Or maybe I was just being sarcastic again.

Once Jamie was gone, I turned on the somnolent Ian. "Go get some rest. I'll be fine-I'll stay someplace inconspicuous. Middle of a cornfield or something. "

"Where did you sleep last night?" he asked, his eyes surprisingly sharp under his half-closed lids.

"Why?"

"I can sleep there now, and you can be inconspicuous beside me. "

We were just murmuring, barely over a whisper now. No one paid us any attention.

"You can't watch me every second. "

"Wanna bet?"

I shrugged, giving up. "I was back at the. . . the hole. Where I was kept in the beginning. "

Ian frowned; he didn't like that. But he got up and led the way back to the storage corridor. The main plaza was busy again now, full of people moving around the garden, all of them grave, their eyes on their feet.

When we were alone in the black tunnel, I tried to reason with him again.

"Ian, what's the point of this? Won't it hurt Jamie more, the longer I'm alive? In the end, wouldn't it be better for him if -"

"Don't think like that, Wanda. We're not animals. Your death is not an inevitability. "

"I don't think you're an animal," I said quietly.

"Thanks. I didn't say that as an accusation, though. I wouldn't blame you if you did. "

That was the end of our conversation; that was the moment we both saw the pale blue light reflecting dimly from around the next turn in the tunnel.

"Shh," Ian breathed. "Wait here. "

He pressed my shoulder down gently, trying to stick me where I stood. Then he strode forward, making no attempt to hide the sound of his footsteps. He disappeared around the corner.

"Jared?" I heard him say, feigning surprise.

My heart felt heavy in my chest; the sensation was more pain than fear.

"I know it's with you," Jared answered. He raised his voice, so that anyone between here and the main plaza would hear. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he called, his vo

ice hard and mocking.