at Anna-Karin. She has to concentrate on not hyperventilating. Levan is building and measuring. Minoo’s hand takes notes automatically.
She sticks the other into her pocket and fingers the little glass bottle. Glances at Max’s coffee cup that is on his desk. There’s five minutes to go before the end of the lesson. Max is at the back of the lab, turned away from her, helping Kevin Månsson.
‘I’m just going to blow my nose,’ she tells Levan.
She walks to the front of the class. The paper-towel dispenser is mounted on the wall behind the teacher’s desk.
She glances in Max’s direction. He’s still bent over Kevin, explaining something. She wishes she could hear what they’re saying so that she knows whether they’re in the middle of a discussion or about to end it. Ironically, the survival of the Chosen Ones and the future of the world may depend on Kevin – on whether he’s dim-witted enough to need Max’s help long enough to allow Minoo the time she needs.
She pulls out the truth serum bottle from her cardigan pocket. Her fingers are slippery and it slides in her grasp, but she doesn’t drop it.
She unscrews the top. The mug is on the desk, with some black coffee left in the bottom. He always finishes it when the lesson is over.
Minoo casts a nervous glance over her shoulder. Everyone is staring at their ramps. Max is still with Kevin. It’s now or never.
Just do it, she thinks.
She holds out her hand, squeezes the little rubber top of the eye dropper and pulls it back, unsure whether anything came out. There are just a few drops left in the bottle. Her heart is pounding.
Max has left Kevin and is now wandering about the room with his hands clasped behind his back.
Did he see her? She has no idea.
His face is expressionless. Normal.
She pretends to blow her nose and returns to her desk. Step one is accomplished.
The bell rings. Levan has already put away their equipment and gives her a sour look. He’s had to do all the work. ‘Sorry I’m tired today,’ she says apologetically.
‘It’s okay,’ he says curtly, and packs his bag.
She puts her books into her backpack as slowly as she can, while the last of the other students shuffle out. Why are they so slow? She wants to yell at them to hurry up.
Eventually she and Max are the only ones left. He’s holding his coffee cup. Has he drunk it? She tries to read his face. ‘Everything all right?’ he asks.
She forces a smile that causes her mouth to tremble.
‘Of course. Why do you ask?’
‘I can see something’s wrong,’ he says.
She walks up to his desk, meets his gaze. His beautiful greenish-brown eyes. A murderer’s eyes.
He looks at her as he empties his coffee cup. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows.
Max clears his throat. Swallows again. ‘Isn’t it very … stuffy in here?’ he says.
And she knows it’s working.
‘Was it you?’ she whispers. ‘Was it you who killed Elias and Rebecka?’
Waiting for the answer feels like falling through space, faster and faster with each passing millisecond.
‘Yes,’ Max says.
And there’s the answer. The one that changes everything.
The love she’s felt for him, which seemed so huge and eternal, evaporates. She never thought you could stop loving someone so suddenly. But the Max she loved doesn’t exist. He never did.
‘Did you disguise yourself as Gustaf by the viaduct?’ she asks.
‘Yes. I wanted to be close to you.’
‘Why Gustaf?’
‘You seem to like him. Everyone likes Gustaf. Rebecka trusted him.’
‘Do you know who the other Chosen Ones are?’
‘Just you and Anna-Karin. There are three more.’
So Vanessa, Linnéa and Ida aren’t in immediate danger. That’s a relief. Then a terrible thought takes hold of her. Something Anna-Karin had suggested yesterday and that she hasn’t really considered. The killer could make himself look like anyone …
‘Have you ever taken on the form of anyone else? Me or Anna-Karin?’
‘I’ve tried,’ he says, ‘but for some reason I can only look like other men. They told me that some are limited in that way.’
‘“They”?’
‘The ones who blessed me,’ Max answers, without batting an eyelid. ‘They told me about you. About what I have to do.’
‘Have you seen them? Met them?’
‘No. At first they were just voices in my dreams. But now they’re there when I’m awake. They’re always with me. At this very moment they’re telling me to be silent, but I can’t.’
‘Why?’ she asks. ‘Why are you killing us?’
‘I made a pact with them. But that’s