Spirited Away III: A Tale of Two Worlds

Chapter 4

Something—what,exactly, she couldn't say; probably a feeling—startled Chihiro backinto consciousness with all of Yubaba's subtlety.

Sheshuddered at the cold sweat sliding down her face and drew in alungful of the stale air. Disorientation gripped her. Where was she?What happened? There was a fire, wasn't there? Her head achedterribly. Then, with a dolesome look around her, she realized therewas no fire. She was someplace dark, dusty, and cold. Her palms slidover wood paneling, and her fingers showed nothing but smudges ofdirt and brown dust. Nothing to bear any indication of herwhereabouts, she thought grimly.

Chihiro climbed to her feetand tested the floorboards. Based on the sharp creak her stepprovoked, they were old and worn thin from many footfalls. She froze,expecting her kidnapper to burst through a door, but the silencecontinued. Chihiro exhaled in relief and crept forward until heroutreached hands brushed a grimy doorknob.

"Am I alone?"she asked the darkness.

There was the sort of stony stillnessthat came from an empty house. It reminded Chihiro of all the timesshe was home alone—the way she would flinch if the branchesrattled, the surprise that every sound elicited as if she was in acastle instead of a cramped house. Hope surged. If they left evenmomentarily, then with a bit of luck and stealth, she couldescape.

Chihiro pushed open the door to find a frogman glaringfuriously at her.

"Stinky human," he snarled,hauling Chihiro over the threshold. She shrieked and tripped, fallingto the floor.

The spirit's shadow loomed over her like astratus cloud. Chihiro could feel the drill of his glare, even theghost of its anger, bottled up like a genie in a bottle. She ignoredher smarting hands and shins and climbed up to her feet. "Whatdo you want from me?"

"Surely even your stupid kindcan figure that out."

Lin's words echoed. There arevengeful spirits who wouldn't tolerate a human ruling over them—whowould go as far as breaking their laws to stop such matrimony.Bitterness burned the back of Chihiro's throat. Haku never said heloved her, let alone hint at a significant future, yet hisassociation with her was spelling her doom.

"I'm not athreat," she said tentatively. "I have done you nowrong."

She saw his self-containment thray in his eyes."You humans always a make a mess of things! This is anotherworld, a place where the gods can replenish themselves from yourmortal dirt. It is certainly no place for a human to come and go ashe pleases."

"I was in my world until you broughtme here!"

"And we all know you weren't planning onstaying there, now, were you? Too infatuated and arrogant to knowyour place. Too prideful to think you could live the rest of yourlife here."

The frogman stalked to a cabinet, removed askillet, and swung it in a casual manner that belied his furiousscowl. Chihiro wondered if he was practicing a movement meant to bashher brains.

"But you're a pest, aren't you, like allhumans. How come you're still—here? Solid?" He gesturedirritably at the human. With a flex of her trembling hands, Chihirorealized the unaccounted miracle that saved her life twice.

"Youdidn't give me any food."

"Foolish human! Of coursenot."

"And I haven't disappeared." She squeezedher eyes shut in an effort not to look at her hair-tie wrapped aroundher wrist. "I don't know why."

Slinging the skillet,the frogman approached. Chihiro stumbled into a door locked withpadlocks. Tugging at the chains was pointless, but breaking thewindow, she thought, was not. All she needed was a distraction—afew minutes of bought time.

"I saved your life! All yourlives—all of you. I killed the Dark Spirit; without my sacrifice,he wouldn't have left a stone overturned and a spiritunpunished."

The frog paused, something incomprehensiblelurking in his face.

Perspiration slid down her hands, but sheclenched them. "Your Lady—this mighty queen of yours—coulddo nothing against the fiend. The prince and every witch and wizardput together couldn't --"

She underestimated the force ofher anger as he crossed the distance, bringing the skillet down in amotion indescribably fast. Reflexes saved Chihiro's life as sheducked out of danger and seized the first object she could find. Itwas large and smooth and felt deliciously like a sword. Shockreplaced fury when she knocked the whatchamacallit over herkidnapper's skull.

The frogman fell like a man dead.

Chihiro regarded the body—so scary in its stillness—andbegan to shake like an autumn leaf. She was half-conscious of hershrieks and fell to her knees. The notion of being a murderessterrified her, yet if he caught her again, she wouldn't see the lightof day. Without checking his pulse, she climbed onto a windowsill andsmashed her elbow through the pane. Glass shattered and sliced herskin.

If Chihiro paused to reflect, she would have scavengedthe pantry for food, broken the window with a vase instead of herelbow, and taken the club she used to hit her captor unconscious.Perhaps she would've even locked him in that dank room, but none ofthose ideas crossed her mind. With one quick glance at the motionlessfrogman, she climbed haphazardly out the window and tumbled into thegrass. Then she ran for all her legs were worth.

The air wasbitingly cold with the telltale signs of fall, and Chihiro's jacketdid little to ward off the chill. Moreover, it was pitch dark.Chihiro could discern nothing of her surroundings except its hillyland and a distant trickle of water. A train gliding across a seaflashed in her mind, and she rushed heedlessly. The speedinesscompromised her agility, and within minutes she fell, rolling down anincline. Chihiro moved to wipe the grime off her face and saw thather hands began to fade.

"Food! Food—food—food,"she gasped.

Chihiro dug her fingers into the earth but pulledout only clumps of grass. She thought of the kitchen she leftunsearched and rued her stupidity. As seconds of fruitless searchingpassed, her fingers became increasingly transparent until they dippedthrough the earth like water.

Almost against her will,Chihiro felt herself accept death.

A human should not live inthe realm of spirits. Those who lingered too long died. Not evenZeniba could maintain her presence or stop the inevitable.

Chihirolooked at the star-speckled sky and thought how much she had yet todo. She never got to make amends with her parents or tell her brotherhow deeply she loved him. She never got to play with Boh. She nevergot to tell Haku that her heart was his, even if he did notreciprocate. Then, she thought how awful it was to fade to death.Albeit her translucent limbs brought no pain, she felt a terriblecoldness spread through her core, as if she swallowed ice water tooquickly. The sensation sickened and frightened her at the same.

Butthere were worse ways to die.

Then, like the cooing of adove, she heard a gurgling brook, much louder than before. Water madeher think of Haku instinctively, and she stumbled, weak-kneed, towardthe source. She spied a stream glimmering faintly in the starlight.Chihiro went down on all fours, lowered her face to the water'ssurface, and drank. The water was salty and cold, but it solidifiedher. She felt her heart hammer and blood rush to her tingly limbs.She stopped drinking only when she felt like bursting at theseams.

"A-hem! You, human!"

Chihiro lookedup. On the opposite bank of the stream stood a silhouetted figure. Itwore a sweeping cloak and had a masculine shape: all sharp angles andparallel lines.

Chihiro bowed.

"What are you doinghere?" the spirit demanded.

"I was kidnapped andbrought here, and I escaped," she said, unbending.

"Kidnapped!Why would someone kidnap a human?" In two or three strides, hecrossed the river and remained impeccably dry. "Do you knowwhere you are?"

"Yes, I am in the realm ofspirits."

"And you, human, believe this?"

"Imust; it is the truth. My people believed in kami for generations;how can I not?" Chihiro chanced a peek at the spirit; his visagewas chiseled and hard as if carved from stone. Two black, unblinkingeyes glared at her from underneath a broad forehead and thineyebrows.

Would he save her, she thought, or destroyher?

"You've been here before," the spirit stated."You visited the land of the kami. Do you know how extraordinaryit is for a human to stumble upon this world once, let alone twice?"

Chihiro settled for what she hoped was a politely confusedlook.

The spirit sighed in exasperation. "What's yourname?"

"My name is Sen." She bowed her head."If I may, I ask for your help. I am alone and cold, and if I donot find shelter and eat food, I won't survive."

"Whyshould I help you?" the spirit asked, scoffing. "You humanspolluted and drained our world, and none of you deserve an ounce ofmy help."

Chihiro tried to summon whatever patience therewas left. "If you don't help me, I will die. I have outspokenagainst indecent human practices for long. If there is any way I canrepay your hospitality, I will."

Another laugh. "You,child, are truly foolish! Now that you have promised me repayment,you will be expected to fulfill it." Before Chihiro could thinkof what to say, the spirit grasped her hands. His skin was leatheryand warm.

"It is your lucky day, human," hewhispered, unclasping his cloak and putting it around Chihiro'sshoulders, "for our Lady declared it a crime to harm your kind.Hold on tight."

Light flashed, and the stars fell indizzying spirals.