The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,160

says softly. ‘Elias is waiting for you, Linnéa. You can be together again. Stop fighting it.’

Linnéa shakes her head. Vanessa begins to crawl towards the table.

‘Come on,’ Elias pleads. ‘I just need two more names. Tell me who they are and it’ll all be over.’ He bends down till his face is just a few centimetres away from Linnéa’s. He fixes his eyes on her. ‘Tell me,’ he whispers.

And Vanessa feels how the magic streaming out of him strengthens. With her eyes glued to the gun, she crawls on towards the table. She barely dares to breathe. Just a few metres to go. Once she convinced Nicke to show her how to use a gun. Now she tries to remember what he’d said. Where’s the safety?

Linnéa squirms in her chair. ‘Minoo …’ comes out of her.

‘I know that already,’ Elias says patiently. ‘Anna-Karin … One more. Just give me one more and I’ll be satisfied.’

‘No!’

Linnéa’s tortured voice echoes through the cafeteria. It’s physically painful for Minoo to hear it.

Vanessa should have come back by now.

‘We can’t wait any longer,’ she whispers to Anna-Karin. ‘Can you influence him from here?’

Anna-Karin looks panicked and shakes her head.

‘No,’ she murmurs. ‘Maybe if I can see him … but I don’t know.’

‘Then we have to go out there.’ Minoo turns to Ida. ‘All three of us.’

Vanessa has almost reached the table. One hand, one knee at a time.

Elias is standing in front of Linnéa, his hands hanging limply at his sides. His face is strangely stiff, as if it were made of plastic.

Plastic that suddenly melts and morphs into another face. The body fills out with muscles, grows taller.

Max.

He raises one hand to his forehead and presses the tips of his fingers to it.

‘You said it would get easier!’ he says into the air. ‘I don’t want to do this!’

Vanessa rises to her knees and reaches for the gun. If only she can get hold of it, everything will be over. Not even Max can survive a bullet.

Just as she’s about to pick it up, Max grabs the handle. Their hands miss each other by a hair.

‘I don’t want to hurt you,’ he says, and aims the gun at Linnéa. ‘But if you don’t tell me their names I will kill you.’

‘You think I care?’ Linnéa says hoarsely, and meets his gaze. ‘You think I’d have come to your house if I cared?’

Max sticks the gun into his waistband. Looks at Linnéa. Then he raises his hand and slaps her so hard that the chair falls over backwards.

Vanessa stifles a scream.

And Max turns. A surprised smile spreads across his face when he sees her. ‘And there you are,’ he says softly.

Vanessa doesn’t think, just gets up and rushes straight for him.

Max makes a sweeping gesture.

Anna-Karin is halfway across the dining area when Vanessa flies through the air, flung by an invisible force. She crashes into a table. The chairs crash to the floor. Vanessa is lifted a metre into the air, then pinned to the table. She screams in pain.

Minoo grabs Anna-Karin’s hand and holds it tightly. Ida takes the other. Anna-Karin can feel their energy streaming into her. And her own power is there. But it’s nowhere near as strong as it was when she was using it routinely here at school.

Max comes into the main dining area from the side room. He looks at Vanessa intently as she writhes on the table. Anna-Karin realises that they have only one chance to do this and it’s now: the moment before he’s seen them.

Let go of Vanessa, she commands. Leave her be.

Max turns.

Minoo had seen the black smoke swirling around Vanessa as she flew through the room. Now it has settled over her body on the table, like a thick, oily fog.

More smoke shoots out of Max. It streaks towards Anna-Karin and, in the next moment, her hand is wrenched from Minoo’s.

Anna-Karin is tossed violently upwards, smacking hard into the ceiling, where she remains for a few seconds, pinned against the white tiles. Then the smoke drags her along the ceiling until she slams into the far wall. She slides down to the floor and lies there lifeless.

Minoo’s other hand is empty now.

Ida has let go. She’s running back towards the kitchen.

But she doesn’t get far. The smoke moves quickly and quietly towards her.

She falls to the floor. A ring of fire ignites around her. Minoo can see her terrified face behind the metre-high flames that keep her prisoner. A faint smell of scorched