The Host Chapter 20: Freed

Jeb let me cry myself out without interrupting. He didnt chin wag every(prenominal) finished the following sniffles. It was notwithstanding when Id been completely silent for a corking half(prenominal) hour that he spoke.Still awake in thither?I didnt answer. I was overly much in the riding habit of silence.You want to come out here and blossom? he shipered. My corroborate is aching undecomposed quashking close that stupid hole.Ironically, considering my week of irritating silence, I wasnt in the mood for comp each. But his offer wasnt 1 I could ref determination. Before I could think about it, my hold were pulling me through the exit.Jeb was sitting with crossed legs on the sweep up. I watched him for whatsoever reaction as I shake out my fortifys and legs and rol lead my get ups, that he had his eye closed. Like the time of Jamies visit, he opinioned asleep.How long had it been since Id seen Jamie? And how was he this instant? My already sore heart gave a painful little lurch. flavour break-dance? Jeb asked, his eyes opening.I shrugged.Its going to be okay, you be. He grinned a wide, face-stretching grin. That stuff I interpret to J ared Well, I wont say I lied, exactly, because its all true if you look at it from a certain angle, only from close to otherwise angle, it wasnt so much the truth as it was what he requiremented to hear.I just stared I didnt belowstand a word of what he was saying.Anyway, Jared unavoidably a break from this. Not from you, kid, he added cursorily, barely from the situation. Hell gain some perspective while hes absent.I wondered how he seemed to know exactly which words and phrases would cut at me. And, much than that, why should Jeb care if his words psychic trauma me, or even if my rachis was aching and throbbing? His kindness toward me was excite in its own way because it was incomprehensible. At least Jareds actions made sense. Kyles and Ians executing attempts, the doctors cheerfu l eagerness to hurt me-these behaviors also were logical. Not kindness. What did Jeb want from me?Dont look so glum, Jeb urged. in that locations a b business side to this. Jared was macrocosm true pig channeliseed about you, and now that hes temporarily out of the picture, its bound to make things much comfortable.My eyebrows furrowed as I time-tested to decide what he meant.For example, he went on. This space here we usually use for storage. Now, when Jared and the guys get corroborate, were going to deprivation some perspective to coiffure all the stuff they bring home with them. So we might as well determine a new place for you now. Something a little high-riskger, maybe? Something with a bed? He smi out of work-emitting diode over again as he dang conduct the carrot in preliminary of me.I waited for him to jackass it away, to tell me he was joking.Instead, his eyes-the color of faded blue jeans-became very, very gentle. Something about the grimace in them brought the lump back to my throat.You dont get to go back in that hole, honey. The worst parts over.I found that I couldnt doubt the importunate look on his face. For the second time in an hour, I put my face in my hands and cried.He got to his feet and patted me awkwardly on the shoulder. He didnt seem comfortable with tears. in that respect, there, he mumblight-emitting diode.I got control of myself more than quickly this time. When I wiped the wet from my eyes and smiled tentatively at him, he nodded in approval.Thats a girl, he said, patting me again. Now, well have to hang out here until were certainly Jareds actuallyly gone and cant catch us. He grinned conspiratorially. Then well have some funI remembered that his idea of fun was usually along the lines of an fortify standoff.He chuckled at my expression. Dont vexation about it. While were waiting, you might as well try to get some rest. Ill bet even that secretive mattress would feel pretty good to you right now.I looked from his face to the mat on the floor and back.Go on, he said. You look care you could use a good sleep. Ill keep watch over you.Touched, new moisture in my eyes, I sank down on the mat and laid my flip on the pillow. It was heavenly, despite Jebs calling it thin. I stretched out to my full height, pointing my toes and scope out with my fingers. I comprehend my joints popping. Then I let myself wilt disease into the mattress. It matte as if it were hugging me, erasing all the sore spots. I sighed.Does me good to see that, Jeb muttered. Its identical an itch you cant scratch, knowing psyche is suffering under your own roof.He eased himself to the floor a few steps away and started humming quietly. I was asleep before hed finished the outset bar.When I woke up, I knew that Id been solidly asleep for a long time-a monthlong stretch than Id slept since coming here. No pains, no frightening interruptions. I would have felt pretty good, except that waking on the pillow re bewa reed me that Jared was gone. It soundless smelled interchangeable him. And in a good way, non the way I smelled. screen to just dreams. Melanie sighed forlornly.I remembered my dream only vaguely, scarce I knew it had have Jared, as was usual when I was able to sleep deeply becoming to dream.Morning, kid, Jeb said, sounding chipper.I peeled back my lids to look at him. Had he sat against the wall all night? He didnt look tired, tho I suddenly felt guilty for monopolizing the better accommodations.So the guys are long gone, he said enthusiastically. How bout a tour? He stroked the particle accelerator slung through a strap at his waist with an unconscious gesture.My eyes opened wider, stared at him in disbelief. A tour?Now, dont turn sissy on me. Nobodys going to bother you. And youll need to be able to find your way around eventually.He held out a hand to tending me up.I took it automatically, my head spinning as I tried to mathematical operation what he was saying. I would need to find my way around? why? And what did he mean eventually? How long did he expect me to travel?He pulled me to my feet and led me forward.Id forgotten what it was like to move through the lightheadedless tunnels with a hand guiding me. It was so lucky- pass barely took any submersion at all.Lets see, Jeb murmured. Maybe the right wing number one. Set up a decent place for you. Then the kitchens He went on planning his tour, inveterate as we stepped through the narrow crevice into the bright tunnel that led to the even brighter big room. When the sound of voices reached us, I felt my mouth go dry. Jeb unbroken right on chatting at me, either missing or ignoring my terror.Ill bet the carrots are sprouted today, he was saying as he led me into the main plaza. The light blinded me, and I couldnt see who was there, yet I could feel their eyes on me. The sudden silence was as ominous as ever.Yep, Jeb answered himself. Now, I always think that looks real pretty. A nice spr ing green like that is a treat to see.He stopped and held his hand out, inviting me to look. I squinted in the direction he gestured, but my eyes kept darting around the room as I waited for them to adjust. It took a moment, but then I truism what he was talking about. I also saw that there were maybe fifteen people here today, all of them regarding me with hostile eyes. But they were busy with something else, too.The wide, dark square that took up the center of the big cavern was no longer dark. Half of it was wooly-minded with spring green, just as Jeb had said. It was pretty. And amazing.No wonder no one stood on this space. It was a garden.Carrots? I whispered.He answered at normal volume. This half thats greening up. The other half is spinach. Should be up in a few days.The people in the room had gone back to work, lock peeking at me now and then but in the main concentrating on what they were doing. It was easy enough to understand their actions-and the big barrel on wheel s, and the hoses-now that I accepted the garden.Irrigating? I whispered again.Thats right. Dries out pretty quick in this screw up.I nodded in agreement. It was still early, I guessed, but I was already sweaty. The heat from the intense radiance overhead was stifling in the caves. I tried to examine the ceiling again, but it was too bright to stare at.I tugged Jebs sleeve and squinted up at the dazzling light. How?Jeb smiled, seeming thrilled with my curiosity. very(prenominal) way the magicians do it-with mirrors, kid. Hundreds of em. Took me long enough to get them all up there. Its nice to have extra hands around here when they need cleaning. See, theres only four small vents in the ceiling here, and that wasnt enough light for what I had in mind. What do you think of it?He pulled his shoulders back, proud again.Brilliant, I whispered. Astonishing.Jeb grinned and nodded, enjoying my reaction.Lets keep on, he suggested. Got a lot to do today.He led me to a new tunnel, a wide, n aturally shaped tube that ran off from the big cave. This was new territory. My muscles all locked up I moved forward with stiff legs, unbending knees.Jeb patted my hand but otherwise ignored my nerves. This is mostly sleeping quarters and some storage. The tubes are closer to the surface here, so it was easier to get some light.He pointed up at a bright, lean crack in the tunnel ceiling overhead. It threw a hand-sized spot of clean-living onto the floor.We reached a broad fork-not really a fork, because there were too legion(predicate) tines. It was an octopus-like branching of passageways.Third from the left, he said, and looked at me expectantly.Third from the left? I repeated. Thats right. Dont forget. Its easy to get lost around here, and that wouldnt be safe for you. Folksd just as soon stab you as send you in the right direction.I shuddered. Thanks, I muttered with quiet sarcasm.He laughed as if my answer had jolly him. No point in ignoring the truth. Doesnt make it worse to have it said out loud.It didnt make it better, either, but I didnt say that. I was seed to enjoy myself just a little. It was so nice to have someone talk to me again. Jeb was, if slide fastener else, interesting company.One, both, three, he counted off, then he led me down the third hallway from the left. We started passing round entrances covered by a variety of makeshift doors. Some were curtained off with pattern sheets of fabric others had big pieces of cardboard duct-taped together. One hole had two real doors-one red-painted wood, one gray metal-leaning over the opening.Seven, Jeb counted, and stopped in front of a smallish circle, the tallest point just a few inches advanced gearer than my head. This one protected its privacy with a pretty jade green screen-the kind that might divide the space in an elegant living room. There was a pattern of cherry blossoms embroidered across the silk.This is the only space I can think of for now. The only one thats fitted up dece nt for tender habitation. It will be empty for a few weeks, and well figure something better out for you by the time its needed again.He folded the screen aside, and a light that was brighter than that in the hallway greeted us.The room he revealed gave me a funny feeling of vertigo-probably because it was so much taller than it was wide. Standing deep down it was like rest in a tower or a silo, not that I had ever been in such places, but those were the comparisons Melanie made. The ceiling, twice as high as the room was wide, was a maze of cracks. Like vines of light, the cracks circled around and close met. This seemed dangerous to me-unstable. But Jeb showed no fear of cave-ins as he led me farther in.There was a double-sized mattress on the floor, with about a yard of space on three sides of it. The two pillows and two blankets twisted into two separate configurations on either half of the mattress made it look as if this room housed a couple. A thick wooden pole-something like a rake handle-was braced horizontally against the far wall at shoulder height with the ends lodged in two of the Swiss cheese holes in the rock. oer it were draped a handful of T-shirts and two p lineages of jeans. A wooden cause was flush with the wall beside the makeshift clothes rack, and on the floor downstairs it was a stack of worn paperback books.Who? I said to Jeb, susurrant again. This space so obviously belonged to someone that I no longer felt like we were alone.Just one of the guys out on the raid. Wont be back for a while. Well find you something by then.I didnt like it-not the room, but the idea of staying in it. The presence of the owner was strong despite the aboveboard belongings. No matter who he was, he would not be joyous to have me here. He would hate it.Jeb seemed to read my mind-or maybe the expression on my face was clear enough that he didnt have to.Now, now, he said. Dont worry about that. This is my house, and this is just one of my opusy gues t rooms. I say who is and isnt my guest. Right now, you are my guest, and I am offering you this room.I still didnt like it, but I wasnt going to upset Jeb, either. I vowed that I would disturb vigor, if it meant sleeping on the floor.Well, lets keep moving. Dont forget third from the left, 7th in.Green screen, I added.Exactly.Jeb took me back through the big garden room, around the perimeter to the opposite side, and through the biggest tunnel exit. When we passed the irrigators, they stiffened and turned, afraid to have me idler their backs.This tunnel was well lit, the bright crevices coming at intervals too unbendable to be natural.We go even closer to the surface now. It gets drier, but it gets hotter, too.I noticed that nearly immediately. Instead of being steamed, we were now being baked. The air was less stuffy and stale. I could taste the desert dust.There were more voices ahead. I tried to steel myself against the inevitable reaction. If Jeb insisted on treating me li ke like a human, like a welcome guest, I was going to have to get used to this. No reason to let it make me gruesome over and over again. My stomach began an unhappy rolling anyway.This ways the kitchen, Jeb told me.At first I thought we were in another tunnel, one herded with people. I pressed myself against the wall, trying to keep my distance.The kitchen was a long corridor with a high ceiling, higher than it was wide, like my new quarters. The light was bright and hot. Instead of thin crevices through deep rock, this place had huge open holes.Cant cook in the daytime, of course. Smoke, you know. So we mainly use this as the mess hall until nightfall. solely conversation had come to an abrupt halt, so Jebs words were clear for everyone to hear. I tried to hide behind him, but he kept walking farther in.Wed interrupted breakfast, or maybe it was lunch.The humans- virtually twenty at a quick estimate-were very close here. It wasnt like the big cavern. I precious to keep my eyes o n the floor, but I couldnt stop them from heartbeat around the room. Just in case. I could feel my body tensing to strike for it, though where I would run, I didnt know.Against both sides of the hallway, there were long oodles of rock. Mostly rough, purple volcanic stone, with some lighter-colored substance-cement?-running mingled with them, creating seams, memory them together. On top of these piles were different stones, browner in color, and flat. They were glued together with the light gray grout as well. The final product was a relatively even surface, like a counter or a table. It was clear that they were used for both.The humans sat on some, leaned on others. I acknowledge the bread rolls they held suspended between the table and their mouths, frozen with disbelief as they took in Jeb and his one- soul tour.Some of them were familiar. Sharon, Maggie, and the doctor were the closest group to me. Melanies cousin-german and aunt glared at Jeb furiously-I had an odd convic tion that I could have stood on my head and bellowed songs out of Melanies memory at the top of my lungs and they still would not have looked at me-but the doctor eyed me with a frank and almost friendly curiosity that made me feel cold deep inside my bones.At the back end of the hall-shaped room, I recognized the tall man with ink black blur and my heart stuttered. Id thought Jared was supposed to take up the hostile brothers with him to make Jebs job of keeping me alive slightly easier. At least it was the younger one, Ian, who had belatedly developed a conscience-not quite as bad as leaving Kyle behind. That consolation did not slow my rush pulse, however.Everybody full so quick? Jeb asked loudly and sarcastically.Lost our appetites, Maggie muttered.How bout you, he said, twist to me. You hungry?A quiet groan went through our audience.I shook my head-a small but frantic motion. I didnt even know whether I was hungry, but I knew I couldnt eat in front of this crowd that would g ladly have eaten me.Well, I am, Jeb grumbled. He walked down the aisle between the counters, but I did not follow. I couldnt stand the thought of being within easy reach of the rest. I stayed pressed against the wall where I stood. Only Sharon and Maggie watched him go to a big plastic bin on one counter and grab a roll. Everyone else watched me. I was certain that if I moved an inch, they would pounce. I tried not to breathe.Well, lets just keep on movin, Jeb suggested around a mouthful of bread as he ambled back to me. Nobody seems able to concentrate on their lunch. Easily distracted, this set.I was observance the humans for sudden movements, not really seeing their faces after that first moment when I recognized the few I could put label to. So it wasnt until Jamie stood up that I noticed him there.He was a head shorter than the adults beside him, but taller than the two smaller children who perched on the counter on his other side. He hopped lightly off his seat and followed behind Jeb. His expression was tight, compressed, like he was trying to solve a difficult equation in his head. He examined me through narrow eyes as he approached on Jebs heels. Now I wasnt the only one in the room holding my breath. The others gazes shifted back and forth between Melanies brother and me.Oh, Jamie, Melanie thought. She hated the sad, adult expression on his face, and I probably hated it even more. She didnt feel as guilty as I did for putting it there.If only we could take it away. She sighed.Its too late. What could we do to make it better now?I didnt mean the headland more than rhetorically, but I found myself searching for an answer, and Melanie searched, too. We found nothing in the brief second we had to consider the matter there was nothing to be found, I was sure. But we both knew we would be searching again when we were done with this asinine tour and had a chance to think. If we lived that long.Whatcha need, kid? Jeb asked without looking at him.Just wond ering what youre doing, Jamie answered, his voice striving for nonchalance and only just failing.Jeb stopped when he got to me and turned to look at Jamie. Takin her for a tour of the place. Just like I do for any newcomer.There was another low grumble.Can I come? Jamie asked.I saw Sharon shake her head feverishly, her expression outraged. Jeb ignored her.Doesnt bother me if you can mind your manners.Jamie shrugged. No problem.I had to move then-to knot my fingers together in front of me. I wanted so badly to push Jamies untidy hair out of his eyes and then leave my arm around his neck. Something that would not go over well, I was sure.Lets go, Jeb said to us both. He took us back out the way we had come. Jeb walked on one side of me, Jamie on the other. Jamie seemed to be trying to stare at the floor, but he kept glancing up at my face-just like I couldnt help glancing down at his. Whenever our eyes met, we looked away again quickly.We were about halfway down the big hall when I he ard the quiet footsteps behind us. My reaction was instant(prenominal) and unthinking. I skittered to one side of the tunnel, sweeping Jamie along with one arm so that I was between him and whatever was coming for me.Hey he protested, but he did not knock my arm away.Jeb was just as quick. The throttle valve twirled out of its strap with blinding speed.Ian and the doctor both raised their hands above their heads.We can mind our manners, too, the doctor said. It was hard to believe that this soft-spoken man with the friendly expression was the resident torturer he was all the more terrifying to me because his exterior was so benign. A person would be on her guard on a dark and ominous night, a person would be ready. But on a clear, sunny day? How would she know to flee when she couldnt see any place for danger to hide?Jeb squinted at Ian, the barrel of the gun shifting to follow his gaze.I dont mean any trouble, Jeb. Ill be just as mannerly as Doc.Fine, Jeb said curtly, storage roo m his gun. Just dont test me. I havent shot anybody in a real long time, and I sort of miss the thrill of it.I gasped. Everyone heard that and turned to see my horrified expression. The doctor was the first one to laugh, but even Jamie joined in briefly.Its a joke, Jamie whispered to me. His hand strayed from his side, almost as if he was reaching for mine, but he quickly shoved it into the sacque of his shorts. I let my arm-still stretched protectively in front of his body-drop, too.Well, the days wasting, Jeb said, still a little surly. Youll all have to keep up, cause Im not waiting on you. He stalked forward before he was done speaking.