Free A Winter of Ghosts (The Waking Series) by Thomas Randall Christopher Golden Page B

lingered in her,
his tentative, almost secretive tone banished it. "What?"
    He glanced around as though to
see who might be listening and when he spoke again, he had lowered his voice. For
a moment she thought he would speak in English, but then she realized that
doing so might draw more attention rather than less.
    "What did you see while we
were coming down the mountain?"
    Kara understood what her father
was asking her. Once upon a time, she had been afraid to talk to him about the
supernatural things she had encountered since they had moved to Japan, fearful
that he would think she was losing her mind. And for a time, after she had told
him, he had believed she was making up stories as a way to interfere with his
relationship 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 the
price for that epiphany with his life. Any tension between them had been burned
away by the danger they'd faced together. They were a team now.
    None of which meant that he
really 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 a
halt. When the doors opened, Kara stood up first, stepping into the aisle. Miho
and Sakura had been sitting right behind her and both of them looked as drained
as she felt. Behind her glasses, Miho's eyes were red from crying.
    They filed off one by one, the
students gathering in small clusters in the parking lot. All but one of the
other buses had already departed, the last one standing empty just a few yards
away, the driver talking on his cell phone outside the door. He seemed agitated
and Kara noticed that he kept looking at a paint-scraped dent on the side of
the bus, which she assumed was new. The parking lot had not been cleared of
snow, and her feet grew cold again immediately.
    "Kara," her father
said. As she turned to him, he pulled her into a tight hug. "We're going
to need to talk about this later, and what it might mean. But right now —"
    "I know. You have to help get
everyone situated."
    "And then I want to find
out what's going on back at the mountain. If I can't reach Mr. Yamato, I'm sure
someone will know. Hopefully they've found the boys already, but if not, I'm
going 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 conversation
went unspoken, and Kara was glad. She did not want to think about the chances
of anyone surviving the night on the mountain.
    "Can you stay with Sakura
and Miho for now?" he asked. "I'm sure they have something warm you
could put on. And when the teachers are free to go, Yuuka will come get you and
take you back to the house."
    Kara glanced around, surprised
that he was talking about his relationship with Miss Aritomo so openly. "Are
you sure that's —"
    "It'll be fine," he
promised. "Go ahead. And make sure your phone is on. If I learn anything
at all, I'll call."
    Students had been shuffling past
them, streaming from the parking lot to the dorm. Kara thanked her father, told
him she loved him, and then hurried over to join Sakura and Miho, who had been
waiting for her. Miho's eyes had lost some of their redness and both girls
looked more awake than they had while getting off the bus. Sakura stamped her feet
and Kara looked at them, noticing for the first time that the girl's boots were
soaked through.
    "Oh, no. Are you okay?"
she asked.
    Sakura glanced down as though
she'd forgotten her feet were even there. "I can't feel them, but I'm
still standing up, so I know they still work."
    "Can I stay with you guys
for a while?" Kara asked.
    Miho nodded. "Of course. Besides,
I think we all need to talk, don't you?"
    Kara swallowed the emotion that
threatened to well up inside of her. She nodded. "Yeah. We do."
    The three girls turned