The next moment, her mind turned to deformities of all kinds. Circus freaks. Victims of nature’s cruel sense of humour. Siamese twins and wolf boys. She wondered what had become of the most severely afflicted throughout history. Severely mentally disabled and misshapen like fantastical beasts. Curious products of incestuous procreation that had continued unabated for generations. In isolated environments. The strange things that could happen to a coccyx.

This could not explain the strange collapse that had occurred in her head. A curious twilight had enveloped her and it still lingered, making it impossible for her to think back. She had not been conscious but had also not been unconscious. She had moved through a shadow world. Without a will of her own. When she thought about it, she noticed a resistance. It was like trying to recall something really embarrassing. There was a strike in the archives.

From time to time, she heard Håkan’s voice. None of the things she had been through had hit her as hard as the words he had mumbled on the phone. She had considered calling again, but had decided not to. She was afraid. It wasn’t just the fact that his detached voice had intensified the feeling of being outside the fact-based reality he represented. He had sounded different. And what was more likely: that his voice had changed over the past twenty-four hours or that her impression of it had? The mental tribulations she had endured must have interfered with her perception somehow. She zoomed past a sign that read ‘SUOSSJÄRVI’ and when she soon afterwards ended up behind a car with the number plate SU 5025, she thought to herself that she was losing her mind. You’re tired, she said out loud. You’re seeing things that don’t exist. You have to sleep. In your own bed – not in the car you were abducted in. Home, Diana. You have to get home. Home to Kiruna.

Anders was woken up by the sound of…

Anders was woken up by the sound of birds singing, thousands of them, judging by the volume. The windows were laminated with dripping condensation, but the car door was open onto a wall of shimmering green leaves. Stava was gone, but the blanket she had slept under was still on the folded-down back seat. He opened the door and stepped out with aching joints.