Fire (31 page)

‘I see. Water,’ she says. ‘So that’s how you did it. In that chemistry lesson. You manipulated the acid and the water, made them change place somehow.’

Viktor gazes at her face as if he hasn’t heard a word she said but instead is determined to observe every pore, every pimple, every unplucked eyebrow hair. She tries hard not to show that he has made her feel self-conscious.

‘Kevin could have been seriously hurt and you shown up as having caused it,’ she says. ‘You violated the rules laid down by the Council. How do you think they would respond if they were told?’

Viktor smiles.

‘They wouldn’t say a thing. Because I didn’t do it.’

He climbs out of the car and Minoo realises that threatening him will get her nowhere. She has no proof and the Council would never believe her.

Seen from the outside, the manor house looks just as uninhabited as when Minoo saw it last. The ground-floor windows are still shuttered.

Viktor walks straight to the front door. He unlocks it and ushers her in with an old-fashioned, exaggerated gesture.

What was once the restaurant reception, a long, wooden counter and a shelf with pigeonholes for keys, is still in place at the far end of the grand entrance hall. The paint is coming off the walls and ceiling in large flakes. But it smells clean. Unnaturally clean. Just like Adriana’s home.

‘Follow me,’ Viktor says.

He turns into a corridor and waves at her to come along.

She keeps two steps behind him in the semi-darkness. The only sound is the tapping of their shoes against the stone floor. Faint strips of light find their way through cracks around the window shutters.

When they come close to the end of the corridor, Viktor tells her to wait and disappears round the corner.

Minoo listens as his footsteps fade away. A door is opened somewhere, and closed. And then everything is silent.

She turns and looks towards the main door. Her chance to escape. What if she isn’t here just for interrogation? What if Viktor and Alexander want to hurt her?

No one knows that I’m here, Minoo thinks and suddenly
feels as if the large house has swallowed her whole.

Adriana had seemed scared to death when she warned Minoo about Alexander, her own brother. Who knows how far he is prepared to go in order to extract the truth?

Do not oppose Alexander. And, whatever else, do not tell lies under interrogation!

But Minoo must tell lies. The Chosen Ones don’t have a choice if they are to defend themselves, especially Anna-Karin.

They have agreed what to say and Minoo repeats the lies again, tries to make them feel like the truth.

From the corridor behind her, a shuffling noise. When she turns to look, all she sees are shadows, but she cannot persuade herself that the sound was just her imagination. The corridor is empty and yet Minoo feels acutely that she is being watched.

She has to force herself not to run to Viktor when he calls her name.

They go into a library. The floor is tiled in a checkerboard pattern and the walls are lined with crammed-full bookshelves that reach all the way to the ceiling. A few standard lamps cast a warm light. In different circumstances, this room would have been Minoo’s paradise on earth.

Alexander is seated in an armchair placed in front of closed double doors. He nods to her and invites her to sit down in a similar armchair opposite him.

She sits down without a word. The armchair is soft as a sponge and she sinks so deep down inside it that she feels the size of a nursery-school kid. Presumably a part of their psychological warfare.

Viktor stands leaning against the fireplace just behind Minoo, and knowing that he observes her hardly makes her feel more at ease.

She thinks of the others. They will manage this together. For Anna-Karin’s sake.

Minoo fixes her gaze on Alexander. She must stay as cold as he is, as inscrutable.

‘A drink of water?’ he asks and gestures at a jug and a couple of glasses on a small table at his side.

‘No, thank you,’ she replies, even though she is thirsty.

Who knows, they might well have doctored the water. After all, once she herself tricked Gustaf into taking truth serum …

Minoo cuts the thought short when it occurs to her that it’s not enough for her to be careful about what she
says
. If Viktor’s element is water, perhaps he can mind-read, just like Linnéa. Why didn’t she think of that sooner?

‘According to the protocol, I must begin with asking you if you are Minoo Falk Karimi,’ Alexander says. His hands rest in his lap.

‘Yes, I am,’ she says and wonders fleetingly if that’s the last true statement she will make in this room.

‘This is an interrogation. But it is also a kind of test.’

Minoo shifts around in her chair and manages to burrow deeper into it.

‘What are you going to test?’ she asks.

‘Your loyalty to the Council.’

It is getting harder and harder not to let them see how terrified she is. She tries to remind herself that since she found out that she was one of the Chosen Ones, she has done more dangerous things than this.

Things she absolutely mustn’t think about, in case Viktor happens to register them.

‘It is important that you speak the truth,’ Alexander says. ‘Do you intend to?’

‘Yes,’ Minoo replies.

Her first lie.

She hears a slight scratching noise. Viktor has produced a small black notebook and is making a note in it with a pencil. He might keep a record of everything she says.

Or thinks.

If only she could sense the presence of magic as acutely as the others. She doesn’t even dare erect any magic defences. Just imagine that she let the black smoke out by mistake. The other Chosen Ones can’t see it, but what if Viktor and Alexander can? Might they not
know
it, somehow, and just be waiting for it to happen?

‘I want to make it quite clear that we punish those who betray us,’ Alexander says. ‘But also that we reward those who cooperate. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

Minoo nods.

‘Answer yes or no,’ Alexander demands.

‘Yes.’

‘Do you know where Nicolaus Elingius is at present?’

‘No,’ Minoo says, relieved to be able to tell the truth.

‘What do you know about his background?’

‘I know no more than you do,’ she says and focuses on the base of Alexander’s nose, hoping that he will get the impression that she is meeting his eyes directly.

‘Have you met up in his flat?’

Minoo is silent for a moment. She must be careful with her answer and remember what they decided together. How they should set about speaking the truth as much as possible before they have to lie.

‘I have been there, off and on. You know, watered his plant and so on.’

Minoo’s heart begins to beat faster.

‘So you and the others have not met there and practised magic?’

‘No.’

Scratchy sounds as Viktor takes notes.

‘From now on, you are forbidden to be in Nicolaus’s flat,’ Alexander says. ‘And, to repeat my previous instruction, you are not allowed to experiment with magic unsupervised, under any circumstances.’

Minoo tries to block out all thoughts about the seance they plan to carry out tomorrow. Only a few minutes into the questioning and she is feeling exhausted already.

‘Now, tell me about the night of the blood-red moon,’ Alexander says. ‘And about how the others discovered their powers. Yes, and also the demise of Elias and Rebecka.’

Minoo takes a deep breath. Slowly and carefully, she sets out to feed Alexander a version that is as true as possible, without including the slightest hint that they acted against Adriana’s orders, or that she knew but let them carry on all the same, and that they exposed Max’s true identity and neutralised him.

It adds up to a story full of gaping holes.

When Minoo has finished speaking, Alexander sits in silence for a moment.

‘When was Anna-Karin informed that she had broken the laws of the Council?’ he finally asks.

‘At the same time as we learned that the Council existed. At the time that Adriana told us we were witches.’

‘Afterwards, did Anna-Karin continue to practise magic in such a manner as to break the laws of the Council?’

‘No.’

‘According to my sources, Anna-Karin maintained her … prominent position at school throughout the autumn term. Even after she had been informed by Adriana Lopez that it is forbidden to manipulate people around you in this manner.’

Minoo’s mouth is so dry her tongue feels mummified. She looks longingly at the water jug.

‘That’s just the way things work out,’ she says. ‘Anna-Karin of course never used her powers on everyone, but lots of people attached themselves to her anyway. When someone is popular, other people feel attracted to them. This carried on long after she had stopped using magic.’

‘Interesting. For how long did this effect last?’

‘Until after the Christmas holidays, perhaps.’

‘And around then, her “popularity” ceased? Just like that?’

‘Yes.’

‘Would you not agree that it sounds more plausible that her appeal faded when she stopped using her magic in school?’

‘Maybe it sounds more plausible,’ Minoo replies. ‘But that was not the case.’

Minoo can feel her cheeks going hot. The only sound is the scraping of Viktor’s pencil.

‘I have a question for you,’ Minoo says, trying to appear calm and collected. ‘What will the trial procedure be like? We haven’t been given any information at all.’

‘You will receive all the information you require,’ Alexander says.

Minoo feels it is too risky to ask any more questions. But she has to if they are to have any chance to prepare.

‘But shouldn’t Anna-Karin have access to someone who’ll plead in her defence? We don’t know anything about how it will be—’

‘You will receive all the information you require,’ Alexander repeats and his eyes darken.

He pours a glass of water for himself and empties it in a few swallows. Then he looks at Minoo again.

‘Did you ever find the guilty one?’ he asks. ‘Whoever the demons had blessed?’

‘No.’

‘I see,’ Alexander says. ‘In fact, the attacks against you stopped just as suddenly as they had started?’

‘Yes. Maybe the demons gave up.’

Alexander’s smile is scornful.

‘And your own powers. What can you tell me about them?’

It is as if her lungs have shrunk. Breathing in doesn’t give her enough air.

‘I don’t know if I have any. I haven’t noticed anything special, anyway.’

‘Are you quite sure?’

‘Yes.’

Alexander looks sharply at her.

‘Very well. Now I want to return to talking about Anna-Karin. Tell me everything about her magic practices. From the beginning.’

When Minoo walks out through the front door, three hours have passed but it feels like twenty-four. Inside her head, everything is in a complete mess. Only one thing seems clear to her and that is the feeling that she has said too much, put it the wrong way, ruined everything, for all of them.

As promised, her mobile was handed back to her after the interrogation. She panicked when she remembered Vanessa’s text about iron filings. The Chosen Ones usually delete all each other’s texts, but this time Minoo didn’t have the time before Viktor pocketed her phone. She has not the slightest doubt that he has been checking through it.

Inwardly, Minoo curses. Before Vanessa is called in for questioning, they must invent an innocent, non-magical use of iron filings. Something in which Minoo and Vanessa might reasonably share an interest.

She walks across the gravelled yard and follows the road
down to the locks. She doesn’t turn round, certain that Viktor is keeping an eye on her from one of the top-floor windows. He offered to drive her home, but she had had enough of the Council’s representatives for now. Actually, for an entire lifetime. Viktor looked almost disappointed. Perhaps he was looking forward to having another go at winding her up.

Minoo walks along the edge of the canal. The evening sun makes the surface glitter. The ever-changing patterns nearly hypnotise her.

When she is within hearing distance of the water rushing through the locks, she suddenly sees Gustaf.

She slows down. Stops.

He is sitting on a bench, reading. He hasn’t noticed her. She can still slip away.

But suddenly a great grief fills her. It was so improbable that they should become friends. And so terribly unnecessary that they should fall out.

She has missed him these last few weeks. She feels that clearly now when she sees him in the setting where they used to go for walks during the summer. There will never be a better opportunity to ask him to forgive her.

‘Gustaf!’ she calls and walks closer to him.

He looks up.

‘Hi there,’ he says and closes the biology textbook on his lap.

Minoo stands in front of the bench. She considers sitting down, but the empty part of the seat next to Gustaf is a moonscape of dried bird shit.

‘What are you doing here?’ he asks.

‘Just out for a walk.’

‘Right.’

Gustaf kicks a small stone and Minoo’s eyes follow it. It
sails through the air and lands with a splat in the canal below the several-metres-high lock gates.

‘I thought I saw you with Viktor earlier on,’ Gustaf says. ‘In a car. Was that you?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you’re seeing that idiot
socially
?’ Gustaf says. He sounds amazed.

‘We’re in the same class,’ she says. ‘As for socialising, I guess I can see who I like.’

She can’t stop herself. She has had enough of having her behaviour questioned for today. Especially questioned by people to whom she can’t tell the truth.

‘Fine, okay,’ Gustaf says. ‘Of course, I don’t really know him. It’s just that he comes across pretty badly.’

‘Well, maybe. But then, you don’t know him.’

It feels so absurd to be defending Viktor.

‘Forget it. If you like him he must be … okay.’

Minoo looks at him. Realises that he is trying. She mustn’t mess this up again.

‘Gustaf … please forgive me. Things just came out all wrong last time.’