16 SPRING IN HER STEP

CHAPTER 16 SPRING IN HER STEP Now!" shouted Alexander. He dove out of the way as Nikki sprang from behind the bandstand. She quickly took his place near the gopher hole. Rip held the spotlight steady, shining the light directly onto Nikki. Even standing in the powerful spotlight's beam, she cast no shadow. Nikki closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

第十六章跳起来！”亚历山大喊道。 当妮基从舞台后面跳起来时，他赶紧躲开了。 她迅速地在地鼠洞附近取代了他的位置。 里普稳住聚光灯，把灯光直接照在妮基身上。 即使站在强烈的聚光灯下，她也没有投下阴影。 妮基闭上眼睛，咬紧牙关。

The first shadow smashed onto the ground behind her, fixing itself to her heels. It looked over at Alexander and blinked. GORAARRRGNN!! With a terrible moan, a gazillion more shadow missiles rained down on that exact spot. Nikki didn't move. Over and over, the shadows smashed against one another, becoming darker and blurrier.

第一个影子落在她身后的地上，紧紧地跟在她的脚跟上。 它看了看亚历山大，眨了眨眼睛。 GORAARRRGNN ! !随着一声可怕的呻吟，又有无数枚影子导弹像雨点一样落在那个地方。 妮基没有动。阴影一次又一次地相互撞击，变得越来越暗，越来越模糊。

The sky became instantly sunny. As Alexander shielded his eyes from the brightness, he noticed several things: 1 Gopher Day was back in full swing. 2 Both Stella and Mr. Hoarsely were crawling out of their hiding spots. 3 Alexander's dad had made it to "87-Mississippi," and was still counting. 4 Nikki now had her own honest-to-goodness shadow.

天空立刻变得晴朗起来。 亚历山大遮住眼睛，注意到几件事：“地鼠日”又开始如火如荼地进行了。 斯特拉和沙哑先生都从藏身之处爬了出来。 亚历山大的爸爸已经到达了“87-密西西比”，而且还在数。 妮基现在有了自己真正的影子。

"This is so cool," said Nikki. She skipped around, watching her new shadow move with her. "Did it work? Are they really trapped?" "Well, that first shadow smasher looked confused when it got stuck to your heels, since you had no shadow for it to take over. Then the rest of them did what they do best: smash!" said Alexander. "By the time they all smashed together, they must've flattened themselves into one plain old shadow. Or something." Rip ran over and offered a fist bump. "Nikki!" he hollered. "You rule!" He turned to Alexander. "I can't believe you wanted to kick her out of the S.S.M.P.!"

“这太酷了，”妮基说。 她跳来跳去，看着她的新影子跟着她移动。 “管用吗？”他们真的被困住了吗？”“嗯，当第一个影子粉碎器粘在你的脚跟上时，它看起来很困惑，因为你没有影子让它来接管。 剩下的人做了他们最擅长的事：砸！”亚历山大说。 “等它们撞在一起的时候，它们一定已经压扁了，变成了一个普通的影子。 什么的。”里普跑过来和他碰了一下拳头。 “妮基！”他喊道。“你规则!”他转向亚历山大。 “我真不敢相信你想把她踢出S.S.M.P.!”

Alexander fake-punched Rip's arm. "You know," said Alexander. "We three are running the show now, so we get to make up some new rules from time to time!" He flipped open the notebook and wrote on the inside cover: ROLE 1 NOT ALL MONSTERS ARE BAD. Alexander smiled at Nikki. "Rip and I may not be jampires, and you may not be human, but who cares?! What matters is that we stick together. Nikki, will you please rejoin the Super Secret Monster Patrol?" Nikki looked a little sunburned. Or maybe she was blushing. "Of course I will," she said. "But first, add the shadow smashers to the notebook!"

亚历山大假拳打了瑞普的胳膊。 “你知道，”亚历山大说。 “现在是我们三个人在主持这个节目，所以我们可以不时地制定一些新规则！”他掀开笔记本，在里面的封面上写道：不是所有的怪物都是坏的。 亚历山大对尼基笑了笑。 “里普和我也许不是jampire，你也许不是人类，但谁在乎呢？！”重要的是我们要团结一致。 妮基，请你重新加入超级秘密怪物巡逻队好吗？”妮基看起来有点晒伤。 或者她脸红了。 “我当然会的，”她说。 “但首先，把影子粉碎器添加到笔记本上！”