The Host

I swallowed loudly.

Kyle reached across me to lay his hand on her cheek.

“She’s a good kid, Wanda. Can’t we send her someplace really nice?”

“That’s what I wanted to ask her about. Where have you lived, Su

I was vaguely aware of the subdued voices of the others, greeting Trudy’s arrival. We had our backs to them. I wanted to see what was going on, but I was also glad not to have the distraction. I tried to concentrate on the crying soul.

“Just here and with the Bears. I was there five life terms. But I like it better here. I haven’t had even a quarter of a life term here!”

“I know. Believe me, I understand. Is there anywhere else, though, that you’ve ever wanted to go? The Flowers, maybe? It’s nice there; I’ve been.”

“I don’t want to be a plant,” she mumbled into my shoulder.

“The Spiders…” I began, but then let my voice trail off. The Spiders were not the right place for Su

“I’m tired of cold. And I like colors.”

“I know.” I sighed. “I haven’t been a Dolphin, but I hear it’s nice there. Color, mobility, family…”

“They’re all so far away. By the time I got anywhere, Kyle would be… He’d be…” She hiccuped and then started crying again.

“Don’t you have any other choices?” Kyle asked anxiously. “Aren’t there a lot more places out there?”

I could hear Trudy talking to the Healer’s host, but I tuned out the words. Let the humans take care of their own for the moment.

“Not that the off-world ships are going to,” I told him, shaking my head. “There are lots of worlds, but only a few, mostly the newer ones, are still open for settling. And I’m sorry, Su

“I don’t even know the way,” she sobbed. My shoulder was drenched with her tears. “He covered my eyes.”

Kyle looked at me as if I could produce some kind of miracle to make this all work out perfectly. Like the medicine I’d provided, some kind of magic. But I knew that I was out of magic, out of happy endings-for the soul half of the equation, at least.

I stared back hopelessly at Kyle. “It’s just the Bears, the Flowers, and the Dolphins,” I told him. “I won’t send her to the Fire Planet.”

The small woman shuddered at the name.

“Don’t worry, Su

She sobbed harder.

I sighed and moved on.

“Su

Kyle stiffened beside me.

“What about her?” Su

“Is she… is she in there with you? Can you hear her?”

Su

“Does she ever talk to you? Are you ever aware of her thoughts?”

“My… body’s? Her thoughts? She doesn’t have any. I’m here now.”

I nodded slowly.

“Is that bad?” Kyle whispered.

“I don’t know enough about it to tell. It’s probably not good, though.”

Kyle’s eyes tightened.

“How long have you been here, Su

She frowned, thinking. “How long is it, Kyle? Five years? Six? You disappeared before I came home.”

“Six,” he said.

“And how old are you?” I asked her.

“I’m twenty-seven.”

That surprised me-she was such a little thing, so young looking. I couldn’t believe she was six years older than Melanie.

“Why does that matter?” Kyle asked.

“I’m not sure. It just seems like the more time someone spent as a human before they became a soul, the better chance they might have at… making a recovery. The greater the percentage of their life they spent human, the more memories they have, the more co

“Is twenty-one years enough?” he asked, his voice desperate.

“I guess we’ll find out.”

“It’s not fair!” Su

I had to swallow hard. “That wouldn’t be fair, would it? But I don’t get to stay, Su

And then, flat and hard from right behind us, Ian’s voice broke the quiet like the crack of a whip.

“What?”

CHAPTER 56.Welded

Ian glared down at the three of us with such fury that Su

“Ian?” Kyle asked, bewildered. “What’s the problem?”

Ian spoke from between his locked teeth. “Wanda,” he growled, and held his hand out. It looked as if he was having a hard time keeping that hand open, not clenching it into a fist.

Uh-oh, Mel thought.

Misery swept through me. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Ian, and now I would have to. Of course I had to. I would be wrong to sneak out in the night like a thief and leave all my goodbyes to Melanie.

Ian, tired of waiting, grabbed my arm and hauled me up from the floor. When Su

“What is with you?” Kyle demanded.

Ian hauled his knee back and smashed his foot hard into Kyle’s face.

“Ian!” I protested.

Su

“C’mon,” Ian snarled, dragging me away from them without a backward glance.

“Ian -”

He wrenched me roughly along, making it impossible for me to speak. That was fine. I had no idea what to say.

I saw everyone’s startled face flash by in a blur. I was worried he was going to upset the u

And then we jerked to a stop. Jared was blocking the exit.

“Have you lost your mind, Ian?” he asked, shocked and outraged. “What are you doing to her?”

“Did you know about this?” Ian shouted back, shoving me toward Jared and shaking me at him. Behind us, a whimper. He was scaring them.

“You’re going to hurt her!”

“Do you know what she’s pla

Jared stared at Ian, his face suddenly closed off. He didn’t answer.

That was answer enough for Ian.

Ian’s fist struck Jared so fast that I missed the blow-I just felt the lurch in his body and saw Jared reel back into the dark hall.

“Ian, stop,” I begged.

“You stop,” he growled back at me.

He yanked me through the arch into the tu

“O’Shea!” Jared shouted after us.

“I’m going to hurt her?” Ian roared back over his shoulder, not breaking pace. “I am? You hypocritical swine!”

There was nothing but silence and blackness behind us now. I stumbled in the dark, trying to keep up.

It was then that I began to feel the throbbing from Ian’s grip. His hand was tight as a tourniquet around my upper arm, his long fingers making the circle easily and then overlapping. My hand was going numb.

He jerked me along faster, and my breath caught in a moan, almost a cry of pain.

The sound made Ian stumble to a stop. His breathing was hoarse in the darkness.

“Ian, Ian, I…” I choked, unable to finish. I didn’t know what to say, picturing his furious face.

His arms caught me up abruptly, yanking my feet out from under me and then catching my shoulders before I could fall. He started ru