A Winter of Ghosts

by Christopher Golden

  "Of course. But why?"

  The two of them hurried down thesteps, Sakura sliding her palm along the railing. They passed other studentswho were finishing up their o soji duties or rushing to club meetings. Many ofthe clubs did not start meetings until next week, but obviously some had begun.

  "I need to talk to Ren,"Kara said. "I want to hear for myself what he does and doesn't remember. Hemust recall something. If he doesn't, I don't know, we've got to hypnotize himor something, or even take him back up onto the mountain and see if it jars hismemory. He could lead us right to Hachiro."

  Kara practically burned withintensity. Sakura agreed with her, but hesitated to admit it. Kara seemed morefrayed and on edge than Sakura had ever seen her, practically shaking with herneed to do something, anything, to help Hachiro. Kara's eyes were not merelydesperate, they were frantic and lost, as though she saw threats in everyshadowy corner that nobody else could see. Sakura thought that might be true.

  "What if his parents arestill there?" Sakura asked, as they reached the bottom of the steps andturned left, headed for Mr. Yamato's office.

  "I don't care. I'll talk myway in, somehow," Kara said.

  Sakura knocked on the officedoor and a moment later it was opened by Miss Aritomo. The art teacher steppedback to let them enter and the two girls moved past her and into the small,very orderly office. Mr. Yamato sat behind his desk. Miho perched, birdlike, onthe edge of a small chair against the wall. Kara's father stood by the window,deep shadows of concern and exhaustion under his eyes. Come to think of it,Kara looked exhausted as well, and Sakura wondered how much sleep the residentsof the Harper home had gotten last night.

  "Girls, please sit down,"Mr. Yamato said, indicating two other chairs beside the one where Miho sat. Normallythey were reserved for students who had caused trouble or whose grades hadfallen, kids who needed the principal's personal attention.

  Miss Aritomo closed the door,but stood by it, presumably in case anyone else knocked. But Sakura didn'tthink anyone else had been invited to this meeting.

  Sakura sat down, but Kara didn't.

  "Yamato-sensei, is thereany word about Hachiro?" she asked.

  The principal's anger showed inhis eyes, but then he softened. "No, Kara. Nothing yet. Please sit down."

  Still, she did not obey. Karaturned to her father. "I can't do this. I can't just go to class andpretend everything is all right. I need to be up on that mountain with thesearch team. I feel like I've abandoned him. Either that, or you've at leastgot to let me talk to — "

  "Kara!" her fathersaid sharply. "Please sit down."

  Sakura winced on her friend'sbehalf. They would forgive her only so much, no matter how much they mightunderstand how agonizing it was for her to be able to do nothing but wait.

  Forlorn, Kara went to the chairand sat down.

  "I'm sorry, Yamato-san,"she said. "I forget myself."

  Mr. Yamato acknowledged this withonly a nod. He glanced at the three girls, then at Kara's father, and finallyat Miss Aritomo. The principal leaned back in his chair.

  "Miss Aritomo. Please goahead."

  They all turned to look at thedelicate-looking woman. She also seemed tired, but somehow the vulnerabilitythis produced made her seem even prettier.

  "Mr. Yamato, Mr. Harper,and I have all done a great deal of research about Yuki-Onna in the pasttwenty-four hours," Miss Aritomo said. "I know you girls have donemuch yourselves. With deepest regret, I must tell you that there is nothing wehave found that suggests there is any way to destroy or even defeat Yuki-Onna."

  Sakura stared at her in shock,and knew the other girls must feel the same.

  "What?" Kara said."You're just giving up, after one day?"

  "If she really has comebecause of the curse of Kyuketsuki. ." Miho began.

  None of them needed her tofinish that sentence, and the words trailed off.

  "Yuki-Onna is a monster,yes," Miss Aritomo said. "But she is also an elemental spirit. Onceshe has been woken, she will remain for the entire winter, or as long as thereis snow on the ground. And if she has come because of the curse, youthree are in grave, grave danger."

  "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."

  Chapter Nine

  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 a
rtteacher 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.

  They went up two steps to theporch. It reminded her of the sort of wooden walkways she'd always seen in oldwestern movies, where the facades of the buildings in every town were builtwith walkways elevated a foot or so off the ground so that people didn't haveto walk through mud and horse crap.

  Through a glass door she couldsee that another walkway ran around the inside of the cottage, parallel to theone outside. This was called a roka,and in good weather it would usually be open to the elements, the sliding doorsremoved and the interior protected from the rain by the extended roof. Moresliding doors separated the rokafrom the inside of the house, but these were made of wood and paper so thinthat it would allow sunlight to pass through.

  Mr. Yamato rang a small bellthat hung by the door. Kara could not imagine that the old man would actuallyhear the sound unless he were standing right behind the door, but just beforeMr. Yamato would have rung the bell again the door swung inward, snowflakesdancing across the threshold.

  "Yamato-san," Kubosaid. "Honorable friends. Welcome to my home."

  The elderly monk stepped back tolet them enter, watching them as they stepped through the door one by one, hisstance and expression evoking a birdlike curiosity. His hair was thin and whiteand long enough that he tied it into a knot at the back of his head. His beardand eyebrows were shaggy and matched the color of the snow, as though he mightbe a winter spirit himself, some male counterpart of Yuki-Onna. If he had beenwearing a kimono or any sort of robe, Kara would have thought she had steppedback in time, or into some samurai movie. But the cloud-walker apparentlypreferred more modern clothes. He wore loose-fitting tan trousers that wereragged at the cuffs, a thick cobalt blue sweater, and a pair of black slippers.

  His outfit made her smile, anddistracted her enough that it took Kara a moment to realize she had seen himbefore.

  The moment of recognition wasmutual. Kubo smiled.

  "I take it you have seenmore ghosts," he said.

  Kara took off her shoes in thegenkan, just as the others were doing, but she could not help staring at TheUnsui. It had been him she had seen riding his bicycle along her street in theearly hours of the morning, when she had been chasing ghosts and her father hadcome out after her. A quick glance at her father told her that he hadrecognized the elderly monk as well.

  Tempted to barrage him withquestions, she nearly forgot to pay him the proper respect. Mustering herself-control, she bowed her head.

  "It is nice to see youagain, Kubo-san," she said. "I was surprised to see anyone on thestreet this morning."

  Sakura and Miho were staring ather in confusion and Miss Aritomo and Mr. Yamato were watching her father,obviously surprised that the Harpers seemed to know the old monk.

  "I am restless when theworld is most quiet," Kubo said. "Old habits are difficult to break. Fortunately,the fattest, tastiest fish are also restless in the quiet hours, and so I rideto the bay to retrieve them for my plate."

  He gestured toward the others."Please, come in."

  Kubo walked along the roka to the nearest of the shoji- the thin paper doors — and slid it open. Another step up broughtthem into the old man's i-ma, or living space. The house Kara lived inwith her father had movable partitions and sliding doors called fusuma,which were something like shoji butthicker. The layout of the house could be changed to suit any purpose, and eachroom except for the kitchen and bathroom could become bedroom, living room,dining room, or office with very little effort. But most of Kubo's cottage wastaken up by a single large i-ma. Tatami mats covered the floor in squaresections. At the center of the room was a large table that she recognized asthe sort that came with an electric heater beneath it that would emanate warmthto those around it.

  "If you will makeyourselves comfortable, I will serve tea," Kubo said.

  "We would be most gratefulfor something to warm us," Mr. Yamato replied.

  Kara knew that respect and honorwere paramount in Japanese culture, but still she was impressed by thereverence that Mr. Yamato showed to the Unsui. The old monk had been a friendof his grandfather's, but she thought his deep respect came from a deeperacknowledgement of the spiritual nature of the old man. Or maybe she wasreading too much into it.

  Miss Aritomo busily arrangedpillows and in
dicated where the girls should sit, and then the adults sat, too,so that by the the time a fusuma slid aside and the old man shuffled into theroom, slippers shushing on tatami mats, they were all settled there. Karawatched the way he balanced the tray, thinking someone should help him. And yetthe cups did not rattle and the teapot did not seem too heavy for him.

  Kubo set the tray upon the tableand went back to slide the door closed.

  When he had settled down on apillow of his own, he poured tea for his guests. No one spoke. Kara felt theurgency of Hachiro's predicament, as well as the sense of peril that hung abovethem all thanks to the curse of Kyuketsuki, but no one would rush him. She usedthe time, instead, to study the old monk.

  Despite the whiteness of hishair and beard, she would never have guessed his age to be above seventy, andeven then only becaues of the lines on his face. They seemed more like echoesof all of the smiles and curious frowns of his life than like wrinkles. Physically,he seemed almost as fit as her own father, who could not have been more thanhalf Kubo's age. And the simple way he dressed warmed her to him as instantlyas had his smile upon greeting them.

  But now, as he regarded each ofthem in turn, she saw a sad gravity in his eyes.

  "Please," Kubo said,picking up his own tea cup.

  He sipped, and the rest of themfollowed suit.

  "Master Kubo," Mr.Yamato began, "we are honored that you have invited us into your home, andhumbled by your hospitality. My grandfather liked to say that he never had abetter friend than Kubo, and I hope that we will continue that traditionbetween our families."

  The Unsui smiled. "I haveno family, Yamato-san, and your grandfather was a better friend to me than I tohim." The old monk tipped a wink at Miho, who smiled shyly. "I gotyour sensei's grandpa in a lot of trouble, once upon a time."

  Mr. Yamato smiled as well."Any help you can offer would be gratefully received."

  Kubo flapped a hand in the air,once again reminding Kara of a bird.

  "I require no gratitude,"he said, as though offended. "If these snows have brought Yuki-Onna to ourcity, I will do all that I can to help. I have not heard of the Winter Witchappearing in my lifetime, though my grandmother claimed that her mother's mosthandsome brother had been taken by the Woman in White one cruel December."