The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,162

wonders if he’s dreaming when he sees her.

He discovers that Minoo is the one he must kill.

He rips Rebecka’s soul out of her body as he begs her forgiveness.

She falls.

Rebecka turns and sees his face, sees him as Gustaf.

Rebecka at the City Mall.

He tries out Elias’s power for the first time. Sees himself transformed into Gustaf in the mirror, the one Rebecka trusts, who can get close to her if need be.

He sees Rebecka jogging along, knows that she’s his next victim. They whisper to him that she’s stronger than the first. That he has to prepare himself carefully.

The prophecy was wrong, the voices say. The Chosen Ones are seven. Six left.

He stands outside Minoo’s window, wishing she hadn’t been the one to find Elias. He wonders how she is and wishes he could comfort her.

He watches as the trolley with Elias’s body is rolled out of the school and feels relieved. It’s over.

Through the closed toilet door he hears the mirror shatter.

He enters the classroom and sees Minoo for the first time. Alice is alive again.

*

Minoo becomes aware of yet another weight deep inside Max. Like an anchor that clears the bottom and is slowly being drawn up to the surface.

His soul.

The memories come faster and faster.

He hangs up the poster of Persephone that is so much like Alice it’s painful to look at. A pleasurable self-torture.

So many nights he lies awake and thinks of the awful things he’s committed himself to carrying out. He reminds himself that it’s worth it. Alice is worth it.

From the first moment he hates Engelsfors. The town is like the one where he grew up.

The years of teaching, women who come and go, friends he secretly detests. Those who think that the world is only what you see with the naked eye.

They have promised he’ll have Alice back. A fresh start.

The years of guilt.

And everything slows down again.

The funeral is like a fog. No one had known she was so unhappy.

The call from the police in the morning. They had found her body on the cliffs below the house.

The party’s in full swing, the music blaring. He’s shaking with adrenalin. The ‘friend’ he’s selected is there. ‘If anyone asks, I’ve been with you all evening,’ Max says, because he’s suddenly noticed something new about himself. Still, he’s surprised when he sees his friend’s eyes glaze. Max is giddy with his first taste of magic. Getting others to obey.

He wants her to die. Better that no one has her if he can’t. If only she would just kill herself. He wishes it with all his heart. And that is when she gets up and climbs on to the windowsill. He know he’s making her do it. They look at each other, shocked. It’s just a moment. And she submits to his wish and lets herself fall.

The windows stand wide open to let in the warm summer air and she perches on the sill, her forehead on her knees. She says, ‘Please, Max, go away.’ He tries to convince her that he loves her, that they belong together. ‘Didn’t you hear what I said? I never want to see you again,’ she says.

Alice, whom he loves so much, who showed him the painting of Persephone. Together they laugh at how alike Alice and Persephone are.

Alice, the very first time he sees her. He knows she’s going to make him happy.

Max’s soul will soon surface. Minoo becomes aware of a scream growing louder and louder, filling her head. It’s Max screaming in pain. She is inflicting that pain.

She can sense the darkness of his childhood and knows that if she doesn’t let go now, she’ll be doing the same to Max as he did to Rebecka and Elias. She’s going to rip out his soul, take everything from him.

Let go.

And Minoo gently lets go, feels how the weight sinks back into the depths. The scream fades out. Everything falls silent.

Minoo opens her eyes.

The black smoke is gone.

She kneels on the floor. Max’s forehead is red where her hand lay. His eyes are closed. His chest is moving slowly.

It’s over.

58

THE JUNE AIR is refreshing after the rain, as if someone has thrown the windows wide and aired the world. The ground is still slippery and muddy in places and it’s heavy-going, as Anna-Karin pushes Grandpa’s wheelchair across the farmyard towards the main house. Nicolaus offers to take over, but she refuses: she’s got to do this herself.

Grandpa is staring silently ahead. Anna-Karin is unsure that he recognises