A Winter of Ghosts

Chapter Nine

Kara knew she had to breathe, tocalm down and sort out her thoughts, but she felt out of control in a way shenever had before. The mystery of the ghosts gnawed at her, even as she was tornin two directions, needing to talk to Ren, but wanting to be searching TakigamiMountain for Hachiro. Miho had put voice to her own feelings: with no way tostop Yuki-Onna, they were all pretty much dead soon. Now, nothing matteredexcept finding Hachiro. If they were going to die, she wanted to see him first,at least to say goodbye.

But she rode in silence in theback seat of her father's car, because she knew one thing above all. . ifHachiro was still alive, the only way to save him would be to also saveherself. Just because none of the ancient stories revealed a way to destroyYuki-Onna that did not meant it was impossible.

So, torn as she was, she triedto breathe, to stay calm and tell herself that this was exactly what she neededto be doing for Hachiro right now.

"I don't understand whothis man is supposed to be," she said. "'Cloud wanderer?' What doesthat mean?"

Miss Aritomo had ridden with them,while Miho and Sakura had gone with Mr. Yamato in his car, which her father nowfollowed, driving a curving road into the hills outside of Miyazu City.

Yuuka turned sideways in herseat to look back at Kara. "An 'unsui' is a kind of monk. It means 'cloudand water wanderer.' Normally it is applied to novice monks, often those whoare on a pilgrimage, searching from monastery to monastery for a master toteach them. But Kubo is often called the Unsui, because he has beenwandering for his entire life in search of the master he believes will teachhim true purity of spirit, but has never found such a teacher."

Kara listened in amazement,contemplating such a life.

"He must be so lonely."

Her father glanced back at her,concern etched into his face, and then looked at Miss Aritomo.

"How did you and Mr. Yamatofind this man if he is always wandering?" he asked.

Miss Aritomo smiled. "He isat least eighty years old. No one seems to know exactly how old. Though Kubo isstill the Unsui in the minds of the local people, and possibly in his own mindas well, he does not wander far these days. He has a small house in the hills. Hegrows his own vegetables and likes to fish. You might have seen him yourselves.He is constantly riding his bicycle around Miyazu City, still wandering alittle every day, but never so distant that he cannot sleep in his own bed atnight. It seems he will never find the master he sought."

"And you know him?" Kara asked.

Miss Aritomo shook her head."No. Mr. Yamato's grandfather played with him as a boy. Whenever The Unsuiwould wander through Miyazu City, he would stop at the Yamatos for tea and thenbe on his way, off to the far corners of Japan. When he reached seventy-fiveyears of age, he built his house."

"He built it himself? Atseventy-five?"

"So they say," the artteacher replied.

They lapsed into silence, allthree of them alone with their thoughts. As the car climbed a road that ranalongside a stream, she stared out at the gently falling snow and tried toimagine that she could speak to Hachiro, and that he could hear her.

This will help, she toldhim in her thoughts. This cloud wanderer can help us all.

"Do you think he'll be ableto tell us why some of us are seeing ghosts?" Kara asked.

Miss Aritomo dropped her gaze."I hope so."

Kara stared at her. "You'veseen one, too?"

Rob Harper glanced at hisgirlfriend with the same kind, worried look he had given his daughter. "Morethan one."

"Yuuka?" Kara said.

"This morning," MissAritomo said. "Just before dawn. I was up making my morning tea and lookedout the window from my kitchen. The streets were empty except for an old man Isaw walking by and a teenaged girl who seemed to be watching my house. It mademe uneasy; it felt as if she were looking at me. So I went closer to the windowto get a better look and I saw that neither she nor the old man had any snow onthem at all. It continued to fall, but it drifted right through them. And asthe sky lightened, I realized I could see through them a little bit, too. Thetea kettle whistled, startling me, and when I looked back outside, the ghostswere gone."

Kara shook her head. She studiedthe back of her father's head, watching his hands on the steering wheel. Upahead, Mr. Yamato had turned off onto a road that was little more than a rutted,snow-covered path running alongside the stream, which was edged with ice onboth sides.

"Do you have any idea whatthe connection is between Yuki-Onna and these ghosts?" Kara asked.

Miss Aritomo shook her head."No. But maybe the Unsui will."

She turned around in her seat toface front, and bent to peer through the windshield. Kara looked as well, andsaw the brakes on Mr. Yamato's car glowing bright red in the white swirl of thesnow.

They began to slow, and up aheadKara saw a small cottage with a black, sloping, tiled roof and many slidingdoors, some of glass and some of wood.

The home of Kubo, the cloudwanderer.

Light snow continued to fall asthey walked toward the front of the cottage. Remnants of the previous season'sgarden made strange shapes in the snow off to one side of the house. On theother side, the stream trickled by, a hushed burble that slipped over rocks andbeneath expanding shelves of ice. Across the field behind the house, the hillsrose further, covered in trees that must have made for a beautiful view insummer.

In front of the house, a stonewalkway and wooden bridge separated two sides of a rectangular man-made pondwhich winter had turned to ice. On either side of the pond were bare-branchedcherry trees. Snow coated the black tile roof, which extended out above thewooden porch — really a walkway that ran the length of the house. Slidingdoors, some of wood and others of glass, made up nearly the entire front of thehouse, but Kara knew from looking at them that they would all be removable. Thatwas the most interesting facet of Japanese houses. . the way that nearly anyspace could be transformed by the removal of doors or partitions to some otherpurpose.

A bicycle leaned against theside of the house, protected by the overhanging roof.

Mr. Yamato led the way,determined and yet respectful, approaching the main door without hurrying. Sakuraand Miho hung back, waiting for Kara and her father, and for Miss Aritomo. Karafound herself thinking about what an unsui was supposed to be. This monk hadwandered for almost his entire life without finding what he had been searchingfor and had eventually found his way home. Instead of living out his waningyears in a monastic seclusion, he had chosen an even more solitary life.

Maybe in all of thatsearching for the right person to become his teacher, he figured out that hewas his own best master.

They went up two steps to theporch. It reminded her of the sort of wooden walkways she'd always seen in oldwestern movies, where the facades of the buildings in every town were builtwith walkways elevated a foot or so off the ground so that people didn't haveto walk through mud and horse crap.

Through a glass door she couldsee that another walkway ran around the inside of the cottage, parallel to theone outside. This was called a roka,and in good weather it would usually be open to the elements, the sliding doorsremoved and the interior protected from the rain by the extended roof. Moresliding doors separated the rokafrom the inside of the house, but these were made of wood and paper so thinthat it would allow sunlight to pass through.

Mr. Yamato rang a small bellthat hung by the door. Kara could not imagine that the old man would actuallyhear the sound unless he were standing right behind the door, but just beforeMr. Yamato would have rung the bell again the door swung inward, snowflakesdancing across the threshold.

"Yamato-san," Kubosaid. "Honorable friends. Welcome to my home."

The elderly monk stepped back tolet them enter, watching them as they stepped through the door one by one, hisstance and expression evoking a birdlike curiosity. His hair was thin and whiteand long enough that he tied it into a knot at the back of his head. His beardand eyebrows were shaggy and matched the color of the snow, as though he mightbe a winter spirit himself, some male counterpart of Yuki-Onna. If he had beenwearing a kimono or any sort of robe, Kara would have thought she had steppedback in time, or into some samurai movie. But the cloud-walker apparentlypreferred more modern clothes. He wore loose-fitting tan trousers that wereragged at the cuffs, a thick cobalt blue sweater, and a pair of black slippers.

His outfit made her smile, anddistracted her enough that it took Kara a moment to realize she had seen himbefore.

The moment of recognition wasmutual. Kubo smiled.

"I take it you have seenmore ghosts," he said.

Kara took off her shoes in thegenkan, just as the others were doing, but she could not help staring at TheUnsui. It had been him she had seen riding his bicycle along her street in theearly hours of the morning, when she had been chasing ghosts and her father hadcome out after her. A quick glance at her father told her that he hadrecognized the elderly monk as well.

Tempted to barrage him withquestions, she nearly forgot to pay him the proper respect. Mustering herself-control, she bowed her head.

"It is nice to see youagain, Kubo-san," she said. "I was surprised to see anyone on thestreet this morning."

Sakura and Miho were staring ather in confusion and Miss Aritomo and Mr. Yamato were watching her father,obviously surprised that the Harpers seemed to know the old monk.

"I am restless when theworld is most quiet," Kubo said. "Old habits are difficult to break. Fortunately,the fattest, tastiest fish are also restless in the quiet hours, and so I rideto the bay to retrieve them for my plate."

He gestured toward the others."Please, come in."

Kubo walked along the roka to the nearest of the shoji- the thin paper doors — and slid it open. Another step up broughtthem into the old man's i-ma, or living space. The house Kara lived inwith her father had movable partitions and sliding doors called fusuma,which were something like shoji butthicker. The layout of the house could be changed to suit any purpose, and eachroom except for the kitchen and bathroom could become bedroom, living room,dining room, or office with very little effort. But most of Kubo's cottage wastaken up by a single large i-ma. Tatami mats covered the floor in squaresections. At the center of the room was a large table that she recognized asthe sort that came with an electric heater beneath it that would emanate warmthto those around it.

"If you will makeyourselves comfortable, I will serve tea," Kubo said.

"We would be most gratefulfor something to warm us," Mr. Yamato replied.

Kara knew that respect and honorwere paramount in Japanese culture, but still she was impressed by thereverence that Mr. Yamato showed to the Unsui. The old monk had been a friendof his grandfather's, but she thought his deep respect came from a deeperacknowledgement of the spiritual nature of the old man. Or maybe she wasreading too much into it.

Miss Aritomo busily arrangedpillows and indicated where the girls should sit, and then the adults sat, too,so that by the the time a fusuma slid aside and the old man shuffled into theroom, slippers shushing on tatami mats, they were all settled there. Karawatched the way he balanced the tray, thinking someone should help him. And yetthe cups did not rattle and the teapot did not seem too heavy for him.

Kubo set the tray upon the tableand went back to slide the door closed.

When he had settled down on apillow of his own, he poured tea for his guests. No one spoke. Kara felt theurgency of Hachiro's predicament, as well as the sense of peril that hung abovethem all thanks to the curse of Kyuketsuki, but no one would rush him. She usedthe time, instead, to study the old monk.

Despite the whiteness of hishair and beard, she would never have guessed his age to be above seventy, andeven then only becaues of the lines on his face. They seemed more like echoesof all of the smiles and curious frowns of his life than like wrinkles. Physically,he seemed almost as fit as her own father, who could not have been more thanhalf Kubo's age. And the simple way he dressed warmed her to him as instantlyas had his smile upon greeting them.

But now, as he regarded each ofthem in turn, she saw a sad gravity in his eyes.

"Please," Kubo said,picking up his own tea cup.

He sipped, and the rest of themfollowed suit.

"Master Kubo," Mr.Yamato began, "we are honored that you have invited us into your home, andhumbled by your hospitality. My grandfather liked to say that he never had abetter friend than Kubo, and I hope that we will continue that traditionbetween our families."

The Unsui smiled. "I haveno family, Yamato-san, and your grandfather was a better friend to me than I tohim." The old monk tipped a wink at Miho, who smiled shyly. "I gotyour sensei's grandpa in a lot of trouble, once upon a time."

Mr. Yamato smiled as well."Any help you can offer would be gratefully received."

Kubo flapped a hand in the air,once again reminding Kara of a bird.

"I require no gratitude,"he said, as though offended. "If these snows have brought Yuki-Onna to ourcity, I will do all that I can to help. I have not heard of the Winter Witchappearing in my lifetime, though my grandmother claimed that her mother's mosthandsome brother had been taken by the Woman in White one cruel December."

Kara held her breath. With thosewords alone he had commanded their attention. A year ago she would have heardthe story as nothing more than superstition and folklore, but now she took itas a given that others had encountered Yuki-Onna before.

"Do you know how we canmake her go away?" Kara asked.

Kubo sipped his tea. The othersall ignored theirs, waiting for his reply.

"I do not know of any wayto drive her back to the spirit world," The Unsui said, and Kara felt herheart sink. "If the weather turns and the snows melt, then she will vanishwith it."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The answer was painfullyobvious.

She couldn't.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"In a moment," Kubosaid.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They all bolted upright.

"You can break the curse?" Miho squeaked.

"It may be possible,"Kubo allowed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What is it?" Mihoasked eagerly.

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

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

"But that means. ."she began.

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

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