A Winter of Ghosts

Chapter Fourteen

Mai and Ume stood over Sakura'sbed, only the injured girl's breathing and the soft beep of machines breakingthe quiet in the hospital room. Though Ume continued to insist that she haddone nothing wrong, her air of superiority had begun to crack. She had beenhesitant to even enter Sakura's hospital room, but Mai had insisted. And nowMai watched as Ume fidgeted uneasily, not wanting to even look at theunconscious girl on the bed. . the dying girl.

Ume reached up and tucked a lockof her hair behind her ear. In all the time Mai had known her, Ume had movedand spoken with a swagger that sometimes verged on arrogance, and other timesfully embraced it. Now, for once, Ume seemed at a loss for what to say or do.

"This has nothing to dowith me," Ume said, almost as if she were arguing with herself.

Beside her, Mai stiffened, angersparking in her again. "It has everything to do with you. You may not haveintended for the chain of events that followed — there's no way you couldhave guessed at the power you were invoking, the evil that would come from it — but you committed murder."

Fear and anger flashed in Ume'seyes and she shot Mai a bitter look. "She was never meant to die." Ina blink, her uncertainty returned. "Not that I'm admitting anything. I'mnot."

Mai almost laughed. "Youdon't have to admit anything. I told you. Everyone knows you're guilty. Thatyou're a killer."

What flickered in Ume's gazethen, Mai could not interpret, but she wondered. Had she seen regret there? Sorrow?Grief? Or just varying shades of anger and ego?

"Listen, I have nointention of just hanging around the hospital all day waiting for the littlebonsai to call and tell us it's time to chant a magic spell around thecampfire." Ume arched an eyebrow, glancing down at Sakura, whose breathhad quickened. The beeping of the machine seemed to have sped up. "And Ididn't come here to watch this girl die."

Mai could feel a sharp retortforming on her lips, but as Ume's words hung in the air she heard the pain inthem. The mask of arrogance was slipping further, revealing another personunderneath, maybe the person Ume had been before she had perfected the identityof the queen soccer bitch. She had made herself ruthless in order to stand out,to be popular, to create a perception of herself as elite.

So what are you? Maiasked herself. You took the bitch crown quickly enough when she was out ofthe way. A sick feeling roiled in her gut. Yes, Mai had assured herself andWakana that she had only filled the void left by Ume's departure becausesomeone had to, and she thought she could protect herself and others and holdthe reins on Reiko and the girls by being queen bitch herself. But how much ofthat was true, and how much of it rationalization?

She had been demonizing Ume evenas she became her. And if that was true, then what was really in Ume's heart,now? Unless the girl was a complete psychopath, she really had not intended forAkane Murakami to die, which meant that her life now must be utter torment. Badenough that her parents suspected, that all of her friends and teacherssuspected her of murder — but worse, she had taken a human life.

She must by dying inside. Rottingfrom the inside out.

Mai shivered at the thought.

"What did you come herefor, then?" she asked.

Ume began to bristle, turning toher, but she must have seen the sincerity of the question in Mai's face,because she hesitated before speaking.

"Mr. Yamato threatened tosend the police," Ume replied.

"But it wasn't just that,was it?" Mai asked.

Ume pushed her hair back again. Sheseemed to want to speak, but to be struggling with the words. Had she come backto face what she had done? Mai believed so.

"You might feel better ifyou tell her you're sorry," Mai suggested.

Ume glared at her. "Who? Akane?Don't be stupid, girl. Akane Murakami is dead."

"Not Akane," Mai said,nodding toward the hospital bed. "Sakura. You took her sister from her. Yourcrime and her rage and grief brought Kyuketsuki here. She and her friends arecursed because of you."

Ume's face contorted withclashing emotions. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

"I am cursed! I am!" Ume said.

"By guilt," Mai said,her voice low.

"Yes, by guilt! I never.. it wasn't my. ." Ume said, but she could not find the words toexpress the emotion welling up within her. She wiped her tears away even as heranger drained away. Her breath hitched and she let out a terrible sigh ofsurrender.

Surrender to the truth.

Ume turned her back on Mai andreached down to take Sakura's hand.

"I'm sorry," she saidquietly, shoulders quaking as she wept.

And then she stiffened, a smallnoise coming from her throat. Mai frowned, wondering what had happened to her. Umehad frozen as though something had frightened her. But then Sakura began toshift on the hospital bed, the beeping on the machines began to speed up, andMai saw that the comatose girl had gripped Ume's hand and started to pull herdown.

"Is she — " Maibegan.

But then Sakura's eyes flutteredopen and Mai fell silent. The injured girl had bleary eyes, but she blinked afew times and she came fully awake. Something shone in those eyes, atranquility and happiness that seemed incredible in that moment.

"Sakura's friends are introuble," Sakura herself whispered, but her voice sounded so strange, notunlike her at all.

"What?" Ume asked,trying to step back but unable to break the girl's grip. "What do youmean, 'Sakura's friends?'"

Sakura smiled weakly, thennodded. "A small mistake. My friends, of course." She shifted hergaze toward Mai. "Kara and Miho and all of those with them. . they arenot going to be able to make it back for the ritual."

Mai shook her head. "How doyou. . how could you know that? You've been unconscious."

Sakura blinked and for a momentshe seemed disoriented again, and then that strange light inside her eyes hadgone.

"I dreamed it," shesaid, sounding as surprised as Mai felt. "But it's true. We have to go tothem."

Sakura threw back her covers,reached over and pulled out her IV needle.

"What are you doing?" Ume demanded. "You were dying!"

That gave Sakura pause. "Dying?" she asked, sounding sad and afraid. She looked down at her body. "Maybe Iwas, but not anymore."

Mai stared at the girl, shakingher head. "But how is that possible?"

Sakura smiled. "You've allbeen seeing ghosts. I finally saw one, too. The one I've been waiting for."She turned to look at Ume. "She doesn't like you very much."

Ume began to back away, huggingherself as if she were cold, looking around the room. "Akane?"

Sakura tapped her chest. "She'sin here." Then she put a hand across her forehead. "And in here."

"And you're. . better?" Mai asked, wondering if Sakura might actually be losing her mind. But shedismissed the thought immediately. Her sudden strength and healing were nohallucination.

Sakura glanced from Mai to Ume."The ghosts are here to help. But Kubo was right. I hate you, Ume. Youneed to pay for what you've done. But if we're to break Kyuketsuki's curse, theUnsui is going to need us both there. We need to go now!"

Kara ran, snow crunchingunderfoot, arms up to protect her face from branches whipping by. Her hearthammered in her chest and her skin felt flush with terror, not for herself, butfor her friends. Behind her she heard a grunt and glanced back to see MissAritomo stumble and fall, sprawling across a bush. Without a thought she dartedback, grabbed Yuuka's upraised hand and hauled her to her feet, and MissAritomo fell into step behind her again.

"Where are we going?" Miss Aritomo asked, struggling to catch her breath.

"I don't know exactly,"Kara told her, not for the first time.

She expected Miss Aritomo toargue, but the woman said nothing more. They ran through a clearing amongst acircle of pines where the snow was deeper and it slowed them down, but momentslater they emerged into the open area of the Takigami Mountain Observatory. Thesnow had started to come down hard, driven by the wind.

"Okay, we're here,"Kara huffed.

They had gotten off the path butshe had not wanted to spare even the few moments it would have taken for themto find it again. Now they sprinted past snowpacked picnic tables and reachedthe far side of the observatory area, and Kara could not believe it had beenonly days since they were here last, days since the field trip that had endedwith Sora dead and Hachiro and Ren missing.

Wiping snow from her eyes, Karawhipped out her phone, hit the button to dial Miho, and was answered instantly.

"Hey," Miho said,breathing hard but trying to be quiet just the same.

"We're at the observatory. Whereto now?"

"Head northwest. Kubo saysthere's an old trail. You'll find it, he says. It leads down at an angle. We'llmeet you on the west face. There's a cave there — "

"A cave! We should beheaded for the car!" Kara said. "This is crazy!"

She started into the trees,searching for the trail Miho mentioned. Yuuka Aritomo followed, and Kara couldn'tbelieve she did not speak up. They'd spent precious seconds arguing afterYuki-Onna had left them behind on the southern slope of the mountain. MissAritomo was right, Kara knew. They should have headed back down to the parkinglot right then. But when Kara had called to warn Miho and Kubo and Mr. Yamatothat the witch had figured out their plan and was on her way, Kubo had insistedthey all be together.

Kara had hesitated, but then sheheard Hachiro's voice in the background and her heart leapt. "Is that him?He's alive?"

When Miho confirmed that bothHachiro and Ren were alive, Kara had started running up the mountain toward theobservatory. She hadn't given Miss Aritomo another second to argue. Whateverhappened, she and Hachiro needed to be together.

But now. . a cave?

"Kubo says not to worry,"Miho said.

"How can he say that?" Kara demanded. She pushed a branch out of the way and saw a kind of naturalpath through the trees that must have been the trail the old monk wanted themto take.

The line crackled. The windwhere Miho was must be blowing hard. Kara could hear it roaring loudly now. Mihosaid something else, but Kara had trouble making out the words.

"What?" Kara said."What was that?"?"The storm. . Yuki-Onna. ."

"She's there?"

Kara started down the trail,barely aware of Miss Aritomo following. The snow had started to pick up aroundthem as well, the wind gusting, trees swaying.

"Not yet. But she's near. Wehave to hide. Just get to that cave. The ghosts will show you the way."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked.

But all she heard was the hissof static. She shoved the phone in her pocket, picking up her pace, rushingalong the old trail, ducking branches that were weighted down low with snow. Theworld had turned to a white blur around her.

Over the wind, she almost didn'thear Miss Aritomo calling her name. But then Yuuka shouted louder and Karaturned to see the teacher, buried inside her thick winter coat, running tocatch up to her, eyes wide.

"What is it?" Karaasked, stopping to wait for her. A ripple of fear went through her. "Yuki-Onna?"

Miss Aritomo shook her head. Shetried to speak but had been running so hard that she did not have the breathfor it. Instead she pointed into the trees on the side of the path. Kara lookedover and caught a glimpse of a figure in the woods, but with the wind and thesnow turning everything a ghostly white, it took her a moment to realize thatthe elderly woman she saw amongst the trees was not alive.

The ghosts will show you theway.

Another stepped up beside thefirst, this one the spirit of a young man. She did not recognize either ofthem, but stared in fascination at the way the snow passed right through them.

As one, they pointed along thepath. Kara looked at Miss Aritomo, saw an expression of astonishment that sheknew must match her own, and then they both looked toward where the ghosts werepointing.

"I know that girl,"Miss Aritomo said, her voice like a whisper in the roar of the storm.

"Chouku," Kara said. Once,the girl had been one of Ume's soccer club friends, but that was before herblood had been drained from her body by the creature Kyuketsuki had sent toprey on Monju-no-Chie school.

In life, Chouku had been apretty girl with a full, round face and intelligent eyes. Now she had nosubstance at all. As gusts of wind swept curtains of snow across the path, sheseemed to fade in and out of the world.

The ghost gave Kara a meaningfulglance and then turned, leaving the trail and hurrying through the trees. Karastarted to follow and Miss Aritomo grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?"

Kara took her hand. "Theghosts will show us the way."

"The way to what?"

There were a dozen answers tothat, but Kara did not feel certain of any of them. She pretended that the windhad stolen the words away and ran along the trail and into the woods, chasingghosts.

Miho tripped on a snow-coveredstone and nearly fell. Mr. Yamato caught her by the arm and they ran together. Herface stung with the cold and the speed of the snow pelting down around them. Thestorm had kicked up only seconds after Kara had first called her to say thatYuki-Onna had figured them out and was on her way back, and they'd been runningever since. Now it raged around them, the wind so strong that it had knockedher over twice.

They bent against the storm, allof them fringed with snow and ice, their hair crested white. The cold bit deepinto Miho's bones and her teeth chattered and her eyes watered, tears freezingon her cheeks.

Ren and Hachiro straggledbehind, both of them weak. The storm beat at them but they kept running,practically stumbling down the mountain. Hachiro held Ren by the arm, but Mihowasn't sure if this was to maintain his own balance or to keep the smaller boyfrom behind swept off into the trees by the screaming wind.

"Look out!" Mr. Yamatoyelled.

Soundless, a huge tree fellacross their path, branches snapping off, shards tossed into the maelstrom andwhipped up into the storm. The gale was roaring so loudly that they had noteven heard the crack of the old tree giving way.

Up ahead, Kubo climbed over thefallen tree without slowing. When Miho and Mr. Yamato tried to follow, the principalslipped and scraped his knee on the bark.

"I can't see anything inthis!" he said, reaching up to tear away the mask Kubo had insisted hewear once they knew the witch had discovered their ruse. Miho and the boys hadthe wards the monk had given them, and Kubo had whatever mystical defenses hehad mustered, but Mr. Yamato had only the mask.

"No!" Miho shouted,grabbing his wrist. "The Unsui said you cannot remove it!"

Mr. Yamato swore, shocking her,but he kept the mask on as they scrambled over the tree. By then, Ren andHachiro had caught up and came right behind them, and then they were allfollowing Kubo down into a thicket of dense brush. They forged their waythrough, the sky growing darker.

"I'm so cold," Mihosaid, too quietly for any of the others to hear over the storm. She especiallydid not want Ren and Hachiro to hear her, knowing that however cold she mightbe, it would be nothing compared to what they had endured at the hands of theWoman in White.

Miho watched Kubo, careful tofollow his every step. Beyond him she could see several ghosts urging them on,racing ahead and then beckoning for them to follow. The old monk seemed able todo more than see them. Miho thought he could hear them as well, or understoodthem some other way, for he insisted they were here to help, that the presenceof the winter witch had given them a kind of anchor in the world, had wokenthose who had not yet accepted their own deaths. Ren had wondered why theghosts would help them, then, since that sounded to him like a good thing, andthe answer had been simple. Death — at least until their spirits passedfrom this world into the next — was hollow and cold, and if Yuki-Onnameant to kill, they meant to stop her.

Especially if she meant to killpeople they loved.

One of the spirits ahead wasSora. Miho had seen Hana earlier as well. Now she glanced back through thestorm and saw three figures rushing after her and Mr. Yamato, two living boysand one dead one — Jiro's ghost. In life, Jiro had been Hachiro's best friend.Now the boy's spirit raced along between Hachiro and Ren as if he were alive aswell and in just as much peril. But he did not feel the cold that clawed theirbones and slashed their skin.

"Are they still here?" Mr. Yamato asked. "The ghosts?"

It wasn't the mask blocking hisvision. Of all of them, Mr. Yamato was the only one who had never encounteredthe supernatural directly before. He could not see the ghosts. He had to taketheir presence, and Kubo's words, on faith.

"Yes," she said."They are."

Up ahead, she saw Kubo turn tothe left in front of a steep, rocky ledge, and she realized that they hadreached the cave he had asked her to tell Kara about. Hope gave her a spike ofrenewed vigor and she picked up her pace, pulling Mr. Yamato by the hand. Ifthey could get out of the storm they would have a moment to think, Kubo mightbe able to create some kind of mystical shield to hide them completely, Karawould catch up to them, and then they would just have to somehow get back toSakura, find Ume, and -

The wind scooped her off theground, her boots dangling beneath her. Miho spun, arms outflung, breath stolenfrom her lungs, ice crusting her whole body. And then she fell, hit the snowand rolled. When she looked up, she saw that the others had all been tossedaround as well. They lay sprawled in the snow, trying to climb to their feet,as the ghosts scattered to hide in the trees.

Kubo stood alone, unmasked,unprotected.

As Yuki-Onna glided toward him,floating above the snow, the storm carrying and caressing her. Her jaws openedwide, rows of teeth stained with blood, white hair flowing.

With a gesture, she stole Kubo'sbreath. He clutched at his throat, and ice began to form around his face andhands, covering his eyes.

Mai sat in the passenger seatwhile Ume drove them toward Takigami Mountain. At the hospital, only a fewflakes had fluttered lazily from the sky. But now she leaned over to lookthrough the windshield and could barely see the mountain ahead. The snow wasnot coming down terribly hard, but the mountain was a white blur. Winter hadclaimed it, hidden it, almost as if it had been dragged from this world intoanother.

"Don't go to the parkinglot," Sakura said from the back seat.

"What?" Ume said,frowning. "Why?"

"Take the next left. Whenit forks to the right, go that way. I will tell you when to stop."

Mai shuddered. She thought sheheard something different in Sakura's voice. Something. . other. She turnedin her seat and studied the girl in the back seat. Sakura had changed quicklyin the hospital, pulling on a thick sweater and jacket, black pants and boots. Shehad removed the bandages wrapped around her head. They were spotted with blood,which had gotten sticky and matted her hair in one spot. Mai thought someonehad said there were stitches in her scalp, but that the doctors had not beensure how much damage might have been done to her brain. Her skull had beencracked or fractured or something like that.

But not anymore.

"Sakura?" Maiventured.

The girl in the back seat lookedlike Sakura. Same eyes, same nose, same severe, jagged haircut. But somethingin her expression seemed different, and the voice. . she did not sound thesame.

The girl in the back seat shookher head.

"You're not Sakura?" Ume asked, a fearful tremor in her voice.

"Ume!" Mai yelled.

The storm had become blindingnow, the visibility perhaps ten feet beyond the nose of the car, and with herattention on the rearview mirror, Ume had nearly driven them into a ditch.

She spun the wheel to rightthem. The tires skidded, the rear of the car slewing sideways. One or twotense, heart-pounding seconds passed and then they were shooting along the roadagain. A road appeared on the left.

"There," Sakura said,pointing.

Ume braked carefully and tookthe turn onto the side road, then rolled onto the side road bent over thesteering wheel, looking for the fork.

"So where is Sakura?" Mai asked. She hadn't meant to, wasn't sure she wanted the answer, but thewords had just popped out.

Sakura looked at her — orsomeone did, using Sakura's eyes. "She's here. We're both here."

Ume's voice, when she spoke, wasa mouse-squeak. "Akane?"

The ghost, the girl in the backseat, said "Keep your eyes on the road."

"I'm sorry," Ume said,voice still small and broken.

Mai wasn't sure if she wasapologizing for nearly crashing the car or for something else, for her greatestsin, and she did not ask. This was between Ume and her heart, between Ume andthe ghost of the girl whose life she had taken.

A moment later, Ume turned rightat the fork and they were driving through several inches of snow, the tiresslipping, then catching. The mountain loomed up on the right, the bottom of theslope and the woods less than a hundred yards away.

"What now?" Mai asked.

"Follow the ghosts,"said the girl in the back seat.

Mai was about to ask what shemeant, but then Ume squeaked again and Mai looked up, and they all saw theapparitions looming in the storm ahead. They were pointing to a small pull-offthat looked to lead up the mountain.

Ume went where the spiritsindicated. Neither she nor Mai said a word. Mai's breath was caught in herthroat. But she could not truly say she was surprised. After all, it had been awinter of ghosts.

Kara and Miss Aritomo approachedthe cave from the south. Snow had gotten into their clothes, up sleeves andinside collars, and with the cold came a terrible despair. More than once Karathought of turning around, but her friends needed her and it was a long wayback to the parking lot, now. Miss Aritomo must have considered it as well, butneither gave voice to the temptation. Or if Yuuka did speak, Kara did not hearher over the rage of winter that churned around them. They had given up tryingto talk to each other. Kara trudged after the ghosts and Miss Aritomo trudged afterKara, and in that way they found themselves on a trail that seemed almost cutinto the mountain slope, and then the dark mouth of the cave was there, loomingup on the right.

She saw Kubo first. The old monkseemed frozen, jagged ice forming on his arms and snow frosting his beard andhair. And yet he was still moving. Kara saw his hands in motion, fingerscontorting, and suddenly the storm seemed to die around him. Not everywhere.. not where Kara stood, or anywhere else on the mountain. But suddenly itseemed as though Kubo stood inside some protective sphere. The snow partedaround him, blew past him, and like a wet dog he shook off the ice that hadclung to him.

Only then did Kara seeYuki-Onna. She had been hidden by the pines above the mouth of the cave but nowshe glided into view, her beautiful face contorted into ugliness by fury and byevil. Her jaws were wide, her teeth bloody, and she screamed in frustration andpointed elongated fingers at him.

"Kara, hide!" MissAritomo said, trying to pull her into the mouth of the cave.

The snow on the ground flowedtogether like crashing waves, freezing into a solid ridge of jagged ice, allrippling across the ground toward Kubo. The old monk seemed to inflate asthough from a deep breath, held out his hands in a meditative pose, and hunghis head. Two feet from where it would have impaled him, the ice ridgeshattered and fell away.

Kara wanted to cheer. As shemoved nearer, she saw others in the snow beyond Kubo. At first she thought theywere more ghosts, but they began to rise from the snow and her heart soared atthe unmistakable sight of Hachiro. She knew him by size alone, by the tilt ofhis head and the way he held himself. Ren and Mr. Yamato and Miho were withhim.

Hachiro's alive! Shecouldn't believe it. She had not allowed herself to believe anything else, butin her secret heart the doubts had started to grow. Her body flooded withrelief and then that was washed away by an overwhelming surge of love thatfilled her so completely that she could barely breathe. It warmed her, burningthe cold from her bones, at least for a few moments.

But then Kubo turned to lookdirectly at her — somehow he had sensed her there — and she saw theurgency and the pain in his eyes. What are you doing just standing here? shethought. Kubo had made it clear he did not believe he could destroy Yuki-Onnaand Kara had just stood watching.

She spun toward Miss Aritomo."The ritual. We've got to do the ritual."

"How? We don't have Sakuraor Ume!"

Kara heard a cry of pain echoacross the mountainside, and then the storm swept it away. She turned to seeYuki-Onna and Kubo. The witch gripped the old man by the throat, lifting himoff the ground, and whatever mystic rite had protected Kubo from her could notprevent a physical attack. The snow spun around him now, and Kara stared inhorror as the old monk's flesh began to turn blue in the snow woman's grasp.

Kubo was freezing to death.

Miss Aritomo grabbed Kara's armand spun her around again, pointing down the mountain at a group of ghostsmaking their way toward them. They passed through the trees, insubstantial,untouched by the storm. . or at least some of them did.

Kara wiped snow from her eyes. Threeof the figures were not ghosts. She saw Mai and Ume, and then she recognizedthe third.

"Sakura?" she said,jaw dropping in astonishment. "But how — "

"The ritual!" MissAritomo shouted.

Kara glanced at Kubo — sawice crystals and gray, dead patches of frostbite blossoming on his cheeks — and then she ran to meet Sakura and the ghosts.