THIS STORY IS ABOUT THE HOST BY STEPHENIE MEYER NOT TWILIGHT. it contains spoilers since it begins a few days after the Host ends.

Disclaimer: I own some characters but most of the characters, world, plot belong to Stephenie Meyer :

November Happenings
By Analeigh Sbrana

I hadn't expected to meet so many humans all at once. I couldn't remember the last time I was in the same room with fifty-nine humans. Alive. When Nate had told us about the others they had found—and how big their group was I didn't really believe it. No, not really that I didn't, more that I couldn't believe that so many had survived.I hadn't expected to be so nervous upon meeting them all. When Nate had told us that we were going to all make a trek over to their hide out the following week May and I couldn't help but squeal. She was excited about the prospect of meeting new boys, but I was honestly more curious about the fact that they had another one like Burns.

I figured there was definitely an interesting story behind this other soul-turned-human, Burns certainly had one, and I was interested in stories she might have of other planets. I know almost every other human on this planet would cringe at the thought of talking civilly to a parasite, but Burns was honestly one of my best friends, and I figured she couldn't be so bad if the other human pack had taken her in.

May and I had spent hours ruffling through our meager share of clothes, trying on outfits we had worn a hundred times before, but looking at them in new angles in the shard of a mirror hanging on our wall. Of course, the mirror was so dirty I would hardly know what I looked like if May wasn't my identical twin. Since the previous week was our birthday (seventeen at last!) we had each received a few gifts. My favorite by far, was a book Burns had managed to find for me. It was an interesting one from before called The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. But, my second favorite gift was the one I got from May. She had somehow managed to acquire enough material to make me a jean vest with different colored patches all over it. The best part was my name sewn on the back in green lettering "Novel". I couldn't wait to show it off to this new crowd.

Our group traveled in groups of four that night. We couldn't risk anything bigger, it would be too slow and there was a bigger chance of being spotted that way. My group was second to last to go. A man from the other set of survivors came to be May, Rachel, and mines guide. Although, Rachel was not happy about that, hating the fact that she couldn't be the leader in everything.

After walking a good one a half hours straight the man (I couldn't remember his name and was too embarrassed to ask) stopped. "I am going to have to blind fold you girls from here on out. But don't worry, where we stay is not much farther." I could see that Rachel was about to protest this so I spoke up "It's okay Rachel, you know that we would do the same." She couldn't deny that fact so she kept her mouth shut. We linked hands once the blindfolds were secure and we started walking.

A good fifteen minutes later we heard a squeal of "more are coming! There are more!" and heard the sound of small pitter-pattering feet. There are children here? I thought with disbelief. It had been so long since I had seen human children and I yearned at the thought of my little sister who I would never see again. May squeezed my hand and I knew she was feeling the same pain as I. Soon the children weren't the only voices I heard and we made a stop. Brandt--I remembered his name told us we could now take our blindfolds off. The moment my eyes were uncovered I gasped. We were standing in a big circular room with stars above us. Surrounded by people. Human people.

When I saw the excited smile on May's face I knew that mine matched hers almost perfectly. We had never been allowed to meet any of the new people Nate and the others found. We had always been "too young" but now that we were seventeen they couldn't deny us the right. After all Sebastian had been able to meet Max's group and he was only fifteen! The moment the blindfold came off I saw Burns walking towards us, "I'm glad you girls were able to make it alright. No incidents?"

"No Burns, we were fine. Juts like I told you we would be." I teased him. He was the main reason our tribe was so protective over us girls.

He smiled, not abashed at all, "come on. There's someone I want you to meet." I knew immediately that he was talking about the other soul…or should I say souls, I keep forgetting about the other one Even mentioned for some reason. May tagged along behind us although I knew she wasn't as interested in stories as me.

When Burns stopped in front of her at first I was surprised. She was so…young and little. She couldn't have been more then sixteen and she was even smaller then May and I who were only 5'2'. But I immediately realized that although her frame was small she had a big personality. When she saw us she immediately gave us a big smile, "Hi! I'm Wanderer, but you can call me Wanda, everyone does, and this is my partner Ian." I knew he was her partner from the way his arm was held around her shoulders possessively. It wasn't a scary possessive just… absolute. Like Even and Rachel were. I checked May's face out of the corner of my eye and saw that she had a slightly wistful expression; she wanted a relationship like that so badly.

"I'm November, but you can call me Novel, everyone does, and this is my sister May." We both smiled at the similar reply I give.

"Novel? How did you get that nickname?"

Everyone asks this question, I suppose it is kind of a strange name. "I guess its because I read so much." I reply.

May snorts from beside me, "hah! More like reads too much."

I grimace, but Wanda giggles. I laugh on the inside at this because, well, she just looks like a giggler.

"Anyway, are you girls hungry? We have cheetoes!" she seems more excited about cheetoes then a normal person should be. But then, who's normal anymore? May answers for us this time "I am, a bit. And cheetoes do sound pretty good right now."

"Well then, come on!" she all but dances her way to the snack table. As we are following her I fall in step with Burns. "What do you think?" he asks me. I can tell he's honestly curious about my reaction to meeting another one of his kind on non dangerous terms.

"She's so different from you."

"Well, that's to be expected. Our human bodies influence us very much and each one is different."

"Yeah I know that…but for some reason I pictured her as your female equivalent. I didn't have a…May equivalent in mind." The fact that she was similar to May was definitely not a bad thing, just different to how I pictured. "Of course, I'm glad she's not like you. There's only so much Burns Living Flowers a girl can handle."

He chuckled quietly at my joke knowing full well that he was one of my favorite people in the world. Although Burns was at least eight years older then me (by human years) he was my best friend besides May. He first came to our tribe almost exactly two years ago. I remember because it was a week before my birthday. Rob, Even, and Blake had captured him on their way home from a raid in Yuma. He was literally wandering the dessert. Well, not wandering, more of a walking with purpose, although he was almost dead of dehydration.

No one is sure to this day why Rob and them hadn't killed him immediately. But all of us our definitely glad they didn't. Burns had run away from his calling as a librarian. Of course that was the perfect job for him, but he said he didn't fit in with the rest of society. He explained that his human emotions had more control over him then they did on everyone else. He couldn't hear his host like the other soul he met told him she could, but his emotions would overpower him so strongly that when he felt sad he would literally just break down in tears. Something I could never imagine him doing, he was the strongest person I knew, and certainly had never cried in front of me.

When Rob, Even, and Blake found him they said he had run out of water and food and was lying on the ground squeezing his backpack…which was full of books. They said they couldn't kill someone, even a parasite, who was holding onto something so human. They said that's how they knew he was different. Most of the other souls who occupied human's bodies didn't care about books, only those who were studying human history in school or those designated as authors cared about the human books.

Burns said that when he heard he was to be a librarian at first he was disappointed (he told us even that emotion was strange for a soul to feel). But once he started reading the books in his library he couldn't stop. All the emotions he was reading about were the ones he was feeling and it didn't make him feel so alone. Until he couldn't handle it any more and up and ran away. And that's how Burns ended up at my side munching on an apple at this…party.

For I could see now that it was a party, something I wasn't even good at before. Even when I was little I wasn't very good at interacting with other people. I always replied on May to make introductions and she usually ended up talking for me. That's why I enjoyed books so much, because in them I could be brave and go on wild adventures without actually having to leave my seat. When they came and I had to actually run for my life I realized that I couldn't always be so paralyzed by fear. I'm positive that if I hadn't learned how to initiate anything on my own then I would not be here today. Instead I would be some…zombie. Although, I still sucked at parties.

I looked around for May and realized that she was already in a conversation with three girls who looked to be in there early twenties. I caught eyes with Burns and sighed. He wasn't very social either. I nodded my head toward May and silently communicated that I was going to go join the conversation. "Wanna come?" I asked him although I knew he wasn't going to voluntarily stand in a circle of five girls. He shook his head, "naw. I think I'm going to go…find Blake or someone." Someone he already knew I finished silently for him.

The three girls May were talking to were named Heidi, Trudy, and Lilly. I noticed that Lilly was very beautiful but also very sad. When I walked up to them I was met with surprise, "oh, twins!" Heidi exclaimed.

"This is my sister Novel, short for November" I smiled in response to their hellos and introductions. The way May chattered on I could tell that she already liked these girls. And that made me happy. I wasn't exactly listening to their conversation until I heard May giggle with excitement.

"…is very cute!" May finished.

Who was?

"Yeah, but trust us, Brandt isn't that nice." said Heidi.

"Yeah I could kind of tell, he barely said a word to us on the way over here!" said May.

"Oh, don't take it personally, honey. He's like that with everyone when he first meets them." Said Lilly.

"Oh, bull!" interjected Trudy, "I've known him for four years and he still hasn't said a word to me!" they burst into a fit of giggles, all but Lilly who just smiled sadly. At this time an older man I hadn't met yet started to bang his spoon on a glass he held in his hand—actual glass!

"Quiet. Quiet I say! Now this is my house and when I say quiet I mean be quiet!" at first I thought he was being mean, until I saw all the smiling faces of his tribe pointed at him and noticed the literal twinkle in his eye. Everyone did quiet down, though maybe it was the shotgun he had in a sling on his back.

"Firstly, I wanna thank my very honored and very welcome guests here tonight!" there was a faint smattering of applause. "No, really though. I can't tell you how happy I am to gain the knowledge that so many humans are left, to know that we now have a fighten' chance ta' take back what is rightfully ours." More applause and a few woops. I look around to try and gauge Burns reactions to this speech but I couldn't see him.

I nervously finger a loose thread on my vest as I absently listen to the rest of the old guys speech. I guess that he's the leader for these people like Nate is for ours. I cant help noticing the difference though. Whereas Nate is perhaps 35 at most and at least 6 feet this guy had to be at least 50 and probably 5'5' at most…and if I can hear what he's saying correctly, obviously a little crazy. But crazy can be good in these times. Crazy is probably what's kept him and his people alive.

I continue to scan all of these new faces greedily. I hadn't realized how much I wanted this, to be able to just see new people. Everyone looked so interesting and I'm sure everyone has a story to tell. Different stories too, I'm sure Lilly's will be sad and Trudy's funny, yet not necessarily happy. And then I wonder, does any human have a happy story to tell anymore? The only happy stories I know of anymore all come from books.

But this is sort of happy isn't it? All of us finding each other. Maybe one day we can even find a way to get all the other tribes together too. But I couldn't see how we could manage that without being spotted by the seekers. I shudder at the though of them.

All twenty-two of us are lead to another cave (I realized that this was a series of caves like our home, only three times as big) to sleep. It was the early ours of the morning and I was tired, the long walk plus the socializing seriously wore me out. I had the chance to meet everyone, even the crazy old man, Jeb, who was actually really nice. We were pleasantly surprised to see a collection of mattresses and bed rolls stacked along one wall.

"Definitely beats sleeping on the ground, huh Novel?" said May as she skipped beside me into the room.

"Definitely." I reply.

There weren't enough mattresses and bedrolls for everyone to each have one, so May and I had to share, but we didn't mind. Burns pulled his bedroll beside our mattress and sank down beside me.

"Man, I am beat." Burns said sleepily.

"Me too." I mumbled right back at him. But I could feel May trembling beside me.

"How can you two be tired? I am sooo awake! All these people! All these new people with so many possibilities!" May sing-songed.

I grimaced at Burns and mock rolled my eyed at my twin's excitement.

She swatted me "don't roll your eyes at me!"

"I didn't!" I lied.

"Yes she did May. Don't trust her." Said Burns laughing.

I gasp in mock outrage.

"Of course I don't trust her. She's Novel. You can't trust Novel."

We all chuckled quietly at that. They knew they could trust me. Just like I knew I could trust them. All twenty-two of us trusted each other every single day of our lives. We were family. For most of us, the only family we had left.

As I close my eyes I have to admit to myself that this does open up new and exciting possibilities. And that Brandt was cute.