Hey there! I'm still here, in case anyone was wondering, and I couldn't be happier about this story! This direction is definitely easier to take. Easier to write. More enjoyable to read...I hope.

Well, here's Chapter Ten! Give it a shot, and let me know what you think!

I spent the night in the hospital with Kyle. We were alone; Doc wasn't there, and I didn't know where the parasite had gone.

We were quiet most of the night. I didn't have anything to say to him.

I knew Jeb had threatened to make Kyle leave if he wouldn't accept the parasite. But I couldn't believe we were going through with this, holding a tribunal for this incident, the attempt on the parasite's life. It hadn't been an issue in the beginning, when they'd come for her. When Ian had strangled her.

But it had been an outsider the first time. It had been here, what? More than a month now. Not doing anything. Did that clear its name? Was everyone really going to accept it?

I wasn't sure if I wanted to accept it. It was a parasite. Parasites were usually dangerous; they wanted us to become them. Even if this one didn't mean us any harm, it was in Mel's body. Coming between me and Mel.

I didn't hate Mel's body. But there was a little silver thing in her neck that, to me, was very problematic.

If Melanie was alive, if the parasite was telling the truth, then I shouldn't hate it. But at the same time...how else could I feel about the one thing that was keeping me from her?

A selfish, petty part of me wanted the parasite to be a mastermind Seeker, so I could have a legitimate reason to hate it, to distrust it. Instead, she was so kind, so altruistic, that she was able to overlook what we'd done to her and want to stay with us.

Why wasn't it easier to hate?

I awoke before the sun rose, while the light from the cracked ceiling was still gray and humorless, like my mood. Like Kyle's mood too. When I shook him awake, his face clouded with the realization of what was about to happen. But he showed no fear—his eyes only hardened in resignation, in anger.

We made our way to the game room, where Jeb and Doc had already arrived. Doc, his head barely a foot from the ceiling, was hanging lights from little hooks drilled in the rock overhead.

Kyle threw himself on the ground in the circle of light formed by the blue lanterns, wrapping his arms around his legs. He didn't look at any of us.

Doc and I moved to stand over him, still guarding him, and Jeb stood just a few paces back, holding his gun ready.

Slowly, in trickles of two or three, people began filing in. There was a good deal of yawning; everyone had had a long night. They settled in a rough semicircle around us, their faces mostly obscured by the long shadows. The little conversation that took place was subdued. The calling of this tribunal was probably a big controversy for a lot of them.

When Jamie came in, he headed straight for Jeb. "Where's Wanda?" he asked.

"She'll still be wakin' up from that last morphine dose, probably," Jeb said. "Ian'll bring her in, if she comes."

"Can I go see her? Where is she?" Jamie was already turning around.

"Nope," Jeb said quickly, taking Jamie's wrist. "You're staying here."

Sharon entered the room, along with her mother. They both came to the front of the room, where Sharon stood close to Doc.

After about ten more minutes, nearly everyone was there. Slow, labored footfalls reached our ears from the hall, and I was reminded of the night I'd found Walter, on his way to the hospital for the last time.

But this time it was the parasite who rounded the corner, limping on its injured leg, while Ian supported some of its weight. He didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it, though, because she winced with every step.

The room went quiet as they made their way into the lamplight. The tension in the room was practically palpable.

Jamie looked pointedly at Jeb, who was still restraining him. Jeb dropped the kid's hand, and Jamie waved in the parasite's direction. I supposed seeing her alive and well was enough for him.

As soon as they'd settled down, Trudy, Geoffrey, and Heath moved over to sit by them. When Wes and Lily came in, they sat next to her too. She had her little allies all gathered nicely.

The last few stragglers entered and took their places on the stone floor. Aaron came in last, saying, "That's everybody. Lucina's staying with her kids. She doesn't want them here; she said to go on without her."

"Okay then," Jeb said, addressing everyone. "Here's how it's gonna work. Straight-up majority vote. As usual, I'll make my own decision if I have a problem with the majority, 'cause this—"

"Is my house." The interjection came from several people. Someone laughed briefly, but the tension in the room didn't ease.

"Who's speaking against Kyle?" Jeb called out.

Ian, seated at the edge of the group, got to his feet. She—Wanda—pulled at his arm, trying to keep him down, but he shook her off. "This is simple enough. My brother was warned. He was not in any doubt about Jeb's ruling on this. Wanda is one of our community—the same rules and protections apply to her as to any of us. Jeb told Kyle point-blank that if he couldn't live with her here, he should move on. Kyle decided to stay. He knew then and he knows now the penalty for murder in this place."

"It's still alive," Kyle grumbled in protest. His voice was surly but not defensive. His remark had not been a plea of his own innocence, but rather one simply to clear up a technicality.

"Which is why I'm not asking for your death. But you can't live here anymore," Ian shot back. "Not if you're a murderer at heart."

I agreed with everything he said. I didn't really want to kick Kyle out, but Ian was right: he was bound and determined to see Melanie's body dead.

I was staying out of this one, though. I knew if I spoke up, I would be correctly accused of my bias. I was just upset about Kyle because of Melanie, they'd say. And they still might be right. I didn't really want to defend the parasite right now.

Everyone weighed Ian's argument. Brandt stood up. "But he could get caught, and we'd have no idea! He'll lead them back here, and we'd have no warning."

I saw the humans, silhouetted in the dim blue light, exchange glances. This made them nervous.

Now it was Kyle, the danger that Kyle presented, that made them nervous. Not the alien. How ironic.

"They'll never get me alive," Kyle vowed, glaring at Brandt reproachfully.

Others began to speak. They didn't stand up, so I couldn't see their faces.

"Then it's a death sentence after all."

"You can't guarantee that."

"One at a time," Jeb said. He tightened his grip on the gun.

"I've survived on the outside before," Kyle reminded them. I figured now wasn't a good time to remind him that he had been on the outside with his brother, who had undoubtedly been the reason he'd survived.

"It's a risk," someone hissed.

Keeping him here was also a risk. No one at all had questioned Kyle's actions—the only question had been what to do about them. They all knew what he'd done.

"What did Kyle do wrong?" someone else muttered, deliberately keeping his voice indistinguishable. "Nothing."

I fought back my shout of frustration. There were still people here who thought that the parasite ought to be disposed of, that it deserved to die. Even after what they'd seen her do at Walter's funeral.

Why did that make me angry? Why was I indignant about their implications? How was I so different than them, anyway?

Jeb's expression darkened. He stared reprovingly out into the crowd, in the general vicinity of the comment. "My rules."

"She's not one of us."

What?

Had someone really just said that? Did they really think she deserved what Kyle had done to her? Think she didn't belong?

I realized then: I was no different than them. No better. I thought those things, even though I knew I shouldn't. And that was why I was angry.

I couldn't stand there any longer. "Hey!" My voice reverberated around the low-ceilinged cavern, magnifying the sound and making everyone jump.

"Wanda's not on trial here! Does someone have a concrete complaint against her—against Wanda herself? Then ask for another tribunal. But we all know she hasn't harmed anyone here. In fact, she saved his life." I stabbed my finger toward Kyle, addressing the thing that no one had brought up. The thing that surely would convince people how wrong they were about her.

When I pointed at him, Kyle's shoulders curled together, making him appear vulnerable, even from the back. Apparently he'd decided that Ian had told him the truth, that she had kept him from falling. And that was bothering him.

I rubbed it in a bit more. "Just seconds after he tried to throw her in the river, she risked her life to keep him from the same painful death. She had to know that if she let him fall, she would be safer here. She saved him anyway." I moved my eyes around the crowd, trying to meet their darkened eyes. No one was contesting me, contradicting the truth of my words. "Would any of you have done the same? Rescue your enemy? He tried to kill her, and yet will she even speak against him?"

I gestured toward her, where she sat listening to me mutely. She had not said a word yet during this tribunal. "Will you speak against him, Wanda?"

It took her a few seconds to answer. Her eyes were wide, shocked. I must have confused her with my vehement outburst—she probably thought I still hated her.

"This...is all a misunderstanding. We both fell when the floor caved in. Nothing happened."

Her voice was the same as the night I'd interrogated her, and she'd lied about Melanie. The same flat, hesitant voice, every sentence almost a question. I could tell she was trying, but there was no conviction in her words, nothing that would convince anyone she was telling the truth.

That couldn't be an act.

Ian began laughing. I couldn't hold back a smile at her pathetic attempt at a falsehood. This was what the souls had to offer in subterfuge. They could not have deliberately sent her to deceive us. "You see, she even tries to lie in his defense."

"Tries being the operative word," Ian chuckled.

Maggie stepped forward beside Kyle. "Who says it's lying? Who can prove that? Who can prove that it's not the truth that sounds so false on its lips?"

Jeb tried to reprimand her, to quiet her cruel words, but she cut him off. "Shut up, Jebediah, I'm speaking. There is no reason for us to be here. No human was attacked. The insidious trespasser offers no complaint. This is a waste of all our time."

"I second that," Sharon called. Her voice was hard.

Doc looked at her with a grimace, a plea in his eyes. Her words bothered him—as they did me. Maggie and Sharon had never been overly congenial, but this display was just downright hateful.

Trudy, seated near Melanie's body, stood up. "We can't just house a murderer—and wait around for him to be successful!"

Maggie's voice was baleful. "Murder is a subjective term. I only consider it murder when something human is killed."

I'd just about had it with her. She was as bad as Kyle. "Human is a subjective term as well, Magnolia. I thought the definition embraced some compassion, some little bit of mercy." Which she lacked.

Maggie opened her mouth to snap back at me, but Sharon spoke up, leaving Maggie and me to stare daggers at each other. "Let's vote. Raise your hand if you think Kyle should be allowed to stay here with no penalty for the...misunderstanding." She looked in that general direction, but I could tell she still couldn't bring herself to look at Melanie's body.

Brandt was the first to raise his hand. More quickly joined him, and I couldn't see their owners. But I saw that no one in the corner with Ian had moved. Except...her.

She was trying to raise her hand, but it looked like Ian was holding her arm down. She was voting for Kyle to stay.

When Jeb began counting hands, though, he didn't count her. "Ten...fifteen...twenty..." He turned around to us, standing behind him. Sharon and Maggie had their hands in the air, but the rest of us hadn't budged. I hadn't budged.

She didn't deserve it. Whatever Kyle had done to her, whatever hateful feelings he or Maggie or Sharon still harbored toward her, she didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve to be killed or beaten up, or hated by us.

I had hated her for too long. That alien, that soul in Mel's body, was not here to get us killed. She was not evil. I wasn't going to stand there and let Kyle stay after he'd demonstrated his own incurable ignorance and abhorrence toward her.

"Twenty...three," Jeb finished. "Okay. That's a clear majority."

Jamie glared at the old man. I noticed the other dissenters were watching him, too. They were waiting for him to overrule the majority, I realized.

Jamie left the bright circle of light, walked toward the darkened corner. He wrapped his arm around Melanie's body. "Maybe your souls were right about us. The majority are no better than—"

"Hush!" she told him quietly but forcefully.

Why didn't she want him to say that? I was not pleased with the vote, either. The humans had let me down. Let me down with their capacity for compassion and understanding.

Toward anyone else, any pure human, Kyle's actions would be an atrocity. He'd be deemed a cold-blooded murderer, whether he'd succeeded or not. Unfeeling. Inhuman. Why was it any different because this kind, sensitive persona had silver eyes?

Of course, if Melanie wasn't Wanda, wasn't a parasite, he wouldn't have tried to murder her in the first place.

But surely he'd seen—they'd all seen—how defenseless she was. How pure her motivations were. Kyle couldn't be blind to how much Jamie loved her. And Ian, his brother, cared about her too. Why couldn't he realize that just being an alien wasn't enough for a death sentence? I had come to see that.

"Okay," Jeb called everyone back to attention. He glanced down at Kyle, out at the crowd, then turned to look at me.

I stared back, trying to communicate my opinion. Surely he of all people saw that Kyle didn't deserve to stay here. Surely he would make his own decision.

"Okay, I'm inclined to go with the majority on this."

He couldn't be serious! Kyle couldn't go unpunished. "Jeb—" I started to contest his ruling, but he pulled his trademark argument.

"My house, my rules. Never forget that."

He really was crazy. He had been the only one in the beginning to want Melanie's body here. He'd forced everyone to accept it. And now he wanted to let the man who'd tried to kill her stay, when there had been an opportunity to keep things peaceful.

Would he never stop surprising me?

"So you listen to me, Kyle. And you'd better listen, too, I think, Magnolia," Jeb said. "Anyone who tries to hurt Wanda again will not get a tribunal, they will get a burial." And he slapped the rifle into his palm threateningly.

Maggie shifted her fiery expression from me to Jeb. Kyle didn't say a word, but nodded compliantly.

I'd be keeping a very close eye on him.

"Tribunal's over," Jeb said abruptly. "Who's up for a game?"

A game?

Oh. He must have found the ball I'd left in the hospital. I'd almost forgotten about it until now.

Was now really the time, though?

Jeb turned to me, a broad smile stretching his face. I stared back at him, my expression incredulous. We'd just held a trial for a man's life, and now we were going to play soccer. Only Jeb.

I rolled my eyes and turned to leave the game room to retrieve the ball. Fine. If Jeb was going to pretend like nothing had happened, and if Kyle really would behave himself...I could certainly live with this outcome. And I could certainly allow myself to have fun now.

However, I wasn't completely at peace as I made my way down the dark, deserted tunnels. I hadn't had the headspace to think about this before, but now it was tormenting me.

Mel. She was alive inside the alien named Wanda. I knew that now, was completely sure. She'd survived, and come back to me. We'd met her with hate, and she stayed quiet. Only made herself known to those who didn't hate her body. Jamie. Jeb.

I'd refused to believe it. Stubbornly, I let my hate for the body-snatching, world-stealing species blind me to the goodness of this one. And the truth of the secret she so wisely protected.

And so I'd hurt her. Melanie, stuck inside her own head.

I'd hated her, I'd beaten her, I'd threatened to kill her on more than one occasion. I'd thought I was doing what was right, but...it was only right because I had so stupidly convinced myself from the very beginning of some very wrong fundamentals.

Melanie was there, and somehow she'd persuaded Wanda to come here for us. I was so hardheaded, so obdurate, that I couldn't see her. Only her body snatcher. But she had been there, inside the body that I'd hurt, physically and emotionally.

She probably hated me by now.

And somehow, she...Wanda didn't. Gentle as she was, she wasn't angry at me, who had hurt her, at Kyle, who'd beaten her, or at Ian, who had strangled her...

Why didn't she hate us?

As I reached the hospital and retrieved the soccer ball from the dark corner by the crawlspace, guilt was belatedly pooling through me. For what I'd done to Melanie. She'd been there the whole time, watching me, unable to speak or move, but probably shouting ineffectually inside her head, every time I expressed my distrust, my disbelief. Shouting abuse at me. I knew this because when Wanda hadn't been able to control herself, Melanie had come out and...abused me.

That was the way Mel was. She could be kind, as with her brother, but she was feisty at heart. When she got angry...it showed. Her wild side was one of the things I loved about her the most. She wasn't afraid to let anyone, especially me, see how they'd made her feel. Being angry with me now, for what I'd done to her, would be perfectly normal for Mel.

I deserved it. I was angry at myself.

Even if Melanie could somehow come back to me, how could I deserve her? The alien—Wanda—had brought out the worst in me. How could I ever make it up to Mel? I'd hurt her, both of them.

At least I was starting to change, right? Surely that counted for something.

I was changing, despite my fierce, resolute stubbornness, my bias that this body should have been Mel. But even though it wasn't, the thing inside her wasn't a monster. That was good enough for me. Enough for me to defend her against Kyle.

Yes, her. I could get over that, too. Most everyone else had begun referring to Wanda as she. Because even though she was a centipede, she wasn't trying to hurt us. And that was what we'd hated.

Sure, she was biologically a female, but she was also...almost human. Had human feelings, at least. Was able to be sympathetic, kind. Loving. She loved Jamie. Loved him like Mel did, however mystifying that was.

I thought of what I'd said to Maggie earlier, about being human. My words had been more of a jab at her, implicitly questioning her humanity, but I could look at them in a different light.

Since the invasion, I'd become so focused on the new, inhuman species taking over our planet that everyone who escaped, anyone who hadn't been taken over by a soul, was good, was human. The two had become synonymous, hinged on a biological factor. But as with most things in this world, human was not black and white.

My feelings for Mel aside, Wanda, inside her, was good. Good enough.

I didn't have to like her; she didn't have to be my favorite person. Her being inside Mel, that probably wasn't likely. But I could respect her, treat her decently. If Mel tolerated her, I could be nice to her. To both of them. I felt like I owed Melanie for the way I'd treated her. I didn't want her to hate me.

Before returning to the game room, I went to find Lucina. She and her boys were in their room reading a book, but they bounced up eagerly when I told them we were playing a game. Lucina smiled at me, glad to see her children so excited.

Isaiah and Freedom reminded me of Jamie, the way he'd been when I'd first met him. He had been younger, so absolutely carefree, and hardly aware of the destruction and chaos around him. He'd lost that innocence when Melanie disappeared. Our journey to these caves had been a grim one, despite the safety we'd found here.

But since Mel's body—Wanda—had come here, he'd seemed to revert back to the old Jamie. He was more mature now than he had been then, but he'd gained back that happy-go-lucky attitude I'd thought was lost.

Since Mel's body had come here. That was why he was happy now. Because of her.

How could I hate someone who'd made him so happy?

Isaiah jumped around me like a little puppy dog, and I smiled in spite of myself as I slowly raised the ball up higher and higher over his head. His jumps grew in height until his fingers could barely graze my hand.

We'd reached the game room by then, and the humans had divided themselves into teams. Andy and Lily were calling names, picking players, and they quickly added Lucina and the boys to their lineups. Andy had already claimed me for his side.

"Wanda?" Lily called.

I looked around, finding Melanie's body still on the floor. Ian was still beside her.

She shook her head, indicating her bruised leg. Of course she couldn't play soccer; Kyle had crippled her.

"Right," Lily said. "Sorry."

I dropped the ball in between the two teams, and Jamie immediately ran for it. He expertly dribbled it up using only his feet, until he was bouncing it back and forth between his knees.

I joined my team, only feeling slightly disgruntled when I realized Kyle was playing with us. He hardly seemed fazed by the tribunal this morning. His scowl had faded, at least.

I accepted playing with him. He was staying, so we'd all have to deal with him. I'd have to deal.

Ian joined Jamie, who was now passing the ball back and forth with Wes. Someone had walked to the far ends of the room, putting up more blue lanterns as goalposts.

I found myself anticipating the game. I'd always liked soccer; in school, I had enjoyed it even more than football. There were some really good players here, which made the games really fun.

Then I noticed that Mel's body—Wanda—was still sitting on the floor, in the middle of the playing area. She apparently was aware of that and was trying to get up, to scoot out of our way.

Her injured leg wouldn't support her weight though, and so she was crawling gingerly, awkwardly. As she tried to get to her feet, only balancing on one leg, she pitched forward.

I moved toward her, reaching her side just in time to catch her before she fell flat on her face.

She looked up, starting slightly when she saw me. Her face caused the familiar pang when our eyes met, but I swallowed the pain down forcibly. This was Wanda, not just Melanie. Wanda, Jamie's friend. It was how it would always be now, so I might as well get used to it.

"You could have just asked for help," I told her. I kept my voice light. I didn't want her to think I was angry at her.

"I—I should have," she admitted. "I didn't...want to..." She trailed off hesitantly.

"Call attention to yourself?" That seemed reasonable. All she seemed to do here was try to blend in. Be one of us.

Twenty-four hours ago, I would have held that as another strike against her. Proof that she was trying to trick us into letting her stay. Proof that she shouldn't be trusted.

But not today. I was wiser now, or at least trying to be. Today I supported some of her weight and helped her limp. She didn't wince when she walked on her bad leg, so I supposed I was doing all right.

She tried to explain herself. "I didn't want to...make anyone do anything, out of courtesy, that they didn't want to do."

Perhaps she thought that was what I was doing—only being nice because I felt obligated. But I wasn't. Helping her...actually felt sort of good. Somehow, my arm around her waist wasn't painful. Not as painful.

"I don't think Jamie or Ian would begrudge you a helping hand." They hadn't seemed to notice her, though, and I knew she wouldn't ask them. If help wasn't offered, this soul wasn't going to seek it out.

She looked behind her, at Ian and Jamie playing. "But they're having fun. I wouldn't want to interrupt that."

As we watched, Ian bounced the ball off his head, and it hit Wes in the face. They all laughed. I looked back at the girl walking with me, and her face lapsed into a familiar expression. A smile. One Mel had always worn when she looked at Jamie. When she was playing mother. It reminded me of Lucina's expression earlier, seeing her children happy.

"You care about the kid quite a bit," I said. My tone was neutral, but she seemed to understand my statement was more of a question.

"Yes," she said, corroborating my assertion.

I could understand that. Mel loved him so fiercely. I could understand Wanda sharing that emotion. But...Melanie felt nothing toward Ian. She'd never even met him. "And...the man?"

"Ian is...Ian believes me." There was no change in her tone from when she spoke of Jamie. "He watches over me. He can be so very kind...for a human."

"For a human," I repeated, sounding more contemptuous than I'd meant to. "A more important distinction than I'd realized."

I had only just decided to grant this alien her good intentions. Because she was harmless and kind, she seemed worthy of the designation of human. But to her, human was the opposite of kind. Ian was a distinctive human because of his kindness. She must have only ever seen the terrible side of humans.

Of course she had. It was the only side we'd shown her.

But I could perceive in her tone, when she spoke of him, that Wanda felt nothing for Ian. Nothing...romantic, anyway. She appreciated his kindness and protection, but she obviously didn't feel the same way he did. Maybe she couldn't even see the depth his feelings. Maybe aliens didn't have that...capacity.

But I had seen aliens who were capable of loving. Outside, parasites took partners. Had kids, even. They certainly could love, in that way, but this one didn't.

At least not toward Ian.

As I half-carried her, my arms were around her in a way they hadn't been around this body in a long time. I could feel her. She—Wanda—was...tense. Not uncomfortable, but almost...nervous? She was trying hard to keep her breathing steady, but her breaths were louder than normal. Bigger. When I eased her onto the little shelf by the door, she could hardly meet my eyes.

She loved Jamie. What if she...felt for me too?

"Thank you," she said as I released her. Now that we weren't touching, she seemed marginally more at ease. Up for conversation, even. "Jeb did the right thing, you know."

She was still talking about Kyle. She must have seen how I'd voted. How I felt about him. "I don't agree with that." I had to work now to keep my tone from becoming angry.

"Thank you also...for before. You didn't have to defend me."

I looked into her silver-rimmed eyes. "Every word was the truth." Of course, I hadn't said anything about my personal feelings toward her. And I wasn't going to express them now.

She dropped her gaze. "It's true that I would never do anything to hurt anyone here. Not on purpose." Then she added, hesitantly but sincerely, "I'm sorry that I hurt you when I came here. And Jamie. So sorry."

She was so unlike Mel. Melanie was so forward, so bold and tenacious. This girl...she was meek. Shy and humble. The difference made it easier, I supposed, to differentiate. Not on my emotions, but rationally I could easily say this wasn't the woman I loved.

I sat down beside her, pondering what she'd said. At least she knew what she'd done. She knew us that well. Mel knew us.

"Honestly..." I stopped myself. I was still trying to be nice. I didn't want to tell her that she was still hurting me. Just being here with her was hard. But somewhere, in some little part of my head, I could see how maybe it wasn't her fault. She was trying to help, after all. "The kid is better since you came. I'd sort of forgotten what his laugh sounded like."

He was laughing now, as he played. Even a soccer game hadn't ever made him this happy. Not before.

Jamie was so much happier now, and while knowing that I could never make him that happy was painful, I understood why Wanda made him feel better. The kid needed his sister, and Wanda was good enough to fill that role. Being in Melanie's body was an added bonus. Jamie could have both of them, in a way.

I couldn't. I only wanted Melanie.

"Thank you for telling me that," she breathed. "It's been my...biggest worry. I hoped I hadn't damaged anything permanently."

She worried about him. She really cared how he felt.

"Why?" I asked her. "Why do you love him?" I could tell she did. Not just the way Mel did, though. Melanie wouldn't spend her time worrying about hurting Jamie's feelings. She'd hug him, muss his hair, and tell him to get over it. Wanda was...different.

She bit her lip, and I could see her fear. Of what she was going to say. Afraid of my reaction.

"You can tell me," I said stupidly, like we were children sharing meaningless secrets. "I'm..." I couldn't explain why I wanted to know. "I've..." What? Thought about it way too much already? Had a revelation? Decided not to hate you? All those were meaningless. I couldn't make her feel better with words. My actions had made her afraid of me. I'd hurt her, and Mel. "You can tell me."

Her eyes went to her feet. "In part because...Melanie does."

I'd been expecting that. Mel was trapped, forced to share her feelings with this alien. I knew that already, resented it. I didn't want to hear her spoken of that way.

But...hearing her spoken of in the present tense was...refreshing.

"Remembering him the way she does...that's a powerful thing. And then...when I met him in person..." She shrugged helplessly. "I can't not love him. It's part of my—the very makeup of these cells to love him."

Mel's memories had made her feel for Jamie. If she could fall in love with the kid...how did she feel about me? I remembered the first time she'd met me in person. She'd run for me, calling my name, desperate to reach me, touch me. And I had hurt her. Violently rejected her.

I had thought that she was trying to trick me. It made it much worse now that I knew she wasn't.

"I hadn't realized before how much influence a host had on me," she mused. "Maybe it's just human bodies. Maybe it's just Melanie."

Melanie. The strongest emotions Wanda had ever encountered came from my partner. The strongest will, too.

"She talks to you?" I asked. In spite of her will, her resistance, talking—speaking to Wanda inside her head—was all she ever could do. She was a prisoner, held captive by Wanda. I tried not to express how much that little fact frustrated me.

"Yes," she said. Her gaze was very fixed. She had to know how Melanie's situation made me feel. She wasn't stupid. At least she was trying to be sensitive about it.

"How often?" Is there any way I can make an appointment?

"When she wants to. When she's interested."

"How about today?" I inquired. I wanted to see her so badly—to connect with her. She was here, but invisible. Her body was someone else's.

"Not much," she confessed. She had a strange faraway look in her eye. "She's kind of...mad at me."

Mel mad. That was something I could easily picture, but the response was so unexpected that I laughed. "She's mad? Why?"

"Because of..." She stopped herself and took a deep breath. When she spoke again, she was quieter. "Nothing?"

It was a lie. I could tell. Why would she lie about that? The only things she lied about were truths she thought she needed to protect...

"Oh, Kyle. She wanted him to fry. She would." I laughed again, feeling my affection for her rise. Inside her head or not, she was still very much the same Mel.

Wanda smiled tentatively. "She can be...violent." She said that as if it was a bad thing.

"Really? How?" I wondered, amused.

"She wants me to fight back."

Fight back, whenever someone attacked her. It had happened all too often here. I had done it, more than once.

"But I...I can't do that. I'm not a fighter."

"I can see that," I said softly. Her nonresistance had cost her. She'd paid for her passivity with pain. Very slowly and carefully, I touched her face. The scarred side.

That had been my fault. I had hurt her. I had hurt Melanie. My love. I had beaten the girl I loved. I could barely get out my "Sorry."

"No," she said. "Anyone would do the same. I know what you must have felt."

We'd hurt her, injured her, numerous times, and her response was to empathize? "You wouldn't—" I began. She couldn't hurt anyone. She couldn't even hold a grudge.

"If I were human, I would," she amended. "Besides, I wasn't thinking of that. I was remembering the Seeker."

I was suddenly anxious. What about the Seeker?

She smiled again, reassuringly. "Mel wanted to throttle her. She really hates that Seeker. And I can't...find it in myself to blame her."

The Seeker in black. The one she had run away from. The annoying one.

"She's still searching for you," I informed her. "Looks like she had to return the helicopter, at least."

Her breathing spiked, her hands forming nervous fists. "I didn't used to be afraid of her. I don't know why she scares me so much now. Where is she?" She squeezed her eyes shut.

"Don't worry." I tried not to gauge her reaction based on my feelings of distrust. Suspicion was flooding through me again, and it wouldn't go away, no matter how hard I repressed it. "She was just up and down the highway yesterday. She won't find you." Whether you want it or not.

She nodded, her expression still apprehensive.

I didn't want to talk about the Seeker. It was uncomfortable for both of us. "Can you...can you hear Mel now?" I wanted to talk to her. I'd been starved from her conversation for so long. Even with Wanda as the middleman, I wanted to communicate with my love.

Her eyes were still closed, her expression showing her concentration. "I'm...aware of her. She's listening very hard."

Mel was there. Inches from me. Listening to our conversation. "What's she thinking?" Was she thinking how much she hated me?

Wanda was quiet for a minute. Then she opened her eyes, looked right into mine. "She wants to know what happened to make you...different now. Why do you believe us?"

Wow. That was a tough one. What had happened? How did I get here, talking casually to Melanie's body? Whom I'd, not so long ago, wanted to murder?

"An...accumulation of things. You were so...kind to Walter—I've never seen anyone but Doc be that compassionate." She had shocked me. Finally made me think there was more to this alien than a knack for deceit and a human stuck in its head.

"And you saved Kyle's life, where most of us would have let him fall just to protect ourselves, intended murder aside." She could have so easily pretended it had been an accident. So easily kept herself safe. But she hadn't; Kyle had been worth saving to her. And I refused to let myself think it was because she had some use for him in some huge scheme.

"And then you're such an appalling liar." That had been clear from the beginning. But I had thought it had been some sort of doubly-contrived pretense designed to lead us in circles.

Why would I have gone that far to distrust her? My suspicions sounded silly to me now.

But I knew how tenuous my trust, my assurance, could be. All it had taken was a Seeker, a random search of the desert, to make me think again that she was subversive, underhanded. I had duped myself for so long about her that I wouldn't be surprised to find myself back in that vein.

"I keep trying to see these things as evidence of some grand plot. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and feel that way again." I didn't want to. This feeling now was very relaxing. Knowing that Melanie was alive. Being able to trust that her body wasn't a danger to us. While I wasn't completely happy, I felt better than I had in...a long time.

"But when they started attacking you today...well, I snapped. I could see in them everything that shouldn't have been in me. I realized I already did believe, and that I was just being obstinate—cruel." I was much too stubborn for my own good. "I think I've believed since...well, a little bit since that first night when you put yourself in front of me to save me from Kyle." I laughed, attempting to suppress the memory that, replayed, seemed a perfectly obvious display of her true nature. It made me feel guilty.

"But I'm better at lying than you are. I can even lie to myself."

Wanda winced. "She hopes you won't change your mind. She's afraid you will."

I closed my eyes. "Mel." Would I betray her again? I couldn't leave her with a warning that someday I might turn back against her. "Tell her...that won't happen."

"She hears you."

Did she? "How...straightforward is the connection?"

"She hears what I hear, sees what I see."

"Feels what you feel?" I asked, suddenly disquieted.

"Yes."

She'd felt it. All those times. And it had been my fault. I'd thought my hate was avenging Mel, but instead it was doing nothing but causing her pain and distress.

I could apologize to her, though. If she could hear me, was perfectly aware of me, I could tell her. Moving my fingers back to her scraped face, I looked past the silver, into Melanie's eyes. "You don't know how sorry I am."

A shout echoed through the cavern. "C'mon, Jared! Let's go!"

Kyle was ready to start. He looked excited, not at all angry anymore. Perhaps Jeb had been right to call a game now—the fun did set people at ease.

I stood, not really wanting to leave her. She was watching the others too, a smile on her face. Then suddenly her expression changed. Became distant again, unfocused.

"Are you listening to her now?"

"Yes."

"What's she saying?"

"We're noticing what others think of your...change of heart." She indicated Maggie and Sharon, staring murderously in our direction. When I made eye contact, they turned around together, refusing to acknowledge that they'd been looking at Melanie's body.

If I was stubborn, Sharon and Maggie were immutable. I didn't know why they were so resistant to accepting her—I knew Melanie better than they did—but they were totally hardened.

"Tough nuts."

"Fine, then, we'll win it without you," Kyle shouted, his tone taunting.

"I'm coming!" I exclaimed, exasperated. I supposed we could talk later. The prospects of a soccer game were too stimulating to pass up.

My team was skilled. Kyle kept the ball on our side practically the entire game. Andy and Aaron worked well together, kicking the ball back and forth. I was the fastest. And Maggie, as unpleasant as she was, was a mean goalie.

We tried to let everyone on both teams have their fair share of play, but they knew to hand the ball off at critical moments. With my team's expertise, we easily stayed ahead of Lily's team, led by Wes, Ian, and Brandt.

Paige and Trudy slipped out when our team hit twenty and returned with granola bars, passing them out as a late breakfast.

The humans swarmed around the boxes, everyone grabbing as many as they could. I elbowed my way to a full box and took two handfuls. Wanda wouldn't be able to get any of these for herself, not in this riot with her leg.

But when I made my way back to her, both Jamie and Ian had brought her some. "Oh," I muttered.

I could see what Ian was doing. Jamie regarded Wanda as a friend, a sister, but I was smart enough to see Ian had a different agenda.

"Where's all the food?" Kyle yelled.

Wanda didn't need all the granola bars we'd brought her. "Catch," I called to him. When he turned, I threw them at him one by one.

He crossed the room in search of more, and I shoved one of my remaining bars in my mouth.

"Here," Ian said crossly. He handed over some of his bars, not looking at his brother. He was still looking at Melanie's body. "Now go."

Kyle took the food, following his brother's gaze down to Wanda, still seated on the shelf.

Wanda flinched.

I stepped in front of her protectively, sensing Ian doing the same beside me. "You heard him," I said, glowering. I wasn't about to let him hurt or upset her. He'd done enough of that.

"Can I say something first?"

I leveled my gaze, trying convey a negatory response.

"I'm not sorry. I still think it was the right thing to do."

Ian pushed him in the chest. I wanted to do the same thing. He was scaring her, again. I'd caused her enough fear and suffering myself—she'd had plenty.

"Hold on, I'm not done," Kyle argued. He stepped back toward us, toward Wanda.

"Yeah, you are," I said flatly. My hands clenched into fists.

"No, I'm not." Holding his hands up in a reconciliatory gesture, Kyle looked down at Wanda. Her eyes were wide, her hand on her injured side.

"I don't think I was wrong, but you did save my life," Kyle said. "I don't know why, but you did. So I figure, a life for a life. I won't kill you. I'll pay the debt that way."

"You stupid idiot," Ian said, irritated.

Kyle smirked. "Who's got the crush on the worm, bro? You gonna call me stupid?"

Ian raised his fists, seeming ready for a fight. I was almost ready to join him.

"I'll tell you why," Wanda said suddenly, her voice piercing. As soon as she spoke, she curled inward timidly, seeming unsure of herself, but she continued. "I didn't let you fall because...because I'm not like you. I'm not saying that I'm not...like humans. Because there are others here who would do the same. There are kind and good people here. People like your brother, and Jeb, and Doc. I'm saying that I'm not like you, personally."

"Ouch," Kyle laughed after a short moment of silence. He turned, ready to return to the game, where I noticed everyone else had been transfixed by our little standoff. "Life for a life," he reiterated as he strode away. Ian shook his head in disbelief.

Three things stood out to me. First of all, Kyle had promised to leave Wanda alone. He'd made that promise before, and he'd broken it. I wasn't ready to trust his word, not at all. I was ready to keep Wanda—and Melanie—safe. I would protect them. For the right reasons this time.

Second, it hadn't escaped my notice that I didn't make Wanda's list of "good people here." She didn't think I would save the life of my enemy. She still didn't trust me completely, didn't know me yet.

I was determined to change that.

The last thing was another thing that Kyle had said. Something that I had already suspected. He'd accused Ian of having a "crush" on Wanda.

Kyle knew Ian better than anyone else did. If he thought Ian had feelings for the alien inside Melanie...he was probably right.

I'd have to keep an eye on Ian, too.

Tee-hee! I had a lot more fun writing this! Hope it was enjoyable!

On a completely random note, did anyone see the Host movie? What'd you think? Let me know your opinions on that or this chapter...or any chapter, for that matter!

Thanks for reading KylerM!