A Winter of Ghosts (10 page)

"But that might not beuntil spring," Sakura said.

Kubo nodded grimly and sippedhis tea again. Holding the small cup in his hands, he surveyed his gatheredguests.

"Tell me the story of howyou believe we have come to this moment. Leave nothing out."

Mr. Yamato and Kara's fatherlooked at Miss Aritomo.

"It began with Kyuketsuki,"the art teacher said. "Kara, you should tell it."

Kara shook her head. "No. Itreally started with Akane, and that isn't my story to tell."

Sakura fidgeted, glancing aroundas though searching for an escape from this moment. Miho pushed her glasses upon the bridge of her nose and tucked a lock of her long hair behind her ear,retreating into her old shyness, her sympathy for Sakura making her unwillingto push the matter.

At last Sakura looked up atKara, who pleaded with her silently. But they all knew that Sakura would haveto tell it. Too much was at stake for her to refuse The Unsui's request.

Sakura looked at Kubo. "Mysister's name was Akane Murakami," she said. "And she died for a boyshe did not love."

It pained Sakura to tell thestory. When she had finished, she sat in numb silence and listened to theothers unspool the rest of the tale. Kara began with her arrival atMonju-no-Chie school and talked of death shrines and cats and nightmares. Mihotalked about the Noh play they had intended to do in the fall. Mr. Harper andMiss Aritomo told the story of the Hannya that had possessed the art teacherand nearly killed them all. And they all shared the telling of the blizzardthat had killed Sora, with Mr. Yamato explaining the efforts of the police andother searchers to locate the missing boys.

Through all of their words,Sakura only listened. She thought about Akane, and how she had made peace withher sister's death, and a truth began to take shape in her mind, sharpening andclarifying itself with every passing minute. She had come to terms with Akane'sdeath, but would never be able to make peace with the fact that her sister hadbeen murdered. She had let her anger go and given in to her sorrow, but nowthat her parents had finally begun to break out of the spell that grief had putthem under, Sakura's own anger had begun to resurface.

It had been hard enough to standat her sister's funeral and know she would be gone forever, but she had movedon the best she could.

Yet how could she move on whenthe echoes of Akane's death continued to wreak havoc upon her life? All oftheir lives. As she listened to the stories being told, it only drove home evenmore that her sister's murder was the axis upon which all of this death andanguish spun. How could she move on, as long as the curse of Kyuketsuki loomedover her?

The answer was painfullyobvious.

She couldn't.

The voices around the table hadfallen silent. Everyone watched Kubo, the air thick with expectation. Sakurastudied his thick, wiry eyebrows, perhaps the most expressive part of his face.They had dipped into frowns and leaped with smiles throughout the visit thusfar. Now, though, those eyebrows gave no hint as to his mood.

When at last he began slowly tonod, Sakura felt a small flame ignite within her, though it took a moment forher to recognize it as hope — the hope that one day soon they could putall of this behind them. She had become accustomed to being cursed, and evenbegun to accept that they might have to all leave Japan to escape it, and toleave Miyazu City right away to get away from Yuki-Onna. . though she wasn'tsure that would even work.

"Master Kubo?" MissAritomo said, prompting the Unsui.

The old monk looked at her,those bristly eyebrows came to life again, tilting downward in a solemnexpression of contemplation.

"Yes," he said. "Theremay be a way."

"Please, Kubo-san,"Kara's father said quickly. "Tell us."

"In a moment," Kubosaid.

He unfolded himself from thefloor and stood, hurrying to the same door he had used when he had made themtea. Moments later, he shuffled back in and across the tatami mats with onefist closed and the other holding lengths of black twine.

Seating himself once more uponthe pillow, he laid the twine across his lap and opened his clenched fist. Uponhis palm lay four stones of a dull gray hue. They would have been entirelyordinary except for two characteristics that all four shared. Each had a singlehole directly in its center, and each was a perfect circle. They varied insize, but not in the perfection of their roundness.

"These come from the streambeside my home," Kubo said, as he strung the first of them onto a lengthof twine and handed it to Kara's father. "Emperors have been born and diedin the time they have spent there, the water wearing them smooth. The holes Ihave made myself."

They all watched in confusion ashe strung a second and handed it to Miss Aritomo, and then a third, which hegave to Mr. Yamato. The fourth he strung and then tied the ends of the twine tokeep it from falling off.

"I don't understand,"Mr. Harper said.

"Go on," Kubo said,gesturing to Kara. "Tie them around the girls' necks. They are simplecharms, but will help protect them from Yuki-Onna."

"They're rocks!" Sakura found herself saying, and more sharply than was proper. "Whatshould we do, throw them at her when she comes to kill us?"

The Unsui sat up straighter,expression darkening, and suddenly the kindly old man had been replaced by agreat master.

"I have wandered in fleshand spirit for longer than you three girls have breathed the air of this world.There are things in it which, even after all you have seen, you will likelynever understand — a delicate balance between earth and sky, between bodyand mind, between seen and unseen. And the unseen requires faith."

Ashamed, Sakura lowered herhead. "Forgive me, Kubo-sensei."

The old monk smiled. "Ofcourse. Now listen, and behave. The stream made the stones round and smooth,but I put the eyes in them — "

Mr. Yamato tied one aroundSakura's neck and she held it between thumb and finger, realizing that by 'eye'Kubo meant the hole in the center.

"There are old words, oldprayers, that can provide protection, and I have spoken those words over thesestones myself. They are defenses. Wards against evil. Ancient spirits do notsee humans for their faces, but for their essence, and your essence can be
hidden
behind masks or with the help of certain charms."

Sakura immediately thought ofthe masks they had worn when they had stopped the Hannya, and understood atlast how the masks had helped them. From the look on Miho's face, she saw thather roommate had made the same connection.

"But we can't wear masksall of the time," Kara said. "In school or in the city, for instance."

The Unsui nodded. "Exactly.But with these. ." he gestured to the necklaces. "If Yuki-Onnacomes for you, even if she stands in the same room with you, she will be blindto you. Her terrible gaze will slide away from you, slip off of the stone orthrough its eye. She may know something is there, but she will not see you, andthat will give you time to escape her."

Sakura saw Mr. Harper take Kara'shand and squeeze, obviously relieved and hopeful but also so frightened for hisdaughter. She almost wished her own father were here, but if he had been, sheknew he would never have believed, or understood. This was something she had todo on her own.

"The fourth is for yourfriend Hachiro, when you find him," Kubo said, handing the stone on itsstring to Kara.

Kara lit up. "Then youthink he's alive?"

Kubo nodded once. "He maybe. If so, he may need this."

"But, Master Kubo, thiscannot work forever," Miss Aritomo said. "If Yuki-Onna can't bestopped or driven away, more people will die. Even if we save these girls, thedemon is still on the mountain and it may be a very long winter."

"And Hachiro is still upthere," Kara said quickly, looking around at her friends and then herfather. "But with these. . wards. . we could help look for him andYuki-Onna wouldn't know we were there."

Kubo raised both hands to calmthem. When he had their attention, he poured himself another cup of tea andlifted it to his lips.

"I have not heard any storywhere Yuki-Onna was defeated or banished," he said, before sipping his teaand putting the cup back down. "But this is different from the tales Ihave heard. Such spirits are ancient and faded. They are quiet now, driftinginto the past like smoke rising into the sky. It was not simply the death ofthe woman during the winter's first snow that brought Yuki-Onna here. It wasthe curse that Kyuketsuki placed upon you, the call for vengeance which thatdemon sent out into the spirit world. The power of Kyuketsuki's curse seems tohave helped guide and summon both the Hannya and Yuki-Onna, given them thestrength to manifest. If we can break the curse — "

They all bolted upright.

"You can break the curse?" Miho squeaked.

"It may be possible,"Kubo allowed.

The adults all exchangedglances. Miss Aritomo took Mr. Harper's free hand, gazing at him hopefully.

"Then Yuki-Onna would goaway?" Mr. Yamato asked.

The Unsui shrugged. "If Iam correct, yes. Without Kyuketsuki's curse to help anchor her, she will not bestrong enough to remain in our world."

"Can you do it?" Karaasked. "I mean, can you do it now? They haven't found Hachiro and all Ican think is that she's hiding him somehow, and if you could break the curseand send her away — "

Again, the old monk raised bothhands and they all fell silent.

Sakura felt her heart poundingin her chest. Was it possible this could all really be over?

"I believe I can performthe ritual needed to break Kyuketsuki's curse. But there is one element that isout of my control, and which you must arrange before it can be done."

"What is it?" Mihoasked eagerly.

"If your friend Hachiro isalive, she has kept him so because she something about certain handsome boysintrigues her, as though she seeks some young man to be her eternal companion. Butthe stories that speak of this also say that when she tires of these boys, shedestroys them. Hachiro must be retrieved from the mountain. But not only forhis own sake. You must all be there when I conduct the ritual, includingHachiro, because you were there when Kyuketsuki was defeated and driven fromthe world. It will not work unless each of those who were present take part inthe ritual."

Sakura felt her face flush withhorror and her breath caught in her throat.

"But that means. ."she began.

"Yes," Kubo said, andin his eyes she saw that he knew precisely what he was asking of her, and howmuch it would hurt. "You must find Ume, the girl who murdered your sister,and ask for her help.

"Without her, you willcarry this curse with you forever."

B
oredom was bad for Mai. Overthe past year, whenever she had grown restless or distracted, she had tended toget herself into trouble. One of the favorite punishments meted out by theteachers at Monju-no-Chie school was to make the offender sit on her knees inthe hall for long stretches of time. Not only did it hurt after a while but itwas probably the most interminably boring thing Mai had ever experienced. Soshe tried to control herself in school even though the temptation to talk orwrite notes to friends or draw horribly insulting sketches of teachers in hernotebooks was often too much to resist.

It was a vicious circle, really.Boredom led to misbehavior, which led to punishment, which led back to boredom.

Outside of school, it wasn't sobad. The teachers gave plenty of homework, which kept her mind busy. Mai hadalways managed good grades — she was smart and happy to work and studyhard — and when she wasn't doing homework she could always go shopping inthe city or play soccer with her friends.

Winter created problems for her.The soccer club could still play in the school gym, but they never felt likereal games to her. Snow was the hated enemy of soccer players everywhere. Andthough most days the weather wasn't so cold or stormy that she would beprevented from going into Miyazu City to go shopping, the gray skies weren'texactly inviting. They didn't make a girl want to link arms with her bestfriend and wander from shop to shop trying on new outfits.

Which probably explained why shewas dancing to awful J-pop in the middle of her dorm room in short-shorts and atiny tank top, filming herself on her laptop's webcam. She tried to sing alongto the song — some silliness about boys on motorcycles by a girl groupcalled Kuza — but kept laughing at her own ridiculousness instead. She'dput her hair up in pigtails and wore bright, sparkly red lipstick, and theentire effect was to make her look like the happiest prostitute on Earth, butlooking at herself in the mirror had made her giggle at her own ridiculousness.

Boredom.

From the other side of the smalldormitory room, Wakana shouted at her. Mai glanced at her. The words had beendrowned out by the music, but she got the gist. Wakana was working on theresearch paper that Harper-sensei had assigned for his American Studies class,which seemed entirely pointless to Mai, considering that classes were currentlysuspended.

Wakana shouted again.

Grinning, Mai broke off from herhip gyrating dance to race over to the bed and grab Wakana by the wrists.

"Stop it!" Wakanasaid, brow furrowed in a deep frown. "No, Mai. I'm trying to — "

Mai hauled her off the bed andpulled her into view of the webcam. Wakana wore pajama pants and a faded pinkt-shirt that she often slept in, a clip holding her hair out of her face. Shelooked very cute, but Mai knew it was the last outfit in the world she wouldwant anyone to see her in. Soon enough they would have to go downstairs fordinner and they would both get changed, but Wakana's eyes flared with alarm atthe thought of being on camera. She tried to pull away but Mai gave her a poutylook and tugged her back, raising her arms and dancing like she was in anightclub in some sexy movie scene.

Then she made silly faces andWakana laughed.

"Come on!" Maipleaded.

Wakana thrust out a hip,shifting into a dance pose. Mai clapped her hands in glee, and seconds later,they were dancing side by side. Wakana strung a few moves together by sheerinstinct — for a shy girl, she knew how to move — and Mai mimickedher. They shimmied up and down against each other in mockery of boys' obsessionwith girls who kissed other girls — though none of the boys they knewwould likely have noticed the irony — and then collapsed together in fitsof embarrassed giggles. Mai pulled Wakana out of view of the camera just as thesong came to a close.

They fell onto their beds, flushwith exertion, and only then did they hear the banging on the door.

The two girls cast anxiousglances at each other.

"Who is it?" Maicalled, as the next song began.

Wakana jumped up and spun thevolume down as Mai closed the laptop and started for the door. As she reachedfor the knob she remembered what she looked like. It would take too long to doanything about her hair, but she darted back across the room and grabbed a pinkrobe, tugging it on even as Wakana handed her a tissue, with which she wipedher lips.

There was another round of bangingon the door, but now Mai had grown irritated. She stormed to the door andunlocked it.

"What is the crisis?" she demanded as she pulled it open.

The sight of the schoolprincipal standing grim-faced in the corridor actually made her flinch and backup a step.

"Yamato-sensei?" sheasked. "What are you. . what's wrong?"

Mai had barely taken note of thepresence of Miss Aritomo and Mr. Harper, but now she noticed the two teachersin the corridor behind the principal. Despite the tight, angry expression onMr. Yamato's face, she knew that he had not come to discipline her. She andWakana were not in trouble. This combination of Monju-no-Chie's teachers couldhave only one purpose for visiting them.

Mr. Yamato arched a disapprovingeyebrow at her pigtails and what she could only assume was a smear of sparklylipstick left on her mouth.

"Your music was very loud,"he said.

Mai gave him a tiny nod ofapology. "I am sorry. I did not realize — "

"May we come in?" MissAritomo interrupted.

Mai stepped back to clear theway, thinking that it would be cramped with all five of them in the small room,and wondering what could be so important as to prompt them to visit her andWakana here in the middle of a snowy afternoon. With the loud banging on thedoor, the other girls at this end of the hall would already be gossiping abouthow much trouble she must be in; they'd never assume Wakana was the one introuble. The rest of the students would assume that Mr. Yamato had brought theother teachers as witnesses or something.

As Mr. Yamato and Mr. Harperentered the room, Miss Aritomo hung back in the hall a moment. She shot asidelong glance at someone else, one of Mai and Wakana's nosy neighborspresumably.

"Go back into your room. Thisdoesn't concern you," the art teacher said, as sharply as Mai had everheard her speak to anyone.

Then Miss Aritomo entered andclosed the door behind them.

Wakana looked like she wishedshe could climb under her bedsheets and hide.

"This will take only amoment," Mr. Yamato said, shifting his gaze from Mai to Wakana and backagain. He lowered his voice before continuing. "There may be a way tobreak the curse of Kyuketsuki."

"Why would we — "Mai began, then cut herself off. "My apologies again, Yamato-sensei."

"You can ask the question,"Mr. Harper said. "Why would you care? Is that what you were going to say? Youdon't like my daughter and her friends, Maiko. I understand that — "

"Harper-san." Mr.Yamato gave the American teacher a grave look.

"Mai," Miss Aritomosaid, "many people have died because of the curse of Kyuketsuki, some ofthem your friends." She glanced meaningfully at Wakana and then looked atMai again. "Do you mean to tell us that you are not willing to helpprevent more of your friends from dying?"

Mai swallowed. Her embarrassmentand discomfort at their sudden arrival fled. She had carefully crafted apersona of arrogance and confidence around other students, and she had greatambitions for her future that she thought that persona would serve. But whenshe was alone with Wakana, she always let that mask slip to reveal her trueself. Now she discarded it willingly.

"Of course not," shesaid. "If there's a way that I can help you break the curse — "

"We," Wakana said."If we can help."

Mai nodded. "We'll dowhatever you need."

Mr. Yamato nodded withsatisfaction and approval. "Excellent. You are still in contact with UmeChosokabe?"

An icy knot formed in the pit ofher stomach. "Yes."

"Can you reach her bytelephone?"

"I'm not sure," Maisaid. "If not, she is usually online at night. I could e-mail her, orinstant message her later. But Ume's been gone since last spring. What couldany of this have to do with her?"

The moment she asked thequestion, she felt like a fool. She knew the answer. Everything that hadhappened — the curse, all of it — stemmed from the murder of AkaneMurakami.

But Miss Aritomo surprised her.

"The ritual that couldbreak the curse requires the participation of all of those present at the timeof Kyuketsuki's defeat," the art teacher said.

"You've got to get Ume tocome back to Miyazu City immediately," Mr. Yamato said.

Wakana shook her head. "Withrespect, sir, wasn't she expelled?"

"She could come to visitthe friends she left behind," Mr. Harper said.

"But she's in school,"Mai argued. "Wouldn't it be better to contact her parents? She would needtheir permission."

Mr. Yamato sighed, shaking hishead. "Mai, listen to me. I cannot contact her parents. How would Iexplain a request for Ume to return to Monju-no-Chie school, and in such ahurry? Tell her that she is needed here, that she must come immediately."

"But how will
she
explain, sensei?" Wakana asked.

Miss Aritomo knitted her brows. Prettyas she was, the expression made her look anything but. "Ume has alreadyproven her cunning by managing to get away with murder. She'll have to figuresomething out."

Mai blinked in astonishment atthe teacher's uncharacteristic directness. Adults so often talked around thingsthat were awkward or unpleasant that the words had shocked her.

"What if she doesn't wantto come?"

"If she doesn't want toprevent people from dying?" Mr. Yamato said. "Then tell her a memberof the Miyazu City police will be happy to go and retrieve her, and she canexplain
that
to her parents."

The dormitory at Monju-no-Chieschool was separated by a wide stairwell that divided it evenly into two sides,with the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Each floor had a commonarea near the stairs, but the one on the first floor was the largest, with theexception of the cafeteria. All of that common space was meant as consolationto the students for the strict rules governing gender relations in theirdormitory rooms. Boys were not allowed in girls' rooms with the door closed,and vice versa. After nine p.m., they weren't even allowed in the oppositewings.

As Kara strode along the secondfloor corridor toward Ren's room with Miho and Sakura in tow, she thought aboutthe absurdity of the rule, especially when it came to Ren. He was gay. Thoughhe claimed not to be interested in any of the boys on his floor — most ofthem didn't know about his sexual orientation — she was still sure he wasmore than content to be trapped after dark with a few dozen other guys.

Or not. That's a prettyignorant thought
, she realized. As long as she'd known him, Ren had alwaysseemed to get along much better with girls than other guys, Hachiro being thelone exception.

A sickly feeling rippled throughher gut as she passed the door to Hachiro's room. No light shone beneath thedoor. It felt still and empty, as though it had been abandoned and waited for anew resident to give it life again. Even just a quick glance at the door madeher want to shout with frustration and anticipatory grief. But she refused togive up on Hachiro yet.

Ren's room was three doors downon the left. She rapped several times in quick succession, her knucklesstinging.

"What if his parents arestill here?" Miho whispered.

"Then we tell them,"Sakura said. "We're running out of time to do this quietly."

"Hachiro's running out oftime," Kara corrected.

The door remained closed, buthere there was light underneath the door. Kara could practically feel thepresence of someone inside. She knocked again, harder this time.

"Ren, it's us," shecalled. "Kara, and Sakura, and Miho."

"We need to talk to you,"Sakura added.

Still nothing. Kara felt heranger ramping up. She made fists of her hands and rocked on the balls of herfeet, needing to let out the maelstrom of emotions that were storming aroundinside of her.

Miho must have seen it coming. Sheput a hand on Kara's shoulder. "No. Let me," she said. And then shestepped up to Ren's door and knocked much more softly than Kara had. "It'sMiho. I know you're hurting. Maybe you're scared or embarrassed or mad, ormaybe it's all of those things. I know you're afraid for Hachiro. But we'reyour friends and we need you."

Sakura and Ren had a greatcamaraderie. They were buddies, fond of giving each other a hard time. But eversince Miho had revealed her feelings for Ren and discovered that he had noromantic interest in girls, the two of them had developed a gentle intimacythat had nothing to do with sex. If he would listen to anyone, it would be her.

"Ren, please?" Mihoadded.

Several seconds went by. Karabegan to grow frantic. What would they do if they couldn't get Ren to talk tothem? She glanced at Sakura, then Miho, and she thought about trying to kickthe door in but knew she didn't dare. They'd have to get Mr. Yamato down hereinstead.

Just as she was about to give upand go away, Ren spoke at last.

"I don't remember anything,"he said.

They all looked at one another. Karagestured for Miho to speak.

"Please, Ren," Mihosaid. "We need to talk to you."

A few more seconds passed as hecontemplated that, and then at last he opened the door. Kara blinked insurprise and felt all the anger drain out of her. Normally, Ren was strikinglygood-looking, with his long, spiky bronze hair and copper eyes and amischievous smile that seemed to work on nearly everyone. So often she hadthought how much he reminded her of a fox in appearance.

That Ren had vanished and beenreplaced by a pale, thin, unsmiling creature. His hair was clean but hungstraight and dull, and he wore a white shirt and tan pants that gave him analmost monastic look. Silhouetted against the early winter darkness outside hiswindow, he might have been Kubo's sickly grandson.

"Ren?" Miho said,putting all of her anguish at his appearance into that single syllable. Shehurried into the room and embraced him, leaving Kara and Sakura to watch.