Christopher Golden - A Winter of Ghosts

"I wonder — " shebegan.

Kubo thrust himself from theground so abruptly that he startled them both. The cigarette fell from Mr.Yamato's hand and Miho uttered a squeak of surprise, reaching up to reassureherself that her glasses would not slip off.

The old monk turned to them,grim and commanding. "We must hurry."

And then he was off, dartingthrough the trees, and Miho and Mr. Yamato ran to catch up to him. Brancheswhipped at Miho, the forest blurring around her, her entire focus on followingthe cloud wanderer, whose shoes barely seemed to touch the snow. Mr. Yamatobreathed heavily as he struggled to keep pace with her, but he began to fallbehind almost immediately. Miho did not slow to wait for him; if she had, shewould have lost Kubo's path.

For several long minutes theyran, and before Miho truly understood what had happened, she realized they hadentered a storm. The wind blew. Branches swayed and cracked. Snow whipped ather face. Terror seized her. The storm had come on even more suddenly than theone during their field trip, when Sora had been frozen to death.

But then the truth struck her. Thisstorm had not found them, they had found it.

She came around a thick stand ofevergreens and nearly collided with Kubo. He stood and stared at a formation ofice and snow. It had the shape of a giant ant hill, but twisted and pitted andscoured by the wind. A large, dark, cave-like hole yawned in the face of thething and Miho could only stare at it.

The snow had begun to subside. Didthat mean Yuki-Onna had left?

"We may not have much time,"the old monk said.

But Mr. Yamato came stumbling upbehind them, and he stared at the ice hill. "Impossible."

Kubo sniffed. "Very fewthings are impossible."

"This wasn't hereyesterday," Mr. Yamato said, taking several steps toward the ice hill."The police and volunteers have been scouring the mountain. They wouldhave found this."

Kubo shook his head. "Itisn't always here."

Miho turned to stare at him."What?"

The cloud wanderer looked backat her with eyes like thunderstorms, full of lightning. "Yuki-Onna is anancient thing. She exists now in a world that is neither here nor there,neither spirit nor flesh. The winter she brings is not the winter you know, andit is with her always. Your friends have been with her in that storm, but nowshe has gone to see who has summoned her. But Kara will not be able to distracther for very long. We must be gone before the witch returns. Do you understand?"

Miho nodded. "Enough."

Mr. Yamato ran past them, headedfor the dark cave in the face of the ice hill. Kubo and Miho hurried to catchup. As they reached the hole in that strange, tapered hill of ice, Miho felt afresh wave of fear wash over her, but Kubo did not hesitate and she knew thatshe could not, either.

Mustering her courage, Mihofollowed Kubo and Mr. Yamato into the ice cave. Snow crunched underfoot. Onlywhen she had gone ten or twelve feet did she realize that a dim gray lightfiltered in from somewhere, holes in the twisted surface of the ice hill,perhaps.

Mr. Yamato had paused in frontof her, but once he started moving again, she saw that they had entered a smallchamber, whose floor was dark and textured. It took her a moment to realizethat this was not ice or snow, but earth and scrub and roots — theground.

Two figures lay curled up on theground as though sleeping. Mr. Yamato rushed toward them, but Miho was faster.

"Hachiro, wake up!" she said, crouching beside him, jostling him hard. She glanced over at Ren, whoshivered with the cold, even asleep.

Mr. Yamato shook Ren. "Boys,let's go!"

Kubo remained at the chamberentrance. His breath plumed in the freezing icebox the ice hill had turned outto be. Not far away, Miho could see a sort of menagerie of human statuary thatshe felt sure had once been actual people. But the boys. . she felt Hachiro'spulse. Slow, but his heart was beating. They were alive.

"Come quickly," Kubourged.

"Hachiro!" Mihoshouted.

His eyes opened. He flinchedwith surprise, then scrambled backward as if fearful of them. For a moment itlooked as though he had thought he might be dreaming, and then relief andhappiness lit his face.

"Is Kara-?"

"She's fine," Mihosaid. "Put this on!"

Miho held up the ward Kubo hadset aside for Hachiro, then quickly helped him tie the leather thong around thehulking kid's thick neck.

Ren sat up as well, andsubmitted to Mr. Yamato tying the last of the wards around his own neck, buthis gaze was dark and hopeless.

"You shouldn't have come,"Ren said. "She'll never let us leave her. You're all as good as dead."

Miho smiled. "You'rewelcome," she said, reaching out and pulling him to his feet. "ButYuki-Onna is occupied elsewhere at the moment, so start running, and try not todie!"

The book of folktales fell fromKara's hands and dropped into the snow. A gust of wind picked it up, whirlingit around, lifting it on air until Yuki-Onna plucked it out of the gentlyswirling snow with pale, beautiful, slender fingers.

"What is your name,girl?" the Woman in White asked.

The words gripped Kara with afear deeper than any she had ever known. Yuki-Onna could see her. Girl ! Thewitch could see her. The ward had worked before, in the cafeteria kitchen, butnow somehow it had failed.

The snow woman flipped throughthe pages of the book with a gentleness and delicacy that seemed like littlemore than a mask. Kara took a deep breath and studied Yuki-Onna's beautifulface, so perfectly sculpted and so beautiful except for the black pits of hereyes. Her hair moved in the breeze as if she were underwater, swaying andfloating. Her feet did not touch the ground. Her skin was whiter than thewhitest snow.

Yuki-Onna threw the book and agust of wind carried it away, spinning the book, fanning its pages and sendingit soaring up over the bare branches of the skeletal trees around them. Thenthe witch looked at her and -

No . Those black eyes werehard to read, but Kara was certain they were not focused on her. The witch wasclever. Kara had been fooled at first. Yuki-Onna could not see her after all.

But that did not mean the Womanin White could not kill her. Or could she? If Yuki-Onna only saw human essence,and Kara's was masked, would the witch even see her footsteps in the snow ifshe walked away? Kubo had instructed her to say nothing and to stay completelystill, but she could not help the tremors of fear that went through her or theurge to flee. This close to Yuki-Onna, she could feel the cold at the heart ofthe witch, could sense its otherness and its malice.

A rustle came from the trees andKara held her breath. No, no, Yuuka. Stay still , she thought, prayingthat Miss Aritomo would not give herself away. If she believed Yuki-Onna wasabout to attack, Kara knew that her father's girlfriend would try to save her. Please,stay still. I'll be all right .

Yuki-Onna looked over at theplace where Miss Aritomo had hidden herself, with only a mask over her face todistract the witch and no guarantee, even from Kubo, that it would work.

The witch began to glide towardthe trees.

"No!" Kara said.

Yuki-Onna spun, her triumphantsmile revealing rows of little shark teeth. "I asked your name, girl? Whoare you?"

"If you are winter, then Iam spring," Kara said.

Hatred contorted the witch'sface, making beauty hideous. "You are nothing. Just a little girl witha sprig of magic."

Yuki-Onna came for her, then,her fingers elongating into icy knives. Her jaws opened too wide, revealingonly blackness and those shark teeth within. Her eyes sunk deeper, turnedblacker. Kara's lower lip trembled and she thought she might scream or cry. Instead,she held her breath and shrank down, crouching as the witch grasped at the air,searching for her, head cocked to one side. Her icy fingers missed Kara byseveral feet, but they kept clutching at nothing and eventually they would findher.