The Host (The Host #1)(133)

“I see your point. I’ll speak to them.”

“You think that will be enough?” Ian asked.

“I’ve saved both their lives. They owe me. If I ask them for something, they’ll do it.”

“You’d bet her life on that?”

There was a pause.

“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Jared finally said.

Another long silence.

“Aren’t you going to go eat?” Jared asked.

“I think I’ll hang out here for a bit.… How about you?”

Jared didn’t answer.

“What?” Ian asked. “Is there something you want to say to me, Jared?”

“The girl in there…” Jared said slowly.

“Yes?”

“That body doesn’t belong to her.”

“Your point?”

Jared’s voice was hard when he answered. “Keep your hands off it.”

A low chuckle from Ian. “Jealous, Howe?”

“That’s not really the issue.”

“Really.” Ian was sarcastic now.

“Wanda seems to be, more or less, cooperating with Melanie. It sounds like they’re almost… on friendly terms. But obviously Wanda’s making the decisions. What if it were you? How would you feel if you were Melanie? What if you were the one… invaded that way? What if you were trapped, and someone else was telling your body what to do? If you couldn’t speak for yourself? Wouldn’t you want your wishes—as much as they could be known—respected? At the very least by other humans?”

“Okay, okay. Point taken. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“What do you mean, you’ll keep that in mind?” Jared demanded.

“I mean that I’ll think about it.”

“There’s nothing to think about,” Jared retorted. I knew how he would look from the sound of his voice—teeth clenched, jaw strained. “The body and the person locked inside it belong to me.”

“You’re sure that Melanie still feels the —”

“Melanie will always be mine. And I will always be hers.”

Always.

Melanie and I were suddenly at opposite ends of the spectrum. She was flying, elated. I was… not.

We waited anxiously through the next silence.

“But what if it were you?” Ian asked in little more than a whisper. “What if you were stuffed in a human body and let loose on this planet, only to find yourself lost among your own kind? What if you were such a good… person that you tried to save the life you’d taken, that you almost died trying to get her back to her family? What if you then found yourself surrounded by violent aliens who hated you and hurt you and tried to murder you, over and over again?” His voice faltered momentarily. “What if you just kept doing whatever you could to save and heal these people despite that? Wouldn’t you deserve a life, too? Wouldn’t you have earned that much?”

Jared didn’t answer. I felt my eyes getting moist. Did Ian really think so highly of me? Did he really think I’d earned the right to a life here?

“Point taken?” Ian pressed.

“I—I’ll have to think about that one.”

“Do that.”

“But still —”

Ian interrupted him with a sigh. “Don’t get worked up. Wanda isn’t exactly human, despite the body. She doesn’t seem to respond to… physical contact the same way a human would.”

Now Jared laughed. “Is that your theory?”

“What’s funny?”

“She is quite capable of responding to physical contact,” Jared informed him, his tone suddenly sober again. “She’s human enough for that. Or her body is, anyway.”

My face went hot.

Ian was silent.

“Jealous, O’Shea?”

“Actually… I am. Surprisingly so.” Ian’s voice was strained. “How would you know that?”

Now Jared hesitated. “It was… sort of an experiment.”

“An experiment?”

“It didn’t go the way I thought it would. Mel punched me.” I could hear that he was grinning at the memory, and I could see, in my head, the little lines fanning out around his eyes.

“Melanie… punched… you?”

“It sure wasn’t Wanda. You should have seen her face.… What? Hey, Ian, easy, man!”

“Did you think for one moment what that must have done to her?” Ian hissed.

“Mel?”

“No, you fool, Wanda!”

“Done to Wanda?” Jared asked, sounding bewildered by the idea.

“Oh, get out of here. Go eat something. Stay away from me for a few hours.”

Ian didn’t give him a chance to answer. He yanked the door out of his way—roughly but very quietly—and then slid into his room and put the door back in its place.

He turned and met my gaze. From his expression, he was surprised to find me awake. Surprised and chagrined. The fire in his eyes blazed and then slowly dimmed. He pursed his lips.

He cocked his head to one side, listening. I listened, too, but Jared’s retreat made no sound. Ian waited for another moment, then sighed and plunked down on the edge of his mattress, across from me.