The Devil's Sanctuary by Marie Hermanson Page A

found out! Now everything’s lost! he thought, as if his heart had been a stowaway he was trying to smuggle out, but which had given itself away.
    But in the dream the woman wasn’t called Corinne, but Corinte; he knew this even though neither of them had uttered a word. It was something to do with her eyes.
     

10
    THE SMELL of fried bacon was the first thing he noticed when he woke up the next morning. When he opened his eyes the cabin was lit up by strong sunlight. Max was standing by the stove.
    Daniel squinted at his watch and saw to his surprise that it was twenty past nine. He almost always woke up at quarter to seven, weekdays and weekends alike, with or without an alarm clock. It was hard to believe he had been able to sleep with the sunlight flooding the room and the sound of Max clattering about in the kitchen.
    “Breakfast in five minutes,” Max said in a slightly stressed voice as he got plates out and slammed the cupboard shut.
    Daniel hurried into the bathroom and had a quick shower, then, with a feeling of having fallen behind, he sat down at the table where Max was already eating. Through the window there was a view of the steep, shaded mountainside to the south.
    “Well, there’s certainly nothing wrong with your sleep,” Max said, pouring coffee into Daniel’s cup. “But it’s good you’ve had a proper rest, because we’re going on an adventure today. We’re going to cycle up into the mountains and go fishing at my favorite spot.”
    “Cycle?”
    “Yes, and don’t try to get out of it by saying you haven’t got a bike, because I arranged for that while you were asleep. And I’ve asked for a packed lunch from the kitchen as well. I could have made it myself, but I haven’t got much in the fridge right now and I didn’t think we should waste time going shopping in the village. They’ll put together something nice, and we can pick it up before we set off.”
    Daniel couldn’t recall them planning an outing for today.
    “You do know I’m leaving today? I did say,” he reminded Max. So as not to seem ungrateful, he quickly added, “Yesterday was fun. Dinner really was excellent, and I liked that bierstube. But it didn’t feel right, you paying for me.”
    His brother waved away his objections, saying, “I didn’t think we really had enough time together. And you’ve hardly seen anything of how lovely it is round here. Have you ever been trout fishing?”
    “No.”
    “You’re really missing something. It’s incredibly intense. Total concentration. You really should try it. Anyway, now I’ve asked for a packed lunch and arranged rods and bikes for us. So I’d be very disappointed if you decided to leave straightaway.”
    Daniel gave up. “Okay, then. If you’ve already got it all planned, I’ll come with you.”
    Outside the cabin stood two mountain bikes with panniers strapped to them, and out of each bag stuck an oblong case that Daniel guessed contained a fishing rod.
    They walked the bikes up to the clinic’s main building, where Max slipped round to the kitchen and returned shortly afterward with some plastic tubs and bottles of beer that he stowed away in the panniers. With Max in the lead they rolled off down the slope, then turned off to the right and followed a narrow road that ran above the village.
    They soon got away from the houses and now the valley lay before them, such an intense green that it gave Daniel a feeling of unreality, as if he were in some sort of computer game.
    And their speed seemed somehow unreal as well. Had he always been able to cycle this fast? They really were racing along. It had to be the bike; its gears were excellent, overcoming all resistance. They were flying.
    Maybe it was something to do with the air as well. Everything around him was so clear and distinct, down to the smallest detail. He could see every flower in the distance.
    They were cycling through a narrow glacial valley. On the side they were on, the mountain rose up in