The Circle (Hammer)

19



‘HELLO?’ ANNA-KARIN STEPS into the hall. She can hear a faint humming coming from the kitchen. Her mother is singing some golden oldie about catchy melodies and rockin’ rhythms.

Anna-Karin’s cheeks flush, but Julia and Felicia smile as ingratiatingly as ever.

‘What a beautiful place you’ve got here,’ says Julia.

‘It’s soooo cool that you live in the countryside,’ Felicia adds. ‘And I love your cows. They’ve got, like, such intelligent eyes. As if they knew all sorts of things.’

Anna-Karin has thought the same thing so many times, but when Felicia says it, it sounds moronic.

Not once since she’s been at school has Anna-Karin ever brought a friend home. Even though she knows she’s in full control of the situation, her heart is pounding and when her mother steps out of the kitchen, her heart thuds even harder.

‘Hello, girls! Is this Julia and Felicia?’

Julia and Felicia greet Anna-Karin’s mother, smiling and sucking up to her.

‘I’ve baked cinnamon buns,’ her mother says. ‘Come into the kitchen.’

They sit around the table and her mother puts out a plate of buns straight from the oven, with a jug of blackcurrant squash. ‘I’ll leave you girls to it,’ her mother chirps. ‘The cows need feeding, too.’

When she leaves the kitchen the singing picks up again.

‘Help yourselves,’ says Anna-Karin, and slides the buns towards Julia and Felicia.

They each take one and bite into it obediently.

‘You know, I think Jari’s in love with you, Anna-Karin,’ Julia says, when the front door slams behind her mother.

Anna-Karin smiles. ‘I think so, too,’ she says, and they giggle with their mouths full of half-chewed bun.

Until today she hadn’t dared to use her power on Jari. She’d watched him for so many years from such a great distance. After the last lesson, though, she had mustered the courage when he happened to walk past her locker. ‘Jari, I left my bag in the art room. Could you get it for me?’ she asked.

Julia and Felicia were standing a few metres away. They giggled far too loudly.

For an awful moment Anna-Karin thought he would respond with a scornful smirk, that her power would have no effect on him. But then he smiled as everyone smiles at her, these days, cheerfully and sort of surprised that she wanted to speak to him. ‘Of course,’ he answered. Three minutes later he was back with Anna-Karin’s bag. His forehead was a little sweaty.

‘But I’m not sure,’ she says now. ‘We barely know each other.’

‘It’s obvious he’s interested,’ Julia insists.

‘Soooo obvious,’ Felicia joins in.

Anna-Karin is starting to understand how it works. She enjoys hearing her friends promise things they can’t possibly know anything about. No, of course he likes you. It’s obvious he wants you. Everything’s going to be fine.

They hear a cough from the kitchen door.

‘Hello, girls.’

Anna-Karin hadn’t noticed Grandpa coming into the house. Now he’s standing there, smiling warmly.

‘Hi,’ Felicia and Julia say, with one voice.

‘This is Julia and Felicia,’ Anna-Karin says.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Grandpa says, and glances at Anna-Karin before he heads out again.

There was a question mark in his eyes. He’s wondering what’s going on with Anna-Karin – and with her mother. She’s been getting looks like that for the past few weeks.

‘Was that your grandfather?’ Julia asks.

Anna-Karin nods distractedly and recalls that Grandpa noticed the moon was red. Perhaps he knows.

‘He’s soooo cute. I wanted to go up and hug him,’ Julia continues.

‘Me too,’ Felicia agrees, and wolfs the last of her second cinnamon bun, swallowing it so eagerly that it makes a disgusting sound deep in her throat.

They fall silent.

Julia and Felicia look about nervously. When a text message dings on Anna-Karin’s mobile, it’s a welcome distraction. She picks up her phone. It’s from Minoo. At first she doesn’t understand it. It’s as if it were written in another language. She stares at the words. Then she says, ‘You’ve got to go,’ to Julia and Felicia. ‘Now.’



Everyone is assembled for the first time since the night it all began. Even Ida has come. She’s leaning against the curved railing that surrounds the dance floor twirling her silver necklace around her fingers. She’s wearing beige jodhpurs, a dark green knitted jumper and black boots. A riding helmet is sticking out of the bag sitting next to her on the floor. Minoo had no idea Ida was into horses. It strikes her how little she knows about Ida’s life.

There are just five Chosen Ones left. Rebecka’s absence is so marked that she seems more present than ever. Minoo can tell that the others feel the same. It’s as if an actor has suddenly vanished in the middle of a performance: the rest of the ensemble is still there, not knowing what to do.

Minoo turns her head and sees the mangy cat saunter on to the dance floor. It sits by the steps and starts licking one of its paws. The green eye seems to be watching them.

‘Shoo,’ Nicolaus barks, but the cat doesn’t budge.

‘Leave it alone,’ says Anna-Karin. ‘It’s not doing any harm.’

The cat returns the favour by hissing at her.

Minoo meets Nicolaus’s gaze. He nods once. She turns to the others. ‘So, whoever killed Elias has now killed Rebecka.’

‘How do you know she didn’t kill herself?’ Ida asks. ‘It’s possible, you know. She was totally anorexic – everyone knew it.’

Anger bubbles inside Minoo. ‘Shut up,’ she says slowly.

Ida’s eyes open wide. A few tears trickle down her cheeks. ‘I refuse to believe this shit!’ she shouts. ‘I don’t want to die! I don’t want to be here with you!’ Her voice cuts through the clear autumn air.

‘So what’s it to be?’ Linnéa asks coldly. ‘You’ll have to choose.’

A wave of gratitude sweeps through Minoo: at least Linnéa understands.

‘What are you talking about?’ Ida snaps.

‘We can be sure of only one thing,’ Minoo says. She pauses for effect and looks at the others one by one. They have to understand, and they have to understand now. ‘If we don’t stick together we’ll die.’

Ida wipes her tears on the sleeve of her jumper, so hard that her cheeks redden.

‘We’ve been behaving like idiots. We were warned and we didn’t listen,’ Minoo says. ‘Rebecka was the only one who really got it. She said time after time it felt wrong 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 to tap back into the inexplicable strength that has kept her going until now. But there’s nothing left.

Rebecka is dead. The realisation hits her full force and she almost buckles.

‘Minoo?’ she hears Nicolaus say.

‘I think I have to go home.’



Soon after Nicolaus and Anna-Karin have dropped Minoo near her house, it starts to rain, pummelling against the roof of the car as they drive out of the town.

Nicolaus parks at the bus stop and insists on accompanying Anna-Karin quite a way down the track leading to the farm. He’s got a big black umbrella that he holds over them as they squelch through the mud. Anna-Karin tenses, prepared to defend herself if he criticises her again. But he doesn’t say a word.

When they’re almost at the house, he stops. The rain patters on the umbrella and draws out the sweet smell of earth.

‘Anna-Karin, this can’t go on,’ he says. ‘Someone could get hurt.’

He doesn’t look stern, more concerned, like a father who’s worried about his daughter. Anna-Karin doesn’t care what the others think, but she doesn’t want to disappoint Nicolaus.

‘I’ll think about it,’ she promises.

‘Good.’

He pats her shoulder and turns away.

Anna-Karin runs through the rain and stands under the little roof that covers the steps leading to the front door.

She doesn’t want to go inside yet. She watches Nicolaus disappear into the darkness with his umbrella. She knows he’s right. That Minoo’s right. That what she’s doing is dangerous. She’s known it all along. Deep down.

In year nine an ex-junkie had talked to the class. He’d said that when he’d tried the drug for the first time it had felt like coming home. Now Anna-Karin knows what he’d meant. Her power makes her feel intoxicated, high. It fills the enormous void she’s been carrying around with her almost all her life. And now they’re expecting her to give it up.

All right, she decides. It’s not worth the risk. It’s not worth more people dying.

Anna-Karin looks out into the autumn darkness. She feels satisfied with her decision. It feels grown-up.

As soon as I’ve got Jari, she thinks, I’ll stop.