Mercy

It was difficult to move smoothly over the rough little track; the last melon glow of twilight was gone and there was no moon. The sky had clouded over while we made the stretcher. My headlamp bobbed erratically, throwing twisty shadows from my toes and over a track sunk deep into the hillside, drifted carpets of leaves edging it like some dead, fluffy moss. The trees were tall and thick, the occasional stump or sapling looming like a man in the darkness and then twisting into true form as my circle of yellow light cut across it. My exhausted fingers were stiff on the stretcher handles. I risked a quick glance over my shoulder, trying to see Millie's face. "How are you doing Mills? Holding up okay?"

"Mmm." She wasn't crying, and she'd been keeping up a good pace. I wasn't sure how much farther adrenaline would carry us, but we had a few miles in us yet. I risked another glance back, at Rajan's drawn and pasty face. His eyes were closed and he was groaning softly.

"I'd ask how you were doing, but I think I can guess. Hang in there, both of you, okay? Tell me if you need a rest. We shouldn't have to go too much further." Please, not too much further. A phone and a decent doctor...

"Look! Over there in the river valley. I see lights!"

I followed the jerk of Millie's chin down the slope and out into the valley. I could make out an orange glow among the trees, like distant city lights, or... flames? Maybe a tourist village that still used old fashioned lanterns or something. That would be good; any place set up for tourists would be easier for us to navigate. "Oh, good! We're close. Just a little farther." A few more steps, another curve, and the view broadened out. A tiny village, only a handful of buildings, nestled just below us. No people moved through the silent streets. "I can see the houses now; we're almost there. It's so quiet!" The path here was indeed lit by open flame; little bonfires in tripods around the edge of the clearing. They burned low and smoky in the rapidly cooling night wind and drew erratic shadows over an unusually tall stand of rocks beside the path. I got only glimpses with my peripheral vision as we passed through; Rajan had quit moaning and now gripped the edges of the stretcher with white fingers. We hurried.

It didn't get any busier as we approached; no cooking smells, no voices. As we came within reach of the first houses it was like we were walking into a ghost town. It was even covered in a dense summer fog. "Hello? Hello? We need help!" Something was off. "Um, Mills, I just thought of another problem."

We came to a stop as Mills' thoughts caught up to mine. "You're right. Talking. Dammit! We don't speak a word they'll understand."

"I speak four they might, but I'm not sure it matters. No one seems to be out to talk to." Because that would be way too easy. Help? Medical care? A single thing going right in an emergency?

No point moaning about it now, though. There were lights on; lanterns glowed at the doorway of the nearest house. Someone had to be around. I motioned to Millie and we laid the stretcher down on the narrow dirt street. "There's light, but no sounds, no one on the street... I'm going to try one of the houses. You guys wait here." I flicked off the light on my climbing helmet and unstrapped it; no point blinding anyone I talked to. I ditched my pack beside the helmet, snagging a flashlight as I did.

Rajan didn't respond at all, and Mills was looking nervous. "Be quick, ok?"

I flexed my aching, bloodless fingers, contemplating doorways. "Not a problem." None of the homes looked very inviting; they were all in poor repair, sagging and dirty. I angled toward the closest one and knocked at the door. "Konnichiwa?" No answer, but the door creaked open. The latch must be broken. Should I go inside and risk getting arrested for trespassing? Did I have any other options? I looked back at Millie and Rajan, trying to seem confident. "Right. Okay. I'll be right back!"

The entry was small, illuminated by an overhead lamp and a single candle on a tall stand, and screened from the rest of the house by a halfwall topped with wooden slats. A splintered bench was disintegrating against the wall and a shelf had collapsed across a huge tub beside the door. Maybe we could do some repair work in exchange for help? "Konnichiwa?" I called again as I entered. "Sumimasen! Is anyone here?" There was no answer, but something moved in the room to my left. I peered through the bars just in time to see a woman disappearing from my limited field of view.

I ran after her, through the entry, into a large room that looked not just empty but desolate. A large platform with a sunken fireplace took up most of the room. It was surrounded by screens, and every one was falling to pieces, yellowed and tattered. A single lamp leaked a soft yellow glow from the second floor walkway, a candle burned beside the door, and a tiny floor lantern did what it could, but none of the light sources was more than a nightlight. I took a few steps down the hall that led out under a tattered noren, but no one was there. "Excuse me!" I stopped and turned around, looking for the door to the room I'd seen from the entry. I found it beside the lantern, slid it open, and was immediately confronted by a very large swath of hanging fabric. A kimono hung on a stand just inside the door. There was just enough room for me to pass between it and the wall.

I was in a room full of dressers. A second kimono hung on another stand, low chests sat against the wall, and light seeped in from the entry. No one here, either. The walls were filthy, the furnishings in disrepair. Maybe the woman I'd seen was a squatter in an abandoned dwelling? Drat. I had no way to tell such a person that I didn't care whether she owned this place or not. We just desperately needed assistance, even if it was just another pair of hands.

I went back to the hall under the noren. A low storage space opened to the right, but it held only pots. A short hallway, candlelit and dirty, led to some sort of study with more broken furniture and disintegrating décor. A quick look around showed it to be empty of life and unconnected to the rest of the house except by the door I'd come through.

As I returned to the main hallway, I caught a flash of movement again, out of the corner of my eye. A woman with shoulder length dark hair, the same one I'd seen through the slats, was rounding the corner at the end of the long hall. I followed, calling out to her, but she didn't even turn. By the time I got to the corner where I'd lost sight of her she was going through a door at the end of the hall. The door fell slowly closed behind her, latching just as my fingers got close enough to brush it. I opened it again, hoping she hadn't been going to get a gun. "Sumimasen? Konnichiwa?"

The room was empty.

This didn't make any sense. I watched her walk through this door. There was no where else to go, no doors except onto a pretty little yard which was both tiny and fully enclosed. I could see everything, and she just wasn't here.

Worry began to collect in my shoulders and the base of my spine. Something was off here; more seriously off than I'd imagined at first. My mind flashed back to Rajan's accident, to my examination of the ropes that should have checked his fall. The cleanly severed ropes. We just might be in very serious trouble.

Or I might be overreacting. So far all I had was an empty old house and a woman who didn't seem to want to talk to me. I took a deep breath and searched the little yard, which seemed to be thriving. All I found was a discarded notebook beside a shrub. I picked it up and flipped through it. All Japanese, of course. No help for me in figuring out who may or may not live here.

I needed to go back and check on Millie. The only place I hadn't been in the house was upstairs; I'd try there and then report back to my sister and we could decide, all over again, what we wanted to do. I left, the notebook still in my hands, and made my way back to the fireplace room.

The woman was on the stairs.

This time I didn't yell or call after her, I just followed. Something was wrong, something was off. I figured out what when I reached the head of the stairs and she disappeared.

Not opened a door or rounded a corner. Not hid; there was nothing to obscure my view. She simply melted into nothingness before my wide open eyes.

I pelted out of the house like it was on fire. "Millie! Millie, are you ok?"

She was folded over Rajan, but she sat up straight as I pounded toward her. My shoulders unknotted a fraction and my stomach agreed to sit still.

"Huh? Oh, sure. Did you find anyone?"

"No. There's no one here." No one alive, anyway. "And I don't think anyone has lived here for quite a long time."

She tucked a dark curl that had escaped her ponytail back behind her ear and chewed on her lip. "What should we do then? Rajan's asleep."

"I don't think we should stay here, not if we can't get help. Do you think you could make it back to the car, now that we have the stretcher?"

"If nobody's here, why can't we just stay the night? Better than camping in the forest. And I smell rain." She wrinkled her nose and sniffed at the sky.

I didn't want to stay. This place was creepy and wrong and there was no one here to help us, which made me feel that much more alone and really drove home the fact that whatever happened to Millie and Raj here would be my responsibility. On that note, however, I didn't want to try to haul the stretcher over a mountain in the rain at night, either. The way things were going we'd end up lost forever in the heart of Japan. A difficult feat, but the way things were going right now we could probably manage it. I could smell the water in the air. Time to make a choice, big sister. "Maybe... maybe just until dawn. We shouldn't wait too long to get medical care for Raj. But you're right, I think it is going to rain. I guess we should get inside."

"Ok. This house right here?"

"No!" Nothing had attacked me in there, but staying in a place known to have ghosts of unknown nature was not a good idea. Nor did I want to tell Millie it was haunted. We had enough on our plates without her trying a therapeutic exorcism. "Um, it's kind of falling apart and... I don't think its safe in there. We'll find a better place. Maybe one of the buildings on the other side here."

"Across the river? I think the bridge is to the left."

"I was actually thinking right here," I pointed at the building on the other side of the little dirt street, "where we can get out quickly in the morning... but maybe distance would be better...":

"I dunno. This place is creepy, ya know?"

"Did you see anything?" I questioned sharply. If anything had threatened Millie and Raj, we were out of here, rain or no. "Did anything happen to you while I was gone?"

"Well... I saw some butterflies. They were glowingish and they were pretty. So I named them. By the time I got to Lucinda you were back. Why? Did you see something?"

Butterflies. Less severe threat than I had imagined inside. Maybe I really was letting the stress run away with me. "Lets just get to shelter. Although... if we're going to stay all night, we really should set Rajan's leg. He's going to hate me for it, but it's better than the alternative. And that means he'll need a splint. Do you think you could wait here a few more minutes while I take the ax and find some wood?

Millie set a fist on her hip and cocked her head at me. "This will be the last time?" she asked, biting her lip again. She was really worried. "I'll wait with him." She knelt beside the stretcher, one arm draped lovingly across him.

"I'm sorry, Mills. I'll be fast, I promise."

I was praying as I rounded the corner. If ever I'd needed help, I needed it now. It took exactly no time to realize that the building I'd hoped to shelter in would have been worthless; an entire side had fallen in. The remaining structure was rotted and full of holes; it wouldn't even keep the rain out. We'd be better off setting up our tent in the street. I did, however, see a well beyond the half-collapsed dwelling, and beside the well a building that looked more solid. A little stack of lumber, possibly a broken lid for the well, splayed next to the stone circle, looking slightly less decayed than the stuff crumbling in the building beside me. I could snag one of those for Rajan's splint and be back to Millie in two minutes.

It was a great plan until I got to the well. I checked it – we might need water, and I wouldn't have trusted any from the house I'd just seen, even if it had plumbing, which it hadn't. My flashlight beam illuminated only rock, and the pebble I tossed in hit bottom with a thunk. No water. I had just laid hands on one of the boards propped against the well when I heard voices. Angry voices. I crouched behind the well and stared down the street; torches bobbed toward me through the mist. Torches just as translucent as the trails of fog surrounding them. I could just make out fingers curled around the base of one, and those fingers were see-through as well. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but the mere sound of the words made my heart pound and my muscles clench. These were not happy ghosts. And they were looking for something.

I was something. And in just a minute, they were going to find me.

A third torch bobbed into existence and I took flight like a startled rabbit. I couldn't lead them back to Millie and Rajan, but I couldn't let them catch me, either. The solid building beside the well might offer some shelter. A fence ran along the side opposite the well, but there was enough room for me to fit between the building and the fence. I waited there, just outside the circle of light from the lantern hung at the doorpost, a rock clenched in one hand and the ax in the other, the board for Raj's splint cradled in my arm. From the time I was a little girl I've been able to create transitory visual illusions; I threw one up now to make myself disappear. If they turned towards Millie, I'd throw the rock to distract them, and if that didn't work I'd drop the illusion and make them chase me. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all I had. I waited, hardly daring to breathe, for the angry procession to come into view.

And waited. And waited.

Eventually I slunk back out again, carefully, eyes searching every nook and cranny. There was nothing there. No voices, no torches, no ghosts. An empty street in the fog.

Mercedes, get a grip, I scolded myself. Had I just freaked out over a lantern in the fog and a distant argument? Or had I just successfully evaded potentially hostile spiritual phenomena? I didn't know, and I wouldn't know until I quit letting my imagination run wild or panicking every time I saw something weird. You're a Valentine, for crying out loud. Weird is practically your family name.

And you've left Millie too long.

I jogged around the corner and saw Rajan, lying on his stretcher, alone.

I've learned some impressive swearwords when my uncles thought I wasn't listening, and I used them all, then used them all again. Silently, in my head – if hostile things were lurking here, I didn't want to give them defenseless, sleeping Raj as a target. Something bad, very bad, must have happened – Millie would never just leave Raj, not in his condition in a place like this. I dropped beside him and shook his shoulder, bending low to speak into his ear. "Raj? Raj, I'm sorry, but I need you to wake up."

He groaned and blinked, managed a slurred, "what?"

"Can't explain. I'm going to leave for a second. Here's the ax. If you see anything weird, yell for me, ok? And if anything gets too close, whack it. I'll be right back." I stood up, my eyes trying to pierce the fog by force of will. "Millie?" I called softly. "Millie?" A little louder. "Where are you?"

If she could only make a single noise, I could find her... "Millie!"

"What? Is he ok?" My sister, whole and unharmed, came tearing around a corner of the house, into the street.

She's alive. She's fine. Thank heavens. I'm going to kill her.

"You're here. Oh, good." My voice was a study in relief; I was too glad to see her to even stay mad at her for scaring me like that.

"I'm fine," Rajan assured her. "Well, the same. What's going on?"

Raj and Millie were both looking at me with concern, the ax still in Rajan's hand. Both totally fine. Right. I would just have to keep them that way until dawn, safe from the workings of my overwrought imagination. I took the ax back from Rajan, chopping the board for his splint while I explained. "We found the town, but there's no one here to help us. We're going to stay here for the night and go to the car in the morning. We're going to have to splint your leg; I'm sorry." I looked up at my sister. "Please don't wander off like that. You scared me. The last thing we need is for you to break an ankle on a rotten floor. I'll never get you out then." There. A perfectly plausible reason to keep her close. This place was manifestly disintegrating, and Mills has always had weak ankles.

Millie looked accommodating rather than contrite, but it would do. "Sorry, just looking around," she said, kneeling by Rajan's head. It went without saying that the actual setting would fall to me. "Rajan, you ready?" she asked, stroking his cheek.

"No," I answered for him, pulling his injured leg straight and trying to ignore the roar of agony that accompanied the motion, "he's not. But its mostly over. Help me tie the splint on."

Rajan bore our ministrations silently, only panting and the occasional hiss escaping his control. "You're supposed to warn me... so I can be... manly," he managed as we finished and stood. "Not... scream like... a little girl."

Millie was crying again, silent tears. "It's ok," she assured him in a steady voice. "you were fine." She kissed his forehead. "Good job. Great job."

"Hurts more if you're expecting it," I explained. "And you didn't scream like a little girl. That was an Amazon bellow if I ever heard one. Or possibly a large bovine under torture."

He chuckled a little. "Thanks for that."

"Any time," I smiled. "Alright, you're fixed up. Let's find a place to stay the night." Nothing had been drawn by all the noise we were making, which I took as a good sign that either nothing was really here, or whatever was here was only echoes. Still, the tent idea was out; I wanted to keep visibility.

"Where are we, anyway?" Raj asked as Mills and I hefted the stretcher again.

"Somewhere named Minakami." Millie leaned over him and whispered, "But there's no one here..."

"We hope," I added under my breath. "This place," I told him, "is kind of falling apart. We may need to walk a little ways before we find a safe place to be."

"Just a little more," Millie backpedaled. "Then you can rest."

"Keep a lookout, ok?" I asked them both. I didn't want to scare them, but something was wrong. Lights and ghosts and abandoned houses and butterflies – whatever it was, this town was not normal. "Something about this place bothers- wait, Millie? Did you say glowing... ish?"

"Oh, the butterflies? Mmm-hmm," she acknowledged, unperturbed.

"Very brightly colored? Or actually emitting light?"

"I don't remember. Why?"

Ah, my sister. "Um, I don't like this place."

Our path was winding between two more buildings, lights on and silent, dingy as the first house. Unlikely to be better choices than the first one for occupancy, so with a shared look Millie and I decided to pass them by. Ahead of us a large double door was set into a wall that crossed the road. Some sort of boundary? If we got out of the stupid village, the tent might be fine after all... Should have thought of that earlier. I was definitely not at my best. We paused under the sloping branches of a massive tree and lowered Raj to the leaf strewn street. Hopefully, I pulled open the massive doors.

We passed through the doors onto a wooded river bank, or possibly the shore of a small lake, a rickety looking wooden bridge stretching across the water. The fog was heavier here, but I could just make out shadows that might be a building on the far side. Millie didn't even slow down, so I didn't either. "Careful," I warned as we walked onto the aged planks, "this doesn't look very stable. Gaping hole coming up on the right. Maybe we should- wait, did you see that?" Through the hole I'd seen something white in the water, and a swirl of black over it that moved like hair.

"See what?" Millie asked, suddenly motionless.

I took a deep breath and refused to panic. "It looked like someone in the water, just under the bridge." There. Calm and rational.

"Why would someone be under a rickety wooden bridge in an old abandoned village at night?" Millie asked, her eyes wide and perplexed.

So much for rationality. "Swimming? I don't know. I can't see anyone now. But I could have sworn... Never mind. Let's just get across. Watch your step."

The shape at the other end of the bridge was resolving into a large house. Not large compared to mine, of course, but significantly bigger than anything else we'd seen in the village. The bridge terminated at an ornate set of lantern lit doors set into another wall. We had to climb a few steps to reach it.

The gate opened away from me, swinging easily as I pushed against it. On the other side a wide courtyard, carefully landscaped and lit by lanterns, embraced the house. Millie was impressed. "Oh, yeah. This place even has a baby courtyard."

The courtyard was nice, but it wouldn't keep us safe from the big drops of rain that were starting to splash down around us. The breeze was picking up, whisking away the fog and cooling the air. Raj shivered. "Swanky," I agreed. "Apparently the gardeners are still showing up for work. Let's get inside. Set him down and let me find something to prop open this door..."

Millie bent over her boyfriend again as I searched the landscaping. "How's it going, trooper?"

"I am not yet dead," he replied. "Not sure if that's good or bad. I'll get back to you."

"Pretty soon we'll be nice and warm and snuggled in a house and I can give you more pain medicine! And then when it's light we'll get you home." She lifted a corner of the blanket we'd laid across him and used it to shield his face from the mounting shower.

I found a large rock among the landscaping and wedged the front door open with it, trying not to feel too dismayed at what I saw inside. The house had clearly been ornate and lovely at some point, but that point had passed. Its interior was as shredded and filthy as the first house had been, although the floor seemed in better condition. There were no lights in the spacious entry, and I couldn't decide if I liked it better that way or not.

Raj groaned, jaw clenched, as we lifted him again. "The pain should start backing off as your leg stabilizes," I reminded him. "It'll be better soon, I promise! Come on, we're getting soaked."

We moved into the shelter of the roof, grateful to be out of the weather. The door groaned as Millie crossed the threshold, but the rock was wedged solidly and kept it from slamming closed in the mild wind. "Only a few hours," I reminded myself quietly. No sooner had I started hunting for the best place to lay the stretcher, though, than the headlamp on the helmet I'd re-donned for our trip through the village flickered and died. I looked back in time to see Millie's fade out, too.

"Weird," she noted. "Flashlight?" We lowered Raj and tried the flashlight without success. "I think I see some light coming from down the hall," Millie said, starting that direction. "Someone's got to be here!"

I grabbed her arm, gently, and she stopped moving. I shook my head. "Nope. It was like that at the other place, too. The lights are on, but nobody's home."

She frowned at me, considering. "But... how?"

"Don't know, don't want to know. Let's not move from this spot, though. And I'm going to leave the door open, if no one minds." Apparently, no one did. "Raj, you comfortable?"

"All things considered, yeah. It's ok."

"Mercy, look!" Millie pointed toward a decaying tapestry on the wall. "It's the butterfly I was talking about!"

I followed the line of her finger and stared, frankly amazed. Actually emitting light, then. It was bright red and glowing, clinging to the tapestry and slowly fluttering extravagant wings. "I see, Mills. We're going to definitely not touch the butterflies. And we're out of here at first light." She nodded, her stray curl slipping free of her ear again, eyes still riveted on the luminous insect. "Still, it does look kind of cool," I admitted. "Are they bioluminescent, do you think? They must be."

She gave half a shrug, smiled, and sank down beside Rajan.

"Alright," I said, sitting myself. "Mills, you two get some sleep. I'll keep watch until dawn."

"You sure?" she asked, yawning and digging a blanket from her pack.

"Yeah. Sweet dreams."