The Key (51 page)

Seven missed calls and three texts from Anna-Karin. She wants them all to meet in Kärrgruvan.

Linnéa swears when the sewing machine needle chews up a length of the black silk and makes it scrunch up like an accordion. This is why she had left Ingrid’s gift of an old party dress on the shelf for so long. She is tempted to rip the fabric to pieces. Far too tempted.

The intruders ruined her old sewing machine and she misses it. It was her best skip-find ever, a solid model that had been going strong for maybe fifty years. She bought her current machine in a flea market. The former owner had claimed that she had hardly used it. Obviously she had used it enough to mess up the thread tension.

Linnéa gets up, opens the sitting-room window and fingers the packet of cigarettes on the windowsill. But she has smoked too many already and has too little money left.

Engelsfors almost glows in the afternoon sunshine. Linnéa tries to lose herself in the music from her laptop. The playlist is the one with Elias’s favourites. It’s his birthday today, but she hasn’t had the strength to visit his grave. She hasn’t even been able to write to him in her diary.

She still hasn’t heard from Vanessa. Does it mean that it’s all over? Linnéa feels nothing when she thinks about this. She is completely numb.

The doorbell.

Is it Vanessa?

It rings again. She goes to the hall and unlocks the front door.

He is drunk. She sees it before she smells it. She used to think that he couldn’t disappoint her any more, but now it burns right through her numbness.

‘I’m sorry,’ Björn Wallin says. ‘I’m sorry, for just turning up like this.’

Linnéa tries to pull the door shut, but he grabs the handle and keeps it open.

‘Please, please, let me say this one thing,’ he persists. ‘I’ve felt like shit ever since I heard about what those boys did to you.’

‘Go away,’ Linnéa hisses.

She tugs at the door as hard as she can but he is stronger.

‘Don’t be like that,’ he says. ‘I’m so bloody angry for your sake and you must believe me, I knew nothing. I saw them often in the PE centre with Helena, but I had no idea, and if only I got hold of them, I would fucking well … I would … my darling little girl. I hope they get done. A hard sentence. Fucking hard. That’s only fucking right.’

He stops suddenly.

Linnéa lets go of the handle and he staggers backwards, but regains his balance fast. He stinks of stale alcohol. Probably hungover this morning. Then a top-up or two before coming to see her. This is when he is the most remorseful. This is when he weeps over his own failings as a father, as if blaming himself would somehow make him innocent.

‘I’m moving from town,’ he says. ‘To Köping. I’ve met a nice woman, you know. We’re moving in together. I’ve got a job as well, shifting stock in a warehouse.’

He smiles tentatively and Linnéa’s disappointment turns to anger.

‘You said that it was entirely up to me if we were to get in touch again,’ she tells him. ‘And then you show up here, pissed.’

‘It’s different this time. Just a kind of leaving party, a couple of beers with my old mates from the sawmill …’

‘And one thing led to another, and you hit the booze all night long, and when you woke up, you went to Sture’s and had another couple.’

Björn sighs.

‘Yes,’ he says. ‘I relapsed, I admit it, but …’

‘And then you come here to tell me you had no idea that some members of your old cult tried to murder me, just so you can feel less bad about it.’

Björn shakes his head and tries to interrupt, but she is on a roll.

‘And then you go on about your new dream life with this new girlfriend, and you will fuck everything up again and you expect me to be
happy
for you! You’re so fucking disgusting!’

Her eyes fill with tears and flow down her cheeks, but she makes them evaporate so that all that’s left are tight trails of salt.

‘I don’t give a shit that you’re drinking again!’ she screams. ‘I don’t give a shit that you’re screwing your life up. But you’ve screwed my life up and I’ll never forgive you for that! I don’t know why I bothered to stop drinking and taking drugs because I’m totally fucked up anyway! I’ll never be whole! Never! And it’s you who have made me like this. You ruined me!’

She hears the echo of her own voice die away in the stairwell.

‘It’s not true,’ Björn says.

Linnéa slams the door shut, locks it and goes back to the sitting room. Stops and notices the fast beating of her heart. She feels as though she has been running. And then the numbness fills her again.

She catches sight of her mobile. Several missed calls and three texts, all from Anna-Karin. She reads the messages. Anything rather than having to think about what has just happened.

Vanessa rolls a vault into the gym store cupboard. She is sweating so much that her tank top is glued to her body.

Vanessa hasn’t had Lollo as her PE teacher before, but she had heard about Lollo’s notorious obstacle courses. Now, for the first time, she has experienced one. The losing team is given the job of putting the kit away afterwards.

Vanessa went for the obstacle course as if the demons were snapping at her heels. Not because she wanted to win, but because she needed release for her nervous energy, to sweat out the stress. She could have kept going for ever. She only noticed afterwards how her arms and legs shook.

She and Evelina would have won if Liam hadn’t been in their team. Liam, who can’t even utter one word without going red in the face and who went dark purple when he tried to do the rope climbs. He looks miserable when he comes to hang up the trampette on the wall near Vanessa. She wants to tell him not to worry. That losing doesn’t matter at all. But she suspects it would only make him feel even more ill at ease.

Vanessa leaves the store and goes back to the main gym. Evelina stands by the climbing frames and types quickly on her mobile. The bar that Anna-Karin broke last spring when she suddenly turned into The Hulk has still not been fixed.

‘What if we both take the mattress?’ Vanessa suggests, and Evelina puts the mobile in her pocket and nods without looking up.

They grab one corner each of the orange mattress that over the years has got a patchy black pattern from all the shoes running over it. A cloud of ancient ingrained sweat billows up when they start dragging it across the floor.

Behind her, Vanessa hears a scraping sound that sets her teeth on edge. She looks over her shoulder and sees Liam hauling the beam up towards the ceiling.

She and Evelina drag the mattress into the store, count to three, heave it upright and lean it against the wall. And then she meets Evelina’s gaze. Only to see her best friend look away quickly, as if the mere sight of Vanessa hurts her eyes.

If only there was something Vanessa could say to make it better. But there are only more half-truths and outright lies.

Vanessa’s body reacts before her mind grasps that something is happening. Every small hair on her arms stands on end. Goose pimples are spreading on her back, up the back of her neck. Her scalp crawls.

The air is warm, almost hot.

And full of magic.

The trampette falls off the wall and lands with a dull thud.

Vanessa and Evelina stare at it.

Something is rattling behind Vanessa; when she turns to look she sees the indoor hockey goals jumping and shaking on the floor.

Then handballs, volleyballs, medicine balls, basketballs and indoor footballs fall off the shelves and begin bouncing across the floor towards them in a seething mass.

Vanessa takes Evelina’s hand, pulls her out of the store and closes the door. The balls carry on bouncing about in there.

Evelina looks terrified.

‘Shit,’ she says as she follows Vanessa into the gym hall. ‘Shit, what is—’

She is interrupted by a high-pitched screeching sound as the beam falls like a heavy guillotine blade on the floor in front of Liam’s feet.

‘Liam! We have to get out of here!’ Vanessa screams.

Liam stands as if rooted to the floor and stares at the beam. The magic is growing stronger and stronger. It shimmers in the air.

The first in the next chain of portents, Vanessa thinks. It has to be.

Someone in the girls’ changing room is thumping on the door, trying to get in.

A loud bang echoes in the gym and is followed by the sound of a body collapsing.

Liam is lying on the floor with blood trickling from his forehead. One of the strip lights lie next to him. Vanessa checks the other lights. They are all shaking in their sockets.

‘Liam!’ she calls, but he doesn’t answer. He doesn’t move at all.

The ropes hanging from the ceiling begin to wriggle and writhe about like snakes. A pommel horse rolls slowly across the floor.

The first of the elements is flipping out of control. Must be the fire element. Some kind of psychokinesis, like Rebecka’s power. The stands start shaking and rattling and yet another strip light works loose and falls.

‘We must get Liam out of here,’ Vanessa says. Evelina nods.

The magic makes their limbs feel heavy. It is like moving in treacle, as if in a nightmare. Sweat is pouring from Vanessa as she runs towards Liam, and when she turns to see where Evelina is, she isn’t just behind her, but struggling a good way back.

Vanessa hears a creaking sound from somewhere near the ceiling and looks up. The net in the basketball goal is swaying, as if in an invisible wind. The wooden board is bulging, then suddenly it breaks away from its attachment and zooms through the centre of the hall. Straight at Evelina.

Vanessa tries to run towards her, but she won’t make it, she won’t …

Evelina raises her hands to protect herself.

And the board stops in mid-air in front of her.

Everything falls silent. The stands are still. The light fittings stop rattling. Movement becomes normal again.

But Vanessa can sense a weak magic radiating from Evelina.

Evelina takes one step back and the goal falls heavily to the floor just in front of her feet.

The changing-room door is suddenly opened wide and Lollo comes running out. Her eyes are wild with anxiety.

‘What is going on in here?’ she screams.

Then she sees Liam, runs and kneels next to him while she pulls her mobile from her tracksuit pocket.

Vanessa tries to grasp what has happened.

She has witnessed the first portent.

And Evelina stopped the basketball board.

With her own magic.

Does she know? Vanessa wonders, and looks at Evelina. Has she known for a long time? Have both of us been walking around, hiding from each other that we are witches?

The rest of the class comes along to see. Michelle is wrapped in a towel and has shampoo all over her hair. She clutches the towel with one hand and wipes foam from her eyes with the other.

‘It sounded like you were trashing the place,’ she shouts. ‘What the fuck happened?’

‘We have no idea,’ Vanessa says. ‘But it’s over now.’

It’s far from over. That was the first sign and there are five more to go.

Liam groans and everybody’s attention focuses on him.

Vanessa takes Evelina’s hand and pulls her towards the exit, then up the stairs to the entrance lobby and out into the schoolyard.

She scans the place, but there are too many people around and too few places where they have a chance of being left in peace. She leads the way to the back of the school and they stop next to the spiral staircase that runs up the full extent of the wall. There isn’t a soul in sight, but Vanessa is so paranoid she checks the parked cars for faces.

Her sweat-soaked tank top clings coldly to her skin. She looks at Evelina, who has wrapped her arms around herself. Her dark skin is pimply with cold.

‘Was that the first time for you?’ Vanessa asks.

‘What?’ says Evelina, staring at her.

‘That basketball goal.’ Vanessa speaks quietly. ‘You stopped it.’

‘Yes, I … I did, didn’t I?’ Evelina looks confused. ‘I stopped it. But I have no idea …’

She wraps her arms more tightly around her body. Vanessa remembers what Rebecka said that first night in Kärrgruvan.

I can’t explain it. But the accident in the auditorium today … it was me who did it
.

‘Did it truly happen?’ Evelina asks.

Vanessa nods. ‘It happened.’

‘What’s wrong with you?’ Evelina says almost angrily. ‘Why aren’t you freaking out? Do you think this is normal?’

Vanessa opens her mouth to deny everything. It’s a reflex. Lies feel more natural than the truth. Finally she says, ‘You are a witch.’

Evelina blinks.

‘I am, too,’ Vanessa continues. ‘I found out in the first year. Linnéa and I, and the others. That’s why I’ve been so weird. I couldn’t tell you the truth – it would’ve been too dangerous.’

It is such a relief to speak about this to Evelina that it feels as if a huge load has been taken off her shoulders.

‘Am I … a witch?’ Evelina asks her.

‘Yes,’ Vanessa confirms.

Evelina contemplates this.

‘Is
this
your thing?’ she asks in the end. ‘You and Linnéa and Minoo and Anna-Karin. Is this what you’ve been up to?’

Vanessa nods.

Evelina giggles. It’s like the attacks of laughing she and Vanessa used to have in primary school when they couldn’t stop. Vanessa is getting worried. Is Evelina coping?

‘Sorry,’ Evelina moans and has to support herself against the railing. ‘It’s not funny. It’s mental. I can’t believe it, even though I saw all that happening. Actually, what the fuck
did
happen?’

Vanessa tries to imagine how Minoo might have gone about explaining everything to Rickard and Gustaf. She would have been well organised and lucid. Given an account in a logical sequence that was easy to follow.

But Vanessa can’t even think where to begin. The one thing she is sure about is that she won’t start by telling Evelina that what they just saw was a portent that the end of the world is nigh.

‘It’s a long story …’ Vanessa says.

Evelina, who is about to say something, falls silent and stares at Vanessa’s feet.