2 The Sky Below the Ground

Two The Sky Below the Ground Eric pulled the door open quickly. Julie was standing in the middle of the tiny room. She was staring at the floor beneath her feet. The ball was nowhere in sight. "Are you okay?" Eric asked. Julie pushed her way quickly out of the room. "The ball went down there!" Eric and Neal looked at the gray cement floor. Then they looked back at Julie. "There were steps," Julie said. "And I almost fell all the way down!"

二地下的天空埃里克迅速拉开了门。 朱莉站在小房间的中央。 她盯着脚下的地板。 球不见了。 “你还好吗？”埃里克问。 朱莉迅速地挤出了房间。 “球往那边去了！”埃里克和尼尔看着灰色的水泥地板。 然后他们回头看了看朱莉。 “有台阶，”朱莉说。 “我差点一路摔下来！”

"Steps?" said Neal. "Where the floor is?" Julie nodded. "And the soccer ball went bouncing down them. Then you opened the door, and the steps sort of… disappeared." Eric and Neal entered the little room under the stairs. Then Julie stepped back in. They stood close together. "Maybe the ball whacked you in the head, Julie," Neal said with a laugh. "You just thought there were stairs." Eric looked down at the floor. There weren't any steps anywhere. "Julie, I don't think —" "I'm not making this up," she said. "Wait. The door was closed. And it was dark at first. Maybe then…" "It's pretty dark already," Neal said. "Don't close the door on us —" Slam! Julie did close the door on them. Neal grumbled. "Now it's very dark." Then, suddenly, it wasn't. The floor began to shimmer beneath them, and a bright light glowed under their feet. Then — whoosh! — a stairway appeared out of nowhere. A set of steps, leading down. Leading away from the basement. Away from the house. "Whoa!" Eric said. "It looks like outside down there! Is this what you saw?"

“台阶？”尼尔说。“地板在哪儿？”朱莉点点头。 然后足球从他们身上弹了下来。 然后你打开门，台阶好像……消失了。” 埃里克和尼尔走进楼梯下的小房间。 然后朱莉走了进来。 他们紧紧地站在一起。 “也许球击中了你的头，朱莉，”尼尔笑着说。 “你只是以为有楼梯。” 埃里克低头看着地板。 到处都没有台阶。 “朱莉，我不认为——”“这不是我瞎编的，”她说。 ”等。门关着。 起初天很黑。“天已经很黑了，”尼尔说。 “别把门关上——”砰！朱莉把他们关在门外了。 Neal咕哝道。“现在天很黑。” 然后，突然，它不是。 他们脚下的地板开始闪闪发光，一束明亮的光在他们脚下闪烁。 然后——嗖！楼梯不知从哪里冒出来。 向下的一组台阶。 通向地下室。 离开房子。“哇!”Eric说。 “下面看起来像外面！”这就是你所看到的吗？”

Julie nodded. "Told you." The steps glowed a rainbow of colors. Julie peered over Eric's shoulder. "Let's go find the ball." Neal reached for the door. "I don't think so." "Come on," said Eric. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as if they had to go. He stepped down to the next step. Then to the next, and the next. Already the air was brighter where he was. It was pink. And cool and fresh.

朱莉点点头。“告诉你。”台阶上闪烁着彩虹般的光芒。 朱莉从埃里克的身后偷看着。 “我们去找球吧。”尼尔伸手去开门。 “我不这么认为。”“来吧，”埃里克说。 他不知道为什么，但他觉得他们必须离开。 他走到下一个台阶。 然后是下一个，再下一个。 他所在的地方，空气已经明亮起来。 它是粉红色的。又凉又新鲜。

"Neal. Julie. This is incredible," Eric said. "We have to go down." "I don't think this is such a good idea," Neal said. Julie laughed. She ran to catch up with Eric. "The air smells so sweet! Hurry up, Neal. We're already ten steps ahead of you." Just below them was a forest of tall trees. The stairs led all the way down to the treetops. "Unbelievable!" Eric whispered. "Do you think this is some kind of magic?" "There's no such thing as magic," Julie said, biting her lip. She always did that when she didn't understand why things were happening. "But this place is beautiful. Strange, too. It's sort of like a theme park." Eric stopped. What he saw coming out of the pink mist was not from any theme park he'd ever been to. "Uh-oh," he gasped. "What do you see?" Neal asked. Eric was frozen on the step, pointing into the mist. "Lizards, I think." "In the trees?" Julie asked. "That's normal." "No," Eric said. "Flying lizards. Big ones. With weird-looking red guys riding them …" "That's not so normal," Neal said. Thwang! A long, flaming arrow whistled past Eric's ear.

”尼尔。朱莉。这太不可思议了，”埃里克说。 “我们必须下去。”“我不认为这是个好主意，”尼尔说。 朱莉笑了。她跑去追埃里克。 “空气闻起来好香！”快点，尼尔。 我们已经领先你们十步了。” 就在他们下面是一片高大的树林。 楼梯一直通向树顶。 “真是难以置信!”Eric低声说。 “你认为这是某种魔法吗？”“没有魔法这回事，”朱莉咬着嘴唇说。 当她不明白事情发生的原因时，她总是这样做。 “但是这个地方很美。 奇怪,太。这有点像一个主题公园。” Eric停了下来。他从粉红色的雾中看到的东西不是他去过的任何一个主题公园。 “哦哦，”他喘着气说。“你看到了什么？”Neal问道。 埃里克僵在台阶上，指着雾。 “我想是蜥蜴吧。”“在树上？”朱莉问。 “这是正常的。”“不，”埃里克说。 “飞行蜥蜴。大的。 “那可不太正常，”尼尔说。 Thwang !一支长长的、燃烧着的箭从埃里克耳边呼啸而过。

"Not so friendly, either! They're attacking us!"

“也不怎么友好！”他们在攻击我们！”