So now I had to put it back. But what if I got caught? They only needed to see me with the diary in my hands and I’d be packed off on a plane back to England. And at the back of mind, I knew that someone had to have put the diary in here. The only reason they’d have done that was for me to read it.

So, with the Revolutionaries and Royalists still charging across the bloodied field of my mind, I went into my bathroom, locked the door, and began to read.

   19   

THE LIFT

Now

It’s late. Tom is standing on the deck of Granhus smoking and looking out across the woods. He likes the thick black night that leans on the jagged silhouettes of the trees and the animal sounds that pierce the silence. Bats flitting and screeching, owls hooting, the dozen or so crows that constantly circle the house like a bad omen.

A few nights ago he heard a wolf howl. He stiffened at the sound, his senses primed to protect his household. He’d thought about reaching for his torch and rifle in case the thing came near, but then he’d remembered Erik mentioning that the wolf population in this region was all but obliterated. A lone wolf had been spotted once or twice, but it was likely one of few left, if not the only one, thanks to the government’s culling programme. If a wolf was howling, it was trying to find its pack.

Tom had felt sorry for that wolf. He finds himself listening now for it. His ear tuning to that same howl that echoes in his own head.

He stubs out his cigarette, goes to his office. It’s difficult to switch off these days. Aurelia’s Nest is constantly on his mind. He pours a glass of red, flicks on the office light, and stands before his easel. There’s a note to himself written in pencil at the top corner and circled a number of times: macrocosm. A reminder to think about how the project fits into the bigger picture of Norway.

Right before Aurelia died he was feeling conflicted about Norway’s eco-politics. He loves Norway, and not just because his wife’s family were born here. It was the first country to ban deforestation. Given the very visible effects of climate change – colder summer, milder winters, and the landslide of consequential ecological effects – Norway made the Arctic its number one foreign policy priority as early as 2005. The Norwegian parliament pledged to make the country climate-neutral by 2030. Yet there are many unfortunate countermeasures. The government’s troubling mismanagement of natural resources, for instance. Whale hunting. The opening up of the Arctic for oil and gas extraction. The reckless culling of natural wildlife, particularly wolves.