3 Chapter 3

3 As Azmina pressed through the very last bush, she tripped on a tree root and fell flat on her face. If that weren't bad enough, she also gave a loud

当阿兹米娜穿过最后一丛灌木时，她被树根绊了一下，脸朝下摔倒了。 如果这还不够糟糕的话，她还大声地

hiccup. Azmina often got the hiccups, but this was the first time she'd ever hiccuped out a little golden flame! Letting out another fire hiccup, Azmina picked herself up and looked around. There was something strange about the air. It was shimmering—like air does on a really, really hot day. But it felt lovely and cool under the trees. Azmina reached out to touch the shimmering air—and her paw disappeared! Quickly, she jerked backward, and her paw reappeared. Was this some sort of portal? Or maybe a force field? It was all very strange, but Azmina didn't feel afraid. Buttercub had led her here, and she trusted him. Taking a deep breath, Azmina stepped into the twinkling air. She felt a slight whooshing sensation and found herself in a light-filled glade. Sweet-smelling grass was cloud soft beneath her paws. Bell-shaped flowers tinkled as they swayed

打嗝。阿兹米娜经常打嗝，但这是她第一次打嗝喷出金色的火焰!阿兹米娜又打了个嗝，站了起来，环顾四周。 空气有些奇怪。 就像在一个非常非常热的日子里的空气一样。 但是在树下感觉又好又凉爽。 阿兹米娜伸出手去触摸闪烁的空气——她的爪子不见了!她迅速后退，爪子又出现了。 这是某种传送门吗? 或者是一个力场?这一切都很奇怪，但阿兹米娜并不害怕。 是Buttercub带她来的，她信任他。 深吸了一口气，阿兹米娜走到闪烁的空气中。 她感到一阵轻微的嗖嗖声，发现自己到了一片光线充足的空地上。 芳香的草在她的爪子下像云一样柔软。 钟形的花摇晃着发出丁当的响声

in the breeze. Butterflies circled the air, humming delicate melodies as they flitted about. In the middle of the glade stood a single tree. Its glossy branches were covered in rustling golden leaves. Azmina's heart skipped a beat. She was sure this was the beautiful tree she'd seen from her backyard! Hovering in midair beside the tree was a gorgeous multicolored dragon. In shape and size it was similar to Azmina, but its markings were different. This dragon had bright purple scales and rainbow stripes covering its wings and body.

在微风中。蝴蝶在空中飞舞，哼唱着优美的旋律。 林中空地中央有一棵树。 它光滑的树枝上覆盖着沙沙作响的金色叶子。 阿兹米娜的心跳了一下。 她确信这就是她在后院看到的那棵美丽的树!在树旁边的半空中盘旋着一条五彩缤纷的巨龙。 在形状和大小上，它与阿兹米娜相似，但它的标记不同。 这条龙有明亮的紫色鳞片和彩虹条纹覆盖在它的翅膀和身体。

"Um … hi!" said Azmina. "I know I look like a dragon, but I'm actually a girl." The rainbow dragon puffed multicolored glitter from her nostrils. "You must be a Dragon Girl, like me," said the dragon. She had a humansounding voice, only much louder. She also sounded familiar. "You're Azmina, right?" Azmina stared at her. "How did you know?" To herself, she thought: What is a Dragon Girl?

“嗯……嗨!”阿兹米娜说。“我知道我看起来像条龙，但我实际上是个女孩。” 彩虹龙从她的鼻孔里喷出五彩缤纷的光芒。 “你一定是个龙女，像我一样。”龙说。 她的声音听起来像人，只是声音大得多。 她的声音听起来也很熟悉。 “你是阿兹米娜，对吧?”阿兹米娜盯着她。 “你怎么知道的?”她心里想:什么是龙女?

The rainbow dragon puffed more glitter into the air. "We were told you were coming. We wanted to tell you at school, but we promised to wait." Azmina felt really confused now. "We? There's more of us?" "Yes! The third one is—" Before the rainbow dragon could finish, a whooshing sound filled the air, and another dragon pushed through the shimmering force field, snout first. Azmina gave a little roar of surprise, flapping her wings. She rose up off the ground, did a wonky spin, and crash-landed. Butterflies scattered in all directions. The new dragon was a dazzling silvery blue color with sparkling green eyes. She held out a paw to help Azmina up, laughing kindly. "Don't worry. When I flew for the first time yesterday I went splat into a tree." She turned to the rainbow dragon. "Heya, Naomi. You got here quickly!"

彩虹龙向空中喷出更多的光芒。 “有人告诉我们你要来。 我们本想在学校告诉你的，但我们答应过要等等。” 阿兹米娜现在真的很困惑。 “我们?还有更多的人吗?”“是啊!第三条是——”彩虹龙还没说完，空中就响起了呼啸的声音，另一条龙从闪闪发光的力场中冲了出来，头朝前。 阿兹米娜扇动着翅膀，发出一声小小的惊叫。 她从地面上升起来，做了一个不稳定的旋转，然后迫降。 蝴蝶四散。 新龙是耀眼的银蓝色和闪闪发光的绿色眼睛。 她伸出一只爪子把阿兹米娜扶了起来，和蔼地笑着。 “别担心。昨天我第一次飞的时候，摔在一棵树上了。” 她转向彩虹龙。 “你好,内奥米。你来得真快!”

Azmina spun around to face the rainbow dragon. "Naomi? From school?" "Got it in one!" The rainbow dragon smiled as the silver dragon laughed again. Azmina had heard that laugh before. "Willa!" she cried. The silver dragon nodded, her eyes twinkling. "Yup, it's me! Wild, isn't it? I still can't quite believe it. And Naomi and I have had twenty-four hours to get used to the idea." Azmina didn't usually struggle to find things to say. But right then, she was speechless. "I know this is a lot to take in," said Naomi, as though she could read Azmina's mind. "But just go with it. There's going to be a lot more to find out today. Like, why we've been summoned here." "We've been summoned?" asked Azmina. She thought back to the chant she'd heard in her backyard. It all made sense now. The forest had been calling to her!

阿兹米娜转身面对彩虹龙。 “拿俄米?从学校吗?”“一下子就搞定了!”彩虹龙笑了，银龙又笑了。 阿兹米娜以前听到过这种笑声。 “威拉!”银龙点了点头，眼睛闪闪发亮。 “对，是我!”很疯狂，不是吗? 我还是不敢相信。 娜奥米和我有24个小时来适应这个想法。” 阿兹米娜通常不费力地找东西说。 但就在那时，她说不出话来。 “我知道这让你难以接受，”娜奥米说，仿佛她能读懂阿兹米娜的心思。 “但就随它去吧。今天还会有更多的事情等着你去发现。 比如，为什么我们被召到这里来。” “我们被召来了?”阿兹米娜问。 她回想起在后院听到的圣歌。 现在一切都说得通了。森林一直在呼唤她!