Free A Winter of Ghosts by Christopher Golden, Thomas Randall Page B

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?"
    Kara swallowed the emotion thatthreatened to well up inside of her. She nodded. "Yeah. We do."
    The three girls turned andstarted up toward the dormitory together. As they approached, Kara noticed thatMai and Wakana had not entered the dorm but were waiting outside, watching themapproach. Mai wore an expectant look, but Wakana had the most awful hauntedexpression in her eyes.
    "Someone wants to talk,"Sakura sniffed. Her tough-girl mask had slipped during the blizzard, but now itreturned.
    Kara pushed aside her sourfeelings toward the girls and left the path, trudging through the snow to jointhem. Miho and Sakura followed and the five of them faced one another beneaththe tall windows of the dormitory.
    "You saw something,"Kara said, fixing Wakana with a hard look.
    Wakana flinched, frowning."How did you know? Did you see him too?"
    Kara glanced at Mai, whosearrogance had completely vanished. She looked frightened, just as she had whenthey had all faced the Hannya together, and that was good. They might not befriends, but in sharing the secrets they did, they had become allies, and Maitended to be far more ordinary and human when something had scared her.
    "Him?" Miho replied."You mean Sora?"
    Mai frowned. "Sora? No. She. ." and then she let the words trail off, glancing at her roommate."They didn't see it."
    "'It' or 'him?'"Sakura asked. "Make up your mind."
    "See what?" Karaprodded, her frustration growing. She wanted to be inside, to put on warm, dryclothes, to find out what had become of Hachiro and Ren. "If you'retalking about ghosts — "
    "You did see him!" Wakana said.
    Sakura and Miho started talkingat the same time, still trying to make sense of what