The Circle
Authors: Mats Sara B.,Strandberg Elfgren
Contents
About the Book
THE INTERNATIONAL SWEDISH BESTSELLER
One night, when a strange red moon fills the sky, six schoolgirls find themselves in an abandoned theme park, drawn there by a mysterious force. A student has just been found dead. Everyone suspects suicide. Everyone – except them.
In that derelict fairground an ancient prophecy is revealed. They are The Chosen Ones, a group of witches, bound together by a power, one which could destroy them all. But they soon learn that despite their differences they need each other in order to master the forces that have been awakened within them.
High school is now a matter of life and death.
Because the killing has only just begun.
About the Authors
Sara B. Elfgren and Mats Strandberg first met in 2008. They quickly realized that they shared a passion for stories with young adults in the lead roles, and soon the idea to write a book together was born. The story took shape and when the idea came up to make the main characters young girls who are also witches, everything fell into place.
The Circle
, the first part in
The Engelsfors Trilogy
, was released in April 2011. Part two and three,
Fire
and
The Key
, will be published in 2013 and 2014.
Sara B. Elfgren
started her career in the film industry as a screenwriter. As a script doctor, she has been involved in several Swedish film and TV productions. She has a Master’s Degree in Film Studies.
Mats Strandberg
is an author and a journalist. He is a regular columnist for Sweden’s biggest evening newspaper
Aftonbladet
, and in 2004 the organization
Sveriges Tidskrifter
(Sweden’s Newspapers and Magazines) awarded him the title Columnist of the Year. Mats has previously released three books, of which the third one,
Half Lifes
was awarded Book of the Year 2009 by QX.
This book is dedicated to our teenage selves
.
1
SHE’S WAITING FOR
an answer but Elias doesn’t know what to say. No answer would satisfy her. Instead he stares at his hands. They are so pale that he can see every vein in the harsh fluorescent lighting.
‘Elias?’
How can she stand working in this pathetic little room with her binders, potted plants and that view over the school car park? How can she stand herself?
‘Can you explain to me what’s going on in your head?’ she repeats.
Elias raises his head and looks at the principal. Of course she can stand herself. People like her have no problem fitting into this world. They always behave in a normal, predictable way. Above all, they’re convinced that they have the solution to all problems. Solution number one: fit in and follow the rules. As principal, Adriana Lopez is queen of a world founded on that philosophy.
‘I’m very concerned about this situation,’ she says, but Elias notices that she’s actually angry. That he can’t just get a grip on himself. ‘We’re barely three weeks into the term, and you’ve already missed fifty per cent of your classes. I’m
bringing
this up with you now because I don’t want you to lose your footing completely.’
Elias thinks about Linnéa. It usually helps, but now all he remembers is how they shouted at each other last night. It hurts him to think of her tears. He couldn’t comfort her, since he had caused them. Maybe she hates him now.
Linnéa is the one who keeps the darkness away. The one who stops him choosing other escape routes, the razor that gives him brief control of his anguish, the smoking that helps him forget it. But yesterday he couldn’t cope, and Linnéa noticed, of course. And now maybe she hates him.
‘Things are different in year ten,’ the queen continues. ‘You have more freedom, but with that freedom comes responsibility. No one is going to hold your hand. It’s up to you what you do with the rest of your life. This is where it’s all decided. Your entire future. Do you really want to throw it away?’
Elias almost bursts out laughing. Does she really believe that crap? He’s not a person to her, just another student who’s ‘gone a little astray’. It’s impossible that he could have problems that can’t be explained away by ‘puberty’ or ‘hormones’ and resolved with ‘firm rules’ and ‘clear boundaries’.
‘There’s the University Aptitude Test, isn’t there?’ It just slipped out.
The principal’s mouth becomes a thin line. ‘Even the University Aptitude Test requires good study habits.’
Elias sighs. This meeting had already gone on too long. ‘I know,’ he says without meeting her gaze. ‘I really don’t want to mess this up. I had intended year eleven to be a
new
start for me, but it was more difficult than I thought … and I’m already so far behind the others. But I’ll get through it.’
The principal looks surprised. Then a smile spreads across her face, the first natural smile of the whole meeting. Elias has said exactly what she wanted to hear.
‘Good,’ she says. ‘You’ll see that, once you decide to apply yourself, things will go smoothly.’
She leans forward, plucks a strand of hair from Elias’s black shirt and twiddles it between her fingers. It glints in the sun, which is shining through the windows, a little lighter at the root, where his natural hair colour has grown out by a centimetre. Adriana Lopez stares at it in fascination and Elias gets the crazy feeling that she’s going to put it into her mouth and chew it.
She notices how he’s looking at her and drops the hair into the wastepaper basket. ‘Excuse me, I’m a bit pernickety,’ she says.
Elias smiles noncommittally – he’s not really sure how to respond.
‘Well, I think we’ve finished for today,’ the principal says.
Elias stands up and leaves. The door doesn’t quite shut behind him. He turns to close it and glimpses the principal in her office.
She’s bent over the wastepaper basket, fishing something out with her long, thin fingers. She drops it into a little envelope and seals it.
Elias remains standing there, uncertain of what he just saw. After the last few days he can no longer trust his senses.
If
it hadn’t seemed so odd, he might have thought it was the strand of hair she’d just removed from his shirt.
The principal looks up. Her expression hardens. Before she manages a forced smile.
‘Was there something else?’ she asks.
‘No,’ Elias mumbles and shoves the door shut.
When it clicks securely behind him, he feels a disproportionate level of relief, as if he had just escaped with his life.
The school is empty and desolate. Only half an hour ago, when he went to the principal’s office, it was bustling with students. It feels unnatural.