The Sanctuary by Katrine Engberg

Author:Katrine Engberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21

CHAPTER 14

In the early-morning hours, a storm came in from the east. A hard wind pressed the coastal trees to the ground and whipped the waves up over the rocks. Jeppe lay in bed and listened as it howled through the roof insulation. He sat up, pushed aside the slanted window’s blinds, and saw waves foaming iron gray and furious just beyond the marina. It looked like one of his dreams.

Before he could think of an excuse, he pulled a towel down from the shelf, pulled his coat on over his pajamas, and walked outside. A strong gust of wind pushed him along, past red-and-white half-timbered buildings, lavender beds, and the neighbor’s calico cat, which was pressing itself against the facade, but still stared at him with fearless eyes, down to the old smokehouse that sold expensive ice cream cones in the summer. Here he tossed his pajamas on the rocks and threw himself naked into the agitated sea. He felt the air get knocked out of his lungs as ten thousand synapses sparked in his body. Only a masochist does this to himself, he thought, and crawled ashore like a shipwreck survivor; the waves were trying to pull back out again.

He hurriedly dried himself off, ran back to his cottage, and warmed up under the shower. He made coffee and ate two eggs with his phone in his hand. Once again he opened the picture from the Can of the three smiling teenagers. He sent it to Esther and asked her to ask Ida if that actually was Nikolaj in the middle—and who the other two were—before he cleared the dishes, walked out to his all-wheel-drive pickup, and headed for the woods. As he reached the top of the hill, Anette called. Her chipper voice crackled through the car’s speakers.

“Good morning, island dweller! Did I wake you?”

“Sorry to disappoint you. I’ve already been for a swim, and now I’m on my way to work.” Jeppe slowed down as a pheasant ran across the roadway on short, eager legs. “Have you arrived at the eastern front?”

“I spent the damn night in a bunk bed at the youth hostel in Rønne.” She laughed her throaty laugh that sounded like it came all the way from her feet. “I’m returning to my roots, just like you, Jepsen. I wonder if I didn’t sleep in that very same bunk bed at some summer camp or scouting retreat. You realize how old and comfortable you’ve gotten when you have to stand in line for the shared bathroom.”

“Did you want something, besides telling me how rough your life is?”

“Hey, Jepsen. We can’t all run around chopping down trees to show the world we’re invincible.”

He tried to protest, but she interrupted him.

“Did you learn anything else about Zealot’s Children?”

Jeppe couldn’t help but laugh.

“That’s your job,” he said, “not mine, not anymore.”

“But isn’t it your employer’s church?”

“Anette, no.”

“You could just ask around a little…,” she insisted.

“No thank you.” Jeppe turned onto Segenvej headed for the Almindingen forest.

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