I became increasingly skilled at supressing Jordan as the days wore into weeks. I never once spoke to her. She thought I was incapable of interhost communication. Obviously, I was not, but it was useful for me to have her believe this. Ignoring her made her gradually grow more quiet, as she came to believe that I couldn't hear her.

"Hi, Danielle!" I called. Danielle waved, then disappeared into her classroom.

Jordan's life was indeed complex. It was the first thing that struck me upon taking her on as a host. There were always names, times, places, faces to remember and respond to in a particular way. This set of people were not to be spoken to. That set were, but only when the other set was watching. A third set might be spoken to at any time, unless the subject matter was academic. Then apologies had to be made before school was brought up.

It was a dizzying little existence for one human girl. I shuddered to think how adult lives must have been. Jordan was under the impression that all adults had it easy. I suspected the opposite.

One role I had to play as Jordan was, in my host's words, "Rachel's social secretary."

"Hey, Jordan." The boy whose name Jordan could not bring to mind paused for a moment as I rummaged through Jordan's locker. Jordan thought he was cute.

"Hi!" I chirped. "How are you?"

"Fine," he answered automatically. "Have you seen Rachel?"

I rolled Jordan's eyes. "No, sorry, I don't have my sister radar working today. You'll just have to find her the old-fashioned way."

He left without another word. {Okay, I've changed my mind,} Jordan thought. {He's not cute.}

Jordan often made snap decisions based on very brief interactions. Yet, I tended to agree with her. The boy - she could still not remember his name - seemed cold and withdrawn. I had seen him sitting alone in the cafeteria, just watching the other kids. As if assessing their strengths and flaws. He had a reputation for being sort of a wimp. He never actually got beat up. He had a habit of giving bullies whatever it took to pacify them for the moment. I only knew him by reputation, but he reminded me of many Yeerks I have known. The kids called him Spineless behind his back.

Tobias, that was his name.

Later in the day, Jordan's cousin, Jake pretended to have a conversation with me. In the end, he too just wanted to know where Rachel was.

Jake had changed recently, too. Jordan wasn't too close to him, so she wasn't sure if the change had started around the same time as Rachel's. But there was an edge to Jake. Jordan felt pushed around every time he was near. She felt like standing up to him, but there was nothing he did that she could stand up to. He was polite, but brief, and never seemed to enjoy conversation for its own sake. He wanted things from people. I felt the same way Jordan did, around Jake. Threatened.

Jordan wondered if he, too, had been affected by the death of Rachel's friend, Cassie. She suspected they had liked each other.

{I guess some people just can't move on,} she mused.

I still felt for Rachel. Yet, that aching decreased each day, as I interacted with her more. She was so angry. So very angry. I didn't know what she had to hate so much, but whatever it is, she seemed steeped in it. Her every movement was dark and brooding. She couldn't touch most things without destroying or damaging them. It was as if a forest fire danced beneath her skin, desperate to break free and destroy.

All this because of the death of one friend?

I thought all this was very sad, at best. Pitiful and disgusting at worst. Rachel and her friends were dysfunctional, troubled youths. The only one who seemed at all normal was that Marco boy who Jordan thought so cute. I never suspected anything more than teenage hormones and potential drug abuse.

Which is why I was so surprised when they kidnapped me one night.