The Circle (Hammer) - By Elfgren, Sara B.,Strandberg, Mats Page 0,44

of the room. She returns with a lit cigarette in the corner of her mouth, holding a red marble ashtray in one hand. The bag dangles in the other.

‘I need bigger guns,’ she says. She unties the bag and pours the contents on to the table. Vanessa goes cold when she sees they aren’t stones.

They’re teeth. Human teeth.

‘You see these inscriptions?’ says Mona, and holds up two front teeth.

Vanessa recoils.

‘Oh, don’t be such a wuss,’ says Mona. ‘Just be glad I’m not using animal droppings or entrails.’

Vanessa’s gaze glides down to the table. The gleaming teeth have strange lines on them that intersect in various ways. Each tooth has an inscribed pattern.

‘These are Ogham characters,’ says Mona. ‘The druids used them thousands of years ago. Some people believe that the characters are even older and originate from the ancient moon-goddess cults of the Middle East.’

She gathers all the teeth in her cupped hands and shakes them several times. They rattle and click. Then she opens her hands and they scatter out across the table. Vanessa feels that charged sensation in the room again. It’s as if someone was gently drawing a grater over her skin.

Mona turns a few teeth over so that their inscribed characters are visible. She studies the result and sucks in a few drags from her cigarette, which is still lodged in the corner of her mouth. ‘This character, úath, stands for terror or fear,’ she explains, pointing at a molar. ‘And this one … No. You probably don’t want to know.’ She looks at Vanessa provocatively.

‘Of course I do.’

‘nGéadal stands for death. Death is hanging over you.’

Mona takes another drag, making the column of ash at the end of her cigarette grow so long that it might break off at any moment. She takes off her glasses.

Vanessa is having trouble breathing. The room seems to be getting smaller, as if at any minute the walls will close in on her and crush her.

‘You don’t have to take everything literally,’ says Mona, as if what she had said was nothing out of the ordinary.

Vanessa gets up suddenly, grapples with the mass of velvet hanging in the doorway, and finally gets through it to the other side, back into the normal world where the air is breathable.

‘Hi,’ someone says, and Vanessa looks around.

Linnéa is standing behind the shelves. She’s holding a pearlescent porcelain figure of a cherub. ‘So ugly it’s wonderful,’ she says.

Vanessa looks at the chubby angel playing the harp. Nobody but Linnéa would be able to take that grotesque thing home and make it look cool.

Mona steps into the shop and casts a sweeping glance over Linnéa’s leopard-print fake fur. The shirt underneath has been cut to shreds and put back together with safety pins. She’s paired it with a super-short skirt made of pink tulle, and the knee-high combat boots.

‘Empty your pockets,’ Mona croaks.

‘What for?’ Linnéa asks.

‘I know a thief when I see one.’

‘I don’t have any pockets,’ Linnéa says. She spins around, a full turn, and smiles smugly.

Mona grabs a handful of the imitation fur, examines it closely and decides she’s telling the truth.

Vanessa decides that Linnéa is just what she needs right now, after this chain-smoking old fruitcake with her death characters. They leave Mona Moonbeam and her stuffy little shop.

‘What the hell were you doing with that old bat?’ Linnéa asks, and fishes a packet of cigarettes out of her boot as they emerge from the mall. She lights one and holds it out to Vanessa, who takes it even though she usually only likes the taste when she’s drunk. Linnéa lights another for herself and they start to walk.

‘My mum insisted I came,’ Vanessa answers. She doesn’t want to talk about her fortune –she’d prefer to forget about it. ‘What were you doing there?’ she continues, before Linnéa gets the chance to ask any more questions.

‘Just picking up some stuff,’ Linnéa says, with a grin, and shows her a packet of incense she’d hidden in her other boot.

Vanessa’s impressed.

When they reach Storvall Park they stop beside the fountain.

‘Have you been back to the fairground?’ Linnéa asks.

Rebecka has tried to get Vanessa there several times, but she’s always said she’s seeing Wille or Michelle and Evelina. She doesn’t want to think about what happened that night.

Doesn’t want it in her life.

‘No. Have you?’ she asks,

‘No,’ Linnéa says, barely audibly. ‘I want to know why Elias died, but I don’t know what to do’

‘Maybe we should meet up with the others,’ Vanessa says,