The Key (53 page)

‘Escaped … how do you mean?’ Rickard asks in the end.

‘The Council kept her locked up in their headquarters,’ Minoo says. ‘I got it confirmed today.’

‘And now she’s on her way here to gobble up the souls of some natural witches. Engelsfors is like a fucking buffet for her,’ Linnéa goes on. ‘And you’re the main course, Minoo.’

It doesn’t hurt as badly as it would have done yesterday. Actually, Minoo is almost pleased. Linnéa is making a fool of herself in front of everyone.

‘Calm down,’ Gustaf tells her.

‘Yes, please,’ Vanessa says.

‘I’m calm.’ Linnéa drops her cigarette end and grinds it slowly under her boot. ‘By the way, Evelina must be a natural witch if her powers just went off like that. And it seems as if fire is her element.’

She says this with her hard little smile. Minoo knows what she is after. She wants a fire witch to replace Rebecka in the Circle. But what she doesn’t know is that Minoo could easily check if she’s right. Minoo looks at the floor with its rough boards. She knows it’s childish. But she doesn’t want to give Linnéa this.

‘Minoo,’ Nicolaus says.

She turns to him. He is looking hopeful.

‘You saw Clara’s magic when you healed her. Perhaps you could investigate Evelina’s magic, too?’

Minoo bites her lip. Obviously, Nicolaus would figure it out. And it would be too selfish to refuse. Evelina deserves to know.

‘I can try,’ Minoo says.

‘How?’ Evelina asks. ‘Like, does it hurt?’

‘No,’ Minoo tells her. She releases the black smoke.

By now, it works almost instantaneously. The light around her fades and all the magic auras stand out radiantly.

She is almost dazzled by the strength of the auras around the Chosen Ones, Linnéa’s dark blue, Vanessa’s light blue and Anna-Karin’s green. Compared with theirs, Walter’s aura is positively weak. Still, it could be that the Chosen Ones are at their strongest here in the park. It is their special place, after all.

She observes Nicolaus next. She knows that he is a natural wood witch, but now she sees the golden-brown radiance around him. Sometimes it is strong, but now and then it flickers, fades, even disappears, before it returns. Magic is linked to life-force. She recalls what Nicolaus said last autumn. The human being isn’t designed to live for as long as he has.

Something white and blurry flutters past behind Nicolaus, but Minoo ignores it. She observes Evelina. Yes, there is a pulsating red shimmer around her. Her potential is great, but it will take a long time for her to develop her powers to be as strong as Nejla’s.

‘Evelina is a fire witch,’ Minoo says. Her voice sounds distant to her.

She notes Linnéa’s triumphant face, but she doesn’t care, not when she is inside the black smoke. It doesn’t matter that Linnéa knows. Evelina still can’t replace Rebecka. Minoo knows this.

She observes Gustaf next and is a little surprised to see strong, silver light forming a halo around him. Then she realises that she has made a mistake. Rickard sits on Gustaf’s other side, and it is Rickard’s aura she sees.

‘Rickard, too, is a natural witch,’ she says. ‘His element is metal.’

She notes Rickard’s shocked expression. She bends closer to Gustaf to get a better look and notices that he flinches. She wonders if she looks strange to him when she is inside the black smoke.

Gustaf’s aura is practically invisible – just a weak, dark blue sheen. If he were prepared to work hard, Gustaf might, at best, become a middlingly competent trained witch.

‘Gustaf’s element is water,’ she goes on. ‘But he has hardly any potential to speak about.’

Gustaf looks hurt. She doesn’t care, not until she has pulled the smoke back and the light has become bright again.

‘I’m sorry,’ she says. ‘All I meant was … you see, the others are natural witches but you aren’t.’

Gustaf doesn’t say anything. Nobody says anything. But they are all staring at her.

‘What’s the matter?’ Minoo asks.

‘You didn’t look like yourself,’ Anna-Karin tells her.

‘You looked fucking scary!’ Evelina adds. Vanessa looks irritated, but Evelina persists. ‘Excuse me, but she did!’

‘You looked like a scientist observing ants or something,’ Linnéa says. ‘Which fits rather well with how the guardians look at us.’

Minoo glances at Linnéa. She is so pathetic. She doesn’t understand anything.

‘Perhaps we should talk about the fact that Rickard is a natural witch too?’ Vanessa says.

‘Yes, please,’ Rickard says. ‘That’s something I’d really like to talk about.’

He looks as if his life has been turned upside-down, Minoo thinks. True enough, it has. Again.

‘Have you noticed anything before?’ Evelina asks.

‘No.’ Rickard shakes his head.

‘I don’t think you’re right about that,’ Nicolaus says.

Surprised, Minoo turns to him.

‘I have heard what happened to you,’ Nicolaus goes on, with his eyes fixed on Rickard. ‘And I have thought about it a great deal. One extraordinary fact about your story is that you survived what Olivia subjected you to. And then your memory of the events came back when nobody else involved could remember anything about their time under her control … this is startling evidence that you’re a natural witch.’

Rickard sighs deeply, takes his glasses off, breathes on them and uses the hem of his T-shirt to polish them.

‘I’m at a total loss,’ he murmurs. ‘I had just begun to get a handle on all the rest.’

‘I guess we’ll have to help each other,’ Evelina says.

‘There is much to talk about,’ Nicolaus says. ‘But we mustn’t forget why we are gathered here. Anna-Karin. What is it you’ve found?’

* * *

Anna-Karin bends to rub the fox behind his ear to gain a moment’s thought. She doesn’t want to start rambling incoherently.

When she and the fox investigated the cave, it had all seemed important and meaningful. But she’s not sure why, nor how she can explain it.

She begins her story.

When Anna-Karin reaches the part about the beetles, Evelina makes retching noises.

‘Shit, that’s so gross!’ she says. ‘So fucking gross! You’re so fucking brave!’

Anna-Karin suddenly feels ashamed about the anonymous comments she left on Evelina’s blog a few years ago.

‘How could you go in there alone?’ Minoo asks her. ‘Just imagine if something had happened to you. We would never have found you.’

‘Minoo is right,’ Nicolaus says. ‘That was foolhardy.’

‘No,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘I had to do it. And I found this. I recognise him.’

She hands the photo to Nicolaus, who glances at it, shakes his head and passes the photo on to Vanessa and Evelina.

‘I recognise him too.’ Vanessa studies the picture carefully.

‘I do, too!’ Evelina says.

On the way to the park, Anna-Karin had periodically looked at the photo. It is so frustrating to recognise him and still not be able to name him.

Linnéa almost tears the photo from Evelina’s hand. Stares at it, shrugs, and hands it on to Rickard and Gustaf, who share it with Minoo.

‘But, wait …’ Gustaf says. ‘It’s Leffe! Leffe who has Leffe’s kiosk!’

Anna-Karin leans towards Minoo to see the picture again, then tries to reimagine the man’s face thirty years on, without the hair and the moustache.

‘You’re right. It is him,’ she agrees.

‘Okay,’ Vanessa nods. ‘But, what was Leffe’s photo doing in the cave?’

Anna-Karin straightens up.

She was called Ragnhild. Mother of Leffe, that’s him who runs Leffe’s kiosk
.

‘Because his mother kept it in her wallet,’ Anna-Karin says.

She goes on to tell them about her grandmother’s old friend, who disappeared after going skiing in the forest. And she recalls the old ski poles in the cave.

‘What if all those things belonged to people who have disappeared?’ she concludes.

‘Have you thought about how many people disappear in Engelsfors?’ Rickard asks.

‘Rather hard not to,’ Linnéa says.

‘Yes, sure, but I meant,
thought
about it, properly,’ Rickard goes on. ‘I hadn’t until I got my memories back … I started to look for information online. Did you know there’s a forum where people discuss Engelsfors? True, they discuss UFOs as well, but in one of the threads there was this list of everyone who has disappeared in the forests around this town since the early 1900s. And when I saw it …’

He pauses to swallow.

‘I was scared shitless. It was so very, very long. I didn’t used to like, really think much about it when someone disappeared. I mean, nobody does. There will be something in the papers and people worry about it for a while and then forget …’ Another pause. ‘Almost like they did after the Spring Equinox party.’

Anna-Karin shudders. Rickard is right.

‘People disappeared in my day, too,’ Nicolaus says.

‘So you think it’s something … supernatural that makes people vanish like that?’ Evelina asks Anna-Karin.

‘I don’t know. But I know that the cave is important. The fox and I have been searching for something in the forest for a long time. And now we have found it.’

Anna-Karin looks around the group.

‘We must explore the cave,’ she says.

‘Let’s do it.’ Linnéa takes a step forward. ‘And now we have a natural fire witch and a natural metal witch, the Circle is whole again.’

Hearing this, Anna-Karin gets a nervous knot in her stomach. There’s nothing ‘whole’ about this circle.

‘You haven’t even asked Rickard and Evelina if they want to join us,’ Minoo says.

‘Well, do you?’ Linnéa asks.

‘I want to do all I can to help,’ Rickard confirms. ‘You know that already.’

‘Do you mind if I take some time to digest all this first?’ Evelina says.

‘Do we have to go over this again?’ Minoo asks grimly. ‘The guardians have stated that the Circle of the Chosen Ones cannot close the portal, even if we replace the dead. Our only chance is that I stay a member of the Council’s new circle.’

‘Yeah, we’ve understood that you prefer to believe in the guardians and the Council rather than in us,’ Linnéa tells her. ‘Why not take their oath as well while you’re at it?’

‘That’s fucking unfair!’ Vanessa says.

‘Minoo is faced with an exceptionally difficult choice,’ Nicolaus agrees.

‘I don’t give a shit if it’s difficult!’ Linnéa shouts. ‘She has to choose! Us or them!’

The silence is total now. Anna-Karin senses how the raised voices have stressed the fox. She hopes her own fears won’t infect him and make him feel even worse. She must not be frightened. She must think clearly now that nobody else seems to be doing so. Linnéa can’t force Minoo to choose. It might end with the wrong choice. Not that Anna-Karin is sure what the right one might be, only that this is the wrong time to make the decision.

‘The box,’ she says. ‘Minoo can’t leave the Council’s circle before she has found the box. And she must try to find out how we use the objects to close the portal.’

‘Sure,’ Linnéa says. ‘Minoo hangs on in the manor house until she has sorted the box problem and found out what we need to know. Meanwhile, we’ll investigate the cave and train until we’re ready. We have a real chance, don’t you understand that, Minoo?’

‘It’s you who doesn’t understand.’

Anna-Karin hardly recognises Minoo’s voice. She even looks different. There is pure hatred in her eyes as she looks at Linnéa.

‘You don’t care about what the guardians have seen in the future. But let me tell you what I’ve seen here and now,’ Minoo continues. ‘The powers of Evelina, Rickard and Nicolaus are nothing compared to those of Nejla, Sigrid and Walter. The Chosen Ones are strong witches but, as a unit, the Council’s circle is stronger. It isn’t enough to be a natural witch. This task can’t be completed by just anyone.’

‘No, of course not,’ Linnéa says. ‘One must be chosen. By the Council. It must be so nice for you to hang out with other elitists. To be told how special and important you are. It’s what you’ve always dreamt of, right?’

Linnéa speaks slowly, as if she wants every word to have maximum impact. It works, Anna-Karin can see that, as she watches Minoo.

‘Linnéa, stop,’ Vanessa tells her.

‘No, I won’t stop!’ Linnéa responds. ‘She is ruining everything! We have fought for this group and we’ve been through so fucking much together and now the guardians turn up from nowhere and say “must change circle, off you go, Minoo”, and she does what she’s told, no questions asked. What do you think Rebecka would’ve said about that, Minoo? Rebecka, who always wanted us to stick together! Can’t you see you’re betraying her by even
thinking
about what you’re doing now?’

Minoo seems to have lost the power of speech and just stares blankly at Linnéa.

‘That was low,’ Gustaf says.

Anna-Karin can see that Linnéa is working herself up to a counterattack and realises that she actually can stop her.

SHUT UP!

Linnéa is unprepared and hasn’t a chance to defend herself against Anna-Karin’s magic. Her lips move without making a sound.

‘What’s the matter?’ Nicolaus asks.

Linnéa points furiously at Anna-Karin.

‘Yes, I did it,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘And I’ll do it again if I have to. You said it yourself, we must stick together now.’

Her voice is breaking. ‘I’m not going to let any one of you destroy this. Don’t you understand that you’re important? Not just because you’re the Chosen Ones. Don’t you understand that I’ve got no one …’

She is surprised when tears well up into her eyes.

‘I have no one else.’

Again, complete silence in the pavilion. Anna-Karin’s pulse hammers in her ears. She doesn’t dare look at anyone.

‘You’re right.’ Vanessa speaks up. ‘We must do this one step at a time. And we mustn’t mess this up.’

Nicolaus pats Anna-Karin’s arm.

‘I think this is enough for one day,’ he says. ‘We are all tired. Allow me to remind you that Olivia might turn up here at any moment. Don’t be outside on your own. Take care of each other.’

He looks around the group and singles out Linnéa and Minoo as he says the last few words.

Minoo lingers on the stage in the dance pavilion. She doesn’t want to stay. But she can’t move.