Chapter 10

The first sign of a problem was when the blog disappeared. It was the second week of February. As Sofia was walking home from work, through the park, she realized it was brighter out. The air felt milder. Contrails from jets drew lines across the pale sky. A few big clouds had parked themselves in the distance, their undersides painted deep pink.

Her life was moving forward; she was kept very busy at the library and had her hands full with the blog once she got home each evening. They’d had over three million visitors and received so many comments each day that they couldn’t read them all. Elvira had been a guest on nearly every talk show, visiting each program with her big belly, looking divinely beautiful. No one could doubt that she was telling the truth. Now and then the thought entered Sofia’s mind that it was strange Oswald hadn’t responded. He’d had a whole month by now. But nothing had happened.

Elvira was waiting for her in the stairwell. Panting, she trudged up the stairs to the apartment.

‘I don’t know if I can manage another month,’ she said. ‘I can hardly breathe, and these little jerks are kicking me to pieces. All I want to do is sleep, and I’ve been eating like a horse.’

‘Well, it will be over soon. Have you decided what to do yet?’

Elvira didn’t respond.

‘Shall we work on the blog for a bit, and then you can go home and sleep?’

‘Yes, but you’ll have to write the entries, my spelling’s not so good.’

Sofia sat down at the computer and logged in. She searched for the blog among her favourites, but when she clicked on it, it was gone. That’s weird, she thought, wondering if Ellis might have taken it down for maintenance, or whether it had become such a big hit it exceeded its allotted gigabytes. She decided to check in with him.

‘What’s wrong?’ Elvira asked from the sofa.

‘The blog’s gone. Bizarre. But I’m sure Ellis is just up to something. Don’t worry. I’ll call him.’

Elvira stretched out on the sofa. Her eyelids fluttered; she was dozing off. Sofia went to the kitchenette and made a cup of strong coffee, but by the time she got back Elvira was asleep. Sofia called Ellis from her mobile. He hadn’t touched the blog and was as baffled as she was.

‘Someone must have hacked into it and taken it down. Those bastards!’ he said.

‘Can you find out who did it?’

‘I’ll try. Call you back soon.’

As Sofia waited, she searched YouTube for clips from Elvira’s interviews. But she found only messages from YouTube stating that they had been forced to remove them.

All at once she knew something was wrong. It was just a feeling, but it was so strong she felt her dinner turning in her stomach.

Ellis called not long after.

‘Someone hacked into the blog and erased it. I can probably get it back up today.’

‘Can you tell who did it?’

‘That might be a tall order, but I’m sure I can figure out where they were.’

Sofia told him about the YouTube clips.

‘Then someone pressured them to take them down. We can find out who it was if we contact YouTube. And listen, there’s something else you should see. I sent you a link.’

The link led to another blog. It seemed to imitate their blog, but in this case downturned lips had been drawn over Elvira’s mouth and there were horns on her head. The name Cult Kid remained, but it had a subtitle: The Truth About Elvira. Probably so that anyone who googled Elvira’s blog would encounter this one instead. The text was a lengthy rant that described Elvira as a gold-digger who had done her utmost to ensnare Franz Oswald. The language was so vulgar that the text was entirely repellent. There were tabs, too, showing every non-disclosure agreement Elvira had signed as well as short entries from the staff at ViaTerra about how awful she was. Sofia imagined that no one in their right mind would ever believe this. Yet her eyes stung as she scanned the words. People would read this. Maybe they wouldn’t believe everything, but it would change the way they looked at Elvira in one way or another.

She went over and gazed at Elvira, who was asleep on the sofa with her mouth agape. She was snoring gently and having a dream; her eyes flicked back and forth under their lids. All of a sudden, Sofia was flooded with an immense wave of affection. Elvira was in no shape to fight a battle against Franz Oswald. She had to take care of herself and the babies. Maybe it would be best to shelve the blog, turn their backs on the whole mess, and devote themselves to real life.

Her phone rang; it was Ellis.

‘Okay, so whoever demanded the clips be taken down was on West Fog Island. I think that’s all we need to know.’

Sofia realized she had no reply. All of her attention had gotten stuck somewhere between her brain and her phone. An increasing dizziness was pressing at the back of her head.

‘Hello? Are you there? Do you still want me to publish the blog again?’

She forced her attention back to their conversation. ‘Yeah, but I want you to do me a favour.’

‘Anything.’

‘Write a comment under the picture of Elvira. Say that she’s taking a break from blogging right now – I guess we can call it maternity leave. And then write that her friend Sofia Bauman will take over the blog for a while. That I’ll respond to questions and all that, as time allows.’

‘Are you sure you want your name on it?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Okay. One more thing, Sofia.’

‘What?’

‘Do you remember the night I went out to Fog Island and stood outside the wall to demand they let you go?’

‘How could I forget?’

It had happened when Sofia had started working on the staff at ViaTerra. Ellis had taken the boat to the island one night, drunk as a skunk, to stand there shouting from the other side of the wall, ordering them to let Sofia out. It had been beyond embarrassing.

‘Well, I was right.’

‘Oh, lay off. And those blog entries with my face photoshopped onto naked bodies were so nice. No, you’re not getting off that easy. You’ll be indebted to me for the rest of your life.’

Ellis laughed. Sofia thought it was strange how life could change people and mould them into new creations. One day, your worst enemy could become your lifeline.

Elvira had woken up and was moaning from the sofa. ‘What’s going on?’

Sofia walked over to sit beside her. Elvira’s forehead was sweaty; her legs were swollen and the veins on her calves had burst here and there. Only fifteen, and looking like that. When she should be going to school, meeting boys, and thinking about her future.

‘They’ve taken down your blog and put up another one, and it’s disgusting – I really don’t think you should read it. Ellis is fixing it right now.’

‘I figured as much. That they would attack me, I mean. I don’t want to read that crap. I just want to be left alone, get these babies out of me, and have some sort of life.’

‘I know.’

‘I have to go home and get ready for that TV interview tomorrow. It’s the last one. I can’t take any more.’

‘Okay, do you want me to walk you home?’

‘Why? Do you think they’re going to come after me? Attack a pregnant woman? Yeah, actually, that wouldn’t surprise me.’

‘No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought I could keep you company. It’s dark out.’

‘Nah, I’ll be fine. Although there’s something I have to tell you before I go.’

Elvira flushed and her eyes darted away from Sofia’s.

‘Dad called me yesterday.’

‘What? Are you joking?’

‘No. He said Franz wants me to come to Fog Island with the babies. That they’ll build me a little house on the property, and give me half a million kronor a year. A nanny and everything. Private tutoring so I can finish school. I don’t have to have anything to do with Franz if I don’t want to. He just wants custody of the babies. Dad said Franz isn’t interested in anything sexual, since pregnancy changes your body so much. Perfect little girl bodies, you know. That’s what Franz gets off on.’

Sofia felt like the floor was dissolving beneath her feet. Her mouth went dry and her heart shrank in her chest. Elvira began to cry; the silent tears ran down her cheeks in a steady stream.

‘For Christ’s sake, Elvira. You cannot accept this!’

‘No, you can say that again. Dad said there are certain conditions. The most important one being that I have to break off all contact with you and Benjamin.’

Elvira backed up against the entryway wall and slid down until she was sitting on the floor. She clapped her hands to her belly and swayed back and forth as if she were rocking her unborn children. In a split second she had grown so pale that the dark circles under her eyes stood out. Tears dripped onto her stomach.

Sofia leaned against the wall to steady her body, still overwhelmed by what Elvira had told her. She stared at the girl’s belly with an increasing sense of hopelessness. What was the point of all this?

‘Elvira, you absolutely cannot go back there.’

‘You think everything’s so simple,’ Elvira sobbed. ‘But I have no life. No fucking future. Everything is ruined.’

‘He raped you!’

‘That’s not exactly what happened. At first I was into it, but then it all went to hell.’

‘You were only fourteen!’ Sofia felt her desperation growing. The buzz in her ears that meant she was about to lose control. ‘You can stay here. I’ll help you take care of the babies. Just as long as you don’t go back.’

Elvira stood up, leaned over her belly, and hugged Sofia so hard she almost couldn’t breathe.

‘You’re so nice. ViaTerra is the last place on earth I want to go. As I’m sure you understand. But maybe I can come back here once the babies are born. That way he’ll have his kids and I’ll get my life back.’

‘He would never let you.’

‘You don’t know that. Please, I have to think about this for a while, on my own.’

‘Of course. You have to make up your own mind.’

Sofia helped her put on her jacket and boots, then watched her go as she half-staggered, half-trudged back toward downtown. She looked like a perfectly normal girl. There wasn’t a soul on the street besides Elvira, who weaved in and out of the shadows of trees along the way. The streetlights turned her long hair blue.

It was the last Sofia would see of Elvira for a very long time.