The Key (80 page)

‘He is fine,’ Ida says. ‘And he has asked loads of questions about you.’

It’s so unfair. Ida gets to talk to Elias and she doesn’t.

‘Ida,’ Nicolaus says, ‘what do you mean by the Borderland?’

‘It’s what Matilda called the place where we are,’ Ida says.

‘You have met her then?’

‘Yes, I have,’ Ida says. ‘I’ve met her and I’ve seen both her and you. And there’s a great deal I could say about certain events.’

Linnéa looks at Nicolaus and wonders if he understands what Ida refers to.

‘But I don’t know how much time we have,’ Ida continues. ‘All I can say is that her behaviour has been so weird. I don’t think we can quite trust her and the guardians. But I guess you’ve worked that out already.’

‘Yes.’ Nicolaus looks down. ‘We’ve understood that.’

‘Is Rebecka there as well?’ Gustaf asks. ‘In the Borderland?’

‘I don’t know.’

Gustaf nods, obviously suppressing his feelings.

‘But we can look for her,’ Ida continues. ‘I mean, I found Elias, after all.’

‘You must find her,’ Linnéa says. ‘We need her to close the portal. And we need you and Elias as well.’

Ida looks triumphant.

‘I knew it!’ she says. ‘We are the Key. We are chosen to close the portal. I just knew that no damn Council circle could replace the Chosen Ones! The guardians tricked you, just as they tricked me!’

‘How do you mean?’ Vanessa asks.

Ida purses her mouth. The effect is to deepen Mona’s tobacco-induced wrinkles. Linnéa recognises the expression as typical of Ida when she had to tell them something she didn’t want to.

‘You remember that I wasn’t exactly keen to be in the Circle,’ she says.

Linnéa has to laugh.

‘It would’ve been hard to miss it,’ Vanessa says, smiling.

‘Whatever,’ Ida snaps. ‘The thing was, the
Book of Patterns
promised me that I didn’t have to. I mean, it said that if I cooperated with you, I’d get out of it later on. And it also said that if I did that, then …’

She sighs. ‘The guardians gave me a vision,’ she continues, glancing at Gustaf. ‘They showed me that you … that you kissed me. But it was no kiss.’

She stares at the floor and tears fill her eyes again.

‘It was when you tried to save me,’ she says quietly. ‘In the gym hall. Just after my pathetic declaration of love.’

Gustaf looks tenderly at her. ‘Ida …’ he begins.

‘I know. You didn’t like me in that way. Actually, not at all.’

‘Ida,’ Gustaf says gently, ‘you saved my life.’

‘You saved us
all
,’ Linnéa says, suddenly feeling her own eyes fill with tears.

‘But why did the guardians want me to die?’ Ida sobs. ‘I know they’re trying to read the future, but did I really have to die?’

‘We can’t know that,’ Nicolaus says. ‘But we do know that you must try to find Rebecka.’

Ida opens her mouth to reply but Mona’s head drops forward.

‘Ida?’ Linnéa says.

Mona doesn’t move.

‘Ida, are you still here?’ Vanessa says.

Mona moves now and looks up. Unmistakably Mona now. She clears her throat and spits out the ectoplasm. It lands on the mirror like a large, slimy lump of mucous.

‘Bloody hell.’ Mona lets go of Linnéa’s and Gustaf’s hands. ‘I need a fag …’

She fumbles in the front pocket and finds a cigarette.

‘Who does little Miss Up-herself think she is? Just jumping into me like that! Bloody rude!’

But Linnéa can tell that she is shaken to the core.

Linnéa feels strangely numb. Outside, a cloud drifts in front of the sun and the candle flames in the corners brighten.

‘Now what should we do?’ Linnéa says. ‘We know they’re there, but how can they help us close the portal?’

Vanessa releases her hand, gets up and walks over to the window. She looks out.

‘I think Minoo is the solution,’ Nicolaus says. ‘She has the power to handle souls.’

The light in the room fades a little more.

‘Shit,’ Vanessa says and points towards the window.

* * *

Vanessa hears the others rise from their places and come to look out of the window. Linnéa appears at her side; Vanessa wants to shout to her not to go near the window, just as her mother used to when scared of a thunderstorm when Vanessa was little.

This is no ordinary twilight.

There are no changes of colour in the sky, no gradual turning of dusk into night.

It is as if the whole world is being rapidly drained of all light. The eye can hardly follow the speed of the invading darkness.

Suddenly, all is black.

Pitch-black.

No stars in the sky. No moon. No streetlights.

All of Engelsfors seems to have vanished. Only their faces, lit by flickering candlelight, are reflected in the windowpane.

Vanessa feels Linnéa’s terror. Feels how she is trying to keep it under control, but it is like a maelstrom just below the surface, a maelstrom that threatens to suck them both down.

‘I feel so strange,’ Gustaf says. ‘I think I’ll have to …’

Vanessa turns to look at him just as he slumps heavily to the floor.

‘Gustaf!’ Rickard calls out.

He kneels at Gustaf’s side and shakes him gently. Gustaf’s head rolls limply from side to side.

‘He’s asleep,’ Mona says.

They hear a loud bang from the street. Metal crunching, glass splintering.

‘And he isn’t the only one,’ Mona says.

‘Anna-Karin, can you make him wake up?’ Rickard asks.

Anna-Karin shakes her head. ‘I’ve already tried,’ she tells him.

‘I’ve heard that this can happen when the magic levels rise to very high values very quickly,’ Nicolaus says. ‘Only natural witches can cope with the readjustment.’

Vanessa glances at the window as a chilly sensation runs down her spine.

‘So, that car crash …’ She stops to swallow.

‘Is likely to have been one of many,’ Mona says.

Vanessa suddenly remembers
Sleeping Beauty
. Everyone in the castle fell asleep when the princess pricked her finger on the enchanted spindle. The cook at his pots, the horses in the stables, the ladies of the court in the throne room.

What is happening in Engelsfors? Have truck drivers nodded off at the wheel? Surgeons in the middle of an operation, with their scalpel lifted ready for an incision? Have people out for an evening stroll fallen unconscious onto the icy pavements?

‘The lad is at least sleeping safely here,’ Mona observes.

Vanessa looks at Gustaf. His breathing is calm and regular.

‘You must go to the manor house at once,’ Nicolaus says. ‘You must get Minoo and the three objects too. And then you must go directly to the cave under the school.’

‘He’s right,’ Mona says. ‘You have to hurry.’

Vanessa has never seen Mona so serious.

‘But what about all the people who have fallen asleep?’ Anna-Karin asks.

‘They will be sleeping for all eternity unless you close the portal,’ Nicolaus says.

Vanessa looks at the black window. Mum has been at work and will be indoors. But Melvin … what if he was outside playing in the snow when the darkness fell? Then he’ll be lying in a snowdrift now.

‘Evelina and I can drive around in my car,’ Rickard says. ‘And help people if we are able to.’

‘Yes,’ Evelina says. ‘And we’ll check on Melvin’s nursery.’

Of course, Evelina would understand. Vanessa puts her arms around her and holds her tight. She is close to tears, but she mustn’t give in now. Must stay focused.

‘I love you,’ she says.

‘And I you.’

‘See you after we’ve saved the world,’ Vanessa says as she lets Evelina go. ‘And then we will celebrate!’

‘Hell yeah!’ Evelina smiles through her tears, then turns to the others. ‘Good luck, everyone.’

‘Yes,’ Rickard says. ‘Good luck, everyone.’

He looks one last time at the sleeping Gustaf and then they leave the room. Vanessa hears them putting their things on in the hall. Then the door slams.

Was this the last time she would see Evelina?

‘I’ll go ahead to the caves,’ Nicolaus says.

Anna-Karin asks, ‘Where is Mona?’

They all turn around to have a look and suddenly they all realise it: Mona has gone.

‘Shit!’ Vanessa says.

‘Is anyone surprised?’ Linnéa asks.

No, Vanessa isn’t. What surprised her is that Mona stayed for as long as she did.

‘I’ll get torches.’ Linnéa heads into the bedroom.

‘I’ll find Gustaf’s car keys.’ Anna-Karin goes out into the hall and starts going through his jacket pockets.

‘With magic levels this high, your powers will be exceptionally strong,’ Nicolaus says, looking at Vanessa.

‘But that’s true of the Council’s witches as well,’ she says.

‘Exactly,’ Nicolaus says. ‘Be very careful. I don’t think there’s any chance of Walter letting Minoo go willingly.’

Anna-Karin drives through the streets of Engelsfors with great care.

It is so dark.

No streetlights were on when darkness enveloped the town. Cars weren’t using their headlamps. In the residential areas, most of the houses are dark.

She thinks about Grandpa. Hopes that he sits in his wheelchair now, or is safely in bed. And that the dark didn’t come just as a member of staff was lifting him.

The car headlamps pick out a woman lying curled up on the pavement. She lies on her side with a couple of ICA carrier bags next to her. One of them has toppled over and tins have rolled out.

At least she is warmly dressed in ski trousers and a thick jacket.

Anna-Karin turns a corner.

A bus has stopped halfway across the road. She has a glimpse of the driver, hunched over the wheel, and of the passengers sleeping in their seats.

She gets round the bus by driving in the wrong lane and then up on the pavement.

‘Do we have anything like a plan?’ Linnéa asks. She is in the passenger seat.

‘We find Minoo first. Hopefully she knows where the objects are,’ Anna-Karin says.

‘I think I can make both of you invisible,’ Vanessa says from a seat in the back. ‘I feel mega-strong.’

They cross the dark Canal Bridge. A little way along the track to the manor house, Anna-Karin stops and parks the car.

They close the car doors quietly and Linnéa shines her torch down at the snow.

Anna-Karin is struck by the silence, now that the constant roar of traffic from the motorway is gone. She thinks of all the long-distance lorries and hopes no one has been seriously injured.

Then she slips into the consciousness of the fox. He is curled up under the dance pavilion; he is afraid. All his senses are alert. And Anna-Karin feels that the whole forest is waiting with him.

But she is not afraid.

She seems to have found a place beyond fear after her talk with Grandpa. A fixed point inside her.

They hear snow creaking under walking feet. The footsteps come towards them from the direction of the manor house. Linnéa turns the torch off at once.

Anna-Karin releases her power and realises how strong it is. The beam of a torch is coming closer. Anna-Karin doesn’t care who it is. She is prepared.

* * *

Linnéa watches the approaching torchlight intently.

Make us invisible
, she thinks to Vanessa.

And then she is dazzled when light shines into her eyes.

Linnéa!

It’s Viktor. Linnéa’s grip on her own torch hardens.

It’s only me and Clara
, he continues quickly.
We were on our way to you. We want to help you. You can read my mind if you don’t believe me
.

He leaves his mind wide open. His thoughts are chaotic, full of conflicting emotions. But she can’t pick up any hint that he is hiding something. And they need all the help they can get.

‘It’s Viktor and his sister,’ she tells Anna-Karin and Vanessa.

She turns her torch on again and watches as the Ehrenskiöld twins walk along the ploughed track. Viktor is wearing his black winter coat and Clara a sand-coloured quilted jacket. This is the first time Linnéa has seen Clara. She owes her such a lot. Brother and sister are strikingly alike, but Clara looks very fragile. It is hard to imagine her systematically terrorising Robin into confession.

‘What are you doing here?’ Vanessa whispers when the twins have come close enough.

‘We were coming to find you,’ Viktor says. He blinks against the light.

Linnéa lowers her torch.

‘Walter called us to a meeting. He told us that the last portent had shown itself,’ Viktor continues.

Clara takes up the story. ‘When the others had gone, I stayed behind and asked if he knew how we were to go about closing the portal. And he said he did.’

‘But I had hung around just outside the door and sensed that he lied,’ Viktor adds.

‘We didn’t know what to do,’ Clara says. ‘We were hoping that you would know more.’

Their sentences join up and overlap, almost as if a single individual is speaking.

‘We only know that we have a shot at closing the portal,’ Linnéa says.

‘But you need Minoo, don’t you?’ Clara says.

‘Yes, we do,’ agrees Linnéa.

‘She’s in Walter’s office,’ Viktor says. ‘Walter and Alexander are both there. And Walter’s lynx.’

‘We need three objects as well,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘A skull, a silver cross and a round box.’

Viktor closes his eyes.

‘They’re in the office,’ he says when he has opened his eyes again. ‘My familiar is perching on the outside windowsill.’

‘Is Minoo all right?’ Anna-Karin asks. Linnéa waits fearfully for Viktor’s answer.

‘I think so, but I can’t quite make out her face.’

‘We haven’t seen her for three weeks,’ Clara explains.

‘Has she stayed on … willingly?’ Linnéa asks.

She picks up a sudden burst of shame in Viktor’s mind and her fears grow worse.

‘Walter forced her to swear the oath,’ he says. ‘And, ever since, he has kept her isolated from the rest of us.’

It comes back to Linnéa that when they had that row in Kärrgruvan, she had told Minoo she might as well swear allegiance to the Council. She wishes she could take it back.

‘Let’s go to Walter’s office,’ she says. ‘Anna-Karin, you order him to stay put while we get Minoo out.’