The Key (18 page)

‘I’d rather not have anyone inside my head right now.’ Minoo goes a shade redder in the face.

Linnéa sees a flash of Gustaf Åhlander and, attached to it, an emotion that is not entirely unlike her own when she thinks of Vanessa.

So, Minoo is in love with Gustaf, just like two of the other Chosen Ones. What is it about that guy?

Linnéa listens as Minoo runs through what just happened in the schoolyard with Rickard.

‘That’s fantastic,’ Linnéa says when Minoo has finished. ‘More great news.’

‘Still, what can he do? Even if he remembers every detail … who would believe him?’

‘It is not hard to trigger a witch-hunt. As we know. Me, I would quite like to recover from the latest one before they start off again.’

‘I have to do something about him. Don’t I?’ Minoo sounds pleading, as if she hopes Linnéa will let her off.

Linnéa understands. To root around inside other people’s minds doesn’t feel too good. ‘Yes, you must, I’m afraid.’

Minoo lets her finger slide along the edges of one of the tiles.

‘I thought you would tell me that I shouldn’t do it.’

‘Why?’

Minoo glances quickly at her.

‘Because, now we know where my powers come from. That the guardians and the demons are – or were – of the same kind. So it’s like I’ve been blessed by the demons as well.’

‘I hadn’t really thought about it,’ Linnéa says. ‘Somehow, it felt like one thing too many.’

Minoo looks frightened; seeing it, Linnéa realises that she is, too.

‘Perhaps it doesn’t matter where your powers come from,’ she tells her. ‘If you use them to reach good aims.’

‘But is it good to remove Rickard’s memories?’

‘How I hate this fucking set-up,’ Linnéa says. ‘Why can’t it all be a little less complicated? Why not straightforward, like in
The Lord of the Rings
? You know, like Orcs are bad, Elves are good?’

‘Except, the Orcs were Elves originally. Before Evil corrupted them,’ Minoo says. ‘Nothing is ever that simple, I suppose.’

Linnéa can’t help smiling. Suddenly, she realises how fond she is of Minoo, never mind how often they aren’t on the same wavelength. And she will never forget the time Minoo prevented Diana from locking her up in an institution. Nor that Minoo told her that she had picked up what Linnéa felt about Vanessa.

‘Look, Minoo, I couldn’t help seeing just now that you were thinking about Gustaf when you came in. So, I thought … you know, in a way … it was a bit like when you heard me think about Vanessa that time in the dining area. Though you didn’t come across as anywhere near as crazy as I did.’

Minoo’s face turns a deep red.

‘I thought I had better tell you,’ Linnéa adds. ‘If you feel the need to talk to someone, I’m …’

She falls silent, aware that she is probably hopeless at what she is trying to do. But she means what she says and hopes that Minoo understands.

‘Thank you,’ Minoo says.

She looks as awkward as Linnéa feels.

‘We don’t have to decide what to do about Rickard right now,’ Linnéa says. ‘We must talk to the others first. Let’s do it when we’re clearing Anna-Karin’s flat.’

Vanessa tears another page from the
Engelsfors Herald
, flattens it on Anna-Karin’s kitchen table and starts to wrap a leaf-shaped glass plate. She places it in the cardboard box. Her fingers are stained black with printer’s ink.

From Mia’s room, she can hear Minoo and Anna-Karin stuffing things into rubbish bags. Vanessa is relieved that she and Linnéa are in charge of the kitchen cupboards. The smell of Mia’s cigarettes is at its worst in the sitting room and in her bedroom. It hangs in the air, coating your face and sticking to your clothes. Vanessa hasn’t had an issue with cigarette smoke before, until now when she is spending such a lot of time with Mona and Linnéa. She is utterly sick of it.

Anna-Karin comes in, picks up the newspaper and tears out a few pages.

‘How are things going?’ Vanessa asks her.

‘We’re almost done,’ Anna-Karin replies before disappearing again.

Vanessa’s eyes follow her. She looks so lonely. And it strikes Vanessa that Anna-Karin has very few people in her life. Her grandfather. And the Chosen Ones. Where is her father? All Vanessa knows is that he buggered off when Anna-Karin was little. How much does Anna-Karin know about him? she wonders. Has she fantasised about him now and then, hoping that one day he will turn up? As Vanessa used to do herself, when she was little and cross with her mum. She would dream that her unknown father was an actor and a billionaire, and one day would rescue her from the tedium of Engelsfors.

She washes her hands under the kitchen tap. Linnéa is wrapping coffee cups at the workbench. Vanessa watches her, feeling warmth spreading through her body. Mona had been talking about ‘the love of your life’, and it really feels like that. Vanessa wants to share her life with Linnéa. The fun parts, as well as the sad, the everyday routine and the out-of-this-world fantastic moments. Together they will explore the world. Conquer it.

Linnéa is so strong. She is a warrior. She is never afraid to speak up and say what she thinks, and she always fights to protect the weak.

And, at the same time, she is soft, so vulnerable, which is something not many are allowed to see. But when she lets you in, you feel chosen.

Linnéa looks into Vanessa’s eyes and smiles. Vanessa knows that she is thinking about what happened last night. And that she, too, longs for the moment when the two of them are alone together again.

* * *

Minoo heaves the last black sack out of Mia’s room, placing it in the hall with the others lined up along the walls.

Inside them are the remains of Mia Nieminen’s life: odds and ends that Anna-Karin has decided should go either to Ingrid’s shop or into the bins. Apart from some pieces of furniture, a couple of banana boxes are enough to hold the few objects Anna-Karin wants to keep.

‘Are you sure you won’t want some of her clothes?’ Minoo asks when Anna-Karin comes out into the hall.

Anna-Karin nods. In her cupped hand lies a Dalmatian made of china. One of its ears is broken. She dumps it into one of the black sacks.

‘Are you really sure …?’ Minoo begins, but gives up.

‘It’s broken.’

‘I know, but … I just didn’t want you to regret it later.’

‘I won’t,’ Anna-Karin says.

Minoo bites her lip. Why can’t she stop meddling? Why not leave Anna-Karin alone to make her own decisions? Why does she always have to be so unbearably … Minooish?

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Anna-Karin replies. ‘And I am so grateful to you all for helping. I don’t know what I would do without you.’

She says this without any emotion in her voice.

‘Of course we’ll help you. Come on, let’s clear out the last things from your room.’

The sagging mattress looks naked in the light from the curtainless window. The wardrobe door is ajar. The wardrobe is nearly empty, because most of Anna-Karin’s clothes are already in Minoo’s home.

Minoo goes over to the window and looks out. A little girl on a skateboard scoots past the old, closed-down Positive Engelsfors Centre. The sound of wheels on tarmac echoes across the street.

Minoo hears Anna-Karin pull out a drawer in her desk and turns round to see her tip its contents into a rubbish sack. Then she crouches down in front of one of the cupboards below the desktop, pulls out folders and notebooks, and throws everything into the sack.

This is how she has been ever since they started clearing the flat. One moment she stands around looking utterly helpless, the next moment she turns into a human hurricane.

‘The things in this sack, are you keeping them? Or not?’ Minoo asks when Anna-Karin dumps an old photo album.

‘Not.’

‘Anna-Karin …’

Anna-Karin looks up. She looks at Minoo but somehow doesn’t see her. Instead, she seems to be observing the air between them.

‘There’s no need for you to make all your decisions now,’ Minoo says. ‘We have plenty of space in the basement.’

‘Yes, I know. Thanks,’ Anna-Karin replies tonelessly. ‘But I simply want to get rid of all this.’

‘Anna-Karin, if you feel like talking … I’ll listen. I don’t want to nag at you, but I truly mean what I say.’

‘Thank you.’ Anna-Karin opens the other cupboard under the desk and pulls out a worn box with a thousand-piece jigsaw. The lid shows a picture of elephants on the savannah. The box rattles as she throws it into the sack.

Minoo stands still. Her instinct tells her that she must not give up now.

‘You know how frightened I have been that my dad will die suddenly. I have thought about it so much. But even so, I can’t really imagine how it feels when someone close to you dies.’

Anna-Karin does not answer. In the silence, the words reverberate inside Minoo’s head. They seem selfish, a reminder that her father is still alive. That
both
her parents are still alive. And that Anna-Karin has not got anyone now.

Anna-Karin has found a Scrabble box. Minoo feels she must say something. Something better, this time. Something that isn’t about herself.

‘I hope you don’t feel guilty or anything like that?’

‘No.’ Anna-Karin throws the game away. ‘There was nothing I could do. The hospital people said so.’

Now, why did I have to say that? Minoo thinks. What if Anna-Karin hasn’t even thought about it until now, and I planted the idea in her head? All because I have to be the sympathetic, understanding friend who always says such wise things.

‘I am sorry,’ Minoo says. ‘I don’t know what’s best to say, so I talk too much instead.’

Anna-Karin draws a deep sigh. Gets up and leans against the desk.

‘There is no need for you to feel sorry about anything,’ she says. ‘I am glad that you care. I really am. It’s just that …’

She is quiet for a while. Minoo waits.

‘When any of you ask how I feel, I don’t know what to say,’ Anna-Karin finally says. ‘Because I don’t know how I feel. Or if I feel anything at all. Not even what we were told in the dream got through to me … I mean, I know I should be scared. But it seems that things happen and I just stand there, watching.’

‘That’s just how I felt during the first year in senior school,’ Minoo tells her. ‘After Max. As if there was a pane of glass between me and the rest of the world. I couldn’t feel a thing.’

Anna-Karin suddenly looks at her.

‘How long did you feel like that?’

‘For months.’

Minoo sits down on the bed. She had almost forgotten how long it had been before she’d dared to tell anyone about the black smoke.

‘Linnéa made me talk about it. It actually did make the memory easier to deal with. And then, it was like that sheet of glass disappeared.’

‘But what if I break down completely when it disappears?’ Anna-Karin asks.

‘You’ll be all right,’ Minoo says. ‘You get through these things, even though you don’t think you can. And maybe you should go and talk to somebody.’

‘I know. At the hospital, I was given this number to call. Grandpa thinks I should do it, too.’

Their eyes meet.

‘I only wish there was more I could do to help you.’

‘You do so very, very much,’ Anna-Karin replies quietly. ‘All the time.’

Minoo feels a strong wave of love for her friend. As if she were her sister. She would like to tell Anna-Karin, but doesn’t want to embarrass her, or perhaps make it seem as if she is then expected to say something emotional in return.

‘I’m thirsty,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘Do you want something to drink? I’ll go.’

‘I’ll come with you.’ Minoo gets up.

They walk through the sitting room. Minoo looks away from the place where she tried to save Mia’s life.

‘I think there’s some cranberry juice in …’ Anna-Karin says, and then stops in the kitchen doorway.

Minoo also stops the moment she sees what Anna-Karin has seen.

Linnéa is sitting on the worktop. Her arms are around Vanessa’s neck. Her legs are wrapped around Vanessa’s waist.

They are kissing.

Minoo has time to think that they should creep away, but it is too late. Linnéa and Vanessa have already noticed them. They separate.

No one says anything for what feels like an eternity.

Finally, Vanessa speaks. ‘This wasn’t exactly how we planned to tell you.’

‘We are together,’ Linnéa tells them.

‘What?’ Anna-Karin exclaims. ‘Since when?’

She is bright red in the face.

‘A while,’ Vanessa says. ‘Sort of.’

Minoo catches Linnéa’s eye and can’t hold back a smile. She feels very happy for Linnéa. And for Vanessa. So happy she might explode. But Anna-Karin looks shocked. She sobs and slides to the floor with her back against the wall. She pulls the sleeves of her tracksuit down over her hands and hides her face behind them.

‘Anna-Karin, what’s the matter?’ Minoo asks.

Anna-Karin’s body is trembling and she sobs again. Minoo, Vanessa and Linnéa exchange glances. Minoo crouches down next to Anna-Karin.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asks again.

Anna-Karin takes her hands away from her face. It is flushed and swollen, and tears are trickling down her cheeks.

‘I … am … so … happy,’ she says between sobs.

‘You are?’ Vanessa asks.

Anna-Karin looks up.

‘Yes, I really am. Because, at last something
good
has happened.’ She sobs again. ‘This is … the first good thing … that’s happened for ages.’

Linnéa slides off the worktop.

‘Too right,’ she says. ‘How often do we get any good news?’

Minoo tries to think but her mind is a blank.

‘Ain’t that the truth?’ Vanessa says. ‘Hard to believe that we’re the Chosen Ones, considering everything that’s gone wrong for us.’

Minoo sniggers suddenly. Laughter has bubbled up inside her without warning.

‘I’m trying to think of one good thing but I can’t.’

Linnéa laughs out loud.

‘I got my life almost sorted,’ she says. ‘Only to be told the world is coming to an end.’

‘And my first love wanted me,’ Minoo reflects. ‘Shame that he turned out to be a murderer who had killed my best friend.’