Christopher Golden - A Winter of Ghosts

"Kara?" her fatherventured, so softly.

She wiped at her eyes and lookedup at him. "I saw Sora. He was right over there."

But there was nowhere aroundthose bare trees where anyone could have hidden themselves — even if Sorahad some reason to do so — and they were close enough now to see oneadditional detail that filled the hollow place inside Kara with dread andgrief. There were no footprints in the snow beneath the cherry trees.

"Did you see him?" sheasked.

"I was watching you,"her father said. "I'm sorry."

Kara turned to see Sakura andMiho approaching them. Miss Aritomo and the other teachers waited back on thepath, watching curiously.

"You saw Sora?"

Kara couldn't answer. Sheswallowed hard. All she could think of in that moment was the story Hachiro hadtold her about seeing Jiro's barefoot ghost on the train into Miyazu Station.

"Hey," Miho whispered,kneeling beside her in the snow, neither of them paying any attention to thedampness soaking through the knees of their pants — they couldn't feel itanymore.

"I think I saw him, too. Justfor a second," Miho went on.

Kara stared up at her, thenglanced at Sakura and her father. "He's dead."

"You don't know that,"her father said quickly, brows sternly knitted.

But she did. What she had seencould only have been a ghost. She bit her lip, took Miho's hand, and the two ofthem stood. They exchanged silent glances with Sakura and then, as one, thethree girls started back toward the path.

"Come on, Dad. I'mfreezing."

Her father followed, but she sawhim glancing back at the cherry grove, although there was no longer anythingthere to see.

All through the rest of the walkdown to Takigami Park, where they boarded the bus, Kara felt torn by warringemotions. She grieved for Sora, whom she'd liked very much, but she alsonurtured a flickering, guilty hope that Hachiro and Ren would be all right. Shehad not seen their ghosts, after all, only Sora's.

On the bus, she sat with herfather. Miho and Sakura had each other, so Kara did not feel like she was abandoningthem. Miss Aritomo busied herself with the grim business of making sure thereweren't any other students unaccounted for and then got off the bus to talkquietly with a police officer for several minutes. When she boarded again, shesat behind the driver and told him to take them home.

Kara turned to look up at herfather. "We can't leave them up there."

"We aren't. I promise you,honey. The police are heading up onto the mountain now with a bunch ofvolunteers, and more on the way. But my first responsibility is to you. Let'sget you into something warm and dry, and by then, the boys will be down offthat mountain."

Not all , shethought.

As the bus rattled out of theparking lot and back toward school, feeling began to return to her feet and herbody started to warm up at last, but inside she felt more numb than ever. Shehuddled against her father, taking comfort from the solidity of his presence. Hespoke to her with quiet strength that soothed her far more than the words hechose. Any other day she would have been embarrassed at such a display, a girlher age being so dependent upon her father, especially in Japan. But she couldnot bring herself to care.

Kara opened her eyes, jostled asthe bus went over a pothole, and was surprised to see the outline ofMonju-no-Chie school through the window. The snow had stopped falling and thesky had lightened somewhat, though cloud cover still blotted out the sun. Momentslater, they turned into the drive that ran alongside the school and led to thedormitory beyond.

"Did I fall asleep?" she asked.

"Maybe for a minute or two,"her father said.

Fresh anguish filled her. "Howcould I do that? Hachiro and Ren are — "

"Kara," he replied,taking her hand and squeezing it. "Rest is good. You're not going to beany help to your friends if you're falling apart."

She took a long, shuddery breathand then nodded. "Okay. You're right."

"Honey. ."

If any sleep lingered in her,his tentative, almost secretive tone banished it. "What?"

He glanced around as though tosee who might be listening and when he spoke again, he had lowered his voice. Fora moment she thought he would speak in English, but then she realized thatdoing so might draw more attention rather than less.

"What did you see while wewere coming down the mountain?"

Kara understood what her fatherwas asking her. Once upon a time, she had been afraid to talk to him about thesupernatural things she had encountered since they had moved to Japan, fearfulthat he would think she was losing her mind. And for a time, after she had toldhim, he had believed she was making up stories as a way to interfere with hisrelationship with Miss Aritomo. It had put a wedge between them.

But all that was in the past,now. Rob Harper had seen things that he could not deny, and nearly paid theprice for that epiphany with his life. Any tension between them had been burnedaway by the danger they'd faced together. They were a team now.

None of which meant that hereally wanted to know the answer to the question he'd just asked.

"You know what I saw,"she whispered.

Something flickered in his eyes,and then he nodded. "I guess I do."

The bus's brakes screeched to ahalt. When the doors opened, Kara stood up first, stepping into the aisle. Mihoand Sakura had been sitting right behind her and both of them looked as drainedas she felt. Behind her glasses, Miho's eyes were red from crying.

They filed off one by one, thestudents gathering in small clusters in the parking lot. All but one of theother buses had already departed, the last one standing empty just a few yardsaway, the driver talking on his cell phone outside the door. He seemed agitatedand Kara noticed that he kept looking at a paint-scraped dent on the side ofthe bus, which she assumed was new. The parking lot had not been cleared ofsnow, and her feet grew cold again immediately.

"Kara," her fathersaid. As she turned to him, he pulled her into a tight hug. "We're goingto need to talk about this later, and what it might mean. But right now — "

"I know. You have to help geteveryone situated."

"And then I want to findout what's going on back at the mountain. If I can't reach Mr. Yamato, I'm suresomeone will know. Hopefully they've found the boys already, but if not, I'mgoing to go back there."

Kara looked at the dimming sky."Dad, by the time you get there, you might have an hour of daylight left."

The rest of the conversationwent unspoken, and Kara was glad. She did not want to think about the chancesof anyone surviving the night on the mountain.

"Can you stay with Sakuraand Miho for now?" he asked. "I'm sure they have something warm youcould put on. And when the teachers are free to go, Yuuka will come get you andtake you back to the house."

Kara glanced around, surprisedthat he was talking about his relationship with Miss Aritomo so openly. "Areyou sure that's — "

"It'll be fine," hepromised. "Go ahead. And make sure your phone is on. If I learn anythingat all, I'll call."

Students had been shuffling pastthem, streaming from the parking lot to the dorm. Kara thanked her father, toldhim she loved him, and then hurried over to join Sakura and Miho, who had beenwaiting for her. Miho's eyes had lost some of their redness and both girlslooked more awake than they had while getting off the bus. Sakura stamped her feetand Kara looked at them, noticing for the first time that the girl's boots weresoaked through.

"Oh, no. Are you okay?" she asked.

Sakura glanced down as thoughshe'd forgotten her feet were even there. "I can't feel them, but I'mstill standing up, so I know they still work."

"Can I stay with you guysfor a while?" Kara asked.

Miho nodded. "Of course. Besides,I think we all need to talk, don't you?"