Fire (68 page)

‘Olivia, you’ve got to believe what I say. You’ve been deceived. I don’t know what will happen when you’ve killed everyone, but Elias will never be resurrected.’

Olivia shakes her head so that her lanky hair flaps around.

It must be the magic, Linnéa thinks. It is too strong for her. It’s making her body decay. The way nuclear radiation does.

‘Why can’t you just understand?’ Olivia says. ‘Why can’t you just look forward to being happy? Listen, soon we’ll meet Elias!’

She is breathing heavily. Watching Linnéa.

‘You’ve got to choose now,’ she says. ‘Yes or no. Are you with us or against us?’

Alexander goes and stands by the bed. He looks intently at his sister. He seems not to register that Minoo is there.

‘Adriana?’ he says.

She stares at him, looking confused. For one terrible moment, Minoo is afraid that she has removed too much.

‘Alexander?’ Adriana says. ‘What are you doing here?’

Minoo relaxes.

‘Do you know where you are?’ he asks.

‘Of course,’ she says, sounding not the slightest bit sure of herself. ‘I am in Engelsfors. In my bedroom in Engelsfors.’

‘Do you know who she is?’ Alexander says and points at Minoo.

Adriana looks quickly at Minoo again.

‘No,’ she says. ‘I’ve never seen her before.’

‘She isn’t lying,’ Viktor says. He has turned up in the doorway.

Alexander scrutinises Minoo. As if he, too, is seeing her for the first time and needs to decide whether she is a friend or an enemy.

Then he turns back to his sister.

‘You’ve been unwell,’ he says.

‘I feel as though I might have been,’ Adriana says. ‘I mean … I feel so very strange.’

‘I understand. You have been in a bad state for a long time now,’ Alexander says.

‘Have I been neglecting my work? I came here to … Have you found the Chosen One?’

‘All that is past history,’ he says. ‘Just a big misunderstanding.’

She looks disappointed.

‘I see …’ she says. ‘I was so certain that …’

Minoo remembers the last memory that Adriana is still aware of. How hopeful she had felt then, how she dared to finally believe that her investigations were going to lead to a major, meaningful finding. Now, at a stroke, Alexander has crushed her dreams.

But what Adriana had dared to believe still exists. Minoo hopes that she will find her own way again and that it will somehow lead back to the Chosen Ones.

‘Try to sleep for a while and I’ll be back to see you later,’ Alexander says and looks at Minoo again. ‘We’ll talk for a longer time then.’

He steps outside into the corridor. Minoo glances at Adriana for one last time. She has settled back in the bed and is reaching for the switch on her bedside lamp.

‘Sleep well,’ Minoo says.

‘Thank you,’ Adriana says and turns the light off.

‘Linnéa. Please. Say yes.’

Olivia’s large brown eyes are watching her.

And Linnéa feels grief welling up inside her. All this is so meaningless. So tragic. And altogether, so fucking wrong.

‘Olivia, you’ve got to stop all this. You must have noticed what it’s doing to your body? You must have realised that whatever’s doing this to you can’t be good!’

Olivia looks at Linnéa and seems to waver, before she makes up her mind. Her gaze hardens.

‘I’ll heal when all this is in the past.’

‘You won’t survive the act you intend to carry out.’

‘Of course I will. I am the Chosen One.’

‘You’re wrong.’

‘In which case, it’s a risk I’m prepared to take for Elias’s sake,’ Olivia says. ‘You may well say you love him, but what have you done for him? What do you think he would’ve said about you being so matey with
Ida Holmström
?’

They look at each other in silence.

‘Punish me,’ Linnéa says. ‘But let the others go.’

‘No, I need them. Elias needs them.’

She looks at Linnéa and her expression is sad.

‘He’ll be so disappointed when he comes back and finds you gone,’ she says.

Next, her thought fills Linnéa’s head, a scream that cuts like a knife through the brain.

Get her.

It reverberates throughout the school, from mind to mind.

Linnéa hears their footsteps approaching. They must have been ready and waiting.

The door opens with a crash and before she has time to turn, strong hands grab her arms. Backman holds her firmly from behind and she tries to pull herself free, struggling and twisting in his grip.

‘Let go of me,’ she screams, while his hateful thoughts rush through her.

He enjoys feeling her body against his. His power over her gives him pleasure; he’s got her now, that uppity chick whose way of looking at him in the classroom has made him feel so ill at ease, as if all the time she knew what he was thinking.

‘Let go of me!’ Linnéa screams again, but Tommy Ekberg goes for her legs; her feet leave the floor and she is lifted up in the air.

The entire corridor outside the toilets is crammed full of pupils, all wearing the same amulet around their necks. Excitedly, they watch Tommy and Backman carry her away.

Minoo walks out into the corridor and closes the door behind her. The power field is gone. Viktor stands with his head down, staring at the carpet. Alexander examines her with an inscrutable face.

‘I’ve explained the situation to Alexander,’ Viktor says without looking up. ‘He is aware of what we have done.’

Minoo looks at Alexander. Has Viktor misjudged him? Will he turn them in?

‘What is left of her memories?’ Alexander asks.

‘She is the same person she was just before we began the first year in senior school. I couldn’t remove more than that, it would have left her too fragile,’ Minoo says. ‘But she is loyal to the Council once more. And innocent of the so-called crimes she’s supposed to have committed here in Engelsfors.’

‘That is an impossible form of magic,’ Alexander says.

Minoo doesn’t answer. She has no intention of discussing her powers with him.

‘Will the Council revoke the sentence and free her?’ she asks instead.

‘There are no similar cases. But if what you say is true …’ He falls silent, then nods. ‘I can think of no reason why they shouldn’t.’

‘And what about Viktor? Are you going to charge him with having helped me?’

‘That’s fine, Minoo,’ Viktor says.

‘No, it isn’t,’ she says and looks hard at Alexander. ‘There are no grounds for punishing Viktor. Isn’t that right?’

Thoughtfully, Alexander meets her gaze.

‘No,’ he finally says. ‘I believe the best thing for all of us is to move on from here.’

Minoo has time to notice the grateful glance Viktor sends her. Then she walks past them. Carries on downstairs, through the ground floor and out into the garden.

When she reaches the street, she starts running.

The others need you.

Linnéa is downstairs in the gym. She has stopped trying to resist them. There are too many of them, their hands are too strong. And she must save her strength.

In her thoughts, she calls to Vanessa and the others. No one answers.

When she is brought into the gym, she understands why.

In here, the magic is so powerful that she has no hope of penetrating it on her own.

The crowd opens up and makes a gangway for the men who are carrying her. She looks into their faces.

Everyone looks individually different, but all their eyes have the same expression. Olivia’s expression.

Gustaf is the only one there whose eyes are still his own. And he looks terrified. Linnéa looks away at once, afraid that she might give him away.

She catches sight of Anna-Karin, who stands surrounded, close to the stage. Linnéa is about to call to her when Backman and Tommy let go of her and she crashes to the floor.

‘Linnéa!’

It’s Vanessa’s voice. And in the middle of all her terror Linnéa is filled with relief.

She tries to sit up but is shoved back down. Through the forest of legs, she glimpses Vanessa, held captive by Rickard and Mehmet.

Linnéa manages to tear herself free from the hands that pin her down, but instantly other hands are there to keep her in place.

‘Let me through!’

It is Helena’s voice.

Tommy steps aside and Linnéa sees that, behind him, a long corridor runs through the sea of people. Olivia, Helena and Krister stand at the far end.

Helena’s eyes are shining with hatred as she and Krister start walking towards Linnéa.

‘I must say, Linnéa, I’m very pleased to see you here,’ she says. ‘I am so glad that Olivia changed her mind.’

‘If there is one individual who deserves what they’re going to get, it’s you,’ Krister says.

Linnéa tries to sit up again and, this time, no one prevents her. Krister and Helena are towering over her now.

It would have been utterly devastating for Elias to see them like this. Despite everything, he loved them.

She must try to make them understand, she owes him that.

‘Elias didn’t take his own life,’ she says. ‘Demons murdered him. The same demons who are giving Olivia the power to do all that she is doing. The same demons who have made you believe that you have been talking to Elias. You have been misled by Elias’s murderers.’

‘You’re lying,’ Helena says and Krister nods in agreement.

‘How can you believe that he is the one who drives all this?’ Linnéa exclaims. ‘Your son Elias? Elias, who took care never to hurt anyone? Who never even hit back? Do you really believe that he would want you to kill people for his sake?’

Helena and Krister just look at her. For one brief moment, Linnéa hopes that she might have got through to them.

Suddenly, the ceiling lights flicker.

Blue flashes spark around Olivia’s hands. She is still standing at the other end of the hall. Krister and Helena turn towards her.

‘Don’t!’ Linnéa screams but it is too late.

Olivia lifts her hands. The flashes of lightning swoop through the air and hit the chests of Krister and Helena. There is a sizzling sound. They scream in pain. Then, complete silence. Olivia lowers her hands. For a moment, Krister and Helena stay upright, but staggering. Leaning against each other, they collapse to the floor.

The crowd ripples as if agitated by a wind, but nobody does anything. They are completely under Olivia’s rule.

‘Oh God, how I’ve been looking forward to doing that,’ Olivia says.

‘Please, no more,’ Linnéa says. ‘I beg you, Olivia, stop it.’

Olivia smiles and Linnéa sees the ectoplasm circles gradually start to glow around her.

Ida has hidden under the stands and is peeping out, in an attempt to grasp what’s going on.

So, it’s that pushy chick, Olivia Henriksson, who the demons have blessed.

Ida half thought she ought to break cover and go and zap Olivia into the nearest exercise frame. But then she saw what was done to Krister and Helena. Besides, Olivia can influence every single PE fanatic in the hall. Ida doesn’t stand a chance.

Then again, it might be too late anyway.

Slowly, ectoplasm circles take shape on the wall behind her, on the floor around her. She senses the strong magic flowing from them. Mona Moonbeam’s voice echoes in her head.

People who know about true magic know that only
one rite matters on this particular day. And that’s human sacrifice.

Ida twirls her silver heart, twists the chain tightly around her finger. What else was it Mona had said?

They’ve connected all the people in your school into one big network.

Ida stares at the sign of metal in the ectoplasm circles.

The ruling metal witch must also wear an amulet.

The ruling metal witch.

Ida lets go of the silver heart. She plunges her hand into her jacket pocket, roots around for the amulet chain, finds it and holds the necklace up in front of her.

Any natural metal witch should be able to do this.

Of course, Ida isn’t sure. But she is absolutely sure that if she doesn’t act instantly, she will be a human sacrifice in minutes.

Ida moves her hands to the back of her neck. The amulet clinks when it strikes the silver heart. She snaps the clasp closed. Becomes part of the network.

And suddenly she can
feel
the entire hall. No need to see it in order to know that circles cover the whole floor and the lower half of the walls. They interact, reinforcing each other’s power fields, and together turning the hall into a gigantic microwave oven.

All the PE members are there. Like popcorn ready to be popped. Their minds are like spots of light, portals open for her to dive into. She sees Olivia like a dark sun, glowing among the pale and distant stars. Olivia is the ruler of everything here. The circles. The PE membership. And her rule is mediated through the network of amulets.

First, I’ll switch off the microwave oven, Ida thinks. Next, I’ll switch off Olivia.

She focuses all her power on the circles, starting with the one drawn on the wall above the stage. She extinguishes it,
slowly but surely. When it is done, she turns her attention to another circle. And another.

She knows that Olivia has registered her presence. She can feel it quite clearly; it is like a power surge running through the network. Olivia is trying to get a grip on everyone’s consciousness but for now Ida is the stronger. She controls the circles and that keeps the PE members in check.

‘Stop it!’ Olivia screams.

Ida opens her eyes.

The ectoplasm circles around her are all extinguished. In the ceiling, the strip lights flicker like stroboscopes.

‘Where are you?’ Olivia shouts at the top of her voice.

Ida smiles. No need for her to hide any more.

Linnéa gets up from the floor. Backman, Tommy and all the rest of them are standing around, immobile and staring emptily ahead in the flashing light.

She sees someone step out from under the stands. Sees the amulet on a chain around her neck. Linnéa never imagined she would feel so happy about seeing Ida Holmström.

As Ida walks through the hall, people step out of her way.

‘Stop it!’ Olivia screams. ‘You’re ruining everything!’