The Girl from the Well

His father finally relents, and Tarquin sets out. The man begins another series of phone calls, and Callie helps the woman prepare for dinner. She is now dressed in a kimono of somber blue and wards off all of Callie’s offers to help, laughing. “It is not customary for a host to allow her guests to assist in dinner preparations. But I would appreciate the company.” Her thin, slight fingers slice carrots and meat with the expertise of a chef’s.

Every now and then, there is a knock at the door, a voice calling out for Kagura. Each time, the woman briefly abandons her task, taking a small parcel from the cupboard before greeting the caller. “Specially prepared medicine my sisters and I make,” she tells Callie, “a sovereign specific, a general cure-all for many forms of ailment.”

Her patients are both numerous and varied: first an old man suffering from advanced rheumatism, next a young mother with a sleeping child, then a group of fishermen, followed by half a dozen fresh-faced students. “I suppose it works, which is why many ask for it,” Kagura says modestly after seeing the last of her customers off. “I am a miko—a shrine maiden. As are all my other sisters. In many small towns where people still believe in the old ways of living, mikos like us often serve as the resident medicine women.”

“You speak English very well.”

“I am the only one of my sisters who can speak it at all, another reason why I was chosen to wait for you. I may not look it, but I have also studied at university.” The miko lifts her head to look at her, and the same compelling curiosity is back in her gaze. “You are a very unusual girl, Callie-san.”

Callie is taken aback by her frankness. “I am?”

“It is not every day that I see anyone, much less an American, with an onryuu following her around.”

“What is an onryuu?”

“It is a kind of yuurei, a dead spirit stranded in this world and unable to leave. An onryuu is the most powerful kind of yuurei—one fueled by vengeance, able to harm the living.”

Callie freezes. “You can see her, too?”

“I am aware of her presence, have been since I first saw you at the train station,” the miko says. “I see her now on the ceiling, standing just over your right shoulder.” Callie turns but sees nothing. “I say it is an onryuu, yet I feel no hate from her. That is why I say you are an unusual girl. Or perhaps it is an unusual onryuu. The young boy, Tarquin-kun, is afflicted by another spirit, but one who is decidedly more dangerous.”

“How are you able to see her? Who are you?”

The miko sets the knife down. “Shrine maidens nowadays are a far cry from what they were once known for throughout Japan. They still perform ceremonies and offer to tell people their fortunes, but no longer do they dabble in soothsaying or speak for the dead. My sisters and I are a dying breed. We are kuchiyose miko, among few still following the old ways. We serve as mediums for the deceased, and so our second sight is strong. Tarquin’s mother, Yoko, was one of us before she married his father.”

“Yoko Halloway was a miko?”

“I was only nine years old when I last saw her, but I believe Yoko Halloway was a devoted wife, a kind mother, and a beautiful woman both inside and out. But once upon a time, Yoko Taneda was a miko and an exorcist. She was the best of us all—a very strong one, capable of weathering the malice that most dead spirits bring. Her spiritual abilities were second only to…”

And at this the miko’s voice trails off. She takes the knife again and resumes her slicing.

“There was one other miko. One who surpassed even Yoko Taneda in terms of skill and ability. She could succeed in the most difficult of exorcisms, those that could kill weaker shrine maidens.” Her voice grows soft. “And then, unfortunately, she died.”

She shakes her head, resumes smiling. “You must not let me ramble on so, Callie-san. I was only a child when it all happened, but my obaasan, the head of the Chinsei shrine, will be able to answer your questions more succinctly than I can.”