The Spider by Lars Kepler

Author:Lars Kepler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction

43

Valeria leaves the greenhouse and pushes the wheelbarrow over to the root cellar. Her shoulders and back feel weary after a hard day’s work. She just needs to grab a few bags of potatoes, then she will call it a day and head inside to shower and make dinner.

The root cellar has been dug out of a natural hump in the ground, with meadow grasses and slender birches growing overhead. For some reason, the cool space has always reminded her of the story of King Sveigðir from the Old Norse Ynglinga Saga. King Sveigðir was on his way home after a party when a strange little man turned up and told him he could meet Odin. The man opened a door in an enormous rock, and the king peered in to a great hall on the other side. The table was laden with heaping plates of food, and there were huge chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. But the minute he set foot inside, the door swung shut behind him and he disappeared without a trace.

Valeria opens the heavy door, grabs the gardening basket and starts making her way down the steep set of stairs.

A few strands of hair shimmer like copper in her ponytail as she moves through the last patch of sunlight and into the darkness.

She hasn’t been down to the root cellar for a long time. She just hasn’t been able to bring herself to do it since her encounter with Jurek. The stairs feel much more cramped than she remembers.

A completely different kind of silence seems take over no more than a couple of metres below the ground.

Valeria feels a bead of sweat trickle down her back, and the sweet scent of earth and old leaves fills her nose.

The ceiling light is switched on, glinting off the bottles of elderflower cordial. A little dry sand falls from the crack between two of the stones lining the roof.

The weight of the ground above must have pushed the walls inward over the winter, making the stairs narrower.

She feels her legs shake as she continues.

The air is completely still.

The vents must be overgrown.

Valeria has almost reached the bottom of the steps when the ground above her shakes. The ceiling seems to drop by around ten centimetres, and dry sand rains down to the floor.

Someone must be standing right above her.

A couple of small pebbles clatter against the bottom step, and her blood starts roaring in her ears.

The stale air has left her light-headed, and she decides she should turn around and head back up.

Valeria knows it is just the weak light, but the steps now look about as wide as a rabbit’s burrow.

At the top, the doorway gleams like brass. She hears the hinges creak, sees the sliver of light narrow, and the door swings shut.

Valeria drops the basket and tries to hold back the walls with both hands.

Her breathing is quick.

Her vision goes dark, and she slumps to the floor.

The door opens again, and she hears a man’s voice say something.

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