Fire (52 page)

She has often been afraid of Erik, but only seen him watch her with cold calculation in his eyes or else with a glimpse of amused excitement. Tormenting her has been one of his hobbies. At times, it has even seemed to have turned into a kind of dull routine.

At the tables near theirs, all talk is dying down.

Erik squares up to Anna-Karin.

‘Ida, what’s your problem?’

By now the entire dining area is silent. Some people stand up to see better.

‘Why do you want to sit with this lot of sad retards?’ Erik demands. ‘Like that filthy slag there. She’s been spreading rumours about me.’

Linnéa seems close to fainting. Vanessa reaches out across the table and takes her hand.

‘Answer me!’ Erik says.

Anna-Karin feels blocked. Her brain is unable to formulate a single thought. Let alone express it in spoken words.

‘This is your
only
chance,’ Erik says. ‘It’s all over if you don’t leave these losers now and come away with me. Get my drift? I’m not just saying it’s over between us.
It’s all over for you
.’

Anna-Karin looks at the real Ida inside Minoo’s body. Her
eyes have grown huge and fearful. But she nods lightly at Anna-Karin.

Gives her permission.

Once, Anna-Karin made Erik pee his pants in front of the entire school. Now, she has no access to her magic.

But she has a new option. She can be Ida. And being Ida means being capable of saying whatever comes to mind.

‘Piss off, Piss-Erik,’ she says.

‘What the fuck did you say?’

His voice is so tense with fury that Anna-Karin’s instinctive response is to run away. She suppresses it.

‘You heard me,’ she says. ‘Surely you haven’t forgotten how you peed yourself when the whole school was watching?’

‘You have so lost it. You’ve gone mental,’ Erik says, turning an even deeper shade of red.

‘Not any more,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘It was being with you that screwed my mind up. You’re a psychopath. People like you ought to be locked up.’

‘If you believe that Julia or Felicia or anyone else will hang out with you ever again, you’re making such a fucking big mistake,’ Erik says. ‘No one will want to have anything to do with you now.’

‘What makes you think she cares?’ Ida says.

Erik swings round to face her.

‘Who the fuck are you? And who’s asked for your sodding opinion about anything?’

‘She doesn’t even love you,’ Ida continues. ‘She never has.’

‘So true,’ Anna-Karin says and Erik turns back to her. ‘You know why, don’t you? You’re so totally unlovable. There just isn’t anything to like about you. Not when you know who you are.’

Erik’s hands clench into fists and Anna-Karin is certain that he wants to hit her.

‘Go ahead,’ she says. ‘Just show everybody who you really are.’

Erik’s hands unclench.

‘You’ve made your choice, Ida. Now live with it. Best of luck, you’ll need it.’

He walks away. Around them, the talk immediately starts up again.

Anna-Karin looks at Ida.

‘I couldn’t have said it better myself,’ Ida mutters.

Walking through town as Linnéa is a strange experience for Minoo. She always wanted to try out an alternative style but never dared to look really different. Now she is wearing a skirt of black tulle covered with small, shiny metallic spiders that now and then clink against each other. Everyone is staring at her. A middle-aged man even shouted something after her. It sounded like ‘Has the circus come to town?’

‘How do you put up with everybody ogling you all the time?’ Minoo asks as they walk to the social services office.

‘It’s a fail-safe idiot test,’ Linnéa says. ‘An instant check on who’s a bigoted prat. The data is kind of depressing.’

The social services department is just a block along from the
Engelsfors Herald
office. Minoo has probably passed by hundreds of times, but never actually noticed. The name in black lettering on the white background doesn’t signify anything that matters in her life.

Linnéa stops outside the entrance.

‘Ready?’

‘As ready as I’ll ever be,’ Minoo says. ‘Anything else I should know about Diana?’

‘
I
feel like I don’t know a thing about her any more,’ Linnéa says. ‘She used to be on my side. I can’t think what’s changed her.’

‘Perhaps she’s under a spell,’ Minoo says. ‘Seems possible,
now that we know they’re into magic at PE. And we also know that Helena hates you.’

Linnéa looks at Minoo through Vanessa’s brown eyes.

‘I hope so. I hope it isn’t Diana herself who’s doing this to me.’

Minoo nods. Eyes the door.

‘Feeling nervous?’ Linnéa asks.

‘Not at all. After all, it’s just your life that hangs on how this ends.’

Linnéa smiles faintly, pushes a large button to make the glass door swing open and leads the way in.

Minoo shyly observes the people they meet and tries to work out who are members of staff and who are clients. Then tells herself off for presuming that it will show in their looks.

They walk through a long corridor painted in a shade of avocado-green that makes people’s faces look mildly seasick. Then they stop at one of the doors. A white plastic sign says ‘
Diana Ehn
’.

Minoo knocks on the door and a woman opens it. Diana is younger than Minoo had imagined. But her face is deeply lined, as if she is constantly worried.

‘Hi there, Linnéa,’ she sighs.

Her tone of voice doesn’t bode well. Then Diana turns to the real Linnéa.

‘Vanessa has come along to give friendly support,’ Minoo explains quickly.

‘Sorry, but she’ll have to wait outside,’ Diana says.

‘Oh, come on—’ Linnéa says.

‘No problem,’ Minoo interrupts at once. ‘I’ll be fine.’

She follows Diana into her office. The door slams behind them.

‘Sit down,’ Diana says.

It sounds like an order and Minoo goes to sit down on the
hard sofa. Diana bends over her desk. She examines Minoo intently. Minoo has to take off Linnéa’s fake fur coat because it suddenly feels like a live creature that is about to suffocate her.

‘I am utterly disappointed in you,’ Diana says.

‘Please, just let me explain …’

Diana shakes her head.

‘You’ve got to give me a chance to—’ Minoo says.

‘You missed your meetings with me,’ Diana interrupts. ‘You have thrown wild parties. Not to mention that hoax call to the emergency services. On top of everything, you’ve spread slander about the two boys. You should be grateful they haven’t charged you.’

‘I’m not trying to explain anything away. I just want to tell you what really happened.’

‘No.’

‘But—’

‘No more “buts”, Linnéa. You’ve done enough.’

Minoo feels frustration growing inside her. Suddenly, she understands why Linnéa is always so angry, why she always seems to think attack is the best defence.

But she mustn’t lose her temper. Her job is to try and sort this out for Linnéa.

‘It
was
a break-in,’ Minoo says. ‘And I know nothing about the false alarm call, it was a shock to me, too.’

‘You have to be out of that flat by Monday.’

Feverishly, Minoo racks her brain for arguments to back her case. All she can think of is a question.

‘Surely you can’t throw me out just like that?’

‘I can and I will. Also, you will be held financially responsible for any damages.’

‘But where am I supposed to live?’

‘We have been quite lucky this time. There is a place in a
special home that has just been freed up. The home specialises in girls with behavioural problems. Initially, you have to stay in a closed ward. That is, until your behaviour has stabilised.’

Linnéa’s heart is beating madly now and Minoo feels sweat breaking out on her back. So, this is how a panic attack starts. She tries to breathe calmly, as Linnéa has advised her to do.

‘But you can’t have me locked up,’ she manages to say.

‘Of course I wish it wasn’t necessary, but you’ve brought it on yourself. Think of it as for your own good.’

‘I can stay with a friend,’ Minoo says. ‘I have someone in mind who I can ask straight away.’ She’ll persuade Dad to let Linnéa move in with them. And tell him what has happened. ‘I’ll be eighteen this summer. Let me stay with her until then, it’s only a matter of a few months.’

‘Is that the friend who’s waiting for you in the corridor? You party together, don’t you?’

‘No—’

‘Anyway, it’s out of the question,’ Diana interrupts. ‘This discussion is over.’

She leans forward and fixes her eyes on Minoo.

‘You are to present yourself here at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. If you don’t, the police will come and pick you up.’

A small pendant on a silver chain around Diana’s neck slips out from under the neckline of her T-shirt.

The pendant is the symbol of the metal element.

‘I had hoped that you would prove yourself able to handle freedom responsibly,’ Diana continues. ‘Instead, you have abused my trust. I have no other choice.’

What is the significance of her pendant? It might easily mean nothing at all. Are there jewellery designers who think a triangle bisected by a vertical line is just the thing? Or is it really intended as the symbol of metal? If so, does it follow
that Diana is a witch? Or is she
bewitched
? Could the necklace have something to do with her behaving so out of character?

The silver chain is very thin.

Minoo wonders if she can risk it. Then wonders if she can risk not to.

They are going to lock up Linnéa.

She has to do it.

Quick as a flash, Minoo reaches for the necklace. Gets a grip on it and tugs. The lock on the silver chain breaks instantly.

‘Ouch!’ Diana rubs the back of her neck. ‘It felt as if something bit me.’

She straightens up. Looks around, apparently confused.

‘Now, what were we saying?’ she asks.

She sees the pendant in Minoo’s hand and stares at it blankly.

‘Do you recognise this?’ Minoo asks nervously.

Diana shakes her head.

‘Do you know, I don’t feel so well,’ she says. ‘Maybe we should reschedule this meeting, things have been so stressful recently …’

She stops speaking, shuffles the forms on her desk and glances at them quickly, as if trying to work out what’s happened so far.

‘What can we do about the flat?’ Minoo asks.

Diana stares at her, as if just woken from a dream.

Linnéa gets up from the floor as soon as the door to Diana’s office opens. The butterflies in her stomach have razor-edged wings.

‘What did she say?’ she asks Minoo as soon as she is close enough.

The butterfly wings are beating more wildly than ever.

‘I think the matter is resolved,’ Minoo replies.

‘How do you mean, “resolved”?’

‘Let’s go outside,’ Minoo says. ‘I’ve got something I need to show you.’

Once outside, Minoo pulls the packet of cigarettes from the top of one of her ankle boots. She lights a cigarette awkwardly and inhales so deeply she is practically sick on the spot. Linnéa is jumping with impatience.

‘Now tell me,’ she says.

‘She was wearing this,’ Minoo says and discreetly holds up a chain with the metal symbol dangling from it.

It glints, reflecting the sunshine. Linnéa touches it cautiously.

‘Someone has been controlling Diana through the necklace,’ Minoo says. ‘When I pulled it off her she became quite—’

‘When you
pulled it off
her?’ Linnéa says disbelievingly.

Minoo grins suddenly, as if she, too, can’t quite believe she did it.

‘Seems that when I’m you, I take risks,’ she says.

‘
I
would never have dared to. Didn’t it occur to you how dangerous it was?’

‘I had no choice,’ Minoo says and drags on her cigarette, so deeply that tears come to her eyes. ‘They were going to lock you up in a home tomorrow.’

It pains Linnéa to hear this. But, above all, it is a relief to be reassured that she isn’t paranoid. There
was
a conspiracy against her.

‘What happened when you pulled the necklace off her?’

‘She was so confused she didn’t recognise it. And scared, too, really scared. I told her about the break-in, the same version you told the police. She said that she couldn’t think how she’d arrived at a decision so fast.’

‘But, tell me. What is she going to do about the flat?’

‘We agreed that you can keep it for now. I’m pretty sure she wants to forget about all this as soon as possible.’

‘You
agreed
?’

Minoo nods and has a last pull on her fag.

‘You’re right about her,’ she says. ‘Diana is all right.’

‘She believed you, then? I mean, me?’

‘Actually, she didn’t seem to know what to think about anything much,’ Minoo says. ‘But now we know that it wasn’t Diana who did this to you. Someone’s been controlling her. And we’ll find out who it was.’

Linnéa looks at her friend. And asks herself if Minoo truly understands how huge this is, what a fantastic thing she has done.

The kitchen windows creak and rattle in the wind. Ida can’t understand how Minoo copes with being on her own such a lot, all alone in this house.

Minoo’s father phoned to say he would be late and she’d better order a pizza from Venezia. He sounded apologetic, reminded her that he will be a better dad and make up for it when he cooks supper for her and Anna-Karin tomorrow.

Ida had almost managed to suppress all thoughts about that supper. She had a sudden vision of what a disaster it could be, with herself and Vanessa acting madly as Minoo and Anna-Karin, with Minoo’s father as the only one in the audience. For an entire evening. And immediately after the trial as well. So she told him that she had asked her friend Linnéa to join them. It would be good to have the real Minoo around to help her avoid the worst traps. And then she added that she had invited Ida Holmström, too. It felt safer to have her own body within sight.

Minoo’s father sounded so pleasantly surprised it was almost sad. Obviously, Minoo doesn’t have friends round a lot.

Ida pours herself a glass of juice and settles down at the kitchen table. Doesn’t dare look at the darkness outside the windows.