Yukiko screams horrible curses at us. She tries to lift her head, the stake pulling a few centimeters from the ground.
And then it’s Riley’s turn. Before the ghost can dislodge the spike, he sends his own into her chest. The horrid, gurgled screech she emits will always haunt my nightmares. Still holding Okiku, I lift the doll. It’s now or never.
“Rest in goddamn peace already!” I snarl. It’s not the invocation Kagura would have chosen, but it does the trick. The stakes pinning Yukiko Uchiyama begin to move again but this time not of her volition. They pull her toward the doll I’m aiming in her direction. Yukiko’s struggles are frantic. Her severed hand clings to the floor, creating deep grooves along the rocky surface as it is yanked along with its owner. The ghost wails one last time—
“Please, no more,” she begs.
Makoto’s face is a grotesque puzzle, his features nearly unrecognizable. He hangs suspended over the pit. The ropes holding him twist as he writhes in pain. He has been stripped naked, and the priests have carved symbols into his skin that can never be washed away. His blood runs down his body and gathers at the tips of his toes, creating a steady drip, drip, drip as it is cast into the darkness beneath him.
Makoto is still alive. She wishes he was not.
“Please, no more,” she sobs.
“You are the strongest of them so far, Yukiko-chan,” the kannushi says.
Yukiko hangs from the silkworm tree, the long strips of cloth already binding her up to her waist, but he forces her to face the suffering boy before her.
“You are the strongest, Yukiko-chan, and it is you who must suffer the most—”
The doll shudders in my hand, and I drop it, unable to hold it any longer. It hits the floor and flops onto its back before finally stilling, baleful eyes staring upward. Riley stabs at it again, completing the exorcism.
“The dolls,” Kagura says in between gasps. Yukiko’s ghost is stronger than the others, and it’s possible that even these dolls can’t hold her for too long.
Riley understands. With shaking hands, he takes it, runs to the ring of dolls, and places Yukiko’s vessel among them, completing the circle.
“You little idiot,” I choke, cradling Okiku in my arms.
She smiles up at me, the expression strange on her face.
“No protests this time,” I tell her. “None of that ‘it is of no consequence’ crap. You’re going to rest.” The flow of blood isn’t as heavy as it was minutes before, and I know Okiku heals fast. I blink back my tears. “You’re going to rest, then we’re going to finish the ritual, and then I expect to see neither hide nor hair from you until we’re out of this damned village.”
“You are angry at me.”
“Damn right I’m angry at you. But we can talk more about that later, when you don’t have that hole in your chest.” I bend and brush my lips against her clammy forehead, ignoring the weird looks Riley keeps shooting at me. From his viewpoint, I must look to be cradling air. “Now get on with it, and I’ll go check on Kagura.”
Okiku makes a soft sigh in acquiescence, and I feel her start to slip—
—and when it is over, she finds herself crying.
She flees from the body, the cursed, bloated corpse of the man she has killed. She should feel triumph for killing him, should feel vindicated by his death, but all that remains is the strange emptiness she abhors. The voices that fill her head with their enticing promises of vengeance have been silenced, and for the first time, she knows she is truly alone.
Nearly blind, she claws at the walls. Parts of them crumble away from the strength she now possesses. She wants to leave Himeji Castle, this smell of live flesh and human hearts. This is no longer her home. This is no longer a place for the dead like her.
She sees the lord of the castle before he sees her. He is clothed in his evening robes, a candle held aloft to investigate the curious noises. His eyes meet hers. Then he recoils as shock and fear stamp themselves across his features. His voice is no longer swift and sure; now it quavers.
“Okiku?”
She should slay him as well. He gave the order. He turned her away, for all her useless pleading…but he falls to his knees with a low cry when she approaches, and he begins to weep. She has never seen the lord of Himeji Castle vulnerable before.
“Forgive me,” he sobs. “Forgive me!”
She cannot.
She turns from him and wills the shadows to swallow her up, to take all the memories of her past life here. Instead, when her eyes open again, she is standing outside Himeji, with nothing but the stars above to bear witness to her sorrow. She feels warmth in her hands and opens them to see the small soul she saved when she killed the murderer, which floats up to graze her bowed head and then flies into the dark sky to mingle with the night.
Take me with you, she says. Do not leave me here with nothing.
But the heavens do not answer.
On her knees, she begins to weep—