Christopher Golden - A Winter of Ghosts

"The curse includedHachiro, too," Kara said, her voice sounding hollow.

Mr. Yamato interlaced hisfingers on top of his desk. "We know that."

Kara looked up at her father."We have to find him. No matter what."

"My only concern isprotecting my daughter," Mr. Harper replied.

Miho cleared her throat. "Withrespect, Harper-sensei, Miss Aritomo just said there was nothing we could do tostop Yuki-Onna. If she has come for us, we will all soon be dead."

Sakura stared, unable to believethat Miho would say such a thing, and then she let out a long, shudderingbreath as she realized it must be true.

"Not necessarily,"Miss Aritomo said. "We may not be able to stop Yuki-Onna, but there may bea way to protect you from her, to hide you all. Mr. Yamato and I have foundsomeone who may be able to help."?"Who?" Sakura asked.

Mr. Yamato stood up from behindhis desk.

"That was our purpose incalling you here. Come along, girls. We will take you to meet the Unsui ,the cloud wanderer."

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 .