The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,149

and gives her an appreciative look. ‘Just what I was thinking. The school is an evil place, and all that.’

‘But why did he let you live?’

‘Because he discovered that I don’t have any power?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘You’re still a Chosen One.’

That vacant yet intently focused look has returned to Minoo’s face.

She’s standing in half-profile towards Anna-Karin and the light from the window illuminates her cascading hair.

Anna-Karin looks at the woman in the blue dress. And then at Minoo. ‘Speaking of doppelgangers,’ she says, ‘the woman in this painting is a total carbon copy of you.’

She holds up the image to Minoo.

‘She is not,’ Minoo says.

‘Yes, she is,’ Anna-Karin says. ‘Maybe not if you make an exact comparison of every feature, but taken as a whole, she looks a lot like you.’

Minoo stares at the painting as if it’s a Chinese poem Anna-Karin is asking her to recite. ‘But she’s beautiful,’ she says.

Anna-Karin lowers the book. Minoo doesn’t say it in the way Julia and Felicia would have, as if she’s fishing for a compliment. She means it.

‘So are you,’ Anna-Karin says.

Minoo snorts. ‘You don’t have to lie,’ she says.

‘I’m not.’

Minoo looks annoyed.

‘First, I’m a massive pizza-face, in case you hadn’t noticed.’

‘I’ve got spots too.’ Anna-Karin says.

‘Not as many as me.’

Now it’s Anna-Karin’s turn to get annoyed. ‘Maybe not exactly as many but some people have a lot more. And you’re pretty. You could be her reincarnation.’ Anna-Karin points at the image with an index finger.

All the colour leaves Minoo’s face. She looks as if she’s about to faint.

‘Are you all right?’ Anna-Karin asks. Now she feels stupid. It was a ridiculous thing to argue about –whether or not Minoo is beautiful.

‘I don’t feel too good,’ Minoo mumbles. ‘I’m sorry, I have to lie down again. Thanks for telling me.’

Anna-Karin closes the book and gets up. Minoo tries to smile at her. ‘I’ll set off home,’ Anna-Karin says. She remains standing there for a moment, but when Minoo doesn’t say any more, Anna-Karin pats her shoulder a little awkwardly and tells her to get better soon.

When she comes downstairs, Minoo’s father is in the kitchen reading a newspaper. He doesn’t look up and Anna-Karin doesn’t say anything. She puts on her coat and sneaks out of the front door as quietly as Pepper.

53

MINOO HAS A free period. She climbs to the top floor of the school and follows the corridor leading to the attic door. The toilets up here have just been reopened. The graffiti-covered door was replaced during the Christmas break but is already filling with new messages. Some are dedicated to Elias and Rebecka, but a few are about other people, other lives.

Minoo presses down the handle and enters. For a school toilet it’s almost unnaturally clean. Even if people write things on the door, they rarely go in. Something keeps them away.

The white tiles gleam around Minoo. She’s back where it all began.

She walks up to the cubicle in which Elias died. Of course there are no traces. What had she expected?

Minoo looks at the sinks. The mirrors have been removed. Maybe they were afraid that someone might feel the urge to copy Elias.

But Minoo is happy she can’t see her reflection. She’s studied it far too often for far too long, and always hated what she saw.

When Anna-Karin said she looked like the beautiful woman in the painting, she couldn’t believe it at first. But when Anna-Karin used the word ‘reincarnation’ all the pieces fell into place.

You have to wake up now.

You have to find the courage to see yourself as others see you.

‘Reincarnation’. That was the word Max used.

I love you, Minoo. I’ve loved you since the first day I set eyes on you.

That hadn’t been the first time he’d seen her.

Minoo looks like the woman in the painting. The woman in the painting looks like Alice. His greatest love. That was why he couldn’t kill Minoo. It would be like seeing Alice die all over again.

I won’t do it. I won’t listen to you!

Max is the murderer. He killed Elias. He killed Rebecka. He tried to kill Minoo and Anna-Karin.

It makes sense, yet she still can’t believe it.

She takes the little brown bottle from the pocket of her cardigan.

She has to know for sure.

‘If you’re going to move home there will have to be some rules.’

Vanessa and her mother are the only customers at Monique’s. It was Vanessa’s suggestion that they meet here, on neutral territory. Now she’s regretting it. She wishes