Christopher Golden - A Winter of Ghosts

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.

Kara 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!"