‘You’ve developed a wonderful bond, you and Ransu. An unusually wonderful bond. Not all people are as open. So that is something valuable. Not to say enviable.’

‘I don’t understand why you’re all cross with me.’

‘Why would we be cross with you?’

‘Because I did what I did.’

‘Children,’ the old man said, ‘come and go. What will become of them? You never know what will become of them. But you, Anders, we know where you stand. We know what you’re made of. You’ve proved it to us.’

The old man limped across the floor. A water tap was turned on. He returned with a glass and after giving it to Anders, he sat back down on the window bench.

‘You can never go back to your old life.’

He nodded.

‘In the world outside our village, what are you?’

‘I don’t know. A biologist, technically …’

‘A murderer,’ said Näcken.

Erasmus nodded agreement.

‘A child murderer.’

Anders nodded.

‘Out there.’ The old man pointed. ‘But not here. Not with us, no. We never have to talk about it again.’

‘That guy Christer, her dad, he’s never going to forgive me.’

‘Never mind him,’ said Näcken.

‘Christer doesn’t know what happened,’ Erasmus said. ‘He thinks the girl was dragged into the woods by the same creature that ate her. And there’s no reason to tell him otherwise.’

‘I thought everybody knew.’

‘Everyone knows it was an accident. A tragic accident.’

*

Stava grabbed him the moment he stepped through the door. She wanted to know what her father had said and she had a nervous, intense look in her eyes he’d never seen before.

Anders sighed.

‘We had a chat and I told them what I remember. But it’s like a blank and I’m not lying about that. I didn’t realise what I was doing until I saw her lying there in the woods and it wasn’t clear even then. It was more like a feeling. The girl’s father doesn’t know who did it, and he won’t find out either.’

‘But what did he say about Ransu?’

‘Nothing. It was an accident.’

Stava walked over to the window and looked out. First to either side and then she put her forehead against the glass to try to see what was underneath the window.

‘An accident.’

He nodded.

‘Was she there?’

‘Who?’

‘The girl. The one with the eyepatch.’

He shook his head.

‘Who is that?’

‘Who is she? She’s Dad’s favourite. I’m probably going to have to call her Mother soon.’

‘I actually feel better. After talking to him. He was very understanding. I was just doing what Ransu wanted, and he got that.’

‘Of course he did.’

‘I feel a lot better now.’

* This nickname, which refers to a murderous water spirit from Nordic folklore, the Neck, is also derived from the character’s surname.