The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,159
collect their food from the stainless-steel trays that stand on the kitchen side. A faint light from the dining area falls through the serving hatch, glinting off the counters and the tiled walls. Plastic racks in different colours stand next to the silent dishwasher. It smells of dishwashing liquid, cooked food, steam and metal.
Anna-Karin is crawling along the floor on all fours. To the left of the gaping service hatch, a set of swing doors leads into the dining area. Linnéa is out there somewhere.
She stops next to the swing doors. They open excruciatingly slowly when Vanessa goes through to scout around.
Anna-Karin turns her head to look at Minoo and Ida, who are huddled on the floor behind her. They nod. It’s time for her to start. Anna-Karin shuts her eyes. Focuses her mind. Slowly she releases her power, afraid it will surge forth like a flood wave and drown her. But instead it seeps slowly into her body. And then it stops.
She’s never experienced this before. The power is there, but where once there was an unstoppable torrent, there is now barely a trickle.
Fear takes hold of her.
She might have been able to overpower Max at home on the farm, but now she’s on his turf.
The school is a place of evil.
When Vanessa steps into the dining area, she stops and scans the room.
The chairs are upside-down on the tables with their legs in the air. The only light is coming from the side room, where the most popular students eat.
Her heart is pounding, thump-thump-thump, with every step she takes.
When she gets closer she hears a voice speaking fast and low. At first she thinks it’s Linnéa, but then she realises it’s a man.
He sounds young. Younger than Max.
Something isn’t right.
Vanessa presses herself hard against the wall and slowly moves closer. She doesn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. She’s never felt so unsure of her power before, of whether it’ll hold out.
‘Come on,’ the strange voice says. ‘Tell me. Believe me, I don’t want to do this.’
Vanessa’s heart is beating even faster now. She has almost reached the entrance to the side room. She drops to her knees and crawls the last stretch. The air is charged with magic. As she goes further into the force field, ever closer to its source, it takes almost all of her energy to remain invisible.
She peers around the corner into the room. The tables have been pushed aside, creating an open space in the middle.
Linnéa is sitting on a chair. Her ankles have been secured to its legs with duct tape. Her hands are tied together behind her back. Her makeup has run down her face and she looks exhausted.
‘Don’t do this to yourself,’ says the boy in the black hoody squatting in front of her. ‘Just tell me who they are.’
Vanessa can’t see his face, but she’s sure it isn’t Max.
Linnéa shuts her eyes. Whimpers.
Vanessa.
The voice is in her head again. And, for a terrifying moment, Vanessa glimpses what is going on inside Linnéa.
She’s fighting for her life. A foreign presence is trying to force its way into her consciousness, but she’s resisting. And she’s very strong. Even though the intruding power is pushing hard, she’s keeping it at bay. But she’s tiring. She won’t be able to keep it up for much longer. Vanessa feels that clearly.
Now the boy gets up. And Vanessa sees who it is.
Elias.
The shock is so powerful that she almost lets go of her invisibility. Because Elias is standing there, large as life.
‘Do you remember when we used to hang out down by the locks?’ he asks Linnéa, in a voice full of nostalgia. ‘We sat there smoking and talking. You said that if I fell in, you’d come after me. Do you remember that?’
‘You … can’t know that,’ Linnéa gasps.
‘You told my mum and dad when I really did jump in that time. It was your fault I ended up in the psychiatric hospital. At first I hated you, but then I saw that you did it out of love. I know you love me, Linnéa. I’m your brother. You’re my sister in all but blood.’
‘Stop it …’ Linnéa groans.
‘Look at me,’ Elias says gently, and stares at her intently.
There’s a tug at Linnéa’s eyelids and they open again. ‘I know you’re not Elias.’
Vanessa spots the gun lying on a table. She’d been against killing Max, but now she wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him to save Linnéa.