The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,100

him,’ Linnéa says.

‘You are not doing anything,’ the principal answers harshly. ‘Keep away from Gustaf. The Council will deal with this.’

‘Because it’s done such a fucking great job so far?’ Linnéa shouts. Everyone stares at her. She stares back. ‘How the hell can you just accept this? She refuses to tell us how we can defend ourselves!’

‘I can’t let you take action,’ the principal says sternly. ‘The Council has expressly forbidden me—’

‘What exactly have they forbidden?’ Minoo asks. ‘That we defend ourselves? That we find out what we’re fighting against?’

The principal meets her gaze. Minoo’s heart is pounding: she isn’t used to questioning authority, especially not the school’s principal.

‘You’re right,’ Adriana Lopez says finally. ‘I’ll tell you what we know about your enemies.’

‘Did you say “enemies”?’ Vanessa asks, ‘Plural?’

‘I’ll explain if you stop interrupting me,’ the principal says.

Vanessa rolls her eyes.

‘As I said before, battles take place across dimensional boundaries,’ the principal begins. ‘That is what is about to take place here. The demons are trying to break into our world, and you are standing in the way.’

‘And what is a demon? Some kind of devil, or what?’ Vanessa says. ‘Someone who possesses people? Could Gustaf be possessed?’

‘Demons can influence people,’ the principal says, ‘but not against their will. They can, however, grant powers to those who agree to collaborate with them. Demons refer to it as “blessing” someone. Someone who has been blessed can do great damage. If Gustaf has been blessed, he’s very dangerous. He’s in direct contact with demons. They’re his power source. You mustn’t go after him under any circumstances.’

‘So you think that whoever killed Rebecka and Elias is a normal human being, who works for the demons?’ Minoo asks.

‘That’s the Council’s theory,’ the principal says. ‘They’re working on your case night and day. But you have to help us. It’s more important than ever that you study the Book of Patterns.’

‘You still haven’t answered my question,’ Vanessa says. ‘What’s a demon?’

‘Demons is the more correct term. They don’t see themselves as individuals but as parts of a greater whole. They’re a kind of borderline creature that lives between our world and the other. We don’t know where they come from. We don’t know very much about them at all.’

‘What do they want?’ Linnéa asks, and walks slowly towards the principal.

‘It’s all in the Book of Patterns,’ she says, and takes what seems to be an unconscious step back. ‘When the time is right, you’ll find out.’

Linnéa stops so close to her that they’re almost touching. At that moment the principal looks away. Linnéa gasps. ‘You don’t know. You and the Council – you don’t know anything.’

Briefly, the principal’s mask seems about to crack. But she quickly regains control of her features. ‘That’s not true,’ she says.

‘That’s why you keep going on about the Book of Patterns,’ Linnéa continues. ‘You barely know how to use it yourselves. And you’re hoping we’ll be able to do it.’

‘Your chances of being able to do it are much greater since you were born with your—’

‘Exactly,’ Linnéa interrupts. ‘We’re stronger than you are. You’re afraid of us.’

‘You’ve misunderstood everything,’ the principal says, clearly trying to sound authoritative.

‘No,’ Linnéa says calmly. ‘I’ve finally understood it.’ She smiles triumphantly.

‘The principal is not our enemy,’ Minoo says.

‘Oh, shut up,’ Linnéa says. ‘She wants us to stare at a book to find out what’s going to kill us. Well, I intend to stop it instead.’

‘You mean shoot first and ask questions later?’ Minoo says.

‘That’s right,’ Linnéa says. ‘And I’m not going to let myself be stopped by someone who shouldn’t even be here.’

Those words hit Minoo like a hard blow to the stomach. She can’t look the others in the eye. She’s afraid of seeing either pity or agreement.

‘Stop that now,’ Vanessa says.

‘What the fuck’s your problem?’ Linnéa snaps.

‘Well, let me see,’ Vanessa says. ‘Perhaps I’m having a hard time forgetting what you said about killing Gustaf Åhlander. How are we going to do it? Stab him on the way home from football practice? Set fire to his house? Buy a gun from Jonte and shoot him?’

‘They saw it was him!’ Linnéa says, pointing at Anna-Karin and Ida.

‘Yet they weren’t convinced,’ Vanessa says, ‘so how can you be? You’re just so desperate for someone to blame. And I get it.’

There’s a warmth in Vanessa’s voice that Minoo has never heard before. Linnéa looks at Vanessa and for a moment it seems that she’s going to cry. Instead she grabs her jacket and walks away.