C7 Chapter 7

It had grown even darker and more mysterious in the room. Dr Sørensen looked at the girl with alarm and utter bewilderment. She had been entirely transformed before his very eyes. He paced aimlessly in circles for a moment, then he rushed out to call his only colleague in Oslo.

In the meantime, Tova lay alone in the room. Her glowing eyes looked up at the ceiling. She whispered agitatedly in that eerie voice that didn’t belong to a young woman.

“There is a basin in the Valley of the Ice People. I know it’s there but I never managed to find it. It is well guarded by the spirit of our ruler. But I know the path that leads to the vessel that contains the evil water. It’s a long path to walk, you might call it the secret path.”

Tova lay still, listening inwardly.

Then the hoarse voice began whispering once more – Hanna’s voice.

“All I want is a drop of that water. Then all the cruel secrets of the world will appear before me and I’ll become stronger than all the other witches in the world. In the form of Tova I will be a worthy vassal to our ruler. But the source must be found. Tengel the Evil’s path must be followed back in time – to his father and mother who bred and created him, this supreme master of evil. Tengel the Evil has no weaknesses or he would never have reached the source. But it is possible to find out whether his father had any. The father’s misdeeds might fall back on him someday. Or, rather, the father’s good deeds.”

The hoarse laughter could be heard again. It was the same laughter that had frightened Silje centuries ago in the Valley of the Ice People.

The voice spoke again. “If I can obtain that knowledge about his ancestors, I might be able to force my way past his projection in the Valley of the Ice People. It may be the very knowledge that can paralyse the spirit for an instant. And then I can drink a drop of the evil water. I demand nothing more. And I cannot tolerate more for I have not gone through the many tests in the caves of life.

“Yes, that is what I’ll do!

“I’ve been waiting for this for hundreds of years. To be reborn. And now it’s happened ...”

Tova closed her eyes with a peaceful smile on her lips.

When Dr Sørensen returned, muttering “He wasn’t at home, what am I to do?” Tova was sitting up in bed with joyful, bright eyes.

“Was I sleeping?” she asked, clearly wide awake. “How wonderful!”

The doctor felt an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Oh, thank goodness, you’re back to yourself again!”

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Um ... do you remember what happened?”

“Happened? Well, I don’t know, a little. I don’t think I’ve ever lived before, because I was practically stillborn each time I had the chance.” She lied dauntlessly because she didn’t want to talk about the last one, Hanna.

And it seemed to be a great relief to the doctor that she didn’t talk about it. “No, there were no past lives,” he lied, just as bravely. “I’m terribly sorry about that.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” said Tova as she quickly got ready to leave.

The doctor closed the door behind her with a sigh of inexplicable relief.

Tova didn’t return home that day, for she had said that she would be gone for a few days. And that suited her just fine now.

Her appetite had been whetted. She wanted to go back to Tengel the Evil’s origins. And whether it was her own will or that of Hanna who spoke through her didn’t matter to her.

That was an experiment for which she didn’t want or need Dr Sørensen’s assistance.

She would do that journey on her own. She knew all the tricks, knew how to go back in time.

But ... there was something else she wanted to do first.

If it was possible to wander like that perhaps one could also cross over to the other world? The shadow land that ran parallel to the real world? The world where all the grey ones were to be found? And not just them, but all the creatures who live in the human imagination and in their dreams.

It was a dangerous project, she knew. Heike had once managed to conjure up the grey people and it had ended very badly. And to begin venturing forth into the shadowland on one’s own ...?

Well, but she’d just be in a trance state, she wouldn’t be going there in reality.

She wanted so terribly much to give it a try, for now she knew how ...

Tova had planned to spend the night at a hotel, but she couldn’t travel back in time or to another world there. She would have to think of something else.

Wait! Jonathan Volden had a small apartment in Oslo that his wife, Lisbeth, used when she worked as a locum at Ullevål hospital. But she wasn’t doing that right now, Tova knew that for certain. She could call and ...

No, of course they would have the key at home in their villa at Linden Avenue. Tova glanced at her watch. She could still make it out there and pick it up. She took a taxi.

Tova had always had a carefree attitude to money. Her mother, Vinnie, had brought plenty of money to her marriage, and Rikard, her father, earned a good living as a police officer. This meant that their daughter always had plenty of pocket money, which she squandered on unnecessary things. She didn’t feel guilty about paying for a taxi.

In Jonathan’s house total chaos reigned as usual. The three children, aged eleven to thirteen, seemed to be impossible to bring up properly. They were happy, lively and full of energy, and they had very little respect for their parents. But they were charming and certainly not malicious in any way.

They greeted Tova warmly and insisted that she join the family for tea. Which she was happy to do because she hadn’t had anything to eat that day. The children ate Lisbeth’s freshly baked bread with syrup on top, and Tova followed their example. The bread was still so warm that the butter melted on it.

Jonathan talked and told them things. He was a very youthful thirty-five-year-old who eagerly shared his experiences during the war, for which the children used to tease him.

“I spoke to Benedikte the other day,” he said to Tova. “She had heard from Heike ...”

“Was there any news?” Tova asked.

Nobody was surprised that Benedikte had conversations with her special guardian among the ancestors.

“Nothing other than that the time is getting near and that there are five living members who are to participate in the battle.”

“I know. There’s me and Nataniel, Gabriel and Gand, but we’ve never heard the name of the fifth one.”

“No, but that is precisely what Benedikte has been told now. The fifth one is Ellen Skogsrud.”

Damn, thought Tova. But she didn’t actually have all that much against Ellen anymore. It was mostly Nataniel who was the object of her fury now. In any case, it didn’t matter much. She wouldn’t be on their side when the hour of the battle arrived. If that hour ever did come.

Jonathan got a dreamy look in his eyes. “I’ve always been a little envious of you: I would have liked to take part in it myself. I have considerable experience when it comes to war ...”

The two youngest children shouted in unison: “Yes, what was it you did during the war, Father?”

Jonathan completely ignored their ironic tone and with the greatest delight he began to tell what he had done during the war. But his oldest son, Finn, beat him to the punchline with the march that was whistled in the film The Bridge on the River Kwai in order to tease the Japanese. The Allies knew perfectly well that the Japanese were familiar with the insulting, indecent lyrics of the song. Finn sang the words loudly and cheerfully.

Hitler – has only got one ball,

Göring – got two but very small,

Himmler – has got some sim’lar,

But poor Goebbels – has got no ball at all.

“You horrible children!” laughed Jonathan, embarrassed. “But I only have myself to blame. I was the one who taught it to you in a moment of weakness and I’ve come to regret it bitterly.”

Jonathan’s youngest child, Gro, who wore her hair in a ponytail and who sported a full skirt, asked, “Why do you always wear trousers, Tova?”

“Because our Lord didn’t think it was enough for me to have an ugly face. He also gave me ugly legs.”

“You’re not ugly,” Gro objected. “You’re just unusual looking, there’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

“I think you’re really cool,” said the middle child, Ole.

“And you can do magic,” Finn added respectfully.

Blessed children, thought Tova. I won’t forget this.

Imagine that such simple compliments can spread so much joy. Tova wasn’t used to receiving them, so she was like a dry well when rain came. Her heart felt warm and her eyes grew moist.

“Oh, rubbish,” she snorted, because those who aren’t used to receiving compliments usually object when they finally do get one. “Anyway, what do you think I’d look like wearing clothes like yours, Gro?”

Gro cocked her head and pondered the question. “Have you ever tried?”

“My mother gave up on it twenty years ago. She wanted to dress me up like a doll, you see, in lace and tulle, but then people said that I looked like a changeling. It’s best that I wear these trousers, and it’s also the most practical.”

“But not very sexy,” said Jonathan’s bright eleven-year-old. “If you can cast a spell on one of the boys from my class and make them fall in love with me, I’ll fix you up a bit.”

“That’s enough,” said Lisbeth, who thought the conversation had got out of hand. Tova was actually grateful: she wasn’t about to be transformed into a “new woman” nor did she want to perform magic in public. Furthermore, she didn’t want to influence other people’s emotions through magic. She had once tried doing that to a boy she had had a crush on. But something must have gone wrong, because he got German measles instead.

“How come someone like you who’s so stricken hasn’t got part of the treasure of the Ice People?” asked Finn, who wasn’t the most diplomatic person in the world.

“I’ve thought about that myself once in a while. But there are many others before me, you see. Right now, the treasure is with Benedikte. Later it will be handed to the wonderful Nataniel – he’s already been given a little bit – and then we’ll have to see whether there’ll be anything left for neglected little Tova.”

She said it with such irony that they all had to laugh.

Since the next question she was about to ask was very important to her, she put it with as indifferent a voice as she could possibly muster. “Did the mandrake ever turn up again?”

“The mandrake? It disappeared when Nataniel was little. Why?” asked Jonathan. “Do you want it?

“I might want to borrow it. It’s mine, too, in a way.”

“Yes, it is, of course. You are one of the few who is allowed to have it in your possession. But as I said, it’s gone.”

“Typical,” said Tova, shrugging. “The family has owned it for the last seven hundred years, but when I enter the picture it disappears.”

Jonathan laughed a little. “That’s a good example of the levelling out of everything. I just don’t understand what happened to it. No, children!” he shouted suddenly, “You are not to hang my finest medal around the cat’s neck!”

Tova turned her face away in order to conceal her laughter as Jonathan rushed around the kitchen to save his most precious possession. Fortunately, he managed to get hold of it.

Finally, she had a chance to accomplish what she had come for. “I am taking a brief course in Oslo. Do you think I could borrow Lisbeth’s flat at Ullevål? Just for a night?”

“Of course,” answered Lisbeth immediately.

Then Tova was given the key, and after making the excuse that she was in a rush she went into town to “catch the train”. There she hailed a taxi and with the key tightly clutched in her hand she made her way back to Oslo.

Now! Now the great adventure was about to begin!