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THE HOST
Stephenie Meyer
ALSO BYSTEPHENIEMEYER
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse
Copyright © 2008 by Stephenie Meyer
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or
stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group USA
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Visit our Web site atwww.HachetteBookGroupUSA.com
First eBook Edition: May 2008
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author is grateful for permission to reprint the poem "Question" fromNature: Poems Old
and New,by May Swenson. Copyright © 1994 by The Literary Estate of May Swenson.
Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-316-03232-2
Contents
Prologue: Inserted
Chapter 1: Remembered
Chapter 2: Overheard
Chapter 3: Resisted
Chapter 4: Dreamed
Chapter 5: Uncomforted
Chapter 6: Followed
Chapter 7: Confronted
Chapter 8: Loved
Chapter 9: Discovered
Chapter 10: Turned
Chapter 11: Dehydrated
Chapter 12: Failed
Chapter 13: Sentenced
Chapter 14: Disputed
Chapter 15: Guarded
Chapter 16: Assigned
Chapter 17: Visited
Chapter 18: Bored
Chapter 19: Abandoned
Chapter 20: Freed
Chapter 21: Named
Chapter 22: Cracked
Chapter 23: Confessed
Chapter 24: Tolerated
Chapter 25: Compelled
Chapter 26: Returned
Chapter 27: Undecided
Chapter 28: Unenlightened
Chapter 29: Betrayed
Chapter 30: Abbreviated
Chapter 31: Needed
Chapter 32: Ambushed
Chapter 33: Doubted
Chapter 34: Buried
Chapter 35: Tried
Chapter 36: Believed
Chapter 37: Wanted
Chapter 38: Touched
Chapter 39: Worried
Chapter 40: Horrified
Chapter 41: Vanished
Chapter 42: Forced
Chapter 43: Frenzied
Chapter 44: Healed
Chapter 45: Succeeded
Chapter 46: Encircled
Chapter 47: Employed
Chapter 48: Detained
Chapter 49: Interrogated
Chapter 50: Sacrificed
Chapter 51: Prepared
Chapter 52: Separated
Chapter 53: Condemned
Chapter 54: Forgotten
Chapter 55: Attached
Chapter 56: Welded
Chapter 57: Completed
Chapter 58: Finished
Chapter 59: Remembered
Epilogue: Continued
About the Author
To my mother, Candy,
who taught me that love is the best part of any story
QUESTION
Body my house
my horse my hound
what will I do
when you are fallen
Where will I sleep
How will I ride
What will I hunt
Where can I go
without my mount
all eager and quick
How will I know
in thicket ahead
is danger or treasure
When Body my good
bright dog is dead
How will it be
to lie in the sky
without roof or door
and wind for an eye
with cloud for a shift
how will I hide?
-May Swenson
PROLOGUE
Inserted
The Healer's name was Fords Deep Waters.
Because he was a soul, by nature he was all things good: compassionate, patient, honest,
virtuous, and full of love. Anxiety was an unusual emotion for Fords Deep Waters.
Irritation was even rarer. However, because Fords Deep Waters lived inside a human body,
irritation was sometimes inescapable.
As the whispers of the Healing students buzzed in the far corner of the operating room, his lips
pressed together into a tight line. The expression felt out of place on a mouth more often given
to smiling.
Darren, his regular assistant, saw the grimace and patted his shoulder.
"They're just curious, Fords," he said quietly.
"An insertion is hardly an interesting or challenging procedure. Any soul on the street could
perform it in an emergency. There's nothing for them to learn by observing today." Fords was
surprised to hear the sharp edge marring his normally soothing voice.
"They've never seen a grown human before," Darren said.
Fords raised one eyebrow. "Are they blind to each other's faces? Do they not have mirrors?"
"You know what I mean-a wild human. Still soulless. One of the insurgents."
Fords looked at the girl's unconscious body, laid out facedown on the operating table. Pity
swelled in his heart as he remembered the condition her poor, broken body had been in when the