The Host (The Host, #1)

by Stephenie Meyer

Even Lucina put up only a token resistance when her children began following me like two adoring puppies. Freedom, in particular, crawled onto my lap at every opportunity, burrowing his face in my hair.

My body was not the only change. The monsoons came late to the desert, and I was glad. For one thing, I’d never smelled the rain on the creosotes before — I could only vaguely remember it from my memories of Melanie’s memories, a very dim trail of recall indeed — and now the scent washed out the musty caves, left them smelling fresh and almost spicy.

The clouds were exciting, a change from the bland, featureless pale blue. They had depth and movement. They made pictures in the sky.

But sometimes I would catch myself staring at Jared and feel confused. I’d seen Melanie touch Ian’s arm or hand and then jerk away as if she’d suddenly remembered who she was. Even Jared, who had the least reason for uncertainty, would occasionally meet my confused gaze with a searching one of his own. And Ian . . . Of course it must have been hardest for him. I understood that.

Foursome foursome

“Oh, hey, Ian,” he added without turning. “I talked to Brandt and Aaron, and I think I’m going to move in with them. Well, I’m beat. Night, guys.” I stared at Jamie’s unmoving form for a long moment. Ian was just as motionless. He couldn’t have been having a panic attack, too, though. Was he thinking of some way to extricate himself from the situation?

Melanie wasn’t much given to giggling, but Pet had been, and her body betrayed me at this most inopportune moment. “What?” he demanded. “I was giving you time to sort things out,” I explained in a whisper. “I didn’t want to rush you — because I know it’s confusing. With Melanie.” He jumped just a little in surprise. “You thought . . . ? But Melanie isn’t you. I was never confused.” I was smiling in the dark now. “And Jared isn’t you.” His voice was tighter when he answered. “But he’s still Jared. And you love him.”

I was thrilled to remember that I’d been smart enough to lie about my age.

It was good to be needed. Supplies had been dwindling; this would be a long, thorough trip. Jared was leading the raid, as usual, so it went without saying that Melanie was included. Aaron and Brandt volunteered, not that we really needed the muscle; they were tired of being cooped up.

We froze when the thin beams of light shot out of the darkness into Jared’s and Melanie’s faces. My face, my eyes, the ones that might have helped us, stayed obscured, hidden in the shadow made by Ian’s wide back.

“Look at your faces! What? Did you think you all were the only ones still kickin’?” He laughed again. None of us had moved an inch. “Think they’re in shock, Nate,” another man said. “We scared them half to death,” a woman said. “What do you expect?” They waited, shuffling from foot to foot, while we stood frozen.

And, of course, everyone needs Burns now and then —” He stopped talking abruptly, glancing uneasily around him, as if he’d said something he shouldn’t have. His eyes rested briefly on the tall redhead in the back, who was still staring at me. “Might as well get that out of the way,” the small dark man at Nate’s elbow said. Nate shot a suspicious glance across our little line.

“This here is Burns. Now, he’s with us, so don’t go crazy. He’s my best friend — saved my life a hundred times. He’s one of our family, and we don’t take kindly to it when people try to kill him.” One of the women slowly pulled her gun out and held it pointed at the ground.

“It’s . . . extraordinary to meet you, Wanderer. And here I thought I was one of a kind.” “Not even close,” I said, thinking of Sunny back in the caves. Perhaps we were none of us as rare as we thought. He raised an eyebrow at my answer, intrigued. “Is that so?” he said. “Well, maybe there’s some hope for this planet, after all.” “It’s a strange world,” I murmured, more to myself than to the other native soul. “The strangest,” he agreed.

I wouldn’t be sane without the support of my friends and family, particularly my patient hubby, Pancho, and my adorable boys, Gabe, Seth, and Eli; my dad and mom, Steve and Candy, and my brother Jacob, who have been invaluable pinch hitters with my sometimes crazy schedule; and my amazing brother and webmaster, Seth.

Finally, thanks to my favorite people in the world: the people who read my books. You rock.

Chronology-wise, this scene falls in between chapters 58 and 59 of The Host. I hope you’ll enjoy this new perspective of the story, as Melanie awakes. —S.M.

This is the knife that Wanda gouged into our arm to save Jamie. This is the knife that Jared carries on him only when he leaves the caves. This is a knife that has no business here in Doc’s hospital. The mutilated souls in my memory, in Wanda’s memory, fill my head, and I gasp in shock as strong as hers was then, maybe stronger. What had happened to those stranger souls was not entirely surprising, unless you were as innocent as Wanda had been.

“I love her, too,” he says. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to her while you were out. No matter what crazy plan she’d set in motion.” And it’s just like the moment when Jared snuck into Jamie’s black sickroom and chloroformed Doc, and Wanda and I knew that he understood, that he believed, that he was who we needed him to be.

There is another reason I don’t want to think about Ian. I remember kissing him, just a few minutes ago, probably, and I remember it feeling right. Part of me misses him already. Part of me wants him here.

My arms ache to reach out to him. To exercise some physical expression of comfort. I half lift them and drop them again. My hands twitch toward him, and I ball them into fists. He is moving in almost the same way. He leans toward me just a little, then recoils subtly. He does this three times as we face each other.

“Do you think she really does love me, or was she just responding to the fact that I love her? Wanting to make me happy?” He understands her. He knows her better than anyone but me. I hesitate. “I’m only asking because I don’t want to be a . . . a burden when she wakes up.” He waits a moment for my response, and when I don’t say anything, he continues.

I’ve made many times, and one of the ways I keep from going insane is by telling myself stories. I have no idea what sparked the strange foundation of a body-snatching alien in love with the host body’s boyfriend over the host body’s protest. I was halfway into the story before I realized it. Once I got started, though, the story immediately demanded my attention.

Reading The Host doesn’t feel like reading science fiction; the world is familiar, the body you as the narrator are moving around inside is familiar, the emotions on the faces of the people around you are familiar. It’s very much set in this world, with just a few key differences. If it weren’t for the fact that alien stories are by definition science fiction, I wouldn’t classify it in that genre.

There were several characters who caught me off guard with The Host. One in particular was slated for a bit part as the wingman to the villain. Somehow, he knew he was more than that, and I couldn’t stop him from morphing into a main love interest.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

How does the poem “Question” by May Swenson, which appears as the epigraph at the beginning of the novel, relate to some of the important themes in The Host?

The souls are described as bright silver ribbonlike creatures with hundreds of tiny tentacles. To some they seem beautiful, while others liken them to “worms” and “centipedes.” Do you think the souls’ physical form suits their nature? If you wer...

There is an ongoing debate in The Host about the true nature of humans. Wanderer reflects, “The humans were brutish and ungovernable. They had killed one another so frequently that murder had been an accepted part of life” (page 47). Do you think this brutality is innate to mankind? If so, doe...

While most of The Host is narrated by Wanderer, Melanie occasionally takes over the narration to relate important memories. Why might Stephenie Meyer have chosen to tell the story in this way?...

The souls believe they are transforming the vicious human world into a utopia. Is the society the souls construct better than the natural society of humans? Melanie tells Wanderer that humans realized the souls were taking over bodies “when the evening news was nothing but inspiring human-interest stories . . . when everything morphed into Mayberry” (page...

The souls are morally complicated creatures. On one hand, they are “all things good: compassionate, patient, honest, virtuous, and full of love” (page 3). On the other, they survive by taking over the bodies and minds of unsuspecting hosts. Does the parasitic nature of the souls overshadow their virtuous qualities? Did...

What is the significance of “home” in The Host? Why has Wanderer chosen to move from world to world for so many millennia? Can earth ever really be home for a soul?

Are these extremes inevitable? Are our darker inclinations essential to the richness of human experience? Do you agree with the premise that more purely “good” beings like the souls can’t experience life as fully as humans can?

The humans in the caves are divided about how to view and treat Wanderer. Do you think it is more reasonable to extend kindness to Wanderer or to ostracize her as a potential threat to the group? If you lived in the caves, how would you greet her arrival?

Jared reacts to Wanderer in a manner that is perhaps the most complex. Does the way he treats her surprise you? What do you imagine is going through his head in the first days after Wanderer’s arrival?...

Wanderer/Melanie first arrive at the caves, Melanie is eager for them to explain their situation, but Wanderer insists on staying mute, even if it means being subject to imprisonment and abuse. Why does Wanderer make this choice? Do you think it is a wise one? How migh...

How do you imagine The Origin? What would a world populated only by souls be like?

Near the novel’s end, Wanda makes a deal with Doc. Do you think she makes the right decision about Melanie’s fate and her own? Were you satisfied with the humans’ response to her decision?

“I was looking for someone who looked like you. And I thought this looked like you” (page 605). Do you agree with Jamie? Do you think...

Imagine a prequel to The Host. Of the different worlds Wanderer lived on before arriving on Earth, which would you be most interested in imagining more fully? Similarly, each of the humans living in the caves during The Host has a back story. Wh...

STEPHENIE MEYER’S ANNOTATED PLAYLIST...

13. “As You Are,” Travis Wanderer, Chapter 31: “Needed,” pages 297–298 Because I was in love with him, no matter that it was unwilling, I had to look at Jared before I left.