A Winter of Ghosts (5 page)

Kara glanced at the trail they'dbeen about to take, the one she thought would lead them back to the rest oftheir group, but then she pulled her gaze away. She nodded and started pastHachiro.

"No!" he said.

Kara stared at him. "We can'tjust leave Sora out here alone!"

Hachiro pointed to the trail."You and the girls go. Ren and I will get Sora and catch up."

Ren took a couple of steps backtoward them. "We will?"

Kara grabbed Hachiro's arm. Somewherein her brain she knew the Japanese word for 'sexist,' but was too cold to thinkof it.

"You're not sending usahead just because we're girls!" she shouted into the wind, blinking awaysnowflakes.

Hachiro shook his headvigorously. "No! Yes, I want you safe, but someone needs to get back tothe group and tell Mr. Yamato we're still out here."

Kara hated parting from him, butHachiro was right. Someone had to go back. As much as she would have liked tostay with him, she worried about Sakura and Miho as well and wanted to makesure they reached the group safely.

"If you get back to therocks and you haven't found him, don't search. Not in this. I'm going to bewaiting for you," she said.

Hachiro gave her a quick kissand then he turned and started back down the path, shouting for Sora. Renjoined in the shouting and the two of them picked up their pace, jogging intothe whiteness until it swallowed them completely.

"Kara, come on!" Sakura said.

With one final glance — thesnow already filling in the prints Hachiro and Ren had just made — sheturned and started up the left-hand trail. Miho and Sakura linked arms with heron either side and the girls raced along this new path, branches droopingoverhead, the storm buffeting them.

They rushed along, huddledtogether, but had gone no more than a hundred yards before their path joinedanother. Kara thought it might be the one they had originally taken to get outto that stony bluff overlooking the city, but she dared not express her hopealoud. They kept on, trudging through the deepening snow. Her fingers and toesand face were numb, her legs like blocks of ice, and she knew that her friendsmust feel the same, though they traveled in silence.

One moment the trees weresagging and swaying in the storm all around them, and then they were surroundedby nothing but white. They had arrived in the clearing without even realizingit. Through the storm she could see vague figures all around them.

"Dad! Mr. Yamato! Someonehelp!" she called.

Shouts came in reply and thefigures rushed through the blizzard to reach them. She heard her father's voicecalling her name, and then he appeared out of the storm and took her in hisarms, asking if she was all right, tearing off his gloves and using his handsto rub her cheeks and warm her face.

"I'm okay," she said,barely aware that she had reverted to English. "We'll be okay. But theboys are still out there. We lost Sora somehow, and Hachiro and Ren doubledback for him."

She quickly described the pathsthey had taken, the rocky overlook they had found, and where she thought theboys would be. By that time Mr. Yamato, Miss Aritomo, and Mr. Sato had joinedthem and listened carefully. With their hats and jackets coated in snow theylooked like they were being slowly whited out, erased from the world.

"Where is everyone else?" Sakura asked, for the clearing was nearly empty.

"I sent the rest of thegroup on their way to get the students off the mountain," Mr. Yamato said.He looked scared and confused. "I don't know how the weather turned soquickly. There was nothing in the forecast about a blizzard like this. Justlight snow, and even that wasn't supposed to come until tonight."

Her father cupped her cheek inhis hands. "Keep moving, Kara. Go down with Mr. Sato and Miss Aritomo. Therest of us will find the boys and follow."

"No!" Kara said."Dad, please. Come down with us."

Hachiro was already out there inthe blizzard. Now that she had her father back, the idea of leaving him behindup there on the mountain made her frantic. She didn't even want to go back downwithout Hachiro, but she knew that they all risked frostbite if they stayed uphere much longer.

"Kara, Mr. Yamato and I aregoing to — "

"Harper-san," Mr. Satosaid, his big glasses spider-webbed with ice, "please go with Kara. I willsearch with Mr. Yamato.

Kara's father hesitated and shegrabbed his hand, silently pleading with him. Then he nodded.

"All right," he said,looking up at Miss Aritomo. "Let's get these girls off the mountain."

Hachiro's throat was raw fromshouting. His head pounded, the cold like a vise on his skull. His gloved handswere stuffed into his pockets and he could no longer feel much at all in hisfeet. He thought he might have to stop and take his boots off, use his hands torub some life back into his feet, but didn't know if that would help or if theexposure would only make it worse.

"Sora!" Ren shouted athis side. "Where are you? Can you hear us? Sora!"

They struggled along togetherside by side, Ren peering into the trees to the right of the path and Hachiroscanning the woods to the left. Another thirty yards and they would be out ofthe woods and back at the rocky overlook whose allure had gotten them all intosuch trouble in the first place.

"Sora!" Hachiroscreamed into the storm.

He opened his mouth to yellagain, but paused, thinking he'd heard some kind of reply from the thickness ofthe snow-covered woods. It might have been the wind, or the creak of a treefelled by the blizzard, but he did not think it had been either.

"So — " Renbegan.

Hachiro clamped a hand on hisshoulder, shushing him. "Quiet. Listen."

They stood still and silent forthe count of ten, but heard nothing but the cry of the wind. Hachiro glanced atRen and nodded and the two of them shouted again, this time in one voice,calling Sora's name into the storm, into the woods.

A voice cried out in reply.

"Tell me you heard that!" Hachiro said, turning to Ren.

Ren nodded. "I heard it. Idon't know what I heard, but something. Someone."

"Who else would it be?" Hachiro snapped, but he understood. The cry he had heard might have belonged toan animal. He'd been unable to make out any words, only a voice, calling out.

He stepped off the trail,glancing back at Ren, who swore and set off after him. The two boys crashedthrough the trees, snapping branches and tramping in snow that seemed somehowdeeper. The pines brushed against them as though attempting to hold them backand Hachiro tore his coat on the sharp hook of a thin, bare branch, but theyrushed onward, shouting Sora's name.

That cry came twice more, stillwordless, and Hachiro faltered slightly at the realization that it sounded morelike pain than panic. But further shouts received no reply and soon they beganto slow and finally came to a halt.

"Sora!" Hachiro roaredone last time in frustration.

Regret filled him, weighing himdown, and he turned to Ren, whose eyes revealed that he had come to the samedecision that Hachiro had.

"We have to go back,"Hachiro said.

Ren nodded. "I agree. Thatmight've been him, or it could've been a bird. Sora might have gone back tothat cliff and used the right path. He might already be with the others in theclearing. We have no way of knowing."

Hachiro felt sick, but he knewit was the truth. Sora might have made it back to the group already, but ifnot, Mr. Yamato would tell the authorities and they would get a search partyonto the mountain. He and Ren had done all they could do.

"Sora!" he shoutedone, final time. Then, hating the feeling of helplessness that filled him, heturned to Ren. "Let's go."

Together they made their wayback the way they had come, retracing their steps in the snow, snapping offmore branches, the storm raging even there amongst the trees. Hachiro had takenhalf a dozen steps when he looked up and saw a figure standing between twinpines off to his left.

"Ren, look."

"Sora?" Ren said,quietly at first, and then louder. "Sora!"

The boys barreled through thesnow, running toward those twin black pines, but when they reached thesnow-dusted figure they were brought up short. Hachiro tried to halt but hisleft boot slid out from under him and he fell, tumbling in several inches offresh snow.

Ren had started to pray.

Hachiro rolled to his knees,staring up in disbelief at the statue, there in the midst of the woods and thestorm. Only it wasn't a statue. Somehow, in the short span of time since theyhad seen him last, Sora had frozen to death, his entire body covered in a coatof glistening ice and frosted with snow.

"How is this possible?" Hachiro whispered, though the wind stole his voice so that even he could nothear his own words.

And yet he received an answer.

"All things,"
said a voice in his ear, a cold breeze that carried words, as though the winditself were speaking to him.
"All things are possible."

Ren spun around in terror, backto one of the pine trees, gazing about wide-eyed for the source of the whispery,insinuating voice. Hachiro watched him with a fresh jolt of fear. Ren had heardit, too. It had not been his imagination, nor was it the voice of some ghost. Somethingwas here with them.

"Show yourself!" hecried.

And it did. Gusts of wind cametogether, spinning the snow into a white, swirling vortex. Hachiro and Renstared as the snow began to sculpt itself into a figure, and when at last thewind subsided for a moment, the snow drifting lazily in the lull, neither ofthem could speak.

She floated atop the snow,leaving no impression. Hachiro could barely breathe. In all of his life he hadnever seen a woman so beautiful. She wore a white kimono, her long hairmatching its color, as though both were made of the snow itself.

"I know this story,"Ren whispered, stepping up beside him. "Hachiro, run!"

They turned to bolt but the windblew up so hard that it knocked them both off of their feet, tossing them intothe snow. Hachiro struck the trunk of a bare, skeletal tree. He started torise, saw Ren doing the same, and then they both glanced up at the Woman inWhite.

Hachiro stared into her eyes,inhumanly black and bottomless, like holes torn in the fabric of the world. Hisheart filled with such terror that he could not move. Her gaze alone had frozenhim with fear.

And then she smiled, her teethsharpened pearls.

B
y the time they had reached theobservatory and started down the long trail to where the bus waited in TakigamiPark below, the intensity of the storm had begun to wane. The snow slowed andthe wind began to relent at last. By the time they were halfway down, themountainside and the park below had been transformed into an idyllic winterscene. Any other day it would have been beautiful. The heart of the storm hadcome and gone, and the aftermath was white silence. But until she knew Hachiroand the others were safe, Kara could see only menace in the snow.

Her father walked beside her,grabbing her arm when she stumbled but otherwise not trying to hard to protecther. He didn't baby her, and Kara felt grateful for that. She wondered aboutfrostbite, but until they reached the heated bus there was nothing any of themcould do for themselves or for each other. They were in this together and herfather knew that.

Miho and Sakura walked ahead ofthem, accompanied by Miss Aritomo and two other teachers who had beenchaperoning the ensoku. The roommates huddled together, trying to share amodicum of body heat as they hurried down the mountain. From time to time MissAritomo glanced back at Kara and her father, worry etched into her face.

They talked very little, focusedon their descent and conserving energy. Kara's legs had started to feel likelead weights. She felt strangely sleepy, and soon the white silence around herbecame a kind of dreamlike blur.

She trudged downward, one footin front of the other, and the veil of snow thinned even more, so that soon shecould make out the bus waiting below. The others had already departed, headingback to Monju-no-Chie school. Yet now she slowed a little, staggering to astop, seeing the bus as the enemy.

"Kara, what's wrong?" her father asked.

In his eyes she saw all of thefear for her that he had been keeping bottled up during their trek. He musthave been half-frozen himself, but he took her arm to steady her and seemedabout to pick her up into his arms, as though to carry her the rest of the waydown the mountain. Love for him filled her up, but it could not drive away theterrible, icy certainty that had spread through her.

"I can't leave withoutHachiro," she said.

Miss Aritomo and the others hadhalted as well and Kara saw Miho and Sakura staring back at her in concern,though their teeth chattered and their lips had turned blue.

"Go on, Yuuka!" Kara'sfather called. "We'll be right there."

Miss Aritomo nodded andreluctantly got the rest of them moving again. Kara's father held on to her,forced her to meet his gaze.

"What are you doing, honey?The exposure you've already suffered could be dangerous. We've got to get — "

Kara searched his eyes, franticand filled with growing desperation. "Dad, I can't. I just. . I can'tleave without him. I look down at that bus and all I can think — I can'tget it out of my mind — is that if I get on board, if I let them closethe doors behind me, then I'll never see him again. He's going to die up there."

Her father held her face in hishands, his gloves rimed with half-melted snow. "No, he's not. They'regoing to find him, Kara. And it will do him no good if you end up losingfingers or toes from frostbite. The storm is already starting to slow and there'llbe a couple of hours of daylight left for people to search. . people who arebetter equipped and prepared for the elements than we are."

She took a deep breath, takingthat in, and stared at the bus waiting ominously below before meeting herfather's gaze once again.

"How does something likethis happen?" she asked. "What Mr. Yamato said about the forecast.. I mean, it was nothing, not much more than flurries at first, and then.."

Overwhelmed, Kara could notfinish the sentence.

"A squall," her fathersaid. He took her by the arm and guided her down the trail, getting her walkingagain. "I've read about freak weather before. It happens. Like 'thundersnow' and things like that. When weather fronts collide the weather is alwayswild."

As he spoke, police cars beganto pull into the parking lot of Takigami Park below, their lights spinning,reflecting off of the snow. They were followed by an ambulance and two SUVs. WhenKara saw police officers and other people start to pile out of the vehicles,relief swept over her. The snow
was
subsiding. Mr. Sato and Mr. Yamatowere still up there, and soon the search would expand. There might not be morethan a couple of hours before dark, but maybe that would be enough. It waspossible that they had already found Hachiro and the other boys and that noneof this would turn out to be necessary.

She turned to say as much to herfather, and saw Sora standing beyond him, perhaps fifty feet from the path. Hestood amidst a copse of cherry trees, their bare branches interwoven like aspider's web. His red jacket had turned pale, bleached of color the same waythe winter storm had turned the whole world gray, but Kara could see himclearly enough.

"Oh, my God," shesaid, a laugh bubbling out of her.

"What is it?" herfather asked.

But Kara started running, bootssinking into four inches of fresh snow. A grin spread across her face and sheglanced past Sora, searching for Hachiro and Ren, putting it all together in aninstant — they must have found some other path that led them to a placewhere they could see the bus waiting in Takigami Park and started down towardit.

"Sora!"

"Kara, wait!" herfather called.

She glanced back at him for onlyan instant, but when she looked toward the cherry grove again, Sora hadvanished. There were only the bare trees and contorted interweaving ofbranches.

All of the air went out of herin a single breath and she faltered, staggering to a stop. Suddenly she feltmore exhausted than ever. Falling to her knees in the snow, she felt all of herfear and worry overflowing, rushing out of her. Somehow it became a laugh, evenas tears began to spill down her cheeks.

She heard footsteps crunching inthe snow and a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Kara?" her fatherventured, so softly.

She wiped at her eyes and lookedup at him. "I saw Sora. He was right over there."

But there was nowhere aroundthose bare trees where anyone could have hidden themselves — even if Sorahad some reason to do so — and they were close enough now to see oneadditional detail that filled the hollow place inside Kara with dread andgrief. There were no footprints in the snow beneath the cherry trees.

"Did you see him?" sheasked.

"I was watching you,"her father said. "I'm sorry."

Kara turned to see Sakura andMiho approaching them. Miss Aritomo and the other teachers waited back on thepath, watching curiously.

"You saw Sora?"

Kara couldn't answer. Sheswallowed hard. All she could think of in that moment was the story Hachiro hadtold her about seeing Jiro's barefoot ghost on the train into Miyazu Station.

"Hey," Miho whispered,kneeling beside her in the snow, neither of them paying any attention to thedampness soaking through the knees of their pants — they couldn't feel itanymore.

"I think I saw him, too. Justfor a second," Miho went on.

Kara stared up at her, thenglanced at Sakura and her father. "He's dead."

"You don't know that,"her father said quickly, brows sternly knitted.

But she did. What she had seencould only have been a ghost. She bit her lip, took Miho's hand, and the two ofthem stood. They exchanged silent glances with Sakura and then, as one, thethree girls started back toward the path.

"Come on, Dad. I'mfreezing."

Her father followed, but she sawhim glancing back at the cherry grove, although there was no longer anythingthere to see.

All through the rest of the walkdown to Takigami Park, where they boarded the bus, Kara felt torn by warringemotions. She grieved for Sora, whom she'd liked very much, but she alsonurtured a flickering, guilty hope that Hachiro and Ren would be all right. Shehad not seen their ghosts, after all, only Sora's.

On the bus, she sat with herfather. Miho and Sakura had each other, so Kara did not feel like she was abandoningthem. Miss Aritomo busied herself with the grim business of making sure thereweren't any other students unaccounted for and then got off the bus to talkquietly with a police officer for several minutes. When she boarded again, shesat behind the driver and told him to take them home.

Kara turned to look up at herfather. "We can't leave them up there."

"We aren't. I promise you,honey. The police are heading up onto the mountain now with a bunch ofvolunteers, and more on the way. But my first responsibility is to you. Let'sget you into something warm and dry, and by then, the boys will be down offthat mountain."

Not all
, shethought.

As the bus rattled out of theparking lot and back toward school, feeling began to return to her feet and herbody started to warm up at last, but inside she felt more numb than ever. Shehuddled against her father, taking comfort from the solidity of his presence. Hespoke to her with quiet strength that soothed her far more than the words hechose. Any other day she would have been embarrassed at such a display, a girlher age being so dependent upon her father, especially in Japan. But she couldnot bring herself to care.

Kara opened her eyes, jostled asthe bus went over a pothole, and was surprised to see the outline ofMonju-no-Chie school through the window. The snow had stopped falling and thesky had lightened somewhat, though cloud cover still blotted out the sun. Momentslater, they turned into the drive that ran alongside the school and led to thedormitory beyond.

"Did I fall asleep?" she asked.

"Maybe for a minute or two,"her father said.

Fresh anguish filled her. "Howcould I do that? Hachiro and Ren are — "

"Kara," he replied,taking her hand and squeezing it. "Rest is good. You're not going to beany help to your friends if you're falling apart."

She took a long, shuddery breathand then nodded. "Okay. You're right."

"Honey. ."

If any sleep lingered in her,his tentative, almost secretive tone banished it. "What?"

He glanced around as though tosee who might be listening and when he spoke again, he had lowered his voice. Fora moment she thought he would speak in English, but then she realized thatdoing so might draw more attention rather than less.

"What did you see while wewere coming down the mountain?"

Kara understood what her fatherwas asking her. Once upon a time, she had been afraid to talk to him about thesupernatural things she had encountered since they had moved to Japan, fearfulthat he would think she was losing her mind. And for a time, after she had toldhim, he had believed she was making up stories as a way to interfere with hisrelationship with Miss Aritomo. It had put a wedge between them.

But all that was in the past,now. Rob Harper had seen things that he could not deny, and nearly paid theprice for that epiphany with his life. Any tension between them had been burnedaway by the danger they'd faced together. They were a team now.

None of which meant that hereally wanted to know the answer to the question he'd just asked.

"You know what I saw,"she whispered.

Something flickered in his eyes,and then he nodded. "I guess I do."

The bus's brakes screeched to ahalt. When the doors opened, Kara stood up first, stepping into the aisle. Mihoand Sakura had been sitting right behind her and both of them looked as drainedas she felt. Behind her glasses, Miho's eyes were red from crying.

They filed off one by one, thestudents gathering in small clusters in the parking lot. All but one of theother buses had already departed, the last one standing empty just a few yardsaway, the driver talking on his cell phone outside the door. He seemed agitatedand Kara noticed that he kept looking at a paint-scraped dent on the side ofthe bus, which she assumed was new. The parking lot had not been cleared ofsnow, and her feet grew cold again immediately.

"Kara," her fathersaid. As she turned to him, he pulled her into a tight hug. "We're goingto need to talk about this later, and what it might mean. But right now — "

"I know. You have to help geteveryone situated."

"And then I want to findout what's going on back at the mountain. If I can't reach Mr. Yamato, I'm suresomeone will know. Hopefully they've found the boys already, but if not, I'mgoing to go back there."

Kara looked at the dimming sky."Dad, by the time you get there, you might have an hour of daylight left."

The rest of the conversationwent unspoken, and Kara was glad. She did not want to think about the chancesof anyone surviving the night on the mountain.

"Can you stay with Sakuraand Miho for now?" he asked. "I'm sure they have something warm youcould put on. And when the teachers are free to go, Yuuka will come get you andtake you back to the house."

Kara glanced around, surprisedthat he was talking about his relationship with Miss Aritomo so openly. "Areyou sure that's — "

"It'll be fine," hepromised. "Go ahead. And make sure your phone is on. If I learn anythingat all, I'll call."

Students had been shuffling pastthem, streaming from the parking lot to the dorm. Kara thanked her father, toldhim she loved him, and then hurried over to join Sakura and Miho, who had beenwaiting for her. Miho's eyes had lost some of their redness and both girlslooked more awake than they had while getting off the bus. Sakura stamped her feetand Kara looked at them, noticing for the first time that the girl's boots weresoaked through.

"Oh, no. Are you okay?" she asked.

Sakura glanced down as thoughshe'd forgotten her feet were even there. "I can't feel them, but I'mstill standing up, so I know they still work."

"Can I stay with you guysfor a while?" Kara asked.

Miho nodded. "Of course. Besides,I think we all need to talk, don't you?"

Kara swallowed the emotion thatthreatened to well up inside of her. She nodded. "Yeah. We do."

The three girls turned andstarted up toward the dormitory together. As they approached, Kara noticed thatMai and Wakana had not entered the dorm but were waiting outside, watching themapproach. Mai wore an expectant look, but Wakana had the most awful hauntedexpression in her eyes.