The Key (32 page)

‘Here,’ he says.

Minoo comes closer. It’s just possible to see the outlines of a body under the duvet.

‘Clara has been stuck in an invisible state since we were little,’ Viktor tells her.

Minoo looks at the hollow in the pillow where Clara’s head must be. And remembers the first time Adriana had them all gathered around her in Kärrgruvan. And her warning to Vanessa.

One day you’ll make yourself invisible and discover you can’t reverse the process. You might be forced to spend the rest of your life as a shadow
.

That is what has actually happened to Clara.

‘But now her condition is worsening,’ Viktor says.

In front of them, the air shivers like it does above hot tarmac on a summer’s day. And then the entire bed is gone. There is only a bare floor in front of Minoo. The next moment, the bed is visible again, along with the mattress, sheets and pillows. Everything except the body that is lying there.

‘She lost consciousness an hour ago,’ Viktor goes on. ‘I think Engelsfors is making her worse. The levels of magic are rising constantly and she can’t control her uptake. While we’ve been here, she has felt unwell for most of the time, but she has never admitted just
how
unwell.’

His voice breaks and he looks away.

‘But what can I do to help her?’ Minoo asks.

His voice is still choked when he replies.

‘I don’t know. But, please, try.’

‘Of course I will,’ she says, even though she has no clue what to do.

Still, if the guardians have let it be known that she can help Clara, then she must be able to. She must try.

‘Can you please see to it that we’re not disturbed?’

Viktor nods and quietly leaves the room.

Minoo releases the black smoke. She lets it wrap itself around her fear and suffocate it. She approaches the bed. It shivers again, disappears entirely and then reappears.

She gently touches the pillow until she feels Clara’s hair. Then, her cool forehead.

Minoo shuts her eyes. Immediately, she becomes aware that something is wrong. It is like hearing a false note, a dissonance. She has to make an effort not to let that discordance interfere with her concentration. It is essential to get beyond it.

Suddenly, she sees Viktor, and knows she’s inside Clara’s memories. Viktor is only a child, maybe of primary school age. His eyes are scared and fixed on two bigger boys who are standing in front of him. ‘Junkie kid,’ one of the boys says. The other one laughs and slaps Viktor around the head.

‘Where’s your yucky kid sister?’ he says. Minoo feels how anger flares inside Clara, and then a light fanning sensation over her skin. She runs at the boy who hit Viktor and crashes into him. He stumbles into the other boy who falls over, hits his elbows on the tarmac and starts howling.
You promised you wouldn’t do anything like that
, Viktor’s voice says inside Clara’s head.
I don’t care
, Clara thinks.
I won’t let them hurt you
.

Forward.

‘What have you done?’ the woman called Malin screams. She wants them to call her ‘mother’. They are in a kitchen that is all chrome and gleaming white surfaces. Water is overflowing the edge of the sink and forming pools on the floor. Viktor is soaking wet. Clara can’t allow Malin to look at Viktor as if she is about to hit him. ‘I did it!’ she shouts. ‘It’s me, I did it!’ Malin whirls round and fixes her eyes on Clara.

Forward.

Clara stands in a dark room and watches Malin through the gap in the open door. ‘It’s terrible,’ Malin is saying into the phone while she keeps fingering the strings dangling from the hood of her purple top. ‘I just don’t understand her. She
frightens
me, even though she’s just a child. I can’t cope with the two of them. The way I see it, they should be made more independent of one another. It would be for the best; they’re too close.’ A claw of iron grips Clara’s heart. Malin wants to separate her and Viktor.

Forward.

She is standing near a sofa where Malin and Viktor are sitting. Malin has turned to the two policemen who are in the room with them. ‘I am so worried,’ Malin says. ‘Could someone have kidnapped her?’ Clara is thrilled. Malin is getting what she deserves. And she has been over-the-top nice to Viktor ever since Clara disappeared.
Serves her right
, Clara thinks. She focuses on Viktor.
Where are you?
he says, lifting his head. His face is streaky with tears. Viktor is brilliant at acting. As for herself, she can’t ever hide what she feels.
Just next to the sofa
, she tells him. He looks her way and smiles so fleetingly that no one else notices.

Forward.

Only Viktor’s image in the mirror. However hard she tries, only Viktor is visible. He does his best to seem calm but he can’t deceive her.
It will pass
, he thinks.
And if it doesn’t, I promise to look after you
.

Forward.

In the anonymous office, Clara shifts along on the hard upholstery of the sofa to sit closer to Viktor. ‘I’ve got someone here who wants to talk to you,’ the social service official says. She opens the door to a tall man with dark hair. Alexander. Ten years younger than he is now. Minoo realises that this is the first time Clara has seen him. Alexander exchanges a glance with the official and hands her an envelope. She leaves the room. Alexander sits down on the desk and examines Viktor.
Don’t say anything
, Clara thinks, and Viktor doesn’t. ‘I’ve been given to understand that you are a very unusual young man,’ Alexander says. Viktor stays silent. ‘For instance, I’m told that you’ve been involved with numerous incidents of water damage.’
Don’t say anything
, Clara thinks. She is even more frightened now. ‘I see,’ Alexander says. He holds out his hand and a blue flame flares up in his palm. It makes his brown eyes glitter. Viktor leans forward and stares at the flame with absorbed fascination. ‘You’re not alone,’ Alexander tells him. ‘Nor are you, Clara.’

Minoo moves on, into Clara’s later memories. There are glimpses of large, beautiful rooms with high ceilings. Views over Stockholm. A razor-blade gleams and she wonders how much she will feel it …

Forward.

She is held in Viktor’s arms. They are sitting on the bathroom floor. Both are soaked in water.
You must never ever do this again
, Viktor thinks.
Promise me
. He has gripped her wrist and is pressing hard on the tight bandage. She only had time for one cut before he kicked in the flimsy door. He hasn’t asked why she did this. He has felt her pain, the pain of leading a life as a shadow. Of being a secret and a burden. The pain remains, but so does Viktor’s love for her. She can sense the love in his thoughts and realises that she must not leave him alone here.
I promise
, she thinks.

Forward.

A powerful smell of some cleaning product. A message scribbled on a wall in Engelsfors senior school, a message that they’ve tried but failed to remove.
IF U WANNA SAVE THE PLANET. KILL UR FUCKIN SELF
. Minoo sees herself walking along the corridor towards the caretaker’s office. Clara is curious. She creeps closer to Minoo until she suddenly makes a shuffling sound against the floor. She stiffens. The magic here in Engelsfors is very strong but also very unpredictable. Minoo looks straight at her and, for a brief moment, Clara thinks she has been seen. But the door to the caretaker’s office opens and Nicolaus’s head appears in the gap. ‘Minoo?’ he says. Minoo steps inside.

Forward.

A school photo of Elias is projected onto a screen in a darkened room. Clara stands among the shadows.
Elias Malmgren was the first to die
, she thinks, and Viktor repeats her words aloud for Alexander, whose face is pale in the light from the screen. He looks tense, attentive.
Elias’s element was wood. His powers were unclear; it could be that he had not yet developed them
. She changes to the next image. Rebecka, the second victim.
Rebecka Mohlin was a fire witch. We know that she was psychokinetic. She was also able to set fire to objects
. She projects another image. The blonde girl in the picture makes Clara’s heart do a double beat.
This is Vanessa Dahl
. Clara hopes that Viktor won’t pick up what she is feeling because it might make him worry about her.
Her element is air and she can make herself invisible. So far, no signs of any other powers
. Clara struggles to seem neutral and untroubled but envy is gnawing inside her. Vanessa has the same talent as Clara but it hasn’t taken her over. Also, she is lovely. Her beauty is of the kind that is even more attractive in reality than in photographs because Vanessa glows with the joy of life. Clara has observed her as she has followed her around to collect information for Alexander. Viktor looks fixedly at the photo on the screen. Clara notices that he is already a little in love, even though he has never met Vanessa. ‘Well, none of this adds anything new to what we have already learnt from Adriana,’ Alexander points out impatiently. ‘Speaking of Adriana, any information about her?’
I haven’t found any indications that she’s disloyal to the Council
, Clara thinks. She is doing her duty but doesn’t like that Alexander wants her to spy on his own sister.

Forward.

A train rumbles in the distance. The grasshoppers are chirping. Linnéa stands on the road to the cemetery and stares into the darkness. Clara backs away and tries to protect her thoughts from the mind-reading one.

Forward.

Nicolaus holds Cat in his arms, rocks it like a child. The cat is meowing so loudly that Clara can hear it from where she is lurking, close to a large gravestone. ‘Forgive me, forgive, forgive …’ Nicolaus whispers and Clara has to look away when Cat dies.

Forward.

Clara sneaks over to the workbench in the chemistry lab and swiftly switches the places of the acid and the water. When Kevin starts yelling, Clara can’t believe that no one can hear her laughing.
Clara, that was bloody unnecessary
, Viktor thinks, but he can’t stop himself from smiling just a little. Clara carries on laughing as the scene develops: the blah girls in Kevin’s lab group are screaming their heads off and Kevin is going ‘Fucking crap acid rule! I did it right!’ at the top of his voice. She has taken him down a notch or two for being so annoying in the corridor before the lesson.

Forward.

It’s cold and Clara pushes her hands deep into her jacket pockets as she walks towards the canal. Viktor just laughed when she asked him if he fancied coming for a walk. But she likes the fog. This winter, it has been good not to have to deal with snow, where she always leaves a trail. She stops when she hears a scream from Canal Bridge. ‘I’ll jump. I’ll do it!’ It is Linnéa. Clara can see her now. There are two figures with her on the bridge. Both are masked and one of them holds a baseball bat. Linnéa swings her leg across the railing. She says something but Clara can’t make out the words. ‘Just do it,’ one of the masked men orders. ‘That’s right. Just do it, Linnéa,’ says the other, the one with the baseball bat. Clara turns round and runs back to the manor house, shouting to Viktor in her head. She hopes it won’t be too late. Then she hears a loud splash from the canal.

Forward.

Clara watches as Viktor half drags, half carries Linnéa to the manor house. When she sees Linnéa’s pale face with the blue lips, Clara feels a wave of fury. She hates the men who did this. She doesn’t know who they are, but she’s quite clear why they dared to do what they did. There was no risk involved, because even if Linnéa survived and tried to speak out, nobody would believe her. Nobody believes girls like her. Clara knows what it is like to be in Linnéa’s shoes. She promises herself that she will find out who the balaclava men are, and make them pay.

Forward.

She presses the marker pen hard against the pale blue wallpaper and takes pleasure in watching Robin’s terrified face as the word is formed:
CONFESS
!

Everything flickers and shivers.

And then Minoo realises that she is doing this all wrong. She is not helping by being inside Clara’s memories.

She withdraws from Clara’s mind but stays inside the smoke. Suddenly, she can see Clara. She is lying under the covers in the foetal position. Minoo takes in Clara’s profile, her long, ash-blonde hair spread over the pillow, the scar on her left wrist.

Clara isn’t as similar to Viktor as Minoo had expected, but it is easy to see that they’re brother and sister. Clara’s skin is greyish, her breathing is quick and shallow. Her life-force is very weak. Minoo knows that she is close to death.

The dissonance is there again, a sharp note that vibrates through Minoo. She allows it to lead her on. Hopes to locate its source.

Suddenly, she
sees
it.

Clara’s magic. It has gone badly wrong.

It looks like a milky-white fog, like the thick whiteout that covered Engelsfors last winter. And it seems about to swallow Clara, to suffocate her. The sound has grown loud and excruciating; it is jamming Minoo’s mind and she must use all her strength not to let it paralyse her. She makes the black smoke whirl into the whiteness and begins to prod into Clara’s magic. She finds what is wrong with it: the knots and tangles, a mess that she can’t find words for. But she can try to untangle them.

Step by step, the sickly fog thins and Clara’s magic grows stronger and sounder, until it looks like a shimmering, pale blue aura.

Everything is as it should be now. Minoo can feel it. Clara’s breathing is calm.

Minoo hauls the black smoke back and looks at Clara in her bed. She is fully visible now. And she will live.

Minoo opens her mouth to call Viktor, but she is completely drained. She is surprised to feel her legs give way and wonders if she going to faint.

Anna-Karin is sitting on the floor in her room. Her eyes are closed. She feels the hard surface of the parquet underneath her, touches the object she is holding and listens to Minoo’s parents chatting in the garden. At the same time, she is with the fox. He is snooping around in the light summer evening, circling the manor house again and again, but cannot sense what is going on in there.