A Winter of Ghosts

Chapter Eleven

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.

Yuki-Onna smiled that dreadfulsmile again. "Oh, I think not," she said. And she lifted Rob off ofthe floor as if he were a child's plaything, pulled him close, and opened herjaws. Those shark teeth darted toward his throat. .

"Dad!" Kara shouted.

The door had split in two. Theyhad been trying to hold it back, knowing that it would be only seconds beforethe storm drove the splintered halves aside and Yuki-Onna swept in. Now Karasaw the demon — vampire, witch, whatever the hell the ice queen truly was- and she acted.

Thrusting her fingers into thecrack in the door, she pulled inward.

"What are you doing?" Sakura shouted.

"Her father! It's.." Miho started, but she could not find the words.

Ren helped Kara, pushing hisfingers into the gap and hauling the door open. Sakura and Miho got out of theway, now that they saw the horror unfolding just outside the door. Kara's handswere numb, with no feeling in her fingers. She could barely move them and onlyknew they were doing what she wanted because she could see them. Her nose wasclogged with ice. Tears had frozen on her cheeks.

Yuki-Onna sank her teeth intoher father's throat and Kara screamed.

Blood squirted, but only a fewdrops. The Winter Witch's tongue darted out and licked it up and then she beganto suck. Several crimson spots appeared on that pure white kimono, and thenfaded into the cloth as though absorbed from within.

Kara lunged at the demon. Yuki-Onnadid move. Kara passed right through the witch's body as if it were part of thestorm itself, mist and snow puffing out and then reforming. Kara hit the floor,her mind still working, still raging to rescue her father, but her body wouldnot work. She began to tremble and then to shake.

Is this a seizure? shehad time to wonder, and then her head began to slam against the floor. Only thesnow that had piled up around them saved her from caving her own skull in.

As it subsided, she sawYuki-Onna drop her father's still body to the snowy floor. Trickles of bloodran from the dozen small punctures on his throat. Breathe, she thought,staring at his chest. Breathe, Daddy!

She saw his chest rise and falland would have screamed in relief and gratitude, except that Yuki-Onna wasthere now, bending over her, the black pits that were the witch's eyes staringdown at her, blind and unseeing.

"What are you?" theWoman in White said, her voice like the crack of brittle ice about to give wayunderfoot.

Kubo had said the wards wouldblind the demon, but Yuki-Onna saw her. The witch didn't know what to make ofKara, but she saw her. Or did she?

Yuki-Onna frowned. Thehideousness hidden inside of her beauty subsided, the teeth hidden behinddemure, if bloody, lips. The Woman in White glanced around.

"Where are you?" sheasked.

Hope flickered in Kara's heart.

But then Yuki-Onna turned towardthe shattered door, and even at this angle, Kara saw the evil of her smilereturn. Sakura and Miho stood there with Ren, and they had nowhere to run.

"You broke your promise,beautiful one," the witch whispered.

Ren did not even try to flee.

"Hide him!" Kara said,her voice quavering. Her whole body twitched as she began to rise.

Miho gave a cry of anguish asshe stepped in front of Ren. "How?"

Kara staggered to her feet. AsYuki-Onna glided toward her friends, she edged around the witch, keeping pace. Yuki-Onnareached a hand out toward Ren, but Kara stepped in the way.

The demon froze, a troubledexpression on her face. Yuki-Onna frowned and moved her head to one side, hersmile returning.

"Surround him," Sakurawhispered, grabbing Kara's hand.

The warmth of the contact withher friend sent pain shooting through her. Her skin was so cold, now, that anymovement, any warmth, hurt her.

"Don't do this — "Ren began.

"Quiet!" Miho snapped."Crouch down."

The three girls surrounded himas best they could. Teeth chattering, they blocked Yuki-Onna's view. No, nother view, Kara thought. Demons see the essence of someone, right? So we'rehiding him behind whatever nothing she sees when she looks at us.

If only they'd had Hachiro'sward.

Hachiro. Thoughts tumbledinto place inside Kara's head, making a terrible kind of sense. If killingsatiated the witch's hunger, then she wouldn't be hungry right now. Even thoughshe would want to fulfill the curse of Kyuketsuki, Yuki-Onna might not kill herright away. She might take her to wherever Hachiro was now. If Kara could keepRen safe, he might be able to lead them all up to the mountain and save them.

Numb hands shaking, fingerslittle more than useless stumps, she pulled away from her friends and reachedup to remove her ward. She could give it to Ren. Save him, and then he couldsave both her and Hachiro in return. Insane, but the only option she could see.

"Kara, no!" Sakurashouted.

Sakura batted at her hand. Karaglanced at her, saw tiny icicles hanging from the jagged cut of her hair, sawSakura reaching up to untie the thong from her own neck.

Sakura took off Kubo's ward,eyes alight with fear and purpose. She turned, reaching out for Ren with bothhands to put the thong around his neck. Miho and Ren were shouting at her,telling her to stop, to put it back on, but Kara barely heard their voices.

She felt the winter's breath onthe back of her neck, and heard the perverse pleasure in Yuki-Onna's voice.

"One of the cursed, righthere in front of me. Delicious," the Winter Witch said.

"No!" Ren shouted,trying to get the ward back around Sakura's neck.

Yuki-Onna contorted her fingersand the snow and wind lifted Sakura from the ground and twisted her around sothat she faced the witch.

"Leave her alone!" Kara screamed.

She and Miho and Ren attacked,but they might as well have been tearing at the wind, their frozen handsuseless, passing through Yuki-Onna as though the witch were a ghost made ofsnow, made of storm.

"My sister will be gratefulwhen I steal your life, cursed girl," Yuki-Onna said, studying Sakura'sface with her black eyes. "But my vengeance comes before hers. Tonight Itake the pretty one, but I shall come for you and yours soon enough."

And with a gust of wind shehurled Sakura across the cafeteria. Sakura flailed like a broken doll, struckthe wall, then fell onto a side table before rolling onto the floor andbeginning to bleed into the snow.

Miho screamed.

Yuki-Onna grabbed Ren and hecried out, frost forming on his face and hair. Kara caught his wrist, trying topull him back, but as the icy wind carried him into the air she was lifted aswell. The storm embraced her. If she had thought she was cold before, that hadbeen nothing in comparison to the pain that screamed through her now, slowingher blood and dulling her thoughts.

Her hand could not grip. Herfingers would not close.

Kara fell, slumping to the snowyfloor. As her consciousness began to retreat, she saw the cafeteria windowsshatter and the storm flowed out into the darkness, carrying Ren with it.

The shadows coalesced at thecorners of her eyes, and then swallowed her, and her mind went dark.