Kara blinked, anger flaring. “We are cursed. Do you think I’m making all of this up?”
That got him. Her father blew out a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to think, honey. What I really don’t understand is why you never came to me about this before now. If even part of this is true-”
“It’s all true!”
He held up a hand to calm her, nodding. “Okay. Give me some time to process it, will you? And if it is true, I still don’t get why you never came to me before. I asked you before and after that meeting with Yamato-sensei, and you lied right to me, Kara. We just don’t do that. We promised, didn’t we? No lies.”
Frustrated, her jaw tight, she shook her head. “This is different.”
“Different how? If your life was in danger-”
“Stop it!” Kara shouted, pulse racing, fists clenched. “Damn it, Dad! Please, can’t this wait? Can’t you hold off telling me how stupid I was until we find Miho? Until I know if she’s even still alive?”
Her hands were shaking, her whole body quaking. In all her life, she didn’t remember being so furious with her father. Why couldn’t he just listen?
“Kara-”
“This is exactly why I never told you before!”
“All right!” he said, throwing his hands up. “I’m sorry. You’re right. We can argue later. We need to call the police, and Yamato-sensei. If the kids in the Noh club are all in danger-I can’t believe I’m going along with any of this-I’ll need to call Aritomo-sensei and try to explain it to-”
“No!” Kara snapped.
Her father flinched at the vehemence of her reaction. “Kara, come on. I know you’ve got issues with her, but now’s not the time. You said so yourself.”
“It’s not that,” Kara said, glancing away. “It’s something else.”
“What?” he demanded.
Swallowing, she stared into his eyes and told him what she had seen in Miss Aritomo’s room at the school. As she spoke, his nostrils flared and his face flushed a deep red. Before she had finished, he interrupted.
“That’s enough,” he said, his voice cold and quiet.
“Dad, I swear-”
“I said that’s enough!” he roared, and slammed his fist against the wall. He glared at her. “What did I do to you, Kara? Is it the move? Just living here? Or is it really just this thing with Yuuka? How did we get to the point where you’d go this far?”
“Dad-”
“No. No, Kara. Grow the hell up! What a stunt! How far will you go to interfere with me getting on with my life? I know you need me now, but someday you’ll be gone, and I’ll be alone. You’re so concerned these days with what your mother would have wanted, right? Well, is that what she would have wanted? Is it?”
The words echoed in the silence of the house. His chest rose and fell as he tried to calm himself. Kara wanted to scream back at him, but she realized now that nothing she said would do any good.
“You’re making a mistake,” she whispered.
“Don’t tell me-” he began.
They were interrupted by a loud knock on the front door. Kara whipped around, afraid for a moment, and then she realized it must be Hachiro and Ren. They would have heard the shouting and been concerned for her.
Her father seemed to deflate. Eyes dimmed by disappointment, he turned from her and strode over to the door. Kara followed a few steps, words on the tip of her tongue, ready to tell Hachiro and Ren that she was fine, that she’d be out in a minute. But when her father opened the door, instead of the guys, Kara saw Miss Aritomo standing on the threshold.
Kara’s eyes went wide and she drew in a sharp breath, on the verge of a scream. The memory of what she’d seen flashed in her mind, all too vividly. She tensed, ready to lunge for her father, to protect him.
But when she met Miss Aritomo’s gaze, she saw no threat in them. The teacher looked as she always did, pretty and petite and intelligent, yet also tired and sad. She nodded hello to Kara, then focused on Kara’s father.
“Rob. I’m sorry to come without calling first-”
“Not at all,” Rob Harper replied, glancing at Kara over his shoulder. “Your timing couldn’t be better, in fact. Come in.”
He stepped aside to allow her entrance, closing the door behind her. Then, as though to make a point, he took Miss Aritomo’s hand and gave her a quick, soft kiss. Kara went rigid, hair on the back of her neck bristling, and yet that was the moment that confused her the most. Miss Aritomo blinked and pulled back slightly from him, glancing shyly at the ground, obviously uncomfortable with this show of affection in front of Kara.
Where is it? Kara thought. Where’s the Hannya? Where’s the evil?
Her gaze shifted past her father and Miss Aritomo, toward the door. What had happened to Hachiro and Ren? Surely she must have seen them outside? Had she done something to them? Or did she seem so normal-so ordinary-because the demon wasn’t inside her now? Was it possible that Miss Aritomo didn’t know the evil spirit had been using her as its host?
“Anything else to say, Kara?” her father asked, obviously daring her to repeat her accusations in front of his girlfriend.
She hesitated a moment, trying to think of some way to continue the conversation. But she could come up with nothing that wouldn’t explode into a major argument. Either the Hannya was there with them right now-inside Miss Aritomo-in which case Kara didn’t think the woman had any idea, or it had left her body again. Either way, Kara had no idea how to proceed. She needed to talk to her friends. They had to find Miho.
Frustration and confusion overwhelmed her, and all she could do was shake her head and make for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” her father asked, in English.
“Out,” Kara snapped, in Japanese.
“This conversation isn’t over!” he called after her.
She slammed the door on the final word, heart thumping in her chest, nervous energy making her want to jump or run or scream. She had to do something. This was all insane.
“Kara?” Hachiro said, stepping from the shadows beside the house, with Ren following close behind. “Are you all right?”
“You guys could’ve warned me,” she said, brow knitted in consternation.
“We didn’t have time,” Ren said, still holding his right arm stiffly against his chest. “She came walking up the street and we hid so we could watch her. We thought about just attacking her, but she seemed so normal, and… what if you were wrong? What if you didn’t see what you thought you saw?”
Kara stared at both of them. “I saw it.”
Hachiro nodded. “Okay. But even so, what were we to do? Try to kill her? We watched through the window to make sure you weren’t in danger.”
“You’re right, I know. It’s just… my father wouldn’t listen to me. He didn’t… he didn’t believe me,” she said. “The Hannya’s in there with my father, and I don’t know what to do!”
In the dormitory foyer, Mai leaned against the wall with her arms crossed, staring at Sakura’s back. The other girl stood in front of the door, staring outside at the moonlit field that separated the dorm from the school building. The silence between them crackled with their need to be doing something, anything, with barely controlled fear, and with anticipation. Any second, Sakura’s phone would ring. Kara would call. They would learn what her father had said, and what they were to do next.
“Why do you keep staring out there?” Mai asked, hearing how snippy she sounded but not caring. “The school isn’t going anywhere.”
Sakura didn’t bother to turn around. “If the Hannya’s out there, I want to see it coming. And if Kara and the others come back without calling first, I want to see them, too.”
The moonlight made the red streak in Sakura’s hair a deep crimson that reminded Mai of blood. Sakura had put some kind of henna tattoos on her upper arms and they almost look carved into her skin. The sight was unnerving, and Mai wished Sakura would put something over the tank top she was wearing now. The weirder things became, the stranger Sakura behaved. She made Mai’s skin crawl. But maybe that was just the girl’s way of dealing with her sister’s murder. Whatever. Mai didn’t know, and really didn’t want to.