Stephenie Meyer - The Host

“I think it’s time I called the camping trip quits. I need to clean up,” I murmured.

“Do you camp often?”

“In all my free time, lately. I… can’t seem to keep away from the desert.”

“You must be brave. I find the city much more comfortable.”

“Not brave-just different.”

In the mirror, my eyes were familiar rings of hazel. Dark gray on the outside, a circle of moss green, and then another circle of caramel brown around the pupil. Underlying it all, a faint shimmer of silver that would reflect the light, magnify it.

Jamie? Mel asked urgently, beginning to feel nervous. I was too comfortable here. She could see the logic of the other path laid out before me, and that frightened her.

I know who I am, I told her.

I blinked, then looked back at the friendly faces beside me.

“Thank you,” I said again to the Healer. “I suppose I’d better be on my way.”

“It’s very late. You could sleep here if you’d like.”

“I’m not tired. I feel… perfect.”

The Healer grinned. “No Pain does that.”

Cerulean walked me to the reception area. She put her hand on my shoulder as I stepped through the door.

My heart beat faster. Had she noticed that my pack, once flat, was now bulging?

“Be more careful, dear,” she said, and patted my arm.

“I will. No more hikes in the dark.”

She smiled and went back to her desk.

I kept my pace even as I walked through the parking lot. I wanted to run. What if the Healer looked in her cabinets? How soon would she realize why they were half empty?

The car was still there, in the pocket of darkness created by a gap between streetlights. It looked empty. My breath came fast and uneven. Of course it should look empty. That was the whole point. But my lungs didn’t calm until I could glimpse the vague shape under the blanket on the backseat.

I opened the door and put the backpack on the passenger seat-it settled there with a reassuring clatter-then I climbed in and shut the door. There was no reason to slam the locks down; I ignored the urge.

“Are you okay?” Jared whispered as soon as the door was closed. His voice was a strained, anxious rasp.

“Shh,” I said, keeping my lips as still as I could. “Wait.”

I drove past the bright entrance and answered Cerulean’s wave with one of my own.

“Making friends?”

We were on the dark road. No one was watching me anymore. I slumped in the seat. My hands started to shake. I could allow that, now that it was over. Now that I’d succeeded.

“All souls are friends,” I told him, using my normal volume.

“Are you all right?” he demanded again.

“I’m healed.”

“Let me see.”

I stretched my left arm across my body, so he could see the tiny pink line.

He sucked in a surprised breath.

The blanket rustled; he sat up and then climbed through the space between the seats. He pushed the backpack out of the way, then pulled it onto his lap, testing its weight.

He looked up at me as we passed under a streetlamp, and he gasped.

“Your face!”

“It’s healed, too. Naturally.”

He raised one hand, holding it in the air near my cheek, unsure. “Does it hurt?”

“Of course not. It feels like nothing happened to it in the first place.”

His fingers brushed the new skin. It tingled, but that was from his touch. Then he was back to business.

“Did they suspect anything? Do you think they’ll call the Seekers?”

“No. I told you they wouldn’t be suspicious. They didn’t even check my eyes. I was hurt, so they healed me.” I shrugged.

“What did you get?” he asked, opening the drawstrings on the backpack.

“The right things for Jamie… if we get back in time…” I glanced at the clock on the dashboard automatically, though the hours it marked were meaningless. “And more for the future. I only took what I understood.”

“We’ll be back in time,” he promised. He examined the white containers. “Smooth?”

“Not a necessity. But I know what it does, so…”

He nodded, digging through the bag. He muttered the names to himself. “No Pain? Does it work?”

I laughed. “It’s amazing. If you stab yourself, I could show you… That’s a joke.”

“I know.”

He was staring at me with an expression I didn’t understand. His eyes were wide, like something had deeply surprised him.

“What?” My joke hadn’t been that bad.

“You did it.” His tone was full of wonder.

“Wasn’t that the idea?”

“Yes, but… I guess I didn’t really think we were going to make it out.”

“You didn’t? Then why…? Why did you let me try?”

He answered in a soft almost-whisper. “I figured it was better to die trying than to live without the kid.”

For a moment, my throat was choked with emotion. Mel was too overcome to speak as well. We were a family in that one instant. All of us.

I cleared my throat. No need to feel things that would only come to nothing.

“It was very easy. Probably any of you could get away with it, if you acted naturally. She did look at my neck.” I touched it reflexively. “Your scar is too obviously homemade, but with the medicines I took, Doc could fix that.”

“I doubt any of us could act so natural.”

I nodded. “Yes. It’s easy for me. I know what they expect.” I laughed briefly to myself. “I’m one of them. If you trusted me, I could probably get you anything in the world you wanted.” I laughed again. It was just the stress fading, making me giddy. But it was funny to me. Did he realize that I would do exactly that for him? Anything in the world he wanted.

“I do trust you,” he whispered. “With all our lives, I trust you.”

And he had trusted me with every single human life. His, and Jamie’s, and everyone else’s.

“Thank you,” I whispered back.

“You did it,” he repeated in wonder.

“We’re going to save him.”

Jamie is going to live, Mel rejoiced. Thank you, Wanda.

Anything for them, I told her, and then I sighed, because it was so true.

After reattaching the tarps when we reached the wash, Jared took over the driving. The way was familiar to him, and he drove faster than I would have. He had me get out before he pulled the car into its impossibly small hiding place under the rock slide. I waited for the sound of rock against metal, but Jared found a way in.

And then we were back in the jeep and flying through the night. Jared laughed, triumphant, as we jolted across the open desert, and the wind carried his voice away.

“Where’s the blindfold?” I asked.

“Why?”

I looked at him.

“Wanda, if you wanted to turn us in, you had your chance. No one can deny that you’re one of us now.”

I thought about that. “I think some still could. It would make them feel better.”

“Your some need to get over themselves.”

I was shaking my head now, picturing our reception. “It’s not going to be easy, getting back in. Imagine what they’re thinking right now. What they’re waiting for…”

He didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed.

“Jared… if they… if they don’t listen… if they don’t wait…” I started talking faster, feeling a sudden pressure, trying to get him all the information before it was too late. “Give Jamie the No Pain first-lay that on his tongue. Then the Inside Clean spray-he just has to inhale it. You’ll need Doc to -”

“Hey, hey! You’re going to be the one giving the directions.”

“But let me tell you how -”

“No, Wanda. It’s not going to go down that way. I’ll shoot anyone who touches you.”