the seeker – the soul who originally caught melanie. her calling is to search for and track down humans who have managed to avoid implantation, although she takes her job more seriously than most others. mutual spite towards the seeker is the basis of melanie and wanderer's early relationship. she is unusually irritable and edgy for her species, at one point even shooting a human in cold blood, despite most souls not being able to even pick up a gun. she mocks wanderer for not being able to completely drive out melanie's consciousness. this is later revealed to be because of her insecurity at having failed to subdue her own host, lacey, who speaks to her like melanie does to wanda. lacey is just as abrasive as the seeker.