Fire (69 page)

‘That’s the general idea,’ Ida says.

Moving like sleepwalkers, the PE members flock towards the walls. Ectoplasm circles still glow here and there on the floor.

‘Can you get them to take their necklaces off?’ Linnéa asks Ida.

‘I’ve got another minor issue to deal with first,’ she replies, a little breathlessly. ‘And I’d like some help.’

Linnéa goes to Ida and takes her hand. Anna-Karin and Vanessa follow. Together, they form a chain and lend Ida all their powers.

‘Don’t!’ Olivia wails. ‘It’s not fair!’

Then the ectoplasm circle nearest to them slowly fades out.

Endorphins are pouring into Ida’s bloodstream.

She has fought her powers for so long, tried so hard to get rid of them. Now, for the first time, she feels that her powers are part of her. And that she loves exerting them. She even loves the other Chosen Ones. A bit anyway. She must be on a magic high.

Ida feels as powerful as a goddess as she extinguishes one ectoplasm circle after another, while all the time holding the PE members under her influence.

She looks at Erik. Robin. Felicia. Julia. Kevin. They are clustered along the wall, their dully staring faces bathed in the flickering overhead light. She could revenge herself on them all. Make them pay a high price for their betrayals. Set them against each other, make them tear each other limb from limb. The thought seems hugely seductive and she suddenly thinks that Anna-Karin is to be admired for not doing anything
worse
with her powers. Now she understands how strong the temptation must have been.

Gustaf.

When she sees him come walking towards her, Ida almost loses her grip on Linnéa’s hand. He stares at her. Stops only a few metres away.

She notices how shocked he looks. How are they to explain all this to him?

‘Ida, focus,’ Linnéa says.

Ida sighs. But Linnéa is right. They have to complete this.

Olivia shrieks with frustration when the last ectoplasm circle goes out.

‘Now, it’s all over,’ Linnéa shouts.

‘You’ve ruined everything! Elias will never come back now! He’ll never come back!’

Olivia’s voice reverberates throughout the hall.

All the lights go off at the same time. Everything is in deep darkness.

Ida is gripped with dread. She listens tensely. The only sound is that of two hundred-odd people breathing in perfect time.

‘Look,’ Anna-Karin whispers.

A pale blue glow is spreading at the far end. It is emanating from Olivia. And it grows in strength until she is surrounded by a blue luminosity that sparkles and glitters around her as she slowly advances towards the Chosen Ones.

She raises her right hand. Blue flashes flare and coil around it, like a ball of writhing electrical snakes.

Ida looks anxiously at Gustaf, who stands as if turned to stone. She wants to shout at him to take cover.

‘You’re so good at spreading shit about others, Ida,’ Olivia says. ‘But there are rumours about you as well. Like, you’re completely obsessed with Gustaf Åhlander.’

Ida doesn’t dare answer her, doesn’t dare look at Gustaf. She releases her own power. It feels unlike anything she has experienced before. The link to the other Chosen Ones makes her stronger. She raises her free hand. It too glows blue in the dark, more intensely than the light Olivia emits.

‘You have taken the one I loved away from me,’ Olivia says. ‘I will never see him again now. I’ll do the same to you.’

She aims at Gustaf with her hand.

Ida doesn’t even think. She lets go of Linnéa’s hand and jumps to get in front of Gustaf. A dazzling flash is thrown from Olivia’s hand and flies towards Ida. Her own flash hits Olivia’s in mid-air, they twist around each other and, for a second, form a sparkling ball until they split apart again.

Ida is struck in the chest and flung backwards. She falls heavily on the floor, goes breathless. A tingling feeling creeps through her body, through her limbs, all the way out into her fingertips.

A clatter from the lamps as the light comes on again.

Ida shivers and sits up slowly. Meets Gustaf’s gaze. He is unhurt. Physically, at least.

Olivia lies immobile on the floor at the other end of the gym. Linnéa is already on her way to the body.

‘Take care!’ Vanessa shouts.

Linnéa crouches to pull down the zip of Olivia’s hoody. Then she undoes the clasp and holds up the amulet.

Ida takes off her own amulet. Disgusted, she throws it away at the stands.

The network is broken.

Minoo has come halfway across the schoolyard when the main entrance doors are suddenly opened and Kevin comes walking straight at her.

She stops, her pulse racing. More PE members are following him out. There is nowhere for her to hide.

But when they come closer she realises that something is wrong.

Or, rather, something is right again.

These people aren’t under remote control. They look uncertain. Afraid. They walk together in little groups, leaning on each other. Some of them are crying.

Minoo increases her speed, runs in the opposite direction from the crowds, and elbows her way past Hanna A who is pressing her mobile against her ear.

‘Mummy …’ she sobs. ‘You’ve got to come and pick me up …’

The lobby is full of people and more are pouring up from
the gym. Tommy Ekberg grabs hold of her arm when she tries to push past him.

‘There’s been an accident,’ he says. ‘Something to do with the electricity. Don’t go down there, it might still be dangerous.’

She tears herself free and runs downstairs, pushes and squeezes past people until she reaches the doors to the gym.

The dead bodies that were Helena and Krister are the first sight that meets her. They are lying side by side. None of their acolytes so much as looks at them on their way out of the hall.

‘Minoo!’ Anna-Karin calls.

She catches sight of them over by the stage. Anna-Karin, Vanessa, Linnéa and Ida. Gustaf is with them.

Relief washes over Minoo. She rushes along to be with them, hugs one after the other.

‘How did it go with Adriana?’ Anna-Karin asks when Minoo has stopped hugging her.

‘It worked,’ Minoo replies.

They all look happy and relieved. All except Gustaf, whose face is a deadly white.

Minoo wonders what he has seen. She senses the remnants of strong magic in the air.

‘How are you?’ she asks.

‘I don’t know. I don’t understand anything. It’s all been like a very strange dream …’

She understands completely. Reality has just been turned upside down for him.

‘I know. But it’s all over now,’ Ida says. She is standing close to him.

‘Minoo, it wasn’t Rickard,’ Linnéa says and points.

When a cluster of final-years has drifted past, Minoo sees a body that has been placed on the floor in the recovery
position. Minoo wouldn’t have recognised her if it hadn’t been for the blue strands in her hair.

She wonders how Linnéa feels. That girl was her friend.

‘Is she alive?’ Minoo asks.

Linnéa nods.

‘Touch and go. The ambulance is on its way.’

‘I came across Tommy Ekberg upstairs,’ Minoo says. ‘He was talking about some electrical accident.’

‘That’s what we told everyone,’ Vanessa says. ‘No one remembers a thing of what’s happened … Just like it was with Diana.’

Vanessa catches sight of somebody.

‘Oh, fuck,’ she says. ‘Bloody fucking hell.’

Minoo looks up. Alexander is entering the hall. He has brought two of the courtroom security guards. The last bunch of PE members stands aside for this trio, which marches across the floor.

I should’ve guessed, Minoo thinks. He’s changed his mind.

But Alexander doesn’t even look at her.

He walks straight over to Olivia and kneels next to her. Minoo goes over to see. He is inspecting Olivia’s head. A few drops of blood trickle from her closed eyes.

He gently takes Olivia’s thin body in his arms and gets up.

‘What are you doing?’ Linnéa shouts.

‘If we leave her here, she’ll die,’ Alexander says. ‘We are the only ones who can give her the care she needs.’

‘And then what? What will you do with her?’ Minoo asks.

‘Olivia Henriksson is no longer your problem,’ Alexander says.

Minoo watches Olivia’s booted feet dangle pathetically in the air as he carries her towards the exit doors.

Ida’s body is racked with a feverish shiver. She feels so
exhausted it’s hard to stay upright. The only reason why she’s still standing is Gustaf, the fact that he is right next to her, very close.

‘Who was that?’ he asks, looking at the door through which Alexander has just disappeared.

‘The police,’ Ida says feebly, because nothing better comes to mind.

But Gustaf hardly seems to have heard her.

‘I just don’t get it …What happened? What did you do to her? Who are you, all of you, really?’

Ida opens her mouth to reply, but can’t think where to begin. There is only one thing she wants to say to Gustaf. Only one thing she
can
say.

‘I love you.’

He stares at her and she shivers again.

‘You see, that psychotic creature was right about it, only that
one
thing,’ she says. ‘And I don’t even know if you like me … but I … I’m really trying … and I feel …’

Gustaf’s face slips out of focus, then becomes clear again.

‘Ida?’ he says.

She shivers violently.

‘Yes …’

Her knees are giving way under her and she falls. But she doesn’t get hurt, because Gustaf is there to catch her. She lands in his arms, his strong arms, and he lowers her slowly to the floor.

‘Ida!’ Minoo cries out from somewhere far away.

They are all calling out her name, all the Chosen Ones.

Ida, Ida, Ida, Ida!
they shout, as if she was deaf or something.

Ida! Ida, are you okay?

And she wants to answer them and say everything is fine with her, fantastic, really. Because Gustaf is looking at her, his
hands are touching her, he’s talking to her, saying her name over and over again. She can hear his voice quite clearly, but at a distance.

She’s not breathing!

She is looking into his eyes now, his beautiful, wonderful eyes. At last, he is looking at her the way she has always longed for him to do.

She’s not breathing!

Doesn’t matter, she wants to say. Doesn’t matter at all.

She is so close to him now. Very close to Gustaf’s face. He places his lips on hers and they merge until she hardly knows where Gustaf’s mouth begins and her own ends.

She wants him so much it hurts.

And she doesn’t even notice when her heart stops beating.

The bus doors open and Anna-Karin climbs out. The sun has just risen and the chill of the night lingers. She puts on her woollen hat and gloves that Grandpa knitted for her many years ago.

She follows a sandy track, lined with tall, bare trees. The stables are at the end of the track.

Anna-Karin has only ever seen the buildings at a distance. When she was little, riding was a dream of hers, but the stables belonged to people like Ida, Julia and Felicia. And it was far too expensive, Mum said.

Anna-Karin opens the door and sneaks inside.

The air is so cold she can see her breath. Her eyes fill with tears when she takes in the smells of animals and straw, smells that remind her of their farm. She walks between the loose boxes, reading the names on the labels. And then she finds him. A grey horse with gentle eyes. Troja.

‘Hi, Troja,’ she whispers as she enters the loose box.

Troja snorts when she gently strokes his neck. She lets her hand wander up towards his ears and he closes his eyes.

‘Yeah, you like that, don’t you?’ Anna-Karin says.

As always when she talks to animals, her voice sounds different. Almost as if she is singing the words.

‘You’re lovely, Troja. A fine horse, that’s what you are. Ida loved you so very much.’

Troja doesn’t react to Ida’s name. Of course he doesn’t. But does he wonder about where Ida’s gone? Does he miss her?

‘I made a promise once to Ida that I would keep an eye on you, make sure you were all right,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘If anything happened to her.’

Tears burn behind her eyes and she allows them to run down her cheeks.

Anna-Karin has no intention of turning Ida into some kind of saint just because she is dead. Not with all her many memories of Ida as her persecutor and tormentor. But by now, she has other kinds of memories as well and feels she understands Ida better. Besides, it is thanks to Ida that Anna-Karin is alive in the first place. And that the apocalypse has not begun.

The gate is suddenly pulled open and she turns around, almost expecting to see Ida standing there. But it is a short, dark-haired girl who looks about thirteen. She stares at Anna-Karin.

‘Who are you?’ she asks.

‘A friend of Ida’s,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘She used to be one of Troja’s main riders.’

‘I know who Ida was,’ the kid says. ‘But now I’m the one looking after Troja.’

‘I just wanted to see how he was. He mattered so much to Ida.’

‘No kidding. No one had a chance of getting near him.’

The girl steps into the loose box and strokes Troja’s back tenderly. No one could mistake the love in her eyes.

He’ll be fine with her, Anna-Karin thinks.

‘I only knew her slightly,’ the girl says. ‘I didn’t really, like, know her. Just met her here, and things.’

Anna-Karin nods.

‘She was a right bitch,’ the girl goes on before she realises what she’s saying. ‘I mean, she was good with Troja … except,
she groomed his tail with the curry comb. Do you realise how much it wears the tail out?’

She looks almost accusingly at Anna-Karin.

‘Not really …’

‘It does, you know. But otherwise she took such good care of him. Ida’s dandy brushes were always the whitest.’

Anna-Karin hasn’t got a clue what this means. The kid is leaning her cheek against Troja’s muzzle.

‘And Ida was brilliant at riding,’ she continues. ‘She always had the best bridles and blankets and things. And her riding boots were made of real leather. I’ve got all her kit now, her parents didn’t want to keep it. Her boots are still too big for me. And it’s a bit, like, sick, to wear a dead person’s boots, so I’m not sure what to do with them.’