A Winter of Ghosts (11 page)

Ren seemed awkward with the hug,and when Miho stepped back, neither of the other girls attempted the samegreeting. As they had agreed before paying this visit, Sakura stayed at thedoor, halfway in and halfway out. They weren't supposed to close it, but theydid not want to be troubled by the kind of gossip that eavesdroppers mightinspire.

Kara leaned against Ren's desk."Your parents left?"

"For now," Ren said."They wanted me to go home with them, but I told them I would be allright."

"Will you?" Miho asked,perching on the end of his bed. Behind her glasses, her eyes were wide withsympathy.

Ren sank down beside her,seeming almost grateful not to have to stand. "I don't know."

Kara glanced at Sakura and sawhesitation and regret in the other girl's eyes. She felt the same emotionscreeping up on her and shoved them away. Hachiro's life hung in the balance;they couldn't afford any more hesitation.

"You know why we're here,"Kara said.

Miho shot her an admonishinglook. "Don't be so cold."

"Ironic choice of words."Kara kept her focus on Ren. "Listen, I know you don't want to talk aboutthis — "

"I would if I couldremember," Ren snapped, but he couldn't meet her gaze for more than asecond, glancing down at the floor.

Kara nodded, took a deep breath,and forged on. "Okay, I get that you don't remember exactly what happened.But I'm sorry, Ren. I just can't believe there isn't anything, not a singledetail, lodged in your brain that would help us. Hachiro's been up there twonights now. This'll be the third. Unless you tell me he's dead — "

"I don't know," Rensaid, voice full of despair.

" — then I have tobelieve he's alive. And that means we can find him. But you're the only personwho can help us with that and you say you don't remember anything." Sheheld up a hand to forestall any more arguments or denials. "There's moregoing on here than you know."

As she told him what theythought they knew about Yuki-Onna, his eyes grew wide. She could see fear inthem, but also hope, and she knew he wanted to talk to her.

"What aren't you tellingus, Ren?"

Even Miho looked at himdifferently. She reached for his hand but he edged away from her on the bed.

"Does that make youremember something? Did you see her?" Miho asked.

Ren pressed his lips togetherlike a child and shook his head. Kara truly cared for him — he was herfriend — but she couldn't take it anymore.

"Damn it, Ren!" sheshouted in English.

"Sssshhhh!" Sakurasaid from the door, frowning.

Kara took a calming breath butit only succeeded in quieting her anger. Her eyes began to fill but she refusedto cry, wiping the moisture away.

"He's going to die!" she said, biting off each word as she returned to Japanese. "I love him. He'syour friend. And he's going to die. You say you don't remember, well I think you'relying. I don't know why, but you are. And I'll tell you something else. Otherpeople are going to die, too."

Kara fingered the round stonethat hung on a leather thong around her neck and noticed Miho doing the same. Sherubbed it between her thumb and forefinger.

"We're protected for now,but Yuki-Onna is looking for us. Sora's dead. And she'll keep killing until thewinter snows are gone, all because you won't tell us where Hachiro is. If he'sdead, that's on you. And everyone else who dies. . well, you'll have theirblood on your hands, too."

"Kara, that's not — "Miho began.

"Stop it!" Renshouted. "I can't!"

"Can't what?" Karademanded.

Ren buried his face in hishands.

"We can stop it, Ren, butwe need Hachiro to do that. We need everyone who was there when Kyuketsuki putthe curse on us. Mr. Yamato is getting Ume here, but all of it's for nothing ifwe can't find Hachiro, alive, and get him down off of that mountain."

He looked up through spreadfingers. "How? How can you stop it?"

Miho spoke up, telling him aboutKubo, the cloud wanderer, and the promises the monk had made to them.

Ren looked sick. He shook hishead.

"Maybe he really doesn'tknow," Sakura said, though she didn't sound convinced.

Kara stared at Ren. "Heknows."

As handsome — beautiful,really — as Ren was, at that moment he looked like a broken angel,tarnished with misery. He seemed about to speak and she saw the truth in hiseyes, but it never made the journey to his lips. Slowly, he shook his head.

"I'm sorry."

The tragedy in his voice did herin. Kara raised a shaking hand to cover her mouth to stop her from screaming athim. Her eyes filled with tears that began to slide down her cheeks and sheturned away, headed for the door, trying to find some way to accept the factthat Hachiro would die if he hadn't already, and that the curse on her and herfriends would never be lifted.

Sakura stopped her at the door,pulled Kara into her arms, and all Kara could do was try not to make any noisewhile she cried. A moment later Miho joined them without another word to Ren. Theystarted to file out into the corridor.

Over the internal roar of herown despair, Kara barely heard Ren's voice.

"She let me go," hesaid.

Miho grabbed Kara's wrist andstopped her. It was a moment before it all registered, and Kara turned backinto the room to face him. Ren sat on the bed, seeming to have shrunk in size. Hewiped away tears.

"She?" Kara said.

"You mean Yuki-Onna?" Sakura asked in a hushed whisper of disbelief.

When Ren nodded and stared,shamefaced, at the floor, Sakura reached out and closed the door. Miho openedher mouth to protest but Kara shook her head and the girl said nothing. Thiswasn't a time for rules.

"Tell us, please,"Kara said, swiping at her own tears with the back of her hand.

Ren shuddered. "If I do,she'll. ." He paused, and then a determined look came into his eyes andhe looked up, meeting Kara's gaze fully for the first time. "The storiesdo not do her justice. She is awful. The cold isn't just in your skin or yourbones, it's down inside you, in your thoughts.

"She killed Sora rightaway. Hachiro and I saw it. But we had looked into her eyes and we couldn'tmove. Frozen, but not. . not the way she froze Sora. Then she took us awayin the storm, in the wind, tossed us in the air like we were puppets, and for atime I don't think we were anywhere except in the storm. It felt as if thestorm wasn't even a part of this world."

He held his hands up as if insurrender and gave a strained laugh.

"I know how that sounds."His smile was something awful. "But it's true. She said Sora's life — his death, I mean — made her strong. It was as if somehow she hadsatisfied some hunger through killing him. But with us. . it was like wewere pets or. . or toys. She said she would take us, too, eventually if shegrew hungry enough or bored enough."

His voice cracked on those lastwords and he took a deep breath, looking as though he might be sick.

"I shouldn't be doing this,"he said. "Shouldn't be talking about it."

Confused, Kara went and knelt infront of him, taking his hands in her own.

"You got away, Ren,"she said, searching his eyes. "Was Hachiro still alive when you escaped?"

"Yes. But you are notlistening. I'm trying to tell you that I did not escape. Yuki-Onna let me go."

Kara sat back on her haunches,staring at him.

"She what?" Sakurasaid.

"Why would she do that?" Miho asked.

Ren stared at his hands as if hewere so ashamed he could not even lift his eyes. "She said I was toobeautiful to kill," he said bitterly. "That eventually she would betoo tempted and she would devour my spirit, and I would be dead and she wouldregret that. So she let me go."

"But she kept Hachiro,"Kara whispered.

Ren nodded. "She made mepromise not to speak of her, or to tell anyone what happened on TakigamiMountain."

A chill raced up Kara's spineand along her arms.

"But you just told us,"Sakura said.

"Did she say what wouldhappen if you did tell?" Miho asked.

Ren looked up. "She saidshe would come for me again and I would be in the storm forever."

The chill in the room was notKara's imagination. Gooseflesh formed on her arms and as she exhaled, herbreath fogged the air.

A
rush of alarm swept throughKara as she glanced at the window. She saw ice spreading on the glass, and shestood up, staggering back from Ren. He had broken his promise and now Yuki-Onnahad come for him.

"No," she said. "Wecan't let this happen."

Sakura shoved past her, grabbedRen by the hand and hauled him to his feet. Miho yanked the door open and thefour of them raced into the corridor together. Doors were opening up and downthe hall, boys poking their heads out, shivering in spite of their sweaters andsweatshirts. Some of the rooms would be empty — a lot of students wereprobably in the common areas or heading down to the cafeteria for dinner — but there were enough of them to get in the way.

"Why is it so cold?" one of them asked. "Is the heat broken?"

"Ren?" anotherventured. "What's wrong? Why are you — "

"Out of the way!" Sakura shouted, shoving the boy outside.

Kara led the way, racing downthe corridor to the central stairs. Her thoughts were awhirl, her heartslamming in her chest. Sakura and Ren came right behind her, with Miho bringingup the rear.

"Anything behind us?" Kara shouted.

"Not yet!" Mihoreplied.

"Where are we going?" Sakura snapped. "How are you going to outrun her?"

"I'm working on it!" Kara replied.

They reached the centralstaircase. The temperature had dropped so low that ice had begun to form on theinside walls. Her eyelashes stuck together when she blinked. Ice crystalsfloated like tiny snowflakes in the air.

"My God," Karawhispered in English.

"No," Miho said."Not your God."

Think, girl, think!
Thewindows in the stairwell rattled as storm winds gusted against them. Snow andsleet pelted the glass. With another gust, a crack appeared, and then another.
Windows
.

"Kara, look!" Rencalled.

They all turned. Down the hall,back the way they'd come, a pair of ghosts stood in the corridor staring atthem. Sora looked just as he had the last time they had seen him, except thathis presence seemed little more substantial than Kara's pluming breath in thecold air. The other spirit was female and it took Kara a moment to place her — Chouku, one of the victims of the Ketsuki.

Before any of them could react,a blast of winter air filled the hall. Back along the corridor, the door to Ren'sroom froze over and then shattered, blown outward in a splintering of ice andtimber.

Kara grabbed Miho's hand. "Go!"

They hit the stairwell and shenearly fell. The steps were slippery but the metal railing was so cold that itstung to touch. She hurried down as quickly as she could without falling, awareof the cracks that lengthened and spread in the stairwell windows above herhead.

At the far end of the girls'wing, glass shattered. Kara heard screams. Doors banged and as they descendedthe stairs, the storm seemed to rush in behind them, snow whipping through thesecond floor, a blizzard filling the hall and blowing out from the landing,sweeping into the stairwell.

Miho slipped and fell backwardonto the stairs, crying out in pain as her back hit the steps. She slid andtumbled the last few stairs to the landing between floors. Kara crouched byher, fear racing through her at the thought of Miho hurt, or dying.

"I'm all right," Mihosaid. "Go!"

Even as the girl spoke, herglasses frosting over, she struggled to stand. Pain etched itself across herface but she started down toward the first floor. Kara glanced up at Ren andSakura, saw they were all right, and beyond them she noticed the ghosts in theswirling snow, untouched by the wind, unmoved by their plight.

The lights flickered and shefroze.
No, no. We need light. Please not the lights
.

But the wavering light glintedoff of something around Sakura's neck and then Kara remembered the wards Kubohad given them. Her hand flew to her throat and she touched the round, smoothstone that hung from the thong around her neck. What had the old monk said? Demonsdidn't see faces, they recognized essences. Something like that. She and Mihoand Sakura were hidden from Yuki-Onna for now, but they had to hide Ren aswell.

Kara slipped and nearly fell. Shecaught herself on the railing and her fingers froze to the metal in an instant.Skin tore away as she pulled her arm back and she cried out, swearing loudly asshe kept going. Injured hand tucked under her arm, she turned to Sakura.

"The ward Kubo gave us forHachiro! Do you have it?"

Understanding flickered acrossSakura's eyes, following by regret. "It's back in my room!"

The long cathedral window in thelanding shattered at last. Storm-driven glass shards sliced the air aroundthem, blown in with snow and sleet, wind whipping at them, stinging as much asglass splinters. A jagged piece slashed Kara's shoulder, and she stared inshock as blood began to seep from the wound. She was so cold she could barelyfeel it.

"Where are we going?" Sakura shouted to be heard over the howling wind.

"Not outside!" Mihosaid. "That would be insane!"

Kara faced them. . and beyondthem, through the shattered window up the stairs on the landing, she sawYuki-Onna hovering in the air, swaying with the wind. Her white kimono seemedto dance with the snow and her long white hair flowed around her.

Don't look!
Kara thought,remembering the stories, knowing that Yuki-Onna could freeze her with a glance.

"This way!" shecalled, racing down the next flights of steps toward the basement level. As shedid, she realized that the White Woman had not been staring at her, but at Ren.
Kubo was right. She can't see us!

The others had not seenYuki-Onna, but they felt the storm moving in, the temperature dropping, thestorm thickening around them. They all had cuts from the flying glass, but theair was so cold their blood barely dripped at all. Their fear drove them on,and Kara knew they had only one slim hope.

"Where are you going?" Ren called.

Kara hurried down the steps tothe basement. "Somewhere with no windows!"

The others pursued her, and shesaw realization ignite hope in their eyes. Behind the cafeteria was a kitchenwith heavy wooden doors and no windows. A bank vault would have been better,but they had very little to choose from.

"It isn't going to work!" Ren said.

Kara shot him a hard look."It has to!"

Other students were coming outof the cafeteria now, loudly complaining about the cold. The real storm reachedthem now, snow and sleet whipping around them, wind roaring into the cafeteria,blowing the doors in, scraping tables across the floor, and people started toscream.

Kara led her friends through thescreaming and the chaos of the storm. Another scream cut the air, but this wasdifferent, and when she turned she saw Yuki-Onna glide into the room, iceforming on the walls around her, crystallizing the floor and the nearest tables.A girl in a ponytail had looked at her and now stood frozen as Yuki-Onnaapproached, then bent to kiss her.

The kiss seemed to go on aneternity, though it was only a brush of lips. When it ended, the girl had beentransformed, her body coated in ice, a statue carved of winter and death.

"Kara!" Sakurashouted, grabbing her roughly and pulling her along.

Then they were barging into thekitchen. But as her friends set about slamming and locking doors, sealing theminside, Kara could not get the image of the frozen girl out of her mind. Shethought of Sora, who had died the same way, and of Hachiro.

Just a kiss.

When Ren embraced her, she didn'tresist. The four of them huddled together for long seconds, the fog of theirbreath combining into a cloud, their body heat all that was keeping them fromfreezing completely.

Then ice began to crawl andspread on the inside of the kitchen door, just a few feet away from them, andKara knew that they were out of places to run.

Rob Harper raced down thecorridor, windblown snow stinging his face. He had to fight against the cold,which weighed him down. His arms and legs felt like lead, but he forced himselfto run. He had left Yuuka and Mr. Yamato back in the dorm room shared by Wakanaand Mai, protecting the girls and themselves. They were safer there, behindclosed doors. The windows and the door were rattling in their frames but thestorm in the corridor was much worse.

He had seen the smoke-serpentform of the demon Hannya, and its more monstrous, solid form as well. He hadseen a ghost, at least once. His daughter had told him stories of worse things,of blood-drinking monsters and evil spirits and curses. But he had neverimagined anything like this.

How is it possible?
hethought. This wasn't just a blizzard gusting in through broken windows, but astorm raging inside the dormitory. The wind barreled through the halls with itsown momentum, churning the air, leaving ice and snow everywhere.

He slipped, barely catchinghimself before his feet could shoot out from under him. Students cowered in thehall. Others poked their heads out of their rooms. Through one open door he sawthat the windows had shattered and a bloody girl sat sheltered by her desk,pulling shards of glass from cuts in her arms.

As he reached the stairs at thecenter of the building he shielded his eyes from the storm and looked around. Karaand her friends had been going to visit Ren. His room was up ahead, in the boys'wing. But even from here Rob could see the shattered door that had blown off ofits frame. It jutted, half-buried, from a snow-drift in the hall.

"Harper-sensei!" a boyshouted to be heard over the wind. "In here!"

Rob looked up to see a familiarface, one of his students, leaning out of an open door. The boy was gesturingfor him to enter the room to get out of the storm in the hall. But Rob barelyregistered the kid, focused on the ruin of the door ahead. He slowed to a walk,struggling against the gusting wind.

"Kara!" he shouted.

"She's not there!" theboy called over the wind.

Rob spun to look at him. "Yousaw her?"

The boy pushed his too-long hairaway from his eyes and pointed back at the stairwell. "They went down!"

One glance at the steps told himthe descent would be treacherous. The arched, cathedral window had shatteredand the wind funneled in from outside, battering the walls, driving sleet andsnow in. He gritted his teeth against the cold as he tore off his jacket. Thecold cut right through his clothes, biting deep, but he forced himself onward. Atthe top of the stairs he threw his jacket over the railing, using it to keephis flesh from touching the metal as he started down.

The soles of his shoes skiddedon the steps but he managed to steady himself on the railing. Broken glasscrunched underfoot as he rounded the corner of the landing and descended to thefirst floor.

"Kara!" he called, andhe listened for a reply.

No one was in the foyer and fora moment hope withered in his heart. Then he glanced down the next flight ofstairs toward the basement and saw a dark figure there, huddled in the cornerof the stairwell. The storm had dusted over any tracks they might have leftbehind, but maybe this kid could tell him something. Rob rushed down to thelanding between the first floor and basement.

"Have you seen — "he began, but then he snapped his mouth shut.

Ice crusted the dead boy's face.The corpse's eyes were open and staring in terror. Something had gone down thesteps past him and frozen him to the spot. It could only be Yuki-Onna. Themoment the impossible storm had begun, he had known that the Woman in White hadcome down from Takigami Mountain, but now he knew that the demon was hunting.

Professor Harper shouted hisdaughter's name again as he rushed down the last few steps. His skin burnedwith the cold and his bones felt brittle, as if they might snap at any moment.

The cafeteria doors hung open,one torn from its hinges but pinned to the wall by the storm. Snow coated thefloor and walls, and drifted in corners. A shape that might have been a bodylay under the layer of white and he tore his gaze away, refusing to believe itcould be his daughter. A dead girl stood frozen solid less than ten feet away. Aboy, alive and terrified, had curled up beneath a cafeteria table. Rob couldhear him whimpering.

On the far side of the room, theWinter Witch stood in front of the thick, wooden door that led into thekitchen. The door was coated in ice and had cracked down the middle, and Robcould hear girls screaming on the other side. Yuki-Onna gestured with her handand a gust of wind swept through the cafeteria and slammed against the door,shoving it open further, widening the crack. The girls were on the other side,trying to keep it closed.

Rob stared at Yuki-Onna. He hadnever seen anything so beautiful. Her kimono and her hair were both of thepurest white. The curve of her neck and the line of her jaw, even at thisangle, were incredibly sensual. She moved with the grandeur of angels, anotherworldly thing, and looking at her stole his breath away.

Then he heard his daughterscream again, and he wanted to kill the witch. Only then did the emptiness ofhis hands occur to him. How could he fight her? He had no weapon to attack her.But he could not allow her to kill Kara.

A metal chair had been blownagainst the wall and upended. Half-covered in snow, its legs thrust upward. Robpicked it up, brushed it off, and rushed at Yuki-Onna, raising the chair overhis head. The snow crunched underfoot as he cocked it back and began to swing.

Yuki-Onna turned and stared athim. With a flick of her wrist the wind gusted and the chair was torn from hisgrasp, clattering onto a table a dozen feet away. Her eyes were totally black. Ifthere had ever been color there, it had been entirely eclipsed. Those gleaming,oil-black eyes stared at him and then the beautiful creature smiled at him,showing a mouthful of tiny, jagged shark's teeth.

"Are you one of the cursed?" the Winter Witch asked, her voice the mournful howl of the storm.

The wind shoved him from behind,lifted him off of his feet, twisted and swirled him over to fall in a heap onhis knees before her. Yuki-Onna bent, studying him with those soulless,eclipsed eyes.

"You feel like one of them,"the witch said, frowning. "But you're not, are you?"

"Leave them alone!" Rob shouted.