The Host (The Host, #1)

by Stephenie Meyer

“What can I give you, Wanda?” he insisted. I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice steady. “Give me a lie, Jared. Tell me you want me to stay.”

“Stay here, Wanda. With us. With me. I don’t want you to go. Please. I can’t imagine having you gone. I can’t see that. I don’t know how to… how to…” His voice broke.

No one had ever lied better than Jared lied with his body in my last minutes, and for that I was grateful. I couldn’t take it with me, because I wasn’t going anywhere, but it eased some of the pain of leaving. I could believe the lie. I could believe that he would miss me so much that it might even mar some of his joy. I shouldn’t want that, but it felt good to believe it anyway.

“You are the noblest, purest creature I’ve ever met. The universe will be a darker place without you,” he whispered.

Thank you, Wanda. My sister. I will never forget you. Be happy, Mel. Enjoy it all. Appreciate it for me. I will, she promised.

Ian squeezed my hand and leaned in to whisper through all the hair. His voice was so low that I was the only one who could hear. “I held you in my hand, Wanderer. And you were so beautiful.”

Happy and sad, elated and miserable, secure and afraid, loved and denied, patient and angry, peaceful and wild, complete and empty… all of it. I would feel everything. It would all be mine.

“I will stay,” I agreed. And my tenth life began.

Perhaps there could be no joy on this planet without an equal weight of pain to balance it out on some unknown scale.

“Jared is my past, another life. You are my present.” He was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was rough with emotion. “And your future, if you want that.” “Yes, please.”

“It’s a strange world,” I murmured, more to myself than to the other native soul. “The strangest,” he agreed.