I groan. You’ve done it this time, Halloway.
My laptop chooses this moment to sing, announcing an incoming video call. My relief fades when I realize who is on the other end.
“What the hell is going on over there?” Callie’s face fills the screen, and I wince. I shouldn’t have been surprised. My cousin knows how Okiku’s victims look afterward. “Tark! Is this Okiku’s doing? Is Okiku there? Whatever possessed you to make such a public—”
“Before you bust my ass about it, Callie, this was all an accident.” I lower my voice, hastily plugging in my earphones before she becomes too vocal. “He was attacking me, and Okiku…took some steps, okay?”
“‘Took some steps’ is an understatement. Tell me everything,” Callie commands. “I want to know what the news hasn’t been saying.”
It doesn’t take long for me to relay the details, and Callie calms down in the interim, her initial fury turning into concern. “Oh, Tark,” she says, sighing.
“Don’t you ‘Oh, Tark’ me, Callie. What else could I have done?”
“Not punch that boy, for starters. But given the circumstances, I can’t really blame you for that, can I?” She pauses. “How’s Uncle Doug holding up?”
“I’m not a suspect or anything, so he’s fine. He took me to a shrink again, but that’s his answer whenever he thinks something’s wrong with me.” I take a deep breath. “Callie, would you think less of me if I said I don’t feel bad at all?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t care that the guy’s dead. Even if I’m to blame for it. Do you think I’ve been doing this so long that I’m starting to be numb to stuff like this?”
“What you really mean to say is, if Okiku’s starting to rub off on you, right?”
I nod. Callie always did know me well.
“I may be suspicious of her, but Okiku did save your life—and mine. I can’t ever repay her for that, so the least I can do is try to understand her. It’s your arrangement that I don’t like. If she didn’t need to drag you along with her each time she went out hunting, I’d be more supportive. I think you and Okiku need to sit down and have a real heart-to-heart.”
I snort. “Maybe you should be my shrink. But there’s another problem, Callie.”
“Another one? Are you trying to set some kind of world record?”
“Kagura’s missing.”
Silence on her end. Callie stares at me from the screen, chewing on her lower lip as she processes the announcement.
“She and some people from that Ghost Haunts show were investigating some village near Mount Fuji, and nobody can find them. I want to help search for her. There’s something in those forests, and I know Okiku and I can figure out what it is.”
“Tark, you’ve barely squeaked out of trouble. Now you’re proposing we go look for a strange village that may or may not exist? At a place we’ve never been to?”
“What can I do?” I demand. “I can’t just sit here and pretend everything’s fine. I’m not telling Dad. He’d stop me from going. I know you’re looking forward to our hot springs trip, so I understand if you don’t want to get involved.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I want to help find Kagura, brat. But—are you sure? Uncle Doug doesn’t mind us leaving so soon after everything that’s happened?”
“Actually, Dad thinks you’re a treasure. Why do you think he always asks you to tag along on these trips? He still feels guilty about what happened in Mutsu.” Callie was severely injured two years ago in Aomori from an unexpected earthquake at the shrine we were visiting. At least, that is what we told my father.
“We don’t know if we can help Kagura from Japan any more than if you stayed in Washington and me in Boston.” Callie knows and is less eager about my habit of acquiring dolls than Kagura was. “But you’re going to do it anyway no matter what, right?”
“I owe Kagura my life, Callie.”
She sighs. “I know. And I owe her mine. I want to help too.”
“Are you grumpy because you’re leaving your boyfriend for a few days? I don’t think Dad’s going to pay for Trevor to come along by the way. You’d have to smuggle him in your suitcase.”
Callie sticks her tongue out at me. When we finally log off, I lean back against my chair, resuming my study of Kagura’s strange photo. “Time to return the favor, Kagura-chan,” I tell it.
I reach out one last time to Okiku, but she senses me and shies away, retreating. I sigh and decide not to push it, and I head to bed.
I’m not sure at what point during the night Okiku comes back, but I wake to find her sitting beside me, watching me with a worried look on her face. It’s an expression I’ve never seen her wear before.
“Okiku,” I whisper. This time, she does not move away. My hand finds hers and envelops it tightly.
Her features are softer now. The gash of her mouth is tempered, the skin of her eyes no longer taut. I squeeze her hand and offer her my apology: “Hey. Wanna go to the creek?”