Chapter Four

I slept better that night, because I chose a sleeping spot with no window in sight: under a low shelf between two stacks of books. I didn’t want to risk getting a glimpse of the night sky. Thankfully I’m not claustrophobic. One of these days, I’ll get Marisa to clean her house. Only the gods know how many small animals have died in this labyrinth of junk.

I woke to the day’s first light leaking into the house. After walking most of yesterday and being assaulted by a youkai, I felt haggard. I went to Marisa’s water pump, took a long drink and rinsed my face. The icy cold felt good, woke me up.

I went through the front room and into Marisa’s bedroom, which was no cleaner than the rest of the house. The only clear spot was the bed itself, three times too big for the person sleeping in it. Marisa was on her side, covered to the shoulder in a blanket. She inhaled, hunnnnnk, then exhaled, zehhhhh.

Was that Marisa snoring? I grabbed the covers and yanked them off the bed. That revealed more than I intended. Marisa wore a nightgown to bed, but nothing else.

If it had been so much of my skin showing, taking my blanket would have woken me in a bad mood. Marisa didn’t stir, just kept going with that unnecessarily adorable snore. She had to be cuter than me even while asleep. Did she have no shame?

I had to punish her.

I climbed up on the bed and crawled to Marisa. I cupped a hand near her ear and whispered into it.

“Reimu is huge. She’s fifty feet tall. She’s taking all your spellcards and eating them.”

She moaned and pulled her arms tighter against her chest.

“Look,” I said. “Reimu’s got Master Spark. She chews it up. Swallows it. Mmm, yummy.”

She moaned again, annoyed. She brought her left hand up, maybe to rub her eyes, but I was too close. Her hand caught me on the chin and snapped my mouth shut, biting my teeth down on my tongue. I clapped my hands over my mouth and screamed pain into them. I kicked myself away from Marisa, then fell backward off the bed.

Marisa climbed out of bed, bleary eyed, her hair messier than usual. Her bare foot came down on the floor two inches beside my head. Either she didn’t notice me or she didn’t care that I was down here.

I sat up and shook my head. Marisa had gone out of the room, and I heard the water pump running.

“Marisa,” I called. “Good morn—”

“ZeeeeeeEEEEEEEE!”

It sounded like a cat in a butter churn. I got to my feet and ran out of the bedroom, then tripped on a pile of books, fell to my hands and knees and scatterted dusty volumes everywhere. I scrambled over the clutter and made it halfway through the front room. There Marisa stood, hair dripping wet and plastered to her thin frame. Her eyes were wide awake.

“Mornings!” she said. “Sleep goodss? Had a weird dreams, big fat Reimus trying to eat mees.”

“Did you…,” I said. “Did you just stick your head under the pump? That water’s freezing.”

“Don’t needs to tell mees.” She wrung the water from her hair. “Best ways wake up on a summer mornings. Let’s get going soons. Wanna make good times todays. If fasts, should hit lake mansions before darks.”

“Go put on some clothes first,” I said.

Marisa looked down at herself. Water dripped from her hair, sticking her nightgown to her body. This was exposition I could have done without.

“Don’t be shies, Reimus,” she said, grinning. “Same equipments you haves.”

“Your equipment looks like it was manufactured a lot more recently than mine.” I walked past her, heading into the kitchen. “I’ll try finding something edible. Be dressed before breakfast is ready, or you don’t get any.”

---

Marisa was right to say we needed to hurry. The mist in the sky had thickened further, gone from yesterday’s rouge blush to deep crimson. If things kept up like this, the sky would soon be black like dried blood.

We crammed down a meager breakfast and packed up. I tied my up my big floppy bow, Marisa donned her hat, and we were out the door. We took the quickest path out the Forest. I kept a good grip on my gohei in case any youkai decided to show. Marisa had her broom at the ready.

After an hour, we were out of the woods. Without the trees to guard our view, we saw how bad things were. The whole valley had taken on the mist’s color. Slopes, villages and fields were all lit red.

We met no one as we walked. These paths were well traveled. Merchants, farmers and fishermen should have been roaming around. Kids should have been playing in the fields, or adults hiking to enjoy the day. Not today. People were staying home, scared.

This mist threatened Gensokyo’s spirit long before killing its people.

“Bloody lands,” I said as we walked. “Who would want to do something like this?”

“Matters more if can stop ‘ems,” said Marisa.

“Speaking of which, did you get your spellcards?”

“Yeps.” Marisa patted her apron pocket. “Six Master Sparks, five more than enoughs to kill anythings.”

“I already know you’re an apocalypse on wheels. I meant did you pick up any other spellcards, like you said you were going to?”

“Not neededs!” she said. “Turns out, used up inks on Master Spark batches.”

“What about the ink you stole from me?”

“Left it at the shrines.”

“Of course you did. You’re useless as a thief, Marisa.”

---

We neared the lake as the day went on. We saw the island in the distance, and the beige dot that was the old mansion. Our road followed around the lake’s edge, but curved back and forth to stay out of the ponds that bordered it.

We reached the lake shore by noon. What had always been a glittering cerulean pool in Gensokyo’s landscape now looked like a vat of red wine. The fresh lake smell hadn’t changed, wafting to us on the wind. I heard gently-splashing water, and the chatter of bugs and birds that lived here.

There was more to hear animal noises.

“Getting that that, Reimus?” said Marisa.

I nodded. “Sounds like singing. Someone’s up ahead.”

“Could be another youkais. Be on guards.”

I tried to take her advice, but the sounds and smells of the lake put me at peace, reminding me how beautiful this place was when water and sky were blue. The singing voice added to the image. Her voice was childlike but pretty. As we got closer, I could make out the words of her song.

Come out and play.

Come and play with me.

‘Cause it’s a nice day.

There’s so much to see.

The fields and the trees.

Rippling water.

The birds and the bees

Taking things too far.

Maybe we should

Take their example,

Have our own bite

Of that sweet apple.

If it’s with you

I know I can do it.

‘Cause we know the truth

We see right through it.

This love of ours will live on.

Remember that one sweet day when

You got brave and told me how you feel.

But you

Were way too busy stuttering, stumbling to

Let me know and make it show your love was real.

The precious look on your face then

I told you that I felt the same way.

And we

Came together laughing and crying so hard ‘cause

We realized how foolish we’d been that day.

Even now, that we’ve known love so long

We’ve found that nothing’s really changed.

We still

Get into our fights and then make up after

And we’re still just learning this thing “love” is strange.

Even so, this love of ours is strong

And it’ll always make it through the night.

Because

You and I were made for each other’s hearts

Walking beside you is the only thing that’s right.

You’ve listened to my song now dear

So sing along.

It’s no fun to sing alone so

Come out and play

Come and play with me…

She repeated. After we heard the full song through the first time, Marisa and I exchanged glances.

“Take our own bite of that sweet apple?” I said. “Does she know what she’s singing about?”

“Probably nots,” said Marisa. “Fairies don’t make babies.”

“How do you know it’s a fairy?”

She pointed ahead. “Right up theres.”

I looked. A few yards away was a large but shallow pond, surrounded by wet grasses and cattails. In the middle of the pond, kneeling in mud and singing her heart out, was a girl in a blue one-piece dress. A set of crystalline fairy wings flapped on her back, keeping time for her song. She had short blue hair two shades lighter than her dress.

That’s right, blue hair. Youkai have a wider range of colors than humans do.

“Let’s say hellos,” said Marisa.

I put a hand on her shoulder, pulled her to a stop.

“She hasn’t noticed us,” I said, voice low. “Let’s keep going. I don’t want trouble.”

“Not all youkais are nasties, Reimus. This one’s a fairies. Might gets her to help us. Maybe fly across lakes so don’t walk all days.”

I shook my head. “Absolutely not. Never make a deal with a fairy. They always get the better side of the bargain.”

“Not always. Some fairies clevers, some nots.” She smiled. “Stupider fairies means better the deal. Come ons.”

I wanted to argue further, but Marisa pulled free and walked to the pond. She held up a hand and called out to the fairy.

“Hi theres!” she said. “Find anything yummys?”

The fairy’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. She stood. Her dress somehow came away clean, but her hands and feet were covered with dripping wet mud. She held her arms out, as if to deny entrance.

“No!” she yelled.

“Sorry to hear thats.” Marisa stepped up to the pond’s edge. “Gots some eats if you wanna have lunches—”

“No!” the fairy yelled again, stomping in the mud. She pointed to Marisa’s feet.

“What’s wrongs?” said Marisa. “Want mees to come in barefoots, like yous?”

“No trespassing!” said the fairy. “This is Cirno’s pond! Cirno came here first! Any frogs found are property of Cirno!”

“’Course they ares,” said Marisa. “Wouldn’t dreams taking Cirno’s frogs. Not heres for frogs, anyways. By the ways, who’s Cirnos?”

The fairy patted herself on the chest. She left no muddy handprint on her blouse.

“This!” she said. “This is Cirno! Cirno the ice fairy!”

“Gotchas. Nice to meets, Cirnos. This’s Marisa Kirisames.” She pointed a thumb back to me. “That thing back there’s Reimu Hakureis.”

That thing?

“Warm-bodied humans,” said Cirno. “What do you want?”

“Just shoot breezes,” said Marisa. “Not every days can meet greater ice fairies. Especiallys in middle of summers! How come not meltings?”

“This Cirno is an ice fairy, not a winter fairy. Do warm bodied-humans freeze in the winter?”

“Hopefully nots. Stay insides with hot teas and nice fires to warm toes.”

Cirno nodded and put a dirty hand to her chin, as if considering a thoughtful argument.

“True,” she said. “Cirno usually stays in the lake on summer days. The lake is icky red today, but there’s no sun out either. So Cirno thought she’d come and look for some frogs.”

“Frogs good for eatings?”

“Yuck, no!” Cirno stuck out her tongue. “Frogs aren’t food. They’re art. Nothing’s more magnificent than the creation of hydro-crystallized amphibius.”

“Hydro whats?” Marisa looked back at me. “Help, Reimus?”

“It’s gibberish,” I said, stepping up to Marisa’s side. “She freezes frogs for a living. That’s not art. That’s cruelty.”

“Cirno doesn’t expect warm-bodied humans to understand,” said the fairy. “Cirno will honor you with a demonstration of icy power. Stand aside!”

Marisa and I both moved, letting Cirno out of the pond. Her wings flapped as she went, just as our arms swing while walking. She shook the mud off her feet before stepping onto the grass, but the mud didn’t come away in globs and spatters. It flew off her feet in frozen shards. Once both feet were out of the pond, she clapped her hands together. Dirty slivers of ice exploded from her hands and forearms. Marisa and I both looked away, hands over our faces. One bit of ice went down the front of my blouse. I tried to pick it out, but it melted between my fingers. It left a dirty spot on my chest.

Cirno beamed with a satisfied smile. Her hands and feet were clean. There wasn’t even a bit of dirt under her fingernails.

“Impressives,” said Marisa, “but totally inconsiderates. Haves any useful powers? Can you flies?”

“Of course Cirno can fly!” She beat her wings, blowing cold air at us. “Cirno is a fairy. Fairies can fly.’

“Show us,” said Marisa. “Fly mees to islands across the lakes, then come backs and get Reimus here. Careful thoughs; she’s heaviers.”

Cirno laughed at us, Hyee hee hee!

“No way!” she said. “Trying to get something for nothing. Cirno won’t fall for that. Cirno’s too clever. Cirno will fly by herself. Watch!”

The fairy ran off to the nearest tree, her wings flopping in the wind behind her. The tree she picked was stunted, had low-hanging branches. Cirno grabbed the lowest branch and pulled herself up.

“What’s she doing?” I said. “Climbing a tree to show us she can fly?”

“Shhh.” Marisa put a finger over her lips. “Let process happens.”

I shook my head. I had no idea what was going on, and Marisa was telling me I didn’t need to know. Whatever.

We watched Cirno climb the tree. It wasn’t big, and she soon reached one of the top branches. She stood up on that branch, which bowed it under her weight. She held her arms out like another set of wings.

“Watch now!” she yelled to us. “The magnificent flight of Cirno!”

She jumped.

---

It turns out that Cirno can’t fly, but she can certainly fall.

I watched her jump from the tree. She was airborne for one second, like a child jumping from a barn into a haystack, except there was no hay to break Cirno’s fall. She hit the ground hard.

Marisa and I ran over to her, the ice fairy who couldn’t fly. She cried her eyes out, bawling in pain.

“It hurts!” she sobbed, rocked back and forth on her butt, clenching her right foot. Tears fell from her face in little gems of ice.

“There theres.” Marisa knelt down beside her. “Cry for a little bits, but get better soons. Still gotta gets us across the lakes.”

“No!” Cirno yelled at her. “Cirno’s not doing anything for you! Cirno’s in pain! Go away and let Cirno suffer in peace!”

“You’ll helps us.” Marisa’s voice grew sinister. “Freezing muds off was good tricks. Trying to flies was even betters. But tricking icy-girls into jumpings out of trees… that was my demonstrations.”

Whatever I was failing to understand, Cirno understood clearly. She recoiled from Marisa in fear, whimpering.

“Wanna take another tumbles?” said Marisa. “Or something worses?”

Cirno dug her hands into her hair, shook her head back and forth. “No! Don’t hurt Cirno anymore!”

“Help us across waters.”

“Cirno can’t! Fairies can’t give humans something for nothing.”

Marisa opened her mouth, but stopped before threatening Cirno again. She stood, brushing her apron off.

“All rights,” she said. “Probably fairy laws or somethings. We’ll makes a deals. Like to freeze frogs, rights?”

Cirno said nothing, just held on to her injured foot, moaning.

“Like chances to freezes something bigger than frogs?” said Marisa.

Still nothing, but she looked up at Marisa.

“Get us across the lakes. Then, after done busines theres….” Marisa stabbed a finger at me. “You can freeze Reimus!”

Cirno’s face lit up. “Really?”

“What?” I said. “No she can’t! I like not being frozen!”

“Whoops.” Marisa put her fist to the side of her head. “Already made offers. Can’t take it back nows.”

“That’s right!” Cirno stood up. “Cirno accepts your offer, and will help you across the lake. Must get to work!” She ran down to the shore, splashing through the muddy pond on the way.

I wanted to say something very harsh to Marisa, and I was about to, until I realized Cirno was running. I stared at her as she went, my mouth hanging open.

“But…” I stammered. “But her foot was just—”

“Broken, surelys,” said Marisa. “Poor icy-girls. Didn’t know hows to spread weights on a falls.”

“You don’t frolic through the mud two minutes after you break a bone!” I said. “How is she—”

Marisa held up a hand. “Reimus, listens. Cirno’s an ice fairies. What’re her bones made out ofs?”

“Ice?” I said. “That’s stupid. Bones can’t be made out of ice. They’d break all the time.”

“Bets,” she said. “Ice fairies don’t have troubles freezing things. Cirno probably breaks bones ninety-hundred times a days, but never notices ‘cause heal so fast.”

“Then why did it hurt her so bad?”

Marisa shrugged. “Be sad toos if you couldn’t flys.”

I was speechless. I was tempted to whack Marisa’s hat right off her head with my gohei, but I rubbed my eyes instead.

“I don’t understand anything,” I said.

“Ours not to question whys,” said Marisa. “Ours to eat ice creams and pies.”

“Stop saying idiotic things at me.”

“Have funs and don’t sweat small stuffs.” She pointed down to the lake. “Cirno’s got solutions. Let’s go sees.”

---

Cirno made us a raft.

She started by cupping lake water between her hands, freezing it into a bowl-shaped ingot of ice. She dropped it in the water. It plopped below the surface and came back up, bobbing up and down.

“Water gets bigger when it freezes,” she said. “This makes ice less heavy than water, so it floats.”

Cirno put her fingers in the water and spun the chunk of ice around. The more it revolved, the larger it grew. It became as large as a dinner plate, then the trunk of a tree, then a wagon wheel. Soon she was no longer spinning it with her fingers, but giving it hefty pushes with both arms. All the while, she smoothed her hands over the top, keeping it mostly flat.

Before long, the ice platform was large enough for two people to stand on. I could see only the top surface, but I suspected the ice extended a long way underwater.

“So we’ll float out on this thing?” I said. “I don’t know. It seems unstable.”

“Totally stables,” said Marisa. “This’ll never sinks, but missing somethings.”

She set her broom down and gathered up two big handfuls of big-grained sand from the shore. She hopped onto the ice raft, which bobbed a bit under her weight. Her feet slipped a little, but she stayed standing. She dropped the sand onto the raft’s top and spread it around with her feet.

“Stop!” Cirno’s wings beat in anger. “What are you doing? You’re ruining the masterpiece!”

“Every work needs imperfections.” Marisa stepped back to the shore to gather more sand. “Can’t go slippy-slides all over. Gotta have some grits.”

“She’s right,” I said, gathered up some sand myself. “When this thing starts to melt, we’ll slide right into the water. Some added friction will help.”

Cirno hmphed, but didn’t try to stop us. Marisa and I spread a few more handfuls over the raft. Soon we could stand on it without losing our footing.

“Very well.” Cirno waded into the water, clamped her hands on the raft’s edge. “Now you’ll see Cirno’s true power.”

She flapped her wings and kicked her feet, moving us away from the shore. Cirno swam, pushing us along at the speed of a brisk walk. Marisa snorted, cupped a hand by her mouth and whispered to me.

“Her true powers,” she said. “She’s a boat motors.”

“A boat what?” I whispered back. “Oh, right. Like the outworlders have.”

Marisa nodded. “Should show ya sometimes.”

“Sh... show me what?”

---

The shore fell farther away, until it was no more important to the eye than the mountains in the distance. The lake was red, but looking straight down, I could see through at least fifteen feet of water below; it was as clean and clear as it had ever been. When I looked up and around the waterscape, the lake took the sky’s color. We rafted through a sea of blood.

Just to make things weird, Cirno hummed the whole way. It sounded like the same tune she’d been singing when we met her. Her head never came up from the water, and no air bubbles escaped from her nose or mouth. She seemed to breathe water as easily as air. She kept pushing us, pumping her legs and wings, never tiring.

Marisa used her broom as a rudder. She alternately dipped it into the water on either side of the raft, giving enough drag to keep Cirno on a straight course.

“Can’t believe icy-girls wants paybacks,” said Marisa, pulling her broom from the water. “Having times of her lives.”

“What I can’t believe is what you offered her,” I said. “Freeze me? What were you thinking?”

“Thinkings might not get around lakes by nightfalls. Going across waters instead of arounds, Gensokyo might not spends more nights under evil clouds. Gotta stop whoever’s making mists, or won’t matters you’re Reimus the Snowmans.”

She was right. I hated it when Marisa was right.

“What if we succeed?” I said. “We triumph over the forces of darkness, but I can’t enjoy it, because Cirno turns me into an icicle. What then?”

Marisa grinned, patted the apron pocket that carried her spellcards.

I sighed. “Master Spark isn’t the solution to every problem in the world.”

“All but ones,” she said. “Won’t solve whole love things.”

I blinked at that, then I laughed. I imagined a few ways Master Spark could solve the problem of love, but they all involved someone getting incinerated.

---

We made good time. The island grew closer and larger, looking like a continent unto itself. By the time we set foot on land again, noon had passed. The sky was darkening.

Our ice raft had shrunk during the trip, but not much. I guessed Cirno kept refreezing water to it as we went. Cirno stayed in the water and pushed the raft away. Molds the shape of her hands were melted into the edge. Her hands weren’t warm enough to soften the ice, but they became a part of it. She rolled over and floated on her back, hands behind her head.

“That was a good swim. Cirno’s tired now, so it’s time to drift.” She looked at me. “You’re indebted to Cirno now. Don’t forget!”

“I won’t,” I said. What I didn’t say was: But I’m desperately hoping that you will forget.

Cirno seemed satisfied. She leaned back, kicking her legs to push away from the shore. Marisa and I turned to look over the island.

The abandoned mansion was the biggest thing here; it stood tall, wide, imposing. A red brick wall surrounded the whole place, topped with guard boxes every hundred yards. All we could see above the wall were spires stabbing into the sky, tall buildings and the turrets built onto them.

“It’s not even a mansion,” I said. “It’s more like a palace, or a keep.”

Marisa nodded. “Big, but doesn’t matters. Let’s go, slow and carefuls. Don’t have covers.”

Our approach to the mansion would be exposed. There was no terrain to hide behind, no dark of night to cloak us. A few trees dotted the land between here and the mansion wall, but that was it.

I started walking. Marisa came up beside me.

“We have no hope of stealth,” I said. “Let’s try diplomacy instead. If we see anyone, let’s greet them.”

“Okays. Peoples on walls’ll pick us off no troubles, but oh wells. Scared, Reimus?”

I took a deep breath, let it out. I hadn’t noticed until she asked, but my heart beat faster than I wanted it to.

“Yes,” I looked at her. “That hasn’t stopped us so far, right?”

“Not yets.”