A Winter of Ghosts (4 page)

"Gather your things,"the principal said. "We are going to be following a mountain trailtogether. There are other, less well-traveled paths, but you are all to staywith your own homeroom teachers. Do not leave the group for any reason. I willbe leading Miss Kaneda's class so that she can move from group to group, givingyou instructions on what you should be watching for. Even in winter there is agreat deal of wildlife on the mountain. There will be assignments in schooltomorrow that will reflect upon your experiences today, so I advise you to beattentive both to your own teachers and to Miss Kaneda. Enjoy the beauty of themountain and its views."

It seemed he had finished andthe teachers began to address their homeroom students, rounding them up intogroups. But Kara watched as Miss Kaneda went to Mr. Yamato, glancing worriedlyat the sky, and spoke quietly to him. Mr. Yamato seemed to consider her wordsand then nodded.

He clapped his hands again."One other thing. The weather center forecasts a ten percent chance oflight snow."

Kara bumped Hachiro with herhip. "Told you," she mouthed at him, then stuck out her tongue.

"There may be flurries,"the principal continued. "But if we do get a little snow, do not worry. Theweather center predicts clearing skies and even the return of the sun laterthis afternoon. And now we go. We will be on the trail for one and a halfhours, including a fifteen minute break. Please do not. ."

Principal Yamato finished with aword that Kara didn't understand.

"What was that?" sheasked.

Hachiro took her hand. "Itmeans don't 'fall behind.' But don't worry. I won't let you out of my sight."

He made it sound so sweet thatshe felt herself actually blush. Kara did not know how long it had been since aboy had made her blush, but she found that she liked it.

Then they all had to separate. Sheand Miho and Sora were all in Mr. Sato's class, so they remained together whileHachiro, Ren, and Sakura went off to join their own homeroom teachers.

"Sora's nervous," Mihotold Kara while they waited for Mr. Sato to lead them away.

Kara looked at Sora, who gaveher a wan smile. "What's wrong?"

"You must have heard about thatwoman who got lost in the snowstorm up here last month and froze to death,"he said.

Kara had not forgotten thestory, but she had not remembered that the woman had vanished here on TakigamiMountain.

"We'll be fine," shesaid. "All these people? It might not snow at all, and if it does, it willbe just a dusting. You heard Mr. Yamato. If there was any cause for concern, we'dalready be heading down."

That seemed to set him at ease. Mihosmiled at Kara.

"You always know the rightthing to say," she said.

"Not really," Karareplied. "I just try not to say the
wrong
things if I can help it."

Finally, they got under way,heading off into the forest along a wide, well-trodden trail. Kara had lookedat the trail map in her pocket and seen that there were several scenicoverlooks marked off, places where the woods opened up to apparentlybreathtaking views.

As they entered the woods, shelooked up at the sky again, wondering how long it would be before the firstsnowflakes started to fall.

Wakana hated being cold, and shehad been cold since she had set foot outside the dorm first thing this morning.Why they couldn't have done ensoku during the spring or summer this year, shehad no idea. If she knew who had suggested traipsing around Takigami Mountainthe first week of January, she would have slapped him in the face. And she wascertain it had to be a him. What woman would be so foolish? She doubted thateven Miss Kaneda, who obviously loved the mountain, and nature, even in thebleakness of winter, would have come up with such an idea.

She knew that some people lovedwinter, and snow, and the kinds of sports and outdoor activities that wentalong with them. But she had never seen the appeal. And, certainly, it wasn'treally
that
cold. But it was the principle of the thing.

"Come on, let's not fallbehind," Mai said, reaching back and taking her hand.

Wakana smiled and they hurriedto catch up to the rest of their group. Another one of their friends fromsoccer club smiled as they joined her, the three girls falling into steptogether. They called her
Aka
for the coppery red highlights in herhair, and Wakana had actually forgotten her proper name, if she had ever knownit in the first place.

"It's actually been kind ofinteresting," Aka whispered, indicating that they should pay attention tothe commentary their homeroom teacher had been providing during the hike.

Wakana felt guilty. She had beenraised to be courteous and polite regardless of the circumstances. But shefound it impossible to care about anything that the teachers might say todaybecause she was so frustrated by the entire trip. Her feet were cold. Her handswere cold. Her nose might have been coldest of all. Fortunately she had a hatthat covered her ears.

Somehow, Mai seemed not to bebothered by the cold at all. Wakana smiled at that. If there had ever been agirl who adapted to change quickly, it was her roommate. Once upon a time, Maihad been relatively quiet and unassuming, though she had enjoyed the popularitythat had come with being a member of the soccer club and a friend of Ume's,back when Ume had still been the one the others would follow. But when Ume hadleft, Mai had stepped into that role. Most of the soccer club girls, she said,just wanted someone to set the pace, someone to follow, and Mai had decided shewould rather be that girl than follow any of the others.

Wakana had never had aninterest. They had been roommates, but opposites in many ways. Wakana hadremained quiet and mostly innocent. But then their lives had been overrun bynightmares. Daisuke — Wakana's best friend, who might have been herboyfriend if either of them had been brave enough to initiate even a singlekiss — had been abducted and murdered by the Hannya. It had taken Wakanaas well, but she had been rescued by Mai and some others, including that gaijingirl, Kara Harper.

For the rest of her life, shewould be grateful to Mai. The girl wore a scar on her face that would be withher forever, and it would always remind them both of what they had faced, andof what Mai had done for Wakana. Which was why Wakana had decided that thisterm she would join the soccer club. She had not really wanted to make friendswith some of those girls — though they had turned out to be nicer thanshe'd expected — but Mai had asked her. There had been no pressure, butWakana had been happy to be asked, and she knew it would make Mai happy to haveher in the club. They had become inseparable now, almost like sisters. They hadcome close to death together and they shared secrets they could never tell theother girls.

If Mai wanted to lead, Wakanawould gladly follow.

"You two are going to endup off the path and lost in the woods!" Aka said.

"Don't worry so much. We'refine," Mai told her.

Wakana smiled. They both likedAka, but the girl had a tendency to get bossy. Mai wouldn't let her get awaywith it.

"Hey, look," Mai said,tapping Wakana's arm.

The whole group began to slowdown a little, whispers and mutterings rippling through the class. Fat whitesnowflakes had begun to drift lazily from the sky. A light gust of wind sentthem dancing and swirling, but then the breeze died down and the snow eddiedand fell.

"Come along!" theirteacher, Mr. Gushiken, called. "You have all seen snow before. Let's stayon schedule so that we can return to the buses before dark. We will be stoppingfor a break at a clearing ahead with the rest of the school. Ten minutes only."

"Ten minutes," Maisaid. "Mr. Yamato said fifteen."

"It's snowing now,"Aka replied. "They want to get us back."

"I don't see why we need tostop at all. We should never even have come onto the trail," Wakana said."We saw the view. That should have been enough."

"Oh, it's not that bad,"Mai said. "It's only a little snow. And the weather center said it wouldpass quickly. I want to enjoy it while I can. It's very pretty."

Wakana rolled her eyes. "Okay,it's pretty. But I'd rather see it out a window."

Mai laughed and shook her head."If you never bother to explore it, the world outside the window might aswell be a painting."

"Who said that?" Akaasked.

Mai gave her a hard look. "Idid. Didn't you just hear me?"

"I thought you were quotingsomeone. It was a great observation."

"Do you think I'm not smartenough to make such an observation?" Mai demanded.

Wakana dropped back a step,letting the two girls argue. Normally it amused her. She liked to listen tothem spar. But right now her nose hurt from the bite of the cold and her feethurt. So far there was only a little snow, but if it fell harder and much of itaccumulated, she worried that it might ruin her shoes. They were really notmeant for winter hiking, mostly because she would never have been here if she'dhad a choice, so she had never had any reason to buy shoes that would be goodin the snow.

Listen to yourself
, shethought, upset by how shallow her concerns seemed. This trip had put her in abad mood from the second it had been announced. Tomorrow would be better. Shewould be back to normal, sitting in a nicely heated classroom, and then a warmdormitory.

The snow began to fall a bitharder and the gusts of wind seemed to come more frequently, and blow a bitharder. If she was not mistaken, the sky had darkened somewhat since the snowhad started. She wondered how recently Mr. Yamato had checked with the weathercenter.

Mai and Aka seemed to havefinished their argument, so she quickened her pace and fell into beside them. Witha glance over her shoulder, she saw that the next group — led by MissAritomo — was only fifty yards or so behind them, many of them out ofsight around a bend in the forest trail.

Through the falling snow, theyseemed almost unearthly.

With her head turned, she wasn'tpaying attention to the path underfoot, and her shoe caught on a raised root. Wakanastumbled and fell to her knees on the snow-flecked trail. Frustration and angerlasted only a moment, replaced by amusement at the absurdity of her situation. Ifsomeone was going to fall, of course it would be the one who most wished shewere anywhere but here.

Smiling, Wakana started to rise.

Off in the trees, a boy stoodwatching her. Even in the deepening shadows of the dimming day, even throughthe veil of falling snow, she recognized Daisuke immediately. For just amoment, her mind distracted by so many other things, she forgot that he wasdead and her smile began to widen.

Then she felt it vanish and shetook a step back, heart filling up with fear.

"Wakana!" Mai asked,grabbing her arm, helping her rise the rest of the way to her feet.

She blinked and looked at Mai,at that thin white scar, their mutual reminder of what they'd seen, andlearned, and lost.

"I asked if you were okay,"Mai said.

Wakana looked back, but theghost was gone. A light gust blew snowflakes into her eyes and she wiped themaway, the chill biting into her skin.

She told herself she hadimagined him there. What else could it have been?

"I'm fine. Let's go,"she said. "I won't be happy until I'm off of this mountain. I need agallon of hot tea and some chocolate."

Mai smiled. "I like thesound of that."

They hurried yet again to catchup to the others, Wakana quietly wondering if even a gallon of tea would beenough to make her warm again.

K
ara scraped snow off the groundand packed it in her hands, giddy with mischief. Hachiro and Ren were busyhurling snowballs at Sora, so her boyfriend did not see her approaching. Shethrew it straight and true, pegging Hachiro in the back of the head.

He spun around, eyes wide withsurprise, ready to retaliate. But when he saw that she had been his attacker,he grinned and gave chase, pursuing her through the snowy clearing while shetried to stop laughing long enough to plead for mercy. Hachiro grabbed her bythe hood of her new jacket, stopping her short, and threw a handful of snowdown the back of her shirt.

Kara went rigid and cried out asthe freezing snow slipped down her back, melting against her skin.

"Oh, you're dead!" shesaid, untucking her shirttail to let the snow fall to the ground. She stalkedtoward Hachiro and he backed away, hands raised, grin growing wider.

"You started it," hesaid. "Good aim by the way. You should play baseball."

"Flattery will not saveyou," she said.

Hachiro stood his ground,surrendering. "Do what you will."

Kara smiled. If her father weren'twandering around amongst the students and teachers, she would have kissed him. Instead,she just shook her head.

"Sorry, Hachiro. It isn'tme you have to worry about."

He frowned, confused, but onlyfor a moment. Sora and Ren bombarded him with multiple snowballs. Kara had seenthem sneaking up on him and had maintained his attention to give them thechance to make extra snowballs.

Miho and Sakura walked over,applauding lightly.

"I love this," Karatold them. "It feels like home."

"How much does it snow inMassachusetts?" Miho asked.

"It depends on the year,like anywhere else," Kara said. "But some winters there's snow fromlate November until the beginning of April. A few years ago we had so manystorms in a row that in my front yard it was above my waist."

"It must seem like anotherworld, like something magical," Miho said, with a dreamy look on her face.

Sakura scoffed. "It soundslike torture. I'd throw myself in front of a bus."

Kara laughed and looked around. Theboys were tiring of snowball fights, but other students were not ready to giveup yet. In the gently falling snow they raced around, chasing one another. Somemade snow angels and others were building tiny snowmen out of the inch or sothat had already fallen. Miss Kaneda and Mr. Yamato had paused the group hereso that they could take a short rest before hiking back to the observatory andthen down to the buses waiting in Takigami Park, but nobody seemed inclined torest. The falling snow made them want to play, as if they were still muchyounger children. Only a handful had taken snacks out of their backpacks,probably because with the fresh snow on the ground there was nowhere to sitdown.

Kara glanced around in search ofher father and Miss Aritomo, eyes narrowed to slits as a gust of wind blewsnowflakes into her face. She didn't see them, but knew they wouldn't be farfrom their students.

"Hey," Sora said asthe three boys trudged over to them. "I just saw Reiko. She said there'san amazing view from an overlook down a path over there."

He pointed vaguely toward thetrees.

"She shouldn't have leftthe group," Miho said.

"It wasn't just her,"Sora explained. "We should go look."

Kara glanced toward the trees,searching for an opening. The snow had started to fall a bit heavier, obscuringher vision, but still did not seem to be amounting to much of a storm.

"How much time do you thinkwe have?" Hachiro asked.

Sakura tugged her hat tighterdown over her ears. "At least five minutes before they try rounding anyoneup, and you know it'll take at least that long to get everyone organized and getthem to stop fooling around. They won't be leaving for at least ten or fifteenminutes."

Miho frowned, wiping snow fromher cheek. "Are you sure?"

Ren put his arm through hers. Thetwo had become close friends during the previous term. "You'll be fine. I'llprotect you from the Yeti."

"The Yeti lives in theHimalayas!" Miho said, arching an eyebrow at him.

"There, you see?" Renreplied. "Nothing to be afraid of."

"Come on," Kara said,looping her arm through Hachiro's in imitation of Miho and Ren. "I want tosee."

The six of them trekked acrossthe clearing together. When Hachiro spotted Mr. Yamato, they gave the principala wide berth, not wanting him to stop them before they got started. When theyreached the trees it took them only a moment to find the path that Soradeclared must be the one Reiko had mentioned, and they followed it with morepurpose and energy than any of them had shown during the rest of the day'shiking.

At first, Kara liked thestillness of the path. In the gray winter light, with the snow falling, eddyingin gusts of wind, it was so quiet that it felt as though the six of them wereentirely alone on the mountain. She liked that idea, being with her friends onan adventure. Ren marched Miho forward, still arm in arm with her, leading thegroup. They laughed and bumped each other. Sora and Sakura had been paired upby default, and Kara thought they seemed a bit awkward together.

Kara and Hachiro brought up therear, hand in hand, and for a few minutes, it felt like a winter wonderland.

Then, out of nowhere, the windgusted hard enough to bend the trees. Kara and Hachiro staggered and he let goof her hand as the huge gust subsided.

"Wow!" Kara said,reverting to English in her surprise. "What the hell — "

The wind blew again, branches swaying,and with a crack a thick bough broke off of a tree just behind them, fallingacross the path. The gusts continued, settling into a powerful gale that swayedthe trees all around them. Snow blew into their faces and across the path,falling even heavier than before.

"We should go back!" Miho said.

"I'm sure it's just alittle further," Sora replied, glancing around at them. "We all haveto hike back in this. What difference does it make?"

Kara shrugged and looked atMiho. "At least we'll have a story to tell."

"All right," Mihoagreed. "But everyone stay together."

Ren snuggled up beside her andthey marched on. The wind continued to blow and the snow to swirl, but it feltas though they were traveling through a tunnel. She glanced up and saw that abovethe tree line the sky had turned completely white.

On impulse, she tugged Hachiro'shand, pulling him to a stop. When he glanced down, she stood on her tiptoes,wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, and pulled him down for a long,lingering kiss.

"It does feel like magichere," she said.

Hachiro looked nervous andunsure, and when he spoke up, she understood why.

"I love you, Kara."

Her breath caught in her throat,her heart skipping a beat. She swallowed, now just as he nervous as he seemed. Thenshe nodded. "I love you, too."

"Hey!" Sakura shoutedfrom up ahead on the path. "Come look at this!"

Kara took Hachiro's hand againand they raced after their friends, who had become gray silhouettes in thesnow. They had reached an opening in the trees and now Kara and Hachiro emergedbehind them and joined them all on a rocky outcropping that fell away justahead into a steep slope down to the city below. They could see only awhite-veiled hint of lights far, far beneath them.

"Wow," Hachiro said,grinning at Kara to let her know he was imitating her.

She didn't mind. Anyone who didn'tsay 'wow' at such a view in the midst of a snowstorm had to have somethingwrong with them, as far as she was concerned. Now, though, she had other thingson her mind.

"It's getting really bad,"she said.

Glancing around, she saw in herfriends' eyes that they felt the same. What had seemed like an adventure tenminutes ago now seemed like a terrible idea. But they could never havepredicted the storm would grow so much worse so quickly. To Kara it seemedalmost unreal that a gentle snowfall could turn into a blizzard in such a shorttime, but the weather had turned on them.

"We've seen it. Let's goback," Ren said. Despite how much he had liked the idea before, he nowseemed as anxious as any of them.

In unspoken agreement, they allstarted back toward the trees, which had become little more than strangeapparitions in the storm. Long, bare branches reached skeletal fingers into thewhite sky, and black pines were blanketed in snow.

"Wait," Sakura said."Which one?"

"Which what?" Mihoasked.

But Kara saw immediately whatSakura meant. This overlook must have been very popular, because as theyapproached the trees she could see the narrow openings of at least fourdifferent paths — no, five — without any way to tell which one hadbrought them here.

"I think it's the middleone," Hachiro said.

"It's not either of the twoon the right," Sora added quickly.

"No. It's that one,"Sakura said, pointing to the second from the left.

A ripple of fear went throughKara. With all of the other things she had reason to be afraid of, it had neveroccurred to her that she would encounter such fear in such an ordinary way. Butas they looked around at the various paths and the wind gusted harder and thesnow accumulated almost impossibly fast at their feet, piling up on top oftheir jackets and hats and hoods, she felt real terror growing inside of her.

"We have to get back,"she said.

Hachiro grabbed her hand. Throughher glove, she felt him squeeze tightly. "We'll be okay. I promise."

Kara pulled the collar of hershirt up over her mouth and nose, hoping to block the wind. The temperature hadplummeted in minutes. Even with gloves on her fingers hurt, and the hood on hernew jacket kept blowing back, forcing her to hold it closed with one hand.

"Which is it?" shesaid, voice muffled. "Let's just pick one. At least the trees will keepsome of the wind off of us."

They all studied the entrancesto the paths. Sora shook his head, throwing up his hands, and his eyes werefull of dread and panic.

"This one," Miho said."I agree with Hachiro. The middle."

She didn't sound entirely sure,and Sakura hesitated. But when the others all forged ahead onto the path,grateful for the shelter, Sakura followed. Kara linked arms with her, both ofthem hiding in the windbreak that Hachiro's size provided. They hurried alongthe path, ducking low branches and following a slight curve that Kara did notremember — though she hadn't been paying very much attention. With thesnow whipping around the woods became a blur of dark lines in the white staticof the storm. Snow stung her eyes and, driven by the wind, it managed to sneakinside her hood and down her neck.

Sakura said something that Karacould barely hear through her hood and the howl of the wind.

"What?" she called.

"Where's that branch?" Sakura repeated. Her cheeks were red and blotchy from the cold. Snow had builtup on her hat and clung to her eyelashes. "The one that broke off when wewere coming through here?"

Kara scanned the path ahead,searching. Somehow they had taken the lead, with Hachiro just behind them andthe others bringing up the rear. Panic seethed inside of her. How could thestorm have turned into a blizzard so quickly? Could it subside just as fast? Maybeso, but she knew that they could not risk waiting to let it pass. If not forher father, she would have feared that in the storm, the teachers might nothave realized they had wandered off and might have headed back for theobservatory without them. But her father was with them. No way would he leavewithout making sure that Kara was accounted for.

"Kara?" Sakura called."Where is it?"

The girl's voice soundedfrantic, now. Any traces of her rebellious nature had been obliterated by fear.

Kara had continued to watch thepath but found no sign of the fallen limb, and she knew that if they had comeacross it before she would have noticed. They would have had to step over oraround it. Still, she kept on walking, telling herself that they simply had notbacktracked far enough yet, that the storm made it seem that they had traveledfurther than they actually had.

When they reached a fork in thetrail, with one path veering sharply to the left and the other continuing along, gentle curve to the right, she knew for sure.

"This is wrong!" shesaid, turning to Sakura, heart hammering in her chest. She saw in her eyes thatSakura had realized the truth as well.

"What do we do? Go back?" Sakura asked, glancing around wide-eyed as the others gathered around them.

Hachiro stood close to Kara,still trying to shield her from the storm. She just wanted to be back at home,inside and warm, with her arms around him.

"We don't have time!" Hachiro called over the wind. He pointed to the sharp left-hand fork. "Let'sjust go that way. We picked the wrong trail, but we know the clearing is inthat direction. This path must meet up with the one we took originally, ormaybe it leads straight to the clearing."

"You don't know that,Hachiro!" Ren said, his words almost lost in a gust of snow.

"We can't go back,"Miho said. "I can't even feel my feet
now
!"

Kara looked at Sakura, searchingher eyes. Sakura had been right about which path they should have taken, or sothey all now believed. If she said to go back, then Kara would go back. Sheknew they all would.

"She's right," Sakurasaid. "We can't spend any more time up here than we have to."

The wind stole some of herwords, but Kara understood. She nodded. "All right, we go — "

"Hachiro!" Renshouted.

They all turned to see that hehad backtracked several paces. In the gray-white tunnel formed by the trees oneither side and the blotted out sky, he looked like little more than a shadow,though he stood only ten feet away.

"What's wrong?" Hachiro called to him.

Ren threw his arms wide. "Where'sSora?"

Kara's heart went as cold as therest of her. She stopped breathing a moment. They all turned round in circles,looking into the trees and both ways up the trail.

"Oh, my God," Karasaid.

"He must've turned back!" Hachiro said.

"Or wandered off the trail!" Kara called, half-turning her face from the wind.

Miho had covered her face withher hands, but now she lowered them, revealing the desperation in her eyes."We've got to go back for him!"