Fire, page 50
‘It’s time for you to wake up, sweetie.’
‘What?’ Vanessa says, but Mona ignores her and lets her gaze slide on to Linnéa.
‘People do change sometimes.’
Minoo sees Linnéa’s jaw muscles contracting. Mona shifts her gaze to Anna-Karin.
‘Say goodbye when you can.’
‘What do you mean?’ Anna-Karin asks fearfully.
‘There’s still time. Use it well.’
She looks at Ida now.
‘The year ahead will be dark and hard for you.’
‘Are you telling me it’s going to get even worse?’ Ida says.
Mona shrugs.
‘Still, you’ll get what you were promised,’ she adds. ‘So plodding on is worth it.’
Then, finally, she turns to Minoo. Examines her.
‘There’s something wrong with you,’ she says. ‘But you know that already, don’t you?’
Minoo’s stomach churns.
‘What do you mean, wrong?’
‘Wrong. Unnatural. You positively stink of magic, but it’s unlike any magic I’ve ever come across. Can’t fucking identify it at all. And I don’t like it.’
Sirens start howling somewhere outside the City Mall. The sound is growing in intensity.
‘I think you should go to be with your dad now,’ Mona says.
Minoo doesn’t even stop to think. She throws herself against the door, unlocks it and runs from the Crystal Cave.
68
Minoo rushes towards the exit of the City Mall.
She hears running footsteps behind her, hears Vanessa call out her name, but doesn’t stop. At the automatic doors, she has to wait while they slowly slide open. Smoke seeps in, the sound of the sirens is stronger still and panic fills her whole body. She is just about to run outside when someone grabs hold of her jacket and pulls her back, making her slip on the shiny floor.
Vanessa hauls her into one of the darker corners of the Mall. Minoo’s back hits a wall so hard she almost loses her breath.
‘Let me go!’ she says.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Vanessa asks.
Minoo struggles to get away, but Vanessa, who is stronger, grips Minoo’s upper arms firmly and presses her against the wall.
‘Let me go!’ Minoo says again. ‘My dad …’
‘Minoo, please. Think.’
Minoo blinks. Her common sense catches up with her. No one would benefit if she ran straight into the arms of a horde of PE members out on a witch-hunt.
‘I’ve got to find out if my dad is all right,’ Minoo says.
‘The two of us will go together,’ Vanessa says and lets go of her. ‘I’m pretty sure I can make us both invisible. It worked fine with Wille.’
Vanessa holds out her hand and Minoo takes it. Vanessa shuts her eyes.
When they experimented with magic before, this never functioned and Minoo doesn’t know what to expect. But she doesn’t have to wait at all. A strange, wafting feeling goes through her body.
Vanessa opens her eyes. Then their eyes meet. They can see each other just as usual.
‘How do we know if it’s worked?’ Minoo asks.
Vanessa nods towards the other side of the aisle. A large shop window reflects the empty space where they are both standing.
Hand in hand, they run outside. Minoo notices the smoke rising to the sky, where it seems to become part of the low rainclouds. The sirens are suddenly silent, but the smell of smoke grows stronger the closer they come to Storvall Square.
He’ll be fine. Nothing has happened to him, Minoo tries to tell herself.
When they reach the middle of the square, she sees that the dark grey smoke is billowing from the windows of the Engelsfors Herald’s editorial office. Minoo holds Vanessa’s hand even more tightly.
They slow down as they approach the crowd that has formed on the square. Minoo scans the fire engine, the slowly rotating blue lights, the firemen shouting instructions to each other. She observes the police and the ambulance. The ambulance. She takes it in and almost loses her grip on Vanessa’s hand. But the paramedics are standing by an empty stretcher.
Is that a good sign or a bad one? Does it mean that no one has been injured or that they haven’t managed to get anyone out …?
Minoo cannot finish the thought.
A group of women wearing yellow PE jackets comes walking across the square. They stop to look curiously at the burning building.
‘Of course, it would be wrong to think that they deserved anything like that,’ one of them says, obviously meaning the exact opposite.
‘Still, that’s where negative thinking gets you,’ another woman says and they all nod in agreement.
Minoo looks at them as they walk away. She had no idea it was possible to detest complete strangers so fiercely.
Minoo and Vanessa carry on walking across the square, zigzagging carefully between passers-by and local residents who have come outside to stare and exchange gossip. Even Leffe has left his kiosk and stands there sipping coffee from a paper mug. As if this is a thrilling show, a public performance.
They have almost reached the police tape when Minoo catches sight of two of the paper’s reporters. Then Kim from reception. But she can’t see her father anywhere.
The smoke prickles inside her nose and tears at her lungs. When a couple of firemen visited the school, they had said that it was the smoke especially that was a deadly hazard and killed most victims. Minoo thinks about all the electric stuff in the office, the plastic flooring that has been there since the seventies, all the toxic gases that will form …
‘Look, there!’ Vanessa says and points.
Minoo looks. The relief is so strong her legs almost fold underneath her.
Dad. In good shape. He has put on his worn winter jacket and is arguing loudly with Nicke. Minoo picks up some of his words.
‘… a crime has clearly been committed … must investigate!’ Minoo pulls Vanessa with her to where her dad is.
‘First and foremost, the fire must be put out,’ Nicke says in a didactic tone, as if Dad is seriously slow on the uptake or, alternatively, about two years old. ‘Then we’ll have a closer look for the likely cause.’
‘The cause of this is celebrating just round the corner! Positive Engelsfors has instigated this! They have been threatening me constantly since the autumn and you haven’t done a bloody thing about it!’
‘Now, I think we had better calm down, right?’ Nicke says.
‘Calm? Why should I be calm?’ Dad shouts.
Minoo watches him anxiously. She doesn’t doubt that PE is behind this. But when Dad loses his temper, he simply sounds paranoid.
‘Afraid I’ve got a job to do,’ Nicke says and walks off.
Dad stands there. Minoo can virtually see the anger drain away. All that’s left is despair.
When he had finished journalism college, he immediately landed a post in Stockholm, at one of the national dailies. He made a good career for himself. But all the same, he chose to move back to his old home town as editor-inchief for the local paper. Not because it was a prestigious job, but precisely because it was not. Because Engelsfors was a town in decline. A town without hope, where fear and bigotry thrived.
He has given his life to this town. And now, it has taken everything from him.
Minoo dearly wants to go to him. But she has spotted several yellow jackets in the crowd. Probably not amulet-wearers, but she can’t be certain. And her father is safe, while hundreds might die tonight.
‘Come on,’ she says to Vanessa. ‘We must go.’
‘Nicke really is a fool,’ Vanessa says when they start walking back to the City Mall. PC Plod has more fucking talent.’
‘I can’t get into my head that he’s been your mum’s boyfriend,’ Minoo says. ‘She seems such a nice person.’
‘I guess that’s what attracts all the losers.’
The sensor at the automatic door doesn’t respond to invisible people, so they have to pull them open and sneak inside.
The others are waiting for them outside the Crystal Cave. But they are not alone.
‘Fuck,’ Vanessa says and Minoo can’t help agreeing.
Viktor is there. He keeps a lookout in Minoo and Vanessa’s direction. And raises his hand hesitantly to greet them.
Vanessa lets go of Minoo’s hand and the same wafting sensation as before runs through Minoo’s body.
‘Is your father all right?’ Anna-Karin asks.
‘Yes. But PE has burned down the office.’
She looks at Viktor. He looks as if he hasn’t slept all night and the shirt under his unbuttoned coat is creased. Minoo is reasonably certain that he wore the same shirt yesterday.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asks.
‘The Council has decided to deal with the whole Engelsfors incident immediately,’ he says. ‘They intend to execute Adriana this evening. I don’t know the exact time.’
The pain in his eyes looks almost genuine, but Minoo can’t bring herself to trust him. She is convinced that he never does or says anything without a hidden agenda. The creased shirt and the harrowed face could just as well be his costume and mask for a new role.
‘So why tell us?’ she asks. ‘Is the idea that we should set out to rescue her and run straight into a trap? So that you and Alexander can arrest us and charge us with a new crime?’
‘I understand why you would think that,’ Viktor says wearily. ‘But I am telling you the truth. And I do want you to rescue her.’
‘Why should we buy that?’ Vanessa said. ‘Yesterday, you were in there, helping to get her sentenced to death.’
Viktor looks away, as if he can’t bear meeting her eyes.
‘I know you think that Alexander is a monster. You are wrong. He doesn’t want Adriana’s death. She’s his sister.’
‘Sure, he obviously cares for her a lot,’ Linnéa says. ‘You must have noticed it from the way he tortured her.’
‘He never thought her sentence would be that severe,’ Viktor says.
Minoo recalls Alexander’s face when the sentence was announced. He had looked truly shocked. But she has as clear a memory of his detachment as he wrung the neck of Adriana’s raven.
‘I take it then that Alexander knows you are telling us?’ Minoo says.
‘No,’ Viktor says.
In her head, Minoo suddenly hears Linnéa’s voice.
The weird thing is, I think he’s being truthful. About everything. He’s allowing me to read his mind.
‘They might act any moment now,’ Viktor continues. ‘Please. We must hurry.’
What he has told them is beginning to sink in. Adriana is going to be executed. Tonight. When Helena, Krister and Rickard have planned some kind of magic massacre in the school gym.
‘She is being kept under house arrest,’ Viktor continues. ‘I can help you to get in. But then I can’t do any more.’
‘Are we meant to smuggle her out on our own?’ Vanessa says. ‘And where do we hide her from the Council? Any ideas?’
‘Adriana can’t escape,’ Viktor says. ‘They would find her in no time. Her bond to the Council is even harder to break than for ordinary members.’
‘Can we break the bond?’ Anna-Karin says.
Viktor shakes his head.
‘There is only one way to save her. She must become innocent.’
‘How do you mean?’ Minoo asks.
‘Adriana betrayed the Council when she was young. After that episode, her behaviour stayed exemplary and she was regarded as fully rehabilitated. It was only after she arrived here that everything started to go downhill. If only it was possible to wind back time and make her once more into the person she was before coming to Engelsfors.’
‘Oh, yes? What’s the effing idea?’ Ida sneers.
‘We have been observing Max in the hospital, and studying him,’ Viktor says.
He is now intensely focused on Minoo. And it dawns on her what he has in mind. She begins to see what he is after but doesn’t want to know.
‘We discovered that someone had been inside his consciousness,’ Viktor continues. ‘We couldn’t identify the magic that had been used. Whoever exerts such power is able to do things we believed to be impossible.’
Minoo stays silent, only shakes her head.
‘Are you telling us that if only someone magicked away Adriana’s memories of everything that’s happened since she came here, then the Council would forgive her? Like that?’ Vanessa says and snaps her fingers.
‘Yes, I’m almost certain of it,’ Viktor says. ‘It’s true what I said about Alexander. He doesn’t want her to die. If he were offered the chance to have her declared innocent, he’d jump at it. He is powerful enough to have her interrogated again and have the sentence revoked. It would suit the Council. A living, obedient member is preferable to a dead rebel, who might become a martyr.’
It sounds perfectly reasonable, Minoo thinks. Even though the Council have managed to convict Adriana, she is proof that it’s possible to trick them.
‘Minoo,’ Viktor continues. ‘You did whatever it was to Max, isn’t that so? And if you can do that, you are also the only one who can save Adriana.’
Minoo’s eyes wander towards the frontage of the Crystal Cave. The interior lights are off and all she can see is her own shadowy mirror image in the shop window.
There’s something wrong with you. But you know that already, don’t you?
‘I understand that you’ll want to talk this through together,’ Victor says. ‘I’m going outside the Mall to wait. But please hurry.’
He glances at Minoo one last time before walking away.
The Chosen Ones stand together without speaking until the doors have closed behind him.
‘It could be a trap,’ Vanessa says.
‘I don’t think it is, somehow,’ Linnéa says.
‘Doesn’t matter one way or the other,’ Minoo says. ‘I simply can’t do this. When I liberated Elias and Rebecka’s souls, Max’s memories just came along. It wasn’t that I took them from him, I just saw them. I sensed that, if I’d carried on, I could have pulled out all his memories, but then his soul would have followed, just like that. It’s like I can only … amputate. And what I’m asked to do now is brain surgery.’
‘Since then, our powers have grown stronger,’ Anna-Karin says to Minoo. ‘And this is Adriana’s only chance.’
‘Okay, listen,’ Ida says. ‘I know you’ll all think that I’m emotionally stunted, like you always do. But we already have plans for tonight. There will be a couple of hundred people in the school tonight. And Adriana is just one person.’
Anna-Karin’s cheeks flush with anger.
‘How can you?’ she says. ‘Adriana is our friend!’
‘I know, I know!’ Ida replies. ‘I wish we could save her, too. Look, it isn’t my fault that there’s a clash with PE’s spring sacrifice party! What if we need Minoo to stop them? Imagine, if she goes with Viktor and everyone in the school dies just because she isn’t there with us? And it isn’t even certain that she can save Adriana, she says so herself!’
It’s like one of those conundrums they’ve discussed in philosophy. Is it right to harm one person in order to save hundreds? Is it right to save one person if it will mean the death of hundreds? Theoretical thought experiments that are intriguing to argue about in class. In fact, Minoo got top marks. But a different kind of dilemma to face in reality.
‘That’s true,’ Linnéa says. ‘We don’t know how things will pan out tonight. We don’t know exactly what PE’s plans are. And we don’t know if we’ll need Minoo.’ She looks at the others and continues. ‘We can’t decide on the best strategy. All we can decide is what is right and then try to do it. And it is not right to leave Adriana to die. We actually have a chance to save her and stop whatever PE is up to as well.’
‘I don’t trust Viktor,’ Vanessa says.
‘Nor do I,’ Linnéa says and looks at Minoo. ‘But we have no choice.’
And Minoo knows she is right.
She looks around at the others. The Chosen Ones. There is so much she would like to say to them. But a superstitious instinct refuses to let her. If she acts as if this is their last time together, then maybe she’ll be able to make it happen.
I’m thinking like a PE enthusiast, she tells herself. My thoughts will not affect what will happen. Only my actions matter.
But still she cannot make herself speak to them. The words feel too grandiose.
‘I’ll come to the school as soon as I can,’ she says. ‘Please be careful.’
‘You can do this,’ Linnéa says and hugs her quickly.
Minoo’s eyes fill with tears.
‘You, too,’ she whispers.
Then she hugs Vanessa and Anna-Karin, holds them for a little longer than usual. Finally she turns to Ida.
‘I asked Gustaf not to put that necklace on,’ she says. ‘I hope he hasn’t but if …’
Ida nods gravely. And in that moment, Minoo realises that they understand each other perfectly.
When Minoo goes outside, Viktor is standing close to the door with his hands plunged in his coat pockets.
‘I didn’t think you’d come,’ he says. ‘Thank you.’
‘It’s not because of you,’ Minoo replies. ‘I came for Adriana’s sake.’
69
As they drive through Engelsfors, Minoo observes Viktor. His profile, his long, thick eyelashes, his nose that’s in fact a little askew, the stubble that lies like a faint shadow across the sharp line of his jaw.
Viktor Ehrenskiöld.
Supercilious incomer. A twin soul when it comes to literature and hating sports. Also an enemy. Ingratiating spy. Sad orphan of society. Alexander’s right hand. Linnéa’s saviour. Adriana’s prosecutor. Traitor to the Council.
I have no idea who he really is, Minoo thinks.
‘I still don’t understand why you are doing this,’ she says. ‘I thought you were loyal to the Council.’
‘I am loyal to Alexander,’ Viktor replies.
‘And that’s not the same thing?’
He swings the car into a street in Lilla Lugnet. They are close now to the block where Adriana lives. A light rain begins to tap on the windscreen.
