The Key (26 page)

He looks at Anna-Karin and his gaze is deeply serious. ‘I knew nothing about the forest and still don’t.’

The only sound in the room is their breathing.

‘I know nothing of what the forest wants and what it holds,’ Grandpa continues. ‘And I wish I could advise you to be very careful. But, then, I think you know more about what is happening than I do. All I know is that there are difficult times ahead.’

Difficult times ahead
.

That is exactly what Nicolaus wrote in the letter he left when he disappeared.

A scream slices through the silence. It comes from the room next door. The man with the dandelion-hair is screaming and screaming.

‘Poor Sven-Olof,’ Grandpa mumbles. ‘He has been in a poor way for many days now.’

Anna-Karin hears the staff come running along the corridor. Soothing voices murmur on the other side of the wall and finally the screaming stops.

But the neighbour’s words still ring inside Anna-Karin’s ears when she walks through the front door of Sunny Side.

It’s coming! It’s coming!

Linnéa is walking through Engelsfors. She has put her sunglasses on but the light still stings in her eyes. She has been sitting at home with a saucepan full of water in front of her, practising for hours to freeze and thaw the water, make it boil and cool down.

This morning, Vanessa rang to say she couldn’t see her tonight. She was going to have National Day supper with her Mum and Melvin.

‘She has even gone and bought some kind of Sweden cakes,’ Vanessa said. Linnéa could almost hear her eyes rolling upwards.

Linnéa hadn’t said anything much. She didn’t want to risk revealing the pain it caused her. She can’t get her head round just why it matters so much to her that Vanessa has not yet told Jannike about them. She knows that it isn’t because Vanessa is ashamed of her, but still it feels like she is.

‘What are you going to do?’ Vanessa asked.

‘Nothing special,’ Linnéa had said.

She might have said what was on her mind. But, suddenly, she didn’t want to.

She strolls past The Bag. He is sitting on the hood of a rusty old Volvo. He waves and shouts at her.

‘Where’s your old man these days? He ain’t doing the rounds no more!’

Linnéa doesn’t answer. She tries to swallow the happiness that bubbles up inside her. Dad must be staying away from his drinking buddies.

The playing fields are still a bit away when she hears the slapping sound of feet kicking a ball. Whistle blasts cut through the air. Excited shouting.

Linnéa can’t be certain that either Gustaf or Rickard will have turned up for the EFC training session today. But she hopes they have. She has to find out what is going on in their heads. She needs to check that they really will keep their mouths shut. If not, Minoo will have to accept that she must do something about it.

The football pitch glows emerald green in the sunlight. Linnéa strolls along the fence, letting her fingers run across it, searching among the players. Kevin Månsson does a poor pass and his muscle-bound dad, the team coach, roars at him to sharpen up. But Linnéa can’t see either Gustaf or Rickard.

She has got to the back of the stands and is just about to walk home when she hears somebody call her name.

Rickard is leaning against an electricity box on the other side of the street. His sports bag is at his feet. He picks it up and walks towards her.

She remembers that night, when she came into her flat. The thumping music at top volume. Rickard pulling the balaclava down over his face. He was not his real self. Olivia controlled him. All the same, Linnéa’s body reacts at once. Wants to flee.

‘What are you doing here?’ he says, and dumps his sports bag on the pavement between them.

She instantly senses that he is nervous. Much more nervous than she is. And that calms her down.

‘I was looking for you,’ she says. ‘And what are
you
doing here? Not playing football, as far as I can see.’

Rickard gives the bag a light kick.

‘My dad gave me a lift. With him I try to make out everything is as usual.’

Of course, Linnéa knows nothing about Rickard’s life. But he has always come across as one of the super-normals. Nothing will have prepared him for what has happened. She was ahead of him in that respect, at least. She has never trusted anyone, always expected the worst. And she has fought demons all her life, though of a different kind.

‘Linnéa, I’ve wanted to talk to you about what happened that time in your place. I had an idea what Erik and Robin were going to do when they ran after you. Olivia hadn’t planned it but she didn’t want to do anything to stop them. All she thought was, it wasn’t her fault.’

That sounds like Olivia, Linnéa thinks.

‘It must have been horrible,’ she says. ‘To see bad things happen and not be able to do anything about it.’

‘I’m not the one you should be feeling sorry for. I want to tell you how sorry I am.’

When Linnéa reads his mind, his thoughts exactly echo what he has just said. He is brimming with the sense of having done an unforgivable thing. The worst feeling of all.

‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Linnéa says. ‘Let’s just forget about it.’

‘It’s not fair that they got away with what they did to you,’ Rickard says. ‘I’m going to the police. I don’t mind being charged with taking part in the trashing of your apartment. The thing is to get Erik locked up. He is fucking dangerous.’

Linnéa looks at Rickard. His dark hair, glasses, his ordinariness. But his eyes have the look now of someone who has seen too much. The look that no one should have to have. A wave of fury and grief strikes her. The demons have already ruined so much.

‘I mean it, seriously,’ he adds.

If she hadn’t been able to read his mind, she would never have believed that anyone could be that noble and self-sacrificing. But Rickard does mean what he says.

‘I believe you,’ she says. ‘But it won’t get us anywhere. Sure, Helena is dead, but the alibi she gave Erik and Robin still stands. What you and I say won’t wash.’

‘I think you’re wrong about that.’

‘You don’t know the police force in Engelsfors like I do,’ Linnéa says. ‘So thank your lucky stars.’

‘I must do this.’

‘Please, drop it. When all that happened, you were the only one who was controlled by Olivia. It was her doing, not yours.’

Rickard shakes his head.

‘I should have worked out how to escape her. After all, I knew she was in my head, making me do things. If only I hadn’t been so weak …’

Fragments of love for Olivia are still in his thoughts, even now.

‘You weren’t weak. You were exploited.’

A gust of wind from the football ground carries more shrill whistles.

‘I have to ask you something,’ he says. ‘Did you know that she and I …? What I’m wondering is … did she ever talk about me?’

When she had heard that Rickard and Olivia had a secret relationship, it had come as a complete surprise. And, once more, Linnéa was amazed at how she had underestimated Olivia’s capacity for keeping secrets.

But she is pretty sure Rickard doesn’t need any more truths right now.

‘She never spoke about it, not in so many words. But there were times when she gave it away. You know, that she was seeing someone.’

‘Thank you. I don’t actually believe you. But it’s nice of you to say it.’

The sounds from the football pitch are dying down. The training session must be over.

‘Why did you want to see me, anyway?’ he says.

Linnéa can’t think why she should lie to him.

‘I wanted to check that you weren’t thinking of telling people what you know now.’

‘Have you been reading my mind?’

‘Only as much as I have needed to. What about Gustaf? Do you think he might tell?’

‘He won’t say a word,’ Rickard says, and his thoughts reveal no doubt at all.

‘How is he doing?’

‘Not good. But at least we have each other.’

Linnéa can see why Minoo trusted Rickard. She is surprised at how much she likes him already. And it saddens her to think of how he has been used by Olivia.

‘Tomorrow … are you going to the final day assembly?’ Rickard asks.

‘Yes,’ Linnéa replies.

Rickard frowns.

‘But, why? I mean, what’s the point of going to the assembly? Or, rather, what’s the point of doing anything at all? Now that we know the world is likely to end some time soon.’

Linnéa is on the verge of saying that it’s pretty obvious the world is going to pot anyway, with or without the demons to push it over the brink. But then she sees the desperation in Rickard’s eyes.

‘We’re trying to stop it,’ she says. ‘And, in the meantime, we have to … keep living, I suppose.’

‘If I had been in your shoes, I would’ve left school ages ago.’

Linnéa laughs a little.

‘We figure school is part of our job, you see. We have to keep an eye on what’s going on in the place of evil.’

Rickard nods.

‘Thank you,’ he says.

‘For what?’

‘For all you’re doing, of course. Saving the world and everything. I suspect you don’t get many thanks for that?’

‘You’re so right,’ Linnéa says with a little smile. ‘But, you’re welcome.’

* * *

Minoo is lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling.

She has been lying on her bed like this every evening for a week, ever since the conversation with Walter. At least it has made her obsess a little less about Gustaf.

Another circle can take the place of the Chosen Ones. If you are part of it
.

The guardians have said so. But can one trust the guardians? Do they have any alternatives?

You really do not have a choice
.

‘Minoo!’ Dad shouts from downstairs. ‘Do you fancy gazpacho?’

‘Fantastic!’ she shouts back.

‘Does Mum like it?’

‘Dad! You’ve known her for longer than me!’

He has spent his day off planning the family meal for tomorrow, after the final assembly. So far, he has been through about a thousand ideas. As soon as he has made up his mind about a dish, he has started to browse cookery books again and changed his mind.

Minoo hears the door to Anna-Karin’s room open and steps going into the bathroom. They have hardly exchanged a word during the past week, as if they have both been avoiding each other. But, from time to time, Minoo has felt as if Anna-Karin wanted to tell her something. As for herself, she hasn’t even got near to wanting to tell. She has to reach her decision first.

Her mobile on the bedside table starts ringing. It’s Linnéa.

‘I’ve been speaking to Rickard,’ she says straight off when Minoo answers. ‘You’re right. He won’t give anything away. Nor will Gustaf.’

‘How are they?’ Minoo asks, feeling Linnéa will understand that she is really asking about Gustaf.

‘They’re coping,’ Linnéa says. ‘And Gustaf is getting on all right.’

‘Is he, truly?’

‘Well, no, not exactly
all right
. But they have each other.’

But I have lost him for ever, Minoo thinks. For him, I will always be the person who ruined his life.

Vanessa steps down from the bus and the doors close behind her with a noisy
shoosh
.

The heat is oppressive and black thunderclouds are piling up in the sky. She looks at the school further along the street. Pupils, dressed up for the final day of term, are hurrying across the schoolyard. Her phone rings in her handbag and she rummages around in it, irritated with herself for always carrying so many pointless things. Finally, she finds her mobile.

A text from Linnéa.

OVERSLEPT. SAVE A SEAT FOR ME
.

Vanessa puts the mobile away. Imagines Linnéa waking up alone. Wishes she had been there.

She tugs at her dress as she walks towards the school. She discovered only this morning that she had nothing clean to wear. In the end she found a dress from last summer at the back of the wardrobe. Now she remembers why she stopped wearing it. It had shrunk in the wash and is far too tight around the chest. It’s almost hard to breathe.

The text tone sounds again. She rummages for a second time.

Evelina.

CAN’T BE ARSED GOING TO FINAL DAY
!
SEE YOU ON OLSSON’S TONIGHT
!

Vanessa is hungry for a party. It has been such a long time. But she is nervous as well. She hopes Evelina and Michelle won’t get
too
pissed. And that she doesn’t either. Linnéa doesn’t touch booze, of course, and Vanessa has a distinct feeling that the three of them drunk would be unbearable to a sober person.

She goes through the gates and catches sight of Viktor, who is just hanging around, doing nothing. She hasn’t seen him in more than a month and she hopes he doesn’t spot her now. But just as she thinks she has got away, he calls her name.

She sighs and turns to him.

‘What do you want?’ she asks.

Viktor has taken up his usual pose. Long-suffering and handsome in his posh clothes. Vanessa would lay bets on him practising the stance for hours.

‘I heard about you and Linnéa,’ he says.

‘So?’

‘Nothing, I guess.’

‘Oh, good. The Council doesn’t object, then.’

Viktor pushes a strand of hair from his forehead. Glances at her. An especially hard-done-by look, clearly rehearsed.

‘It seems that things always go wrong when I try to talk with you,’ he says.

‘Maybe you shouldn’t try so hard.’

‘No, maybe I shouldn’t,’ he says, pulling his car key from his pocket and toying with it. ‘Well, take care. I don’t think we’ll meet for a while.’

‘Why is that? Are you and Alexander off somewhere? Like, leaving town?’

She makes no attempt to hide how hopeful she feels.

‘No. But I’ve left school for good. Other things are on the agenda this autumn.’

He observes her watchfully. As if he expects her to understand something.

‘What are you talking about?’

Viktor still scrutinises her.

‘Nothing. Forget it.’

‘Happy to,’ Vanessa says.

When she crosses the schoolyard, she feels Viktor’s eyes on her back.