The Wolf Tale E-Book

A. N. Lexén

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Wolf Tale
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 618

Beschreibung

Sixteen-year-old Wille and fourteen-year-old Hugo, two brothers from the small village of Horndal, are like other teenagers, dealing with love troubles, strong friendships, and school fatigue – a typical teenage life where nothing unexpected happens. But fate has different plans, and after a terrifying nightmare, Wille receives a peculiar necklace from his mother. Soon he realises that reality is not what it seems, and Hugo is hiding a heavy secret from him. When a new guy starts in Wille’s class, it becomes the beginning of an adventure that takes Wille and Hugo, along with their friends Oscar and Lovisa, far away from their hometown. The journey takes them through dense forests and over mighty mountains, all while being chased by demonic creatures and malevolent beings. Their guide is a mysterious, talking wolf that leads them north towards the mountainous regions near the Norwegian border. This is the story of Wille and his brother Hugo, who one day discover that they are gods and must leave their home in the human world to make their way to the gods’ realm in Asgard. It becomes an intense pursuit where they are hunted by forces of evil and must collaborate to stay alive until they reach safety. They must confront the darkness within themselves, and their friendship is put to the test as they face dangerous decisions and terrifying enemies. However, they also meet new friends who show them that friendship and love are worth fighting for. A tale of adventure, magic, sorrow, and terror – but also humour, friendship, love, and embracing one’s true self. A

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

For the reader

The Author’s Words

Prologue

1. A Terrifying Nightmare

2. Hugo’s Secret

3. The Poltergeist

4. The Two Wolves

5. Escape to The North

6. A Missing Brother

7. The Man and The Hawk

8. A Family Secret

9. The City in The Sky

10. The Dream Walker

11. Demon Worshipers

12. Nari’s Portrait

13. Children of The Gods

14. The Military Force

15. The Moon God

16. The Wolf Cross

17. Legion

18. A Family Reunion

19. The Fire Wolves

20. The Fylgja

21. A Special Book

22. Santa’s Sledge

23. The Monster in The Tarn

24. A creature of darkness

25. Jack’s Origin

26. The Traitor

27. Váli’s Confession

28. Gargoyles

29. Di Inferi

30. Trollhammer Mountain

31. Silver

32. Fáfnir’s Prisoner

33. The Magic Fire

34. The Half-brother

35. Twin Swords

36. Thrúd

37. The Battle

38. The Night of The Werewolves

39. Showdown

40. The Last Stand

41. The Grave of Eva

42. The Gate

Epilogue

For the reader:

The places in Sweden described in the book are real, sometimes combined with mythological legends and local stories.

For more in-depth information about the gods, goddesses, and beings described in the book, the information is collected in Norse mythology, Sami mythology, Finnish mythology, Russian mythology, Baltic mythology, Slavic mythology, Greek mythology, Roman mythology, Jewish/ Christian mythology, and in older fairy tales and folktales. This also applies to the magical objects found in the story.

There are hidden secrets and hidden connections to older tales in the book for those who want to search, because that’s always the case – the search is part of the adventure!

N. Lexén

The Author’s Words

This world is dying, I feel it in the wind and in the ground – yes, even in my soul! What I am about to tell you is our common story, the story of where we came from and where we are going.

When I look up at the night sky, I find it hard to believe that the universe is threatened – not by anything that we can see or detect, but by a darkness that is imprisoned. A darkness that once almost devoured the galaxies. Through the efforts of the elves, eight magical rings were forged from the golden dust of the World Spirit, shielding the darkness from the worlds.

In order to prevent the rings from being misused, and accidentally unleashing the darkness, they were distributed among the families of the gods to guard until the end of time. Three were given to the Aesir gods, who, like warriors, had led the fight against darkness and were hailed as heroes. One was given to the children of Kronos, the giants who were the first to walk in our world. One was given to the fairies, the guardians of magic from Avalon. One was given to Mimer, the guardian of the world spirit. And one was given to humans, who were created in the image of the gods to guard Middle Earth – the gathering place for the remaining worlds of the universe. The eighth ring was then sealed in the bowels of the underworld.

But the peace did not last long, as another weapon was forged in secret. In Álfheimr, Wayland, the master smith of the elves, was consumed by jealousy and rage. He, who had forged the rings, considered himself entitled to be the guardian of them, and when he was not entrusted to any of them, his soul was darkened. Blinded by his hatred of the gods, Wayland forged, with the help of darkness, Gambantein, the dark sword of vengeance, to free the darkness and once again plunge the worlds into its abyss.

It was not long before the darkness began to seep out into the universe again, and the people turned on each other. The giants, who had previously fought against the darkness, were ensnared by Wayland’s promises of power and fought against the gods. Even the elves, the wise gods who watched over the gift of life, began to fight among themselves.

Then, when the humans, whose hearts were most easily deceived, betrayed their creators and began to summon demons to the worlds with the dark magic of Wayland, a dark time began for the people of Middle Earth that came to be known as the “Dark Age”, when darkness reached the very heart of Middle Earth and all hope seemed lost.

Then Mimer and his sons intervened by defeating Wayland. He and his two brothers were banished to a distant place, and the smith’s sword was hidden deep in the roots of the World Tree. The Fates, servants of the World Tree, succeeded in clearing Middle earth of the impending darkness, although some of the darkness had taken root in the hearts of the humans and could not be removed – if so, the humans would be wiped out.

Now, when the old god repeats this to me, and asks me to tell you, know that the wars, diseases, and catastrophes that have plagued humanity in the last century are a sign that the veil of darkness is once again thinning out. There is not much time left, the visions I have been having are dark and scary. It is time for me to tell you about those in whose hands our fate lies, and about their struggle that will determine the future of all of us. Through my visions, I have seen them, and by the gods’ intervention, I am allowed to follow their adventure and tell it to you.

A.N. Lexén

Prologue

The woman darted through the forest, with the wind whipping around her. Her hurried footsteps splashed through the darkness, her arms cradling a precious child. Despite the cover of night, she knew she was not safe. She could feel the child’s breath against her skin as she hurdled over logs and dodged through the trees. Her heart pounded in her chest as she ran blindly, unsure of where to go or how to protect the child.

As she emerged into a clearing, the sound of destruction echoed through the forest. She knew her pursuer was close behind, and desperation filled her every step. Just as she thought she could run no further, an arm reached out from between the trees, and yanked her into the shadows. Before she could scream, the stranger clamped a hand over her mouth and pulled her and the child to the ground.

Her heart raced as she heard the sound of her pursuer’s footsteps drawing closer. But then, in the distance, the sky exploded in black flames. The woman’s fear turned to confusion as she watched her pursuer step out of the trees, bathed in a dark fire.

With bated breath and trembling limbs, the woman waited anxiously as her pursuer rushed away from the spot where she and her rescuer lay pressed against the ground. The grip around her mouth relaxed, and she abruptly pulled away from the person holding her. As she recognised the man rising from the ground, she looked puzzled.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

The man, with long golden-brown hair, smiled at her and put one hand on her shoulder.

“Saving you, it seems,” he answered.

The woman embraced him. He held her for a long time before she finally let go and looked around nervously.

“What if he comes back? Where will I go?” she whispered, wiping the tears from her face.

The man pulled something out of his bag, and the woman gasped in amazement as she examined the stringed instrument.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

He nodded with a smile.

“We have found a safe place for you, the old man is waiting for us,” he answered.

With newfound hope, the woman cradled the child in one arm and laid the other arm around the man’s waist.

As the man plucked the strings of the instrument, a gust of wind suddenly swept them up into the sky. The woman looked down in awe as the world below grew smaller and smaller, until she and the man vanished with a flash.

Unbeknownst to them, the dark fire had erupted on the very spot were they had stood just moments before. And as they soared away, they never noticed the furious figure with jet-black hair that fell to his knees and let out a roar of anger into the night.

1. A Terrifying Nightmare

Darkness and fog enveloped him from all sides as he slowly fell. “Where am I…?”

Wille barely felt how he was falling through the fog. Instead, it felt as if he was slowly sinking deep down.

“Strange…”

He tried to reach out his hand, and slowly touched the dark fog that surrounded him.

“Is this…real…?”

His mind struggled to comprehend the situation, but the more he tried to focus, the more exhausted he felt. His eyes grew heavy, and just as he was about to succumb to sleep, a sudden flash of light jolted him awake.

He found himself standing on the dirt road in front of his house, the familiar red building with the dense forest looming behind it.

As he approached the front door, he noticed someone standing on the steps facing away from him. The sunlight made it difficult for him to make out the person’s identity.

As the person turned towards him, the sky above began to darken ominously. A wave of darkness swept over the house and the figure on the stairs, leaving Wille gasping for breath.

The person reached out his hand, and suddenly it struck Wille who it was.

Oscar and Wille had been inseparable since their days in primary school. Oscar had an insatiable thirst for adventures, and he always managed to convince Wille to join him on his escapades.

Wille tried to scream as Oscar stood there with his hand outstretched towards him, while darkness literally crashed over the house like a wave and reached him to his knees, but he couldn’t make a sound. Instead, he started running towards Oscar, stretching out his hand as he approached his friend, who stood motionless as the darkness undulated around them.

Wille was only a few meters away from Oscar when he fell down in confusion. The darkness was like a lake around them, and he reached up to his calves. He struggled, but the darkness pulled him down and held him in an iron grip. Wille stretched his hand up as far as he could towards Oscar, who was leaning over him, and took a deep breath as he was pulled down into the pitch-black darkness.

Oscar’s silhouette flickered above him before it disappeared, and was replaced by darkness. Wille tried to move upwards, but something pulled him downwards with such force that he finally couldn’t resist anymore. The glow of countless stars lit up like a rain dance in front of his eyes as he slowly fell through a shimmer of blue-violet light.

“SPLASH!”

Wille fell through what he perceived as yet another surface of water, sinking faster and faster, before he eventually felt solid ground beneath his feet.

The dizziness and nausea overwhelmed him, causing him to collapse on his knees for a moment. He got up slowly and looked around in confusion at what felt like the bottom of the sea. Everything around him was black, he could only sense the movements around him and tried to take a step forward.

A flash of light spread around his feet and swept away the darkness as if it were leaves.

Light and darkness swirled around him, and he found himself standing on a stone floor surrounded by a dim light.

He looked around and found that the stone floor stretched a good ten metres in each direction. Wille had never seen anything like it, it looked like someone had laid stones by hand and formed a perfect symmetry in the floor. He looked back and was surprised to see that the floor looked just as wide in that direction. He couldn’t see any walls, but the stone floor seemed to continue through the swirling light that surrounded him.

“So much to do, and so little time…”

Wille jumped and spun around when the muffled voice was heard behind him. A silhouette appeared a few meters from where he stood. The figure wore a long, dark cloak, whose headgear effectively hid his face.

“Who are you?” Wille asked nervously.

The stranger did not answer, but began to move towards him and stopped barely a meter in front of him. An eerie fog spread around them, and Wille trembled nervously as he stared at the stranger hiding under his hood. The chilly fog rose up like a mist between them, and he sensed that the stranger was smiling ominously.

The stranger slowly raised a hand and pointed towards him. Wille reflexively took a step backwards, and an eerie, cutting, laugh was heard from the stranger.

“Are you afraid?” a hollow voice asked.

Wille tried to shake his head, but his courage failed him. Something made his stomach clench, and he wanted to run away, but his legs did not obey him.

“I’d be more concerned about what was behind you if I were you,” said the stranger, who, with a cutting laugh, lowered his arm and took a couple of steps backwards.

Wille felt himself grow cold inside, he felt he was being watched. Slowly, as if in a trance, he turned around and felt like he wanted to scream, but his voice stalled.

Behind him was himself, or at least something that resembled him. An eerie silhouette appeared like a dark reflection just a few centimetres in front of Wille. The shock of having someone so close behind him turned to horror as Wille realised that something was terribly wrong.

The silhouette smiled an eerie smile that exposed pointed teeth. Wille allowed his gaze to wander from the terrifying teeth, past the nose, and to its eyes. He felt his knees go weak because, where the eyes should have been, he stared instead into narrow gaps of darkness. The figure had no eyes but black, empty eye sockets.

Wille felt how his feet began to move away from the creature, he ran to the left as he felt it brush past him. A bang was heard as the creature hit the ground right where he had just been standing, while the stranger’s voice was heard behind him.

“Give up, boy, you can’t outrun it,” laughed the stranger, whose voice echoed softly in the void.

Wille ran through the chilly fog, which now lay like a thick mist around him. He stumbled and landed on the ground with a dull thud.

Just as he turned his head, he saw the creature flying towards him through the thick fog, its mouth open and its fangs exposed. Wille instinctively put his arms out in front of him and felt a sharp pain that bore into his arms.

The last thing he experienced before his consciousness faded was the stranger’s eerie laughter from within the fog.

ᔕ

“Wille, wake up!”

Wille slowly opened his eyes and blinked in surprise. He found himself in his bed, in his own room. The darkness was gone, as were the stranger and the terrifying creature. He noticed how he was standing up in bed and had almost stumbled over the edge. At the foot of the bed stood his two-year younger brother Hugo, staring at him in horror.

“You screamed so loudly that it echoed throughout the house,” Hugo said, startled.

Wille looked around in surprise. He still didn’t know if he was awake for real this time. But he did not have to think about it for very long before the door to his bedroom was thrown open, and their mother rushed into the room with a panicked look on her face. Her blue shirt dress fluttered wildly as she stopped and looked at them.

“What’s going on?! Why did you scream?”

Wille met his mother’s gaze.

“I had an unpleasant dream,” he managed to answer.

His mother put her arm on his forehead.

“You’re freezing!” she exclaimed in a surprised voice.

Wille felt weak in the knees, and his head felt like it was going to be split in half. He felt ashamed, he was sixteen years old and hadn’t had nightmares for years. He used to tease with his brother, who still slept with stuffed animals at night, but now he had woken both his mother and his brother in the middle of the night.

“There’s an hour left before you should have gotten up,” said their mother, as she glanced at the clock above the door. “There’s no point that you go back to bed, we’ll go downstairs and heat up some apple lemonade, and you can tell me what this was all about. Put your clothes on before you go downstairs.”

Wille suddenly realised his predicament when he stood up in bed in just his underpants and immediately jumped down from the edge of the bed and grabbed his trousers. He met his brother’s gaze, who looked at him with both concern and amusement.

Hugo picked up a pillow and threw it at Wille, which resulted in a pillow fight followed by a wrestling match, which Wille won as usual. Hugo gasped for breath between laughs as he lay on his stomach in bed, begging for mercy.

Wille sighed to himself and let go of Hugo, who immediately went into his room to get his clothes. He never learns, Wille thought as he tightened the belt around his waist. He had trained in martial arts for several years and was significantly stronger and more agile than Hugo, who was slightly taller than him but weaker. Nevertheless, he liked their wrestling matches, it was a sibling thing.

Wille walked out of the room and jumped up when the door to his bedroom unexpectedly slammed shut behind him.

“How are you?” Hugo asked when they met at the landing. “Do you need help down?”

Wille met his grey eyes in surprise. Normally, they would push each other and try to see who could get down the stairs first. But from Hugo’s look, it seemed that he had decided to take it easy this morning.

“I’ll be fine,” Wille answered, and he shivered when Hugo reached out his arm to support him.

From the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, they could hear their mother standing in the kitchen, heating apple lemonade. Wille felt a little more comfortable when they went through the kitchen and sat down on the couch in the living room. As long as he could remember, they had always been given apple lemonade when they were sick or otherwise not feeling well, and strangely enough, the lemonade always seemed to give them their energy back.

Sitting down on the sofa, a mug was placed on the table in front of him, and Wille stared at the steaming lemonade.

Hugo sat next to him on the chaise longue with a cup of his own, and their mother sank into the armchair opposite.

“Wille, tell me what happened,” she said in a calm voice.

Wille took a sip from his cup and felt the warmth from the apple lemonade spread through his body. His trembling ceased immediately, and he felt more relaxed. It was magical how the lemonade could warm up the entire body so quickly.

He took a few more sips and slowly began to tell us what he remembered from the horrible dream. As he talked, Wille noticed his mother becoming more concerned, while Hugo seemed confused. When he finally told them about the stranger and the terrifying figure, their mother stood up.

“This stranger, did he say anything to you?” she asked.

“He asked me if I was afraid, and said I couldn’t run away from it,” Wille replied. “But it was just a dream, right?”

His mother didn’t answer, but she walked quickly through the living room and pulled one of the drawers out of the big chest of drawers that held the TV.

She picked up something small that she was holding tightly in her hand and turned towards them.

“When you come home from school, we have to talk, there is something…” she interrupted herself and lowered her voice in a trembling tone, “that I have to tell you.”

Wille and Hugo looked at each other in surprise, and then just as uncomprehendingly at their mother.

“Hold out your hand, Wille,” she said in a firm voice.

Wille did as she said, whereupon she gently placed the contents in his hand and closed his fingers around it. She squeezed his hand for a long moment before she let go. He carefully opened his hand and stared in amazement at the wrapped cloth in his hand.

Hugo gently leaned over him to get a better look as Wille unfolded the cloth.

Wrapped in the thin layer of cloth was a strange necklace. It resembled a cross, but it was completely unlike any other cross Wille had seen before. It had carved edges at the bottom three points and a deeply embossed cross in the centre. But it was the topmost tip that caught his attention. Instead of having edges like the other three ends, it looked like some kind of upturned animal head. It had finely carved ears, a snout, and clearly marked eyes.

Through the mouth of the head ran the actual chain, which was to be worn around the neck. Both the chain and the cross were made of dark metal and felt heavy in the palm of the hand. Wille could feel a strange energy coming from the necklace, almost as if it tried to communicate with him.

He looked at Hugo, who looked engrossed in the necklace, and turned to their mother, who had tearful eyes.

“It’s called a ‘wolf cross’,” she said as she wiped away her tears. “I want you to wear it from now on, not take it off.”

“Mom, what is this about?” Wille asked in disbelief, but his mother just shook her head.

“We’ll talk tonight, you have to go to school,” she replied, and began to remove the empty cups from the table.

Wille cast a glance at the clock above the stove and realised that she was right. They had been talking for an hour and a half. The school started in an hour, and they hadn’t even had time for breakfast yet.

At that moment, his stomach started rumbling. Hugo came and put down a plate of eggs and a sandwich on the table.

Wille stared up in astonishment, he had been so engrossed in the necklace that he did not notice that Hugo got up from the couch.

They ate quickly in silence, then hurriedly put on their coats and were just about to go out when their mother grabbed Wille and spun him towards her before fastening the necklace around his neck and snapping the lock.

“Never take it off,” she repeated, before giving them both a hug and pushing them out through the door, which creaked shut with a thud after them.

Both boys looked at each other in surprise before starting to walk along the road. They walked in silence for a while.

Their house was behind a grove of trees, barely thirty minutes’ walk from the school. The house was secluded, and the nearest neighbour house was some distance away.

They had walked this way many times and were used to walking, even in the dark. Still, the road felt longer than usual when they crossed the railroad, and thoughts ran through Wille’s head.

Hugo broke the silence by starting to sing, which was not unusual. Hugo had a clear and fine voice, and Wille liked to listen when he sang, even though he would never admit it.

“Oh, come on,” Hugo said, laughing when he saw Wille’s face. “It’s probably just some protection against bad luck.”

They began climbing the steep ridge that overlooked the school. Even though Horndal was a small village, it was still big enough to have a secondary school.

Wille felt the snow crunch beneath his boots. He thought of all the times as he and Hugo had rolled down the ridge and returned home with deep scratches on their arms and legs. He brought his hand to the necklace and felt its weight.

He couldn’t let go of the thoughts that had come after that morning, but decided to leave them until they got home.

Wille looked at his brother with a smile before bending down and picking up some of the cuddly snow, which he quickly formed into a ball and threw towards Hugo.

Hugo, who was walking two steps ahead of him, did not notice the hard snow that came hurtling towards him, before it hit the back of his head with a smack.

The wet snow ran down Hugo’s dark blond hair and into his neck. Howling with laughter, Wille ran as fast as he could down the slope of the ridge towards the primary school buildings below, while the snowballs whizzed past his head and Hugo’s clear singing voice changed into angry swearing.

While he heard Hugo’s clattering steps behind him, Wille zigzagged across the football field, before he arrived at the secondary school building, where he pulled open the door.

Wille quickly dove as a snowball flew over his head. He then quickly closed the door and held on for a moment before letting go of the handle, and then ran upstairs while hearing the teachers shouting for Hugo, who had run in with his arms full of snow.

Wille could hear running steps behind him and thought that it was Hugo following him up the stairs, but when he looked back, he saw no one there.

Puzzled, he looked around. This was not the first time he had heard strange footsteps, or, for that matter, had doors slamming shut behind him, in the last few weeks. He shook his head and took off his outerwear before entering the classroom.

Wille did not see the blue, flaming eye staring down at him from the ceiling. It flickered and disappeared without a sound, leaving the corridor in an eerie silence.

ᔕ

Ida looked after her sons as they disappeared behind the bend in the road. With increasing anxiety, she went to the bedroom to find a pen and paper and sat down at her desk.

She began to write, and when finished, she took the little note and walked over to the window.

She put her fingers in her mouth and whistled a clear, ringing melody.

A silver-winged hawk landed on the window sill, and she lashed the note to its leg before it flew away again and disappeared above the trees.

Ida stared longingly in the direction where the hawk had disappeared, before she took a deep sigh and returned to the kitchen.

“And so it begins,” she muttered to herself as she took out a key and unlocked a door in the pantry, where she picked out several golden apples.

2. Hugo’s Secret

Wille felt his nervousness rising – he didn’t know the answers, and time was running out.

“Five minutes left!”

The voice echoed through the room, but Wille could barely hear as he struggled to concentrate. Sweat ran down his forehead as he looked one more time at the blank answer field in front of him. He looked around the room, and several of his peers also seemed to be struggling. One was lying down with his head on the countertop, looking like he was crying.

“Three minutes left!”

Amanda Svedin, a rotund woman in her fifties, let her sharp gaze roam across the classroom. She was their teacher, and at the start of the lesson, she had hand out the thick booklet that made up the national test in grade nine.

Wille took a deep breath and began to write without really knowing what he was answering. Mathematics had never been his strong point, and he suspected that he had not answered many of the questions in the booklet correctly.

He looked up at Lovisa, who was sitting diagonally in front of him. For a moment, he just wanted to sit down next to her, stroke her golden-brown hair, and hold her.

“Last minute!”

Wille, who had lost track of time while daydreaming, flinched and scribbled down a few last numbers as Amanda got up and stood in the centre of the room.

“Drop the pens!”

Wille sank into the chair, feeling completely exhausted. He looked towards Oscar, who gave him a thumbs up. When it came to math, Oscar was light years away from him because, while Wille was struggling to get through the numbers, Oscar always made it look easy.

“Wille!”

He was pulled out of his thoughts and looked at Amanda Svedin’s outstretched hand.

“Wille, I asked for the booklet,” she said irritably.

Wille picked up the booklet and felt how it was quickly snatched from his hand. He saw his teacher quickly collect the rest of the booklets and go back to her table.

“Before we finish, I have something to tell you,” she said brusquely, waiting for silence.

“We have a new student in the class,” Amanda continued. “And I want you to be on your best behaviour.”

As soon as she said that, the door to the classroom opened, and a boy Wille had never seen before walked in. He was slim and looked like he had an uncertain expression on his face, as he let his gaze wander across the room.

Wille thought the guy looked nervous as he stood in the doorway, and didn’t seem to know if he should go in.

“This is Liam Rottespieg,” Amanda said. “He just moved here, and will be attending his last term with us.”

Liam walked slowly to the centre of the room.

“Hi,” he said gently, raising his hand in greeting.

The rest of the class looked at him in surprise.

“Liam, you can sit next to Wille for now, and we’ll go through your school results later,” Amanda said before turning to the board to start the next review.

The slim, dark-haired guy pulled out the chair next to him and sat down without saying a word. Wille felt a strange tingling in his spine but tried not to show it. He noticed that he was fingering his necklace, and he looked at Lovisa again. If only she knew how he felt for her, he thought longingly as he let his thoughts wander. It felt as if he was floating on clouds, and he didn’t notice when the rest of his class left the room.

It wasn’t until Amanda was standing right next to him and, in a stern voice, called for Wille’s attention that he realised, in confusion, that he was the only student left in the classroom. He excused himself and hurried out of the classroom, before directing his steps towards the dining room, where lunch would soon be served.

On the way down to the ground floor, Liam was waiting for him on the stairs. Wille felt insecure as he approached.

Liam smiled gently at him as he came closer.

“Hi,” Liam said uncertainly, as he looked up at Wille as he passed the bench where Liam was sitting. “Wille, was it?”

Wille nodded and greeted him back. “And your name is Liam,” he noted as he continued to walk down the stone steps. “Where are you from?”

“Germany,” Liam replied with a smile, passing a couple of eighth graders who were heading the other way. “So, does anything fun happen at this school?”

Wille stopped and started telling them about the place where they used to hang out in the evenings and about their martial arts club, where they used to meet a few times a week, which Liam seemed to find interesting.

Wille was about to ask if he wanted to come along and try it when he was interrupted by a noise in the corridor below.

“YOU, GAY BOY!”

The words cut through the corridor and immediately attracted several glances from other students.

Wille took a few quick steps down the last set of stairs and stopped when he reached the corridor below.

At the far end of the corridor, he saw Hugo standing with his back against a cupboard, and in front of him were two eighth grade boys standing with their arms leaning against the lockers, effectively blocking Hugo’s opportunities to get out of there.

Wille started walking with quick steps towards where his brother was while one of the boys punched Hugo in the stomach, causing him to collapse on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” one of the guys asked, looking down at Hugo, who was on his knees and holding his stomach.

“Maybe you want a different kind of pain?” the guy continued sarcastically before bending down, grabbing Hugo’s legs, and starting to drag him across the floor.

Wille felt the anger boiling inside him. He was almost there when Oscar appeared from the other direction, grabbed the one guy’s arm, and pulled it so hard behind his back that the guy howled in pain.

Just as the other boy turned to help his friend, Wille threw himself on top of him.

There was a lot of commotion as both boys rolled around on the hard floor and flailed their arms, but Wille, who practiced judo, quickly gained a grip around his opponent’s neck and held his prey in a firm grip with his face pressed against the floor.

Meanwhile, the other guy had broken free, and swung a punch at Oscar’s head, which he barely managed to avoid by dodging.

As the guy threw another punch, a hand grabbed his arm and swung him hard to the floor, whereupon Liam straddled the guy.

Oscar came over to Wille, who got up and let him take over his grip around the other guy’s neck, whereupon Wille ran to his brother who tried to get up against the cabinets.

By then, the corridor was in chaos as other students flocked around the combatants. Several teachers were trying to get students out of there and get an overview of what was going on.

It wasn’t until Amanda Svedin and another teacher pushed through the wall of people that the rest of the students started to move out of the building and towards the canteen.

Amanda stood over the boys with her arms crossed and a scowl on her face, while the other teacher helped Wille raise Hugo from the floor. She let her gaze wander from Oscar, who held one of the boys in an iron grip around his neck with his face to the floor, to Liam, who stood with his knee pressed into the lumbar spine of the other guy, and finally to Wille, who was holding his brother under his arms.

“Oscar and Liam, let them go,” she said in a harsh tone.

Oscar gently loosened his grip on the guy’s neck, and Liam removed his knee from the other guy.

The two boys got up coughing and tried to run away, but were stopped by the other teacher, who roughly grabbed their arms and held them down.

“No one is going anywhere until we sort this out,” Amanda said sharply, whereupon the second teacher began dragging the protesting boys towards the teachers’ workroom, which by now was empty because most of the teachers were busy chasing away students to the canteen.

Oscar and Wille took hold of each side of Hugo and followed Liam and Amanda.

The interrogation that followed lasted almost an hour, and the whole story was revealed. The boys who had been harassing Hugo were suspended from school for three days and sent home under loud protests with homework.

Hugo was examined by the school nurse, who concluded that he had not suffered any major injuries, apart from a minor concussion from hitting his head on the cupboard.

She firmly pushed him down on the bed with the admonition that he should lie there for at least fifteen minutes until she had ensured that his pupils responded properly to movement and light.

Wille, Oscar, and Liam sat down on a sofa in the headmaster’s office, with Amanda Svedin opposite them. She looked grim, and crossed her arms over her beige cardigan.

“First of all,” she began. “I don’t ever want to see such judo moves used at the school. At least you had the good sense not to press around the guy’s neck, but I hope you realize he could have suffocated.”

“Secondly, the next time something happens, you are to come and get me – is that understood?!” she asked sharply.

All three boys nodded slowly.

“Good,” said Amanda. “I know things speed up fast sometimes, but at least one of you could have picked me up.”

“Thirdly, you will be given a warning and a letter with you explaining the seriousness of the situation, and I expect to get the letters back signed by your parents tomorrow.”

Amanda looked at her watch and stood up.

“You’ve missed lunch,” she said with a deep sigh. “But I have called and asked the kitchen staff to set aside some food for you. I want you to eat and then return to your classes. And no sulking, understand?”

All three nodded again and stood up.

“Wille, can you stay for just a little while?” Amanda asked when they were on their way to the door.

Wille turned around and saw from his teacher’s gaze that there was no idea to disagree. He sat down on the sofa again as the door behind them closed.

“Wille, did you know that your brother was exposed by this?” Amanda asked. “They found out this about him and have been on him every day for the last two weeks.”

Wille felt confused and shook his head.

“No, I didn’t know that he was gay…I mean, that he likes guys,” he replied, looking ashamed. “When I heard what the other guys were saying, I didn’t think they meant anything by it. Do you mean that he is…”

Wille couldn’t get the words out, he still felt confused from the morning and now this. Hugo, his brother who he spent time with every day and whom he felt he could talk to about everything, had kept this secret from him. The thoughts ran through his head, wondering how he had missed this.

Amanda looked at him thoughtfully, as if wondering how much she should tell him.

“Two weeks ago,” she finally said, “it came out that Hugo liked a boy in his class who apparently didn’t have the same feelings for him. I noticed after a while that Hugo was being ostracized in class, and when I talked to him, the story came out, so I talked with his teacher.”

Amanda let that sink in for a moment before continuing.

“Because things were not improved by the teacher addressing it, I had a talk with the class on Friday. After that, things got better. There became a different climate, and I think Hugo and this guy are friends today. Unfortunately, there were some guys in the parallel class who also found out about this, and did not take it as well as Hugo’s class did.”

Amanda hastily looked at her watch again.

“Hugo is still with the school nurse, if it’s not too serious, you can take him to the canteen,” she said. “I’ll talk to his teacher again, and if the kitchen staff asks, then tell them that it was me who decided that Hugo could eat now. I’m sure you have some things you want to talk about.”

Wille got up uncertainly, and started walking towards the door. He did not recognise himself in reality anymore. His brother, whom he loved very much, had kept this secret from him. He decided to get Hugo, and headed for the school nurse’s office.

ᔕ

”Thanks for the help over there,” said Oscar, as he and Liam walked into the dining room building. “Where did you learn to swing people like that?”

“Curious?” Liam asked with a sly smile, and quickly ushered Oscar into the old theatre under the dining room. “I can show you some moves.”

“Can’t you show it tonight at the club?” Oscar asked, puzzled. “We were going to the dining room.”

Liam didn’t say anything, but closed the door behind them and turned around to face him. Oscar felt like he wanted to scream, but the words got stuck in his throat as he stared into Liam’s blazing blue eyes.

ᔕ

“Are you okay?” Wille asked, as they stepped out of the school nurse’s office.

“She told you to take it easy.”

Hugo looked shamefully at his brother, and nodded. He felt how all the eyes in the corridor were directed at him.

The horrible feeling in his stomach had gotten better, but Hugo could hear the whispers from other students as they stepped out into the winter cold.

“Do you hate me?” he asked.

Hugo felt the tears start to run down his cheeks and noticed that Wille put his hand on his shoulder.

“Damn it, Hugo, you’re my brother, and I love you just the way you are. I was just surprised, you’ve never told me about this before”, Wille said while he put his arms around Hugo and hugged him.

“Come on, we need to eat”, Wille continued and started to pull him towards the dining room building.

They didn’t see Oscar or Liam anywhere when they entered the dining room door, and Hugo wondered if they had already eaten. They sat down at one of the tables, and the staff came out with two plates of spaghetti and meat sauce.

“So, who’s the new guy?” Hugo asked.

Wille told him that Liam had come into the class after their national exams, and that he had made him a table neighbour. They had not had time to talk much with each other, but Wille thought he seemed nice.

“I want to thank him,” said Hugo. “For the help before.”

“But when did you start liking guys?” Wille asked and took a sip of water from his glass.

Hugo shrugged his shoulders and said, somewhat ashamed, that he had started looking at a guy in the class called Max. However, Max had given him away, laughed at him, and then told the rest of the class. After that, no one wanted to hang out with him. Not even the friends he used to hang out with wanted to know about him.

Their teacher had asked Amanda Svedin to come to the classroom and hold a conversation with the whole class.

After that the atmosphere had improved, and even though Max didn’t share Hugo’s feelings they became friends.

Wille was just about to say something when he got a message on the phone.

Hugo saw how Wille’s face froze as he took up the phone.

“What is it?” Hugo asked, and got a nasty feeling when Wille handed over his cell phone to him.

He took the phone and saw that it was a picture message from Oscar. He almost choked when he saw the picture.

The picture showed Oscar lying lifeless in a pool of blood on the floor of the theatre. The text message below read: ”Would you like to come and play theatre with us? /Liam”.

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity before they quickly rose from the table and rushed out of the dining room.

The old theatre was downstairs in the same building as the dining room. It hadn’t been used properly for many years, but the occasional local theatre group used to have performances there sometimes.

The stairs leading up to the dining room were almost empty, and only a few students on their way out of the library looked on in amazement as they flew out of the dining room and down the steps.

When they reached the entrance to the theatre, they stopped, and looked at each other, confused.

There was a dark shadow over the solid door, and they stared at it for a moment, bewitched, before yanking the door open.

As they passed the strange glow, Hugo felt a wave of fear wash over him. He looked at Wille as they stumbled into the dimly lit theatre, who, judging by the look on his face, felt the same way.

In the middle of the stage floor, a body lay motionless in a pool of blood. Liam stood leaning over the body with a crooked, unnatural smile that revealed a row of fangs.

The door suddenly slammed shut behind them, and Hugo whirled around as the lock clicked.

3. The Poltergeist

Wille took a few steps forward before stopping and staring at Liam’s face. From one eye, there was a sharp red glow, and from the other eye, a dark blue flame flared up.

Hugo was gasping for breath behind him, but Wille hardly noticed as he stood rigid with horror, being reminded of the dream he had that night.

“Liam, what…” Wille began to ask, but was immediately interrupted by a hollow voice, emanating from Liam.

“I was expecting you to come alone,” growled Liam, his eyes lighting up the room.

He then turned to Hugo.

”I should have neutralized you myself instead of relying on those idiots,” he lamented.

“What do you mean?” Hugo asked. “Who are you?”

Liam let out a roaring laugh.

“Who do you think gave them the idea to harass you? I’ve been following you for two weeks, just waiting to make my move. You should have been passed out on that bedside table until this was over,” he hissed.

Suddenly, Wille’s attention was drawn to a movement in the corner of the stage. To his surprise he saw Lovisa tied to a chair with a rag in her mouth, looking terrified.

Wille was still confused, and unsure if he had actually woken up that morning. Everything seemed surreal, and nothing felt right. He glanced at Lovisa, who was struggling against the ropes that bound her. How was it possible that no one in the school had noticed the commotion, and where was the janitor when they needed him.

“Yeah, Lovisa heard about the commotion in the hallway and went looking for her brother,” Liam said, his satisfaction evident. “So, I took the liberty of reuniting them.”

Wille couldn’t believe that Liam really orchestrated all of this. Just as he was about to speak, Liam cut him off.

“There’s no point in calling for help,” he said. “We’re in a separate sphere now, and no one can hear us from outside. As for the caretaker, well, let’s just say he’s no longer with us.”

Wille noticed how Hugo had started to move sideways during the conversation so that he stood next to Liam, who turned his head unnaturally and smiled ominously.

“Do you really think you have any chance against me?” he asked. “You couldn’t even defend yourself in the hallway.”

Hugo stared into those glowing eyes and looked suddenly unsure, but he had just given Wille the opening he needed – and Wille flew at Liam from the front while Hugo threw himself over him from the side.

Lovisa began to jerk violently, as Liam’s smile suddenly became even wider when his mouth opened once again and emitting a piercing scream that tore through their ears.

The boys were hurled across the stage floor by the sheer force of the sound waves, and Wille landed painfully on a row of benches below. He tried to cover his ears, but the scream was too powerful. A trickle of blood ran between his fingers as he tried to block out the sound.

The lights in the ceiling shattered, and the rows of benches were sent flying against the walls.

Just as suddenly, Liam stopped his scream.

“That hurt, didn’t it?” he sneered with a sarcastic voice.

Wille strained to hear anything over the ringing in his ears, while Hugo trembled against a wall next to the stage drapery. Liam raised his hand, summoning a lightning ball. As he waved his hand, the curtain wrapped itself tightly around Hugo, leaving him helpless.

“It’s time to end this,” Liam continued.

As Liam raised his hand with the lightning ball, it seemed as he was about to attack. But he lowered his hand again.

“This doesn’t have to end like this. You have something I want,” he said, pointing towards Wille, who was surprised and pulled out his necklace from under his shirt.

The necklace felt heavy in his hand, and his fingers tingled strangely.

“Right,” Liam said coldly. “I noticed when you arrived at school that you had it on you, which makes things easier because I don’t have to take it from your disgusting mother.”

Wille stared at Liam, who raised his hand with the lightning at Hugo.

“Give me the necklace, and I’ll let your brother and your friends live,” Liam continued coldly.

He took a few steps towards Hugo who was huddled against the wall, seemingly terrified.

Wille took off his necklace. He weighed it in his hand, and felt a strange energy from the strange cross. He walked onto the stage, and continued towards Liam with the necklace stretched out in front of him.

Liam now stood with the ball lightning ball extended just a few inches from Hugo’s face, and the other hand outstretched towards Wille as if to receive the necklace.

Wille went into a trance, and was now so close to Liam’s hand with the necklace that he felt the coldness radiating from Liam. Their eyes met and he sensed that he would not survive, that neither of them would.

Just then, the door was violently kicked in, and Wille’s mother stormed into the room. Her expression was one he had never seen before – a fiery rage surrounded her, and her long silver hair whipped around her face. A powerful aura of purple energy enveloped her, and Wille watched a hawk swoop down from the rafters and attack Liam.

Liam let out a deafening roar as the bird attacked, which causing him to lose control of the lightning ball he was holding. It hurtled towards Wille, who realised he had no chance of dodging it. Bracing himself, he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the pain that would soon hit him.

Then his mother was standing in front of him, with the purple aura billowing around her like a web. She held her hands out in front of her and parried the lightning, which flew back towards Liam – who was still waving his arms to ward off the hawk that was attacking his face.

It wasn’t until the hawk flew away that Liam noticed the lightning ball that was rapidly moving towards him. He put his hands up, as if to protect himself, but didn’t seem to be in time before the lightning hit him with full force.

Liam’s scream cut through the room, as his body seemed to absorb the lightning and made him look electric.

A violent shaking of the floor caused a pole hanging above the stage loosened from its fastenings. Wille threw himself forward, and pushed his mother away just as the heavy structure crashed into the stage floor.

Liam clawed with his hands in front of him, before collapsing to the floor and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

When Wille looked over to where Liam had been just a few seconds earlier, only a large pile of ashes was left.

While his mother untied Lovisa’s rope, Wille ran over to Hugo who had collapsed on the floor.

After checking that his brother was okay, he then ran over to the body that was lay in the pool of blood.

Pulling down the hood of Oscar’s hoodie, he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the faint pulse of his friend.

However, there was another body lying nearby, and it was the source of the blood. Wille’s heart sank when he recognised the janitor’s face, who they had often played pranks on before. The old man’s eyes were now lifeless, and he had no pulse.

Lovisa and Hugo helped to lift up Oscar, who was unconscious, and they had difficulty keeping him upright.

Wille looked over his shoulder at his mother, who was leaning over them. Her face was still furious, but she didn’t look as hardened anymore.

“We have to leave, now!” she said firmly, and turned to Lovisa. “You and your brother can come with us.”

“But what’s going on? Who was that?” Lovisa stammered, pointing to the pile of ashes. “And Oscar, will he be okay?”

Ida gave her a hug. Wille saw how Lovisa was trembling, but he couldn’t tell if it was due to shock or fear.

Finally, Ida let go and said in a low voice, “Your brother will be fine, but we can’t stay here. The barrier that surrounded the room has almost disappeared, someone could come in at any time and see all this. You will have to come home with us, and then we will talk about what has happened and what is going to happen.”

Wille was puzzled.

“What do you mean ‘will happen’?” he asked. “Who, I mean, what was he?”

“We’ll talk at home,” his mother replied firmly. “They’ll find him soon, and we don’t want to be here,” she continued, pointing to the dead man, before hastily pushing them towards the doorway.

Wille cautiously peered out into the corridor, and saw that several teachers were entering through the front door. He quickly pulled his head away and announced the others.

His mother glanced around, and stopped at the stage door on the other side of the room.

“Quick, this way,” she said.

They helped carry Oscar through the door, and just as Wille was about to close the door behind him he heard Amanda Svedin stormed into the room together with what seemed to be half of the teaching staff.

“What is the noise here…”, Amanda began, stopped at the sight of the dead man and brought her hands to her mouth.

She looked over to the stage door, as Wille disappeared outside.

ᔕ

They continued over the ridge, and through the forest, until they reached the house. There Ida stopped, and motioned for them to wait while she carefully sneaked up to the house. After a while she waved to them from the door.

Hugo and Wille carried Oscar inside and laid him on the sofa, while Lovisa sat down and began running her fingers through her brother’s blond hair.

Wille moved one of the armchairs, and sat down next to Lovisa. She put her head against his shoulder, and started crying again. He hugged her, but he felt just as shocked himself and couldn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, Ida busied herself with preparing apple lemonade. Hugo arranged cups for everyone, and soon they were all huddled together with warm mugs in their hands.

Hugo was the first to speak up.

“Mom, what’s really going on?” he asked.

His mother took a deep sigh, and looked at all of them.

“You’ve seen things that you weren’t ready for, especially you and your brother,” she answered, looking at Lovisa.

At that moment, Oscar started to move. He opened his eyes, looked around in surprise, and then slowly got up.

“What happened?” he asked. “Where is Liam?”

Lovisa wrapped her arms around him and couldn’t hold back the tears, which flowed uncontrollably down her cheeks. Oscar looked surprised, but hugged her with a smile.

They sat for a long time, before Wille pushed a cup of apple lemonade towards Oscar.

“Here,” he said urgently, pointing to the cup. “Drink that, and you’ll soon feel better.”

Oscar looked suspiciously at the steaming mug, and then took a careful sip of the hot drink.

Wille and Hugo then told in brief what had happened just an hour earlier.

In the middle of the story, Lovisa’s cell phone started ringing. A quick look at the display showed that it was their father. She looked up at Ida, who nodded approval.

“Hi dad”, Lovisa replied.

A gesture from Wille made her turn on the speaker.

“Lovisa, where are you? What’s going on? I got a call from the school saying that you have disappeared, and that one of the staff has been killed,” said the desperate voice, and Wille realised that their father must have wondered where they were when they didn’t come home after school.

“I’m okay, Dad,” she managed to say, attempting to keep her voice steady. “I’m at Wille’s place, and Oscar’s here too. Hugo got beaten up at school, and we didn’t want him to go home alone.”

Her father let out a sigh of relief from the phone.

“But wouldn’t it have been enough if Wille had gone home with him?” asked her father in exasperation.

Lovisa’s eyes darted around the room in panic, unsure of how to respond. Just then Ida stepped in, took the phone from Lovisa and walked away.

Wille turned to Oscar, who still looked confused and overwhelmed, and continued recounting what had happened. When he finished, there was a long pause with no one saying anything. Oscar still looked as if he was processing all the information, and didn’t seem fully convinced.

Ida came back to the living room and sat down in the armchair with a sigh.

“Turn on the TV,” she said softly.

Wille sensed what she wanted to show, and switched on the news.

A picture of their school showed up, and a reporter explained that there had been an attack; that one of the staff had been killed, and that five students had disappeared. The reporter interrupted himself, and received a message.

“We have just received confirmation that four of the five students previously suspected to have disappeared in the attack have been found safe and sound. They left the school on their own accord and made their way home earlier in the day after a fight in which several students were involved. The police are continuing the search for the fifth student. It is too early to say if it is a kidnapping, but it is clear that this will take time to investigate. All students were sent home after the dramatic events, in which some kinds of explosives were detonated in a room under the dining hall, where the deceased employee was later found by his colleagues. A perpetrator was seen escaping through a side door, but has so far not been identified or apprehended. The school will be closed for a week ahead for a technical examination of the premises.”

Wille turned off the TV and looked at his mother, who was slumped in the armchair. She motioned for him to sit down again before continuing to talk.

“Your father was very worried when you didn’t come home like you used to, and didn’t hear from you. In addition, the school had contacted him and told him that you had absconded before the attack. As you know your father is out of town and won’t be home until later tonight, so we agreed that it would be best for you to stay with us until tomorrow.”

Both Oscar and Lovisa nodded slowly in response. Wille guessed that they were still both confused and shocked by the events that had unfolded. He himself did not know what to think, and still expected to wake up in bed at any moment.

“What attacked you,” Ida continued, “could be described as a demon, a poltergeist to be exact.”