Christopher Golden - A Winter of Ghosts

"How is this possible?" Hachiro whispered, though the wind stole his voice so that even he could nothear his own words.

And yet he received an answer.

"All things," said a voice in his ear, a cold breeze that carried words, as though the winditself were speaking to him. "All things are possible."

Ren spun around in terror, backto one of the pine trees, gazing about wide-eyed for the source of the whispery,insinuating voice. Hachiro watched him with a fresh jolt of fear. Ren had heardit, too. It had not been his imagination, nor was it the voice of some ghost. Somethingwas here with them.

"Show yourself!" hecried.

And it did. Gusts of wind cametogether, spinning the snow into a white, swirling vortex. Hachiro and Renstared as the snow began to sculpt itself into a figure, and when at last thewind subsided for a moment, the snow drifting lazily in the lull, neither ofthem could speak.

She floated atop the snow,leaving no impression. Hachiro could barely breathe. In all of his life he hadnever seen a woman so beautiful. She wore a white kimono, her long hairmatching its color, as though both were made of the snow itself.

"I know this story,"Ren whispered, stepping up beside him. "Hachiro, run!"

They turned to bolt but the windblew up so hard that it knocked them both off of their feet, tossing them intothe snow. Hachiro struck the trunk of a bare, skeletal tree. He started torise, saw Ren doing the same, and then they both glanced up at the Woman inWhite.

Hachiro stared into her eyes,inhumanly black and bottomless, like holes torn in the fabric of the world. Hisheart filled with such terror that he could not move. Her gaze alone had frozenhim with fear.

And then she smiled, her teethsharpened pearls.

By the time they had reached theobservatory and started down the long trail to where the bus waited in TakigamiPark below, the intensity of the storm had begun to wane. The snow slowed andthe wind began to relent at last. By the time they were halfway down, themountainside and the park below had been transformed into an idyllic winterscene. Any other day it would have been beautiful. The heart of the storm hadcome and gone, and the aftermath was white silence. But until she knew Hachiroand the others were safe, Kara could see only menace in the snow.

Her father walked beside her,grabbing her arm when she stumbled but otherwise not trying to hard to protecther. He didn't baby her, and Kara felt grateful for that. She wondered aboutfrostbite, but until they reached the heated bus there was nothing any of themcould do for themselves or for each other. They were in this together and herfather knew that.

Miho and Sakura walked ahead ofthem, accompanied by Miss Aritomo and two other teachers who had beenchaperoning the ensoku. The roommates huddled together, trying to share amodicum of body heat as they hurried down the mountain. From time to time MissAritomo glanced back at Kara and her father, worry etched into her face.

They talked very little, focusedon their descent and conserving energy. Kara's legs had started to feel likelead weights. She felt strangely sleepy, and soon the white silence around herbecame a kind of dreamlike blur.

She trudged downward, one footin front of the other, and the veil of snow thinned even more, so that soon shecould make out the bus waiting below. The others had already departed, headingback to Monju-no-Chie school. Yet now she slowed a little, staggering to astop, seeing the bus as the enemy.

"Kara, what's wrong?" her father asked.

In his eyes she saw all of thefear for her that he had been keeping bottled up during their trek. He musthave been half-frozen himself, but he took her arm to steady her and seemedabout to pick her up into his arms, as though to carry her the rest of the waydown the mountain. Love for him filled her up, but it could not drive away theterrible, icy certainty that had spread through her.

"I can't leave withoutHachiro," she said.

Miss Aritomo and the others hadhalted as well and Kara saw Miho and Sakura staring back at her in concern,though their teeth chattered and their lips had turned blue.

"Go on, Yuuka!" Kara'sfather called. "We'll be right there."

Miss Aritomo nodded andreluctantly got the rest of them moving again. Kara's father held on to her,forced her to meet his gaze.

"What are you doing, honey?The exposure you've already suffered could be dangerous. We've got to get — "

Kara searched his eyes, franticand filled with growing desperation. "Dad, I can't. I just. . I can'tleave without him. I look down at that bus and all I can think — I can'tget it out of my mind — is that if I get on board, if I let them closethe doors behind me, then I'll never see him again. He's going to die up there."

Her father held her face in hishands, his gloves rimed with half-melted snow. "No, he's not. They'regoing to find him, Kara. And it will do him no good if you end up losingfingers or toes from frostbite. The storm is already starting to slow and there'llbe a couple of hours of daylight left for people to search. . people who arebetter equipped and prepared for the elements than we are."

She took a deep breath, takingthat in, and stared at the bus waiting ominously below before meeting herfather's gaze once again.

"How does something likethis happen?" she asked. "What Mr. Yamato said about the forecast.. I mean, it was nothing, not much more than flurries at first, and then.."

Overwhelmed, Kara could notfinish the sentence.

"A squall," her fathersaid. He took her by the arm and guided her down the trail, getting her walkingagain. "I've read about freak weather before. It happens. Like 'thundersnow' and things like that. When weather fronts collide the weather is alwayswild."

As he spoke, police cars beganto pull into the parking lot of Takigami Park below, their lights spinning,reflecting off of the snow. They were followed by an ambulance and two SUVs. WhenKara saw police officers and other people start to pile out of the vehicles,relief swept over her. The snow was subsiding. Mr. Sato and Mr. Yamatowere still up there, and soon the search would expand. There might not be morethan a couple of hours before dark, but maybe that would be enough. It waspossible that they had already found Hachiro and the other boys and that noneof this would turn out to be necessary.

She turned to say as much to herfather, and saw Sora standing beyond him, perhaps fifty feet from the path. Hestood amidst a copse of cherry trees, their bare branches interwoven like aspider's web. His red jacket had turned pale, bleached of color the same waythe winter storm had turned the whole world gray, but Kara could see himclearly enough.

"Oh, my God," shesaid, a laugh bubbling out of her.

"What is it?" herfather asked.

But Kara started running, bootssinking into four inches of fresh snow. A grin spread across her face and sheglanced past Sora, searching for Hachiro and Ren, putting it all together in aninstant — they must have found some other path that led them to a placewhere they could see the bus waiting in Takigami Park and started down towardit.

"Sora!"

"Kara, wait!" herfather called.

She glanced back at him for onlyan instant, but when she looked toward the cherry grove again, Sora hadvanished. There were only the bare trees and contorted interweaving ofbranches.

All of the air went out of herin a single breath and she faltered, staggering to a stop. Suddenly she feltmore exhausted than ever. Falling to her knees in the snow, she felt all of herfear and worry overflowing, rushing out of her. Somehow it became a laugh, evenas tears began to spill down her cheeks.

She heard footsteps crunching inthe snow and a gentle hand on her shoulder.