The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,155

But she tells them an important truth: that she loves them. That if anything happens to her and they find this letter, they must never think it was their fault.

If they don’t manage to neutralise Max tonight, their bodies will probably be found tomorrow morning. Five young girls who have taken their own lives in some magnificent final celebration of the infamous suicide pact.

Minoo gets up, goes out to the landing and down the stairs. Her mother and father are, for once, sitting in the same place. They’re in the living room, reading, with classical music playing softly – Ravel.

She feels strangely calm, even though she should be terrified. For the first time since it all began, she has a clear goal. They know who the killer is and they’re going to stop him.

Let go. That’s the key to everything, Minoo. Let go.

Those words have become part of her. She doesn’t know what they mean, yet something inside her understands.

It’s like when she came up with the plan. After Ida had slumped in Nicolaus’s kitchen and become herself again, there it was, clear as day.

Anna-Karin has to force Max to break the demons’ blessing. Then she’ll force him to go to the police and confess to murdering Rebecka and Elias.

In other words, Anna-Karin will lead the attack, but everyone has to be there.

The Circle is the answer.

Minoo thinks back to when they broke into the principal’s house, how she and Vanessa couldn’t move until they’d joined hands. It was when Ida and Anna-Karin had joined hands on Lucia night that they could share Ida’s vision. And Vanessa, Ida and Minoo had joined hands during the ritual when they had created the truth serum.

All the talk about how they belong together and are connected to one another isn’t just talk: it’s fact. Together they are stronger. When they merge their energies, the combined effect is greater than that of the individual parts.

Tonight they will go to Max’s house and ring his doorbell.

Anna-Karin should be able to carry out the first attack with the help of invisible Vanessa.

They will force Max back into the house. Then Linnéa, Ida and Minoo will go in after them to let Anna-Karin feed off their energy while she’s fighting Max.

The Circle is the weapon.

Minoo stands there for a moment in the living-room door way, looking at her mother and father, thinking through everything she’s written in the letter and hoping it will be enough for them to understand how much she loves them.

Her mother looks up from her book and Minoo walks into the room. She sits on the sofa between her parents.

‘Feeling better now?’ her mother asks.

‘Yes. I don’t think it was flu after all,’ Minoo says.

She missed school today for the first time in her life.

‘It’s ages since we sat here all three of us,’ her mother says, and puts an arm around Minoo, stroking her hair a little distractedly.

‘M-hm,’ Minoo answers, and leans against her.

‘You haven’t said whether there’s anything special you want for your birthday. It’s not far away, you know. Almost too late if I’m going to send for something.’

‘I’m happy with what I’ve got,’ Minoo answers, and means it.

Her father looks up from his book. He’s been completely absorbed in it. It feels right, just as it should be. A perfectly normal Tuesday evening. Minoo just wants to sit there and listen to the piano music and the faint rustle as they turn the pages.

56

VANESSA IS LATE.

It was hard to leave home. She’d had dinner with her mother and Melvin. Her mother was psyched up about an appointment she had made with a tattoo artist for a portrait of a snake biting its tail. Apparently it’s a karma symbol. Frasse lay farting under the kitchen table and sniffed loudly at the pungent outcome. Then he yawned and fell sleep. Melvin played with his penguin and some kitchen implements on the floor, occasionally banging Vanessa’s leg with a whisk to get her attention.

On the way to Nicolaus’s house, Vanessa tries to hold on to the warm, calm feeling inside her. The sun is on its way down over the city and the sky is bright pink. She avoids the pools of melt water, and the treacherous patches of ice.

Her mobile rings and she pulls it out of her jacket pocket.

It’s Minoo.

‘Where are you?’ She sounds stressed.

‘I’m almost there.’

‘Is Linnéa with you?’

‘No.’

‘I’ve tried calling her but she’s switched off her phone.’

Vanessa stops to look around the empty car park behind the City