The Host(86)

“Your history is better than nothing. Things we human folks ought to know, seeing as we live in a more populated universe than we were aware of.”

“But I wasn’t a real teacher,” I told him, desperate. Did he honestly think anyone wanted to hear my voice, let alone listen to my stories? “I was sort of an honorary professor, almost a guest lecturer. They only wanted me because… well, because of the story that goes along with my name.”

“That’s the next one I was going to ask for,” Jeb said complacently. “We can talk about your teaching experience later. Now—why did they call you Wanderer? I’ve heard a bunch of odd ones, Dry Water, Fingers in the Sky, Falling Upward—all mixed in, of course, with the Pams and the Jims. I tell you, it’s the kind of thing that can drive a man crazy with curiosity.”

I waited till I was sure he was done to begin. “Well, the way it usually works is that a soul will try out a planet or two—two’s the average—and then they’ll settle in their favorite place. They just move to new hosts in the same species on the same planet when their body gets close to death. It’s very disorienting moving from one kind of body to the next. Most souls really hate that. Some never move from the planet they are born on. Occasionally, someone has a hard time finding a good fit. They may try three planets. I met a soul once who’d been to five before he’d settled with the Bats. I liked it there—I suppose that’s the closest I’ve ever come to choosing a planet. If it hadn’t been for the blindness…”

“How many planets have you lived on?” Jamie asked in a hushed voice. Somehow, while I’d been talking, his hand had found its way into mine.

“This is my ninth,” I told him, squeezing his fingers gently.

“Wow, nine!” he breathed.

“That’s why they wanted me to teach. Anybody can tell them our statistics, but I have personal experience from most of the planets we’ve… taken.” I hesitated at that word, but it didn’t seem to bother Jamie. “There are only three I’ve never been to—well, now four. They just opened a new world.”

I expected Jeb to jump in with questions about the new world, or the ones I’d skipped, but he just played absently with the ends of his beard.

“Why did you never stay anywhere?” Jamie asked.

“I never found a place I liked enough to stay.”

“What about Earth? Do you think you’ll stay here?”

I wanted to smile at his child’s confidence—as if I were going to get the chance to ever move on to another host. As if I were going to get the chance to live out even another month in the one I had.

“Earth is… very interesting,” I murmured. “It’s harder than any place I’ve been before.”

“Harder than the place with the frozen air and the claw beasts?” he asked.

“In its own way, yes.” How could I explain that the Mists Planet only came at you from the outside—it was much more difficult to be attacked from within.

Attacked, Melanie scoffed.

I yawned. I wasn’t actually thinking of you, I told her. I was thinking of these unstable emotions, always betraying me. But you did attack me. Pushing your memories on me that way.

I learned my lesson, she assured me dryly. I could feel how intensely aware she was of the hand in mine. There was an emotion slowly building in her that I didn’t recognize. Something on the edge of anger, with a hint of desire and a portion of despair.

Jealousy, she enlightened me.

Jeb yawned again. “I’m being downright rude, I guess. You must be bushed—walking all over today and then me keepin’ you up half the night talking. Ought to be a better host. C’mon, Jamie, let’s go and let Wanda get some sleep.”

I was exhausted. It felt as if it had been a very long day, and, from Jeb’s words, perhaps that wasn’t in my imagination.

“Okay, Uncle Jeb.” Jamie jumped lightly to his feet and then offered his hand to the old man.

“Thanks, kid.” Jeb groaned as he got up. “And thanks to you, too,” he added in my direction. “Most interesting conversation I’ve had in… well, probably forever. Rest your voice up, Wanda, because my curiosity is a powerful thing. Ah, there he is! ’Bout time.”

Only then did I hear the sound of approaching footsteps. Automatically, I shrank against the wall and scooted farther back into the cave-room, and then felt more exposed because the moonlight was brighter inside.

I was surprised that this was the first person to turn in for the night; the corridor appeared to house many.