The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,116

the whole thing. Warm her frozen body in a hot bath, read Sirpa’s Harlequin novels, and eat sweets left over from Christmas Eve, even though only the disgusting ones are left.

The cat is miaowing loudly and persistently. Just then Vanessa’s mobile vibrates in her pocket. She struggles to pull it out and hits answer with her thick-gloved finger.

‘Hello?’

‘I just wanted you to know that it’s not what you think.’

It’s Minoo. She sounds out of breath and worked up.

‘What do you mean?’

‘With Gustaf.’

‘I know,’ says Vanessa. ‘Or –what are you talking about?’

Minoo falls silent. Eventually she says, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘I followed him to the cemetery.’

‘When?’

‘Just now. A few minutes ago.’

Minoo is silent. Then she says, ‘That’s impossible.’

‘Are you saying I’m lying?’

‘I saw Gustaf. Just now. By the viaduct.’

It takes Vanessa a while to understand what she means. It’s as if her brain has frozen. She looks down the road to where Gustaf is climbing on to the bus. ‘But that’s on the other side of town,’ Vanessa says flatly. ‘Are you sure it was him?’

‘Believe me, it was him.’

‘But that is impossible,’ Vanessa says, as if that wasn’t already obvious.

43

IT’S HOT IN the barn. Anna-Karin has just helped Grandpa with the morning milking. He’s gone back into the house, but she’s stayed behind. She’s moving from stall to stall, looking at the cows, hoping their calm will rub off on her.

Her mobile vibrates in her pocket, but she ignores it. She knows it’s Julia and Felicia. They won’t leave her alone, even though Anna-Karin has told them she’s ill.

It’s the last day of the Christmas break and, for the first time since she left nursery, she doesn’t know what awaits her at school.

Before, at least, she had known who she was. There was a certain purity about that. She’d known the deal. There was security in having nothing to lose – things could only get better; she could dream of being freed one day from the role assigned to her in this loathsome town. Now she’s more frightened than ever, afraid of reverting to the person she’d been before, afraid of continuing to be the one she’s become.

She had stopped using her power after Jonte’s party, and the change had been immediately apparent. Her mother might start baking in the middle of the night, then not have the energy to take the trays out. She’d just sit smoking at the kitchen table while the cinnamon buns burned to a crisp. One moment she was hugging Anna-Karin so hard it hurt, and at the next she was saying she wished Anna-Karin had never been born. She switches back and forth between new and old mother – and both have become much worse.

Anna-Karin can’t imagine what’s going to happen with all the hundreds of people she’s been influencing at school. Will Julia and Felicia alternate between kissing her feet and pushing her head down the toilet?

She hears a car pull up in front of the house. The doors slam and Grandpa shouts his usual cheerful greeting. Anna-Karin walks up to a grimy window and peers out.

It’s Jari’s father. He’s talking to Grandpa, who hands him an electric screw gun.

Jari is sitting in the car.

Anna-Karin doesn’t have time to duck. He’s already seen her. And his eyes are wide with fear. As if he’s terrified of her.

She walks away from the window.

If she wasn’t sure before, she is now. She made the right decision. She’ll never again use her magic to change her life. Controlling her power is no longer the issue. She’s terrified of being unable to control herself.

Minoo climbs down the embankment and trudges on through the deep snow. The sun, which has barely mustered the energy to rise, shines low in the sky, forcing her to squint. Soon it’ll disappear behind the firs.

Her breath billows out of her mouth in great plumes as she steps on to the dirt track and walks along it. It’s the last day of the Christmas break. At the start of each term, Minoo usually feels a mixture of fear and expectation. Now the stakes are much higher. Now their lives are on the line. If she survives, her heart is sure to be torn apart. Just a few weeks ago Minoo had never been kissed. Now she’s kissed her teacher and her dead friend’s boyfriend, who might have murdered her but definitely has a doppelganger and is probably in league with demons.

Barely twenty-four hours have passed since Gustaf kissed her, and she hasn’t