A/N: Don't own, don't sue. Okay, this is my first multi-chapter fic for "The Host," so please read and review! Enjoy.
Chapter 1
It was a wonder no one else noticed them, for they stood out like two sore thumbs.
Though they had fake scars on the backs of their necks, the scars were still obvious, unlike those of actual host bodies. They also looked around the store warily, almost as if they were afraid that someone was going to attack them. Souls would never do that.
What really gave them away, however, were the angry words they were exchanging with each other. They looked like they were friends, but they seemed to be having a very heated disagreement. The girl had her back to me, but from where I stood I could see that she had long black hair. The boy I had a better view of, since they girl standing in front of him was so short. He had dark brown hair and shining green eyes, and I observed that his right hand was hanging limply from his wrist.
Before anyone else could notice them, I quietly approached the girl from behind. When I reached her, I tapped her on the shoulder gently and said, "Excuse me?"
She reacted much more wildly than I ever could have expected whirling around to face me, her arms flailing wildly so that she knocked over half a shelf of vitamin bottles. Then she caught sight of my eyes and subtly clenched her jaw, preparing to fight.
"Is everything okay over there, miss?" the soul behind the pharmacist's counter asked.
Smiling sweetly, I said, "Yes, everything's fine. I just surprised my old friends here, that's all." Patting the girl on the shoulder and flashing her a subtle don't-screw-this-up look, I added, "Her host was always such a klutz."
The pharmacist smiled and went back to his inventory.
"What are you doing?" the girl hissed. Now that she was facing me, I noticed that she had striking sapphire blue eyes, making her look remarkably like a female version of Ian.
"I'm trying to get you out of here safely before anyone else notices that you're still human," I replied, lowering my voice.
"But y-you're one of them," she stammered in shock. "And y-you lied, you could've turned us in!"
I nodded and smiled, trying to be friendly and reassuring.
"Okay," she breathed. "What do you want us to do?"
The boy, who up until that moment had been silent, leapt forward and grabbed the girl's shoulder with his seemingly good hand. "What are you doing?" he hissed angrily.
"I'm going with her," the girl replied defiantly, eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. "Are you?"
"But she's one of them!" he protested, his eyes darting around the store nervously.
Honestly, I couldn't blame him for fearing us. After all we'd done to his race, he had a right to. "Yes, she is, but she also lied to the other one," she explained rationally. "And I've never seen that. It's against their rules or something."
I opened my mouth to affirm this, but then I closed it, sensing that the boy wasn't after my approval. "Just trust me on this one, Jeremy," the girl said, pleading now.
So the boy's name was Jeremy. I'd have to remember that. Sighing, he said, "Okay," and released his death grip on her shoulder.
"What do you want us to do?" she repeated, turning to me.
"Just walk out of the store casually, don't act unusual," I told her. Sighing, I asked, "Do you think you could act like souls do?"
"Yeah, I think so," she said, nodding, and I was grateful she didn't put up a fuss about it.
"I'll meet you outside and lead you from there," I continued. "I don't want to tell you anything until we're completely safe."
She nodded and took Jeremy's hand in hers and turned to leave. "Wait!" I hissed.
She turned to look at me curiously. "What?"
"What's your name?" I asked.
A small smile spread across her lips, as though she hadn't had the pleasure of introducing herself to anyone for a long time. "I'm Elizabeth."
I nodded. Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, with Jeremy's hand in hers, turned to leave and left the store nonchalantly, as if nothing were wrong.
That was smart of her, pretending that Jeremy was her partner. I just hoped they knew what soul names were like in case someone stopped them.
As quickly as I could, I gave my items to the man behind the counter to scan. Once I was done, I carried them out of the store quickly, looking around for Elizabeth and Jeremy. I found them by the store window, pretending to consider buying it.
Good. So they were smart.
I approached them, smiling all the while. "Good, now follow me," I said. "Keep chatting like that. We're old friends, remember?"
They continued chatting, but at one point Elizabeth stopped abruptly. "Wait, we don't know your name."
"I'm Wanderer," I told her. "Some people call me Wanda."
She nodded, and continued her small talk with Jeremy. I hastily led them to the car where Ian, Jared, and Mel were waiting. This was our last stop on a raid that had taken us three weeks, and I was grateful for this fact. Having to hide five humans on a raid? Three was complicated enough.
Seeing that I was heading toward the jeep, Jeremy jerked his head at it, and asked, "Who's in the car?"
"Human friends of mine," I replied as we neared. When we were close enough to be recognized, Ian got out of the car, shutting the door behind him and running toward us.
What was he doing? They all usually wait in the car.
I was about to say something when Elizabeth sprinted passed me, crying, "Ian!"
How did she know his name?
She threw herself into his arms and he hugged her tightly, pressing a brotherly kiss to her head. Jeremy soon joined the festivities, wrapping his good arm around both of them.
"Elizabeth," Ian said, looking extremely happy. I hadn't seen him that happy since… well, since I woke up in Pet's body. "I thought you were… dead."
"What do you think I thought about you?" she asked, looking up at him with equal joy on her face. Jared and Melanie got out of the car, both to help me with the bags of goods and to ogle Jeremy and Elizabeth.
"Wanda," Ian said, looking up at me and beaming brightly. "Wanda, this is my younger sister, Elizabeth."
Wait.
Sister?
Then it came to me. Ian had mentioned having a sister once or twice, but he had also mentioned that he was sure she was serving as a host body by now. After their father was taken, he, Kyle, his mother, Elizabeth, and her best friend, who I now knew to be Jeremy, had gone on the run. The O'Shea's hand taken Jeremy with him because both his parents had already been taken, and he had nowhere else to go. Eventually, when a bunch of Seekers found them, they split, Kyle with Ian, and their mother with Elizabeth and Jeremy. When their mother, or rather, the soul in their mother's body came after them, they assumed that Elizabeth and Jeremy had been captured as well.
But apparently not.
"You're Ian's sister?" I asked, still in a bit of shock. So that was why she looked like a female version of him. She was his sister.
She nodded her head. "Of all the souls… I was lucky enough to pick the one that knows my brother."
I beamed happily at her use of the phrase 'lucky enough.' Ian released his sister and leaned forward, giving me a peck on the lips.
Both Elizabeth and Jeremy gaped at us, though not unkindly. They were just surprised.
After a few moments, Elizabeth smiled brightly and nodded in approval. "You're not… disgusted? Appalled?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "If my brother's happy, that's all that matters. And you seem to be making him happy. Besides, I like you Wanderer."
Jeremy relaxed at this declaration and nodded in agreement. "Me too."
Never had any human given me such easy acceptance. Jamie and Jeb had been welcoming, but, of course, they were cautious at the beginning. Elizabeth had been, too, but she trusted her brother's judgment enough and liked me enough to get over that. Jeremy, as well, had been extremely careful and wary, but he trusted Elizabeth enough to accept me.
Humans were so complicated.
Suddenly, with an alarmed expression on her face, Elizabeth turned to Ian and said hesitantly, "Where's Kyle?"
"Oh, he's back at the cave," Ian replied, gripping his sister's shoulders and squeezing them tightly.
"Good," she said, exhaling loudly in relief. "When he wasn't with you… I thought…"
"No, he's fine," Ian reassured her. He then turned to Jeremy and clapped him on the back. "You kept your promise."
"I'm not the type not to," Jeremy replied with a crooked grin.
Elizabeth snapped her head around and demanded, "What promise?"
"Right before we split, I made Jeremy promise to take care of you," Ian explained. "And he kept his promise all right."
"I don't need to be taken care of," she told him, her blue eyes flashing in a way remarkably similar to Ian's.
"Sounds like me," came a familiar voice, the voice that used to be mine.
Melanie and Jared had finally finished loading the items into the jeep and had now joined us, smiling down at Elizabeth and Jeremy. "Hi, I'm Melanie Stryder," she said, offering her hand for the two teenagers to shake. They both shook it.
"I'm Elizabeth O'Shea," Elizabeth said.
"O'Shea?" Mel frowned. "You related to Ian?"
"She's my sister," Ian explained.
"And I'm Jeremy Richards," Jeremy said, introducing himself.
"I'm Jared Howe," Jared said, shaking both their hands as well. "And I don't mean to break up the family reunion and all, but we should probably get on the road. I assume the two of you are coming with us?" Elizabeth and Jeremy glanced at each other and nodded.
"Okay, let's go," Mel said, ushering all of us into the car. I sat in the back with Elizabeth, Ian seated in between us. Mel, Jared, and Jeremy said in the front.
"So why were you in a store anyway?" Jared asked curiously. "Why would you put yourself in danger like that?"
"It was Elizabeth's idea actually," Jeremy replied. "And it was stupid and unnecessary."
"Oh, shut up, Jer," Elizabeth told him playfully. "Jeremy broke his wrist and he needed pain meds… but we never got them."
"Don't worry, we have No Pain back at the caves," I told her. "And Doc can take a look at his wrist."
"You guys have a doctor?" Jeremy asked incredulously.
"Yeah," Mel told him, nodding her head. "Jared, how far are we?"
"About half an hour out," he said.
True to his word, they arrived at the caves half an hour later, and Mel and Jared led the way through the entrance to the main plaza. "Jeb!" Ian bellowed, spotting the man talking to Trudy. "Jeb, we've got two newbies!"
Jeb looked up and hurried over, saying, "Who'd we get?' He looked down at Elizabeth and chuckled. "I'll bet you're an O'Shea, aren't you?"
"Yeah," she nodded as Ian grasped her shoulder again, "I'm Elizabeth O'Shea."
"You look just like Kyle and Ian," Jeb told her, and she beamed. "Only you're a girl and you have Ian's nose."
"And I'm Jeremy Richards," Jeremy said, shaking Jeb's hand.
"Welcome to our community," Jeb said, smiling. Looking up at Ian, Mel, Jared, and me, he asked, "Where'd you find them?"
"I found them in a store," I replied. "I noticed they were still human and I managed to smuggle them out."
"Good job, Wanda," Jeb said, patting me on the back. "I'm going to work on finding somewhere to sleep for you two, okay? Any preferences?"
"I think… I think we'd rather share a room," Jeremy said slowly, and Ian's grasp on his sister's shoulder tightened. "I don't feel comfortable with Elizabeth near me."
"Sure," Jeb shrugged. "I'll see what I can do."
"Are you guys hungry?" I asked, looking down at them. They were young, but not much younger than my new host's body. I would guess that they were both seventeen.
"Yeah, I'm starved," Elizabeth nodded, patting her growling stomach.
I was about to suggest that we go eat, but I was cut off by a loud voice.
"ELIZABETH!"