that we weren’t together, and now that she’s … gone … it’s proof that she was right.’
The others look sad and ashamed. They ignored all of Rebecka’s attempts to bring them together.
‘I don’t understand,’ Ida says softly. ‘How can she be … dead?’
Minoo swallows the hard lump in her throat, the one that is making it hard for her to breathe and get out the important things she has to say. ‘We have to start working together,’ she says. ‘That’s what Rebecka would have wanted. Does anyone have a problem with that?’
Ida stares demonstratively at her boots.
‘Can we count on you, Ida?’ Minoo asks.
‘Yes,’ she snarls.
‘I’m in,’ Linnéa says.
‘Yes,’ Vanessa says.
‘Me, too,’ Anna-Karin says.
‘And I’ll do my utmost to assist you,’ Nicolaus says.
Minoo remembers what Rebecka said:
What’ll make them understand? Does someone else have to die? Wasn’t Elias’s death enough?
No, it wasn’t. But she mustn’t blame the others. That’ll get them nowhere.
‘Rebecka told me today that someone was following her,’ she says. ‘I think I saw the same person standing outside my house. Have any of you noticed anything?’
‘Something was wrong with Elias before he died,’ says Linnéa. ‘He was afraid, but he never got the chance to tell me why.’
Minoo nods. Linnéa is struggling noticeably to hold back tears, and Minoo’s impulse is to comfort her. But to yield to emotion now would break the illusion: Minoo has to pretend to be the leader of the group, at least for the moment. She must seem to be in control so the others don’t lose hope. She feels incredibly small and frightened, but it would be selfish to let it show. Their fragile sense of unity could vanish in an instant. ‘Has anyone else noticed anything?’ she asks.
The others shake their heads, one after another. Minoo swallows again. If it was only Elias, Rebecka and her … Does that mean she’s next? ‘We have to find out who’s stalking us,’ she says.
‘Or what,’ Nicolaus adds.
‘And we have to be a lot more careful. Anna-Karin …’ Minoo pauses. This is unexpectedly difficult to say. Suddenly she realises she’s a little afraid of Anna-Karin, even though she looks harmless in her duffel coat and knitted hat.
‘What?’ Anna-Karin asks irritably.
‘You know,’ Minoo says.
Ida snorts but doesn’t say anything.
‘Nobody knows what I’m doing. That’s the whole point,’ Anna-Karin says. Her jaw juts, making her look like a grumpy child.
‘Can you really be sure?’ Nicolaus says calmly. ‘It’s possible, of course, that we’re the only ones who can see behind the scenes of your performance. But if someone else at school is searching for the Chosen One, you’re putting yourself at great risk.’ All of a sudden his voice is full of authority. ‘We’ve already learned that the school is a place of evil. That was where Elias and Rebecka were killed.’
Anna-Karin’s face is bright red. ‘How do you know I’ve used my power? Is it so impossible to imagine I could become popular without it?’
Ida rolls her eyes, but still says nothing.
‘Yes,’ Vanessa says matter-of-factly. ‘Nobody becomes popular overnight. It doesn’t work like that.’
‘You have to stop it,’ Minoo says.
Anna-Karin shoots her an angry look.
‘What the hell are we going to do? Have we any leads?’ Vanessa asks.
Minoo glances at Nicolaus. They’ve discussed one theory. Now that she’s about to present it, it seems far-fetched, but it’s the only one they’ve got.
‘Before Rebecka died, she had a meeting with the principal,’ she says.
Minoo looks at Linnéa, hoping she’ll understand. She does. ‘So did Elias,’ she says.
‘Adriana Lopez became the principal of Engelsfors School about a year ago,’ Minoo continues.
‘Wait a minute,’ Ida interrupts. ‘You think the principal did it?’
‘I haven’t come up with much information,’ Minoo says, ignoring Ida, ‘but I did manage to dig up some stuff about her on the Internet. Before she came here, she was the assistant principal at a school in Stockholm. Before that, she worked as a teacher. There’s nothing strange in any of that. We have to find out more about who she really is.’
‘It makes sense,’ says Vanessa. ‘I mean, the school is a place of evil and she’s in charge of it.’
Minoo nods, relieved that they hadn’t laughed at her.
‘It’s all we’ve got to go on,’ she says. ‘But we have to keep our eyes and ears open. Vanessa, your stepfather’s a policeman. He’d probably mention if there was anything strange going on, right?’
‘Maybe,’ Vanessa says briefly.
It’s at that moment that exhaustion hits Minoo. She shuts her eyes, tries to shut out the world, tries