The Girl from the Well

“What about Aunt Linda?”


“I told Mom about the murder, but not that we were both involved in it—and since Uncle Doug doesn’t know her email address, I intend to keep it that way. She’s got enough going on in Africa that I don’t want to add to her worry. I did tell her about the exchange program, though, and she thinks it’s a great opportunity for me.”

“I guess it is. Just promise me one thing, Callie. Don’t get yourself into any more trouble on my behalf. I’m in enough as it is.”

“What, you get into trouble?”

They grin at each other. “What does she want with me, do you think?” Tarquin asks suddenly.

“Who?”

“Okiku, the woman in white. Sometimes I feel like her presence chases the other woman away, but I don’t know why she’s suddenly so interested in protecting me. One way or another, I’m going to figure out a way to break this curse or…” He trails off.

The girl follows his gaze. For a moment she thinks she can spot me some distance away, outlined against the horizon with my back turned toward them, also watching the remains of the drizzling morning.

Tarquin begins whistling almost absently to himself. It is a familiar lullaby.





CHAPTER TWELVE


    Good-bye


“All the other teachers say you’re going away,” the girl says. “Miss Palmer says so, and so does Mr. Montgomery.”

“Yeah, I am.” They are sitting on the swings during recess on Callie’s last day at Perry Hills Elementary.

“When will you be coming back?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe in two or three months.”

“Are you going to Japan so you can make that bad woman go away?”

Callie considers this carefully. “I don’t know how to do that yet. But I’ll do what I can to make sure that she’ll never hurt anyone else.”

The little girl reaches over and takes Callie’s hand.

“I hope you do,” she says, and she is both worried and frightened. “I don’t want you to die.”





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


    The Well


“What’s that?”

“Huh?” Callie realizes that one of her fellow tourists named Allison is peering over her shoulder and reading off her laptop screen. Like her, Callie and eight other teenagers on the plane are taking part in the cultural studies program in Japan. Allison, the brunette, is a cheerful and easygoing dark-skinned girl, quick to offer friendship.

“‘Japanese ghosts and hauntings?’”

“I just wanted to know a little more about Japanese folklore.”

“You could have asked me.” The brunette pouts, makes a pretense of being insulted. “I’m the one taking the Japanese studies major in college this fall, you know, and my facts won’t change every half hour like Wikipedia does.”

“Okay, then, Miss Self-Professed Japanese Expert. I’ve been trying to find out as much as I can about one particular ghost.”

“Shoot.”

“Her name is Okiku.”

The other woman’s face brightens. “Oh, that Okiku. Of course I know something about her. Most people who study Japanese culture are familiar enough with her legend.”

“A legend?”

“You know all those Japanese horror movies that came out not too long ago, like The Ring? Well, they’re all based on her story. She’s the Patient Zero for undead Japanese women with long hair and pale faces, so to speak. As far as the myth goes, she’s said to have spurned a nobleman’s offer to be his mistress, and in revenge for the insult, he killed her and threw her down a well. Himeji Castle’s one of the educational tours we’ll be going on, and a place there called Okiku’s Well is where the murder supposedly took place.”