Chapter 9

9 Quinn froze. The Shadow Queen and the Tree Queen were sisters? She turned to her friends, seeing that they were as amazed as she was. "Hard to believe, isn't it?" said the Shadow Queen, hovering in midair and narrowing her eyes. "My sister has always acted like she's better

奎因僵住了。影子女王和树女王是姐妹? 她转向她的朋友们，看到他们和她一样惊讶。 “很难相信，不是吗?”影子女王说，她在半空中盘旋，眯起眼睛。 “我妹妹总是表现得好像她比别人好

than me. But soon I'll be in charge. Everyone in the forest will do as I say." Quinn did not like the sound of this at all. And neither did the Heartstring Violin! Quinn felt it shudder inside the bag. It wants to get out! thought Quinn. But is that a good idea? Flutterdash whispered in her ear. "We don't have much time left! You must act!" "But what should I do?" Quinn whispered in her raspy, weak voice. "Just trust your feelings," twittered the bird. The violin jumped around in the bag even more strongly. The Shadow Queen fixed her cruel, glittering eyes on Quinn as she pulled it out. "I see you've stolen back the Heartstring Violin! Why don't you just return that to me?" purred the Shadow Queen. "If you do, I may even let you help me rule the Magic Forest. I could use a strong creature like you to keep everyone in line. Don't worry about your friends. They will just hold you back."

比我好。但很快我就要负责了。 森林里的每个人都会照我说的去做。” 奎因一点也不喜欢这种说法。 “心弦小提琴”也没有!奎因感到它在袋子里颤抖。 它想出去!认为奎因。 但这是个好主意吗?飞蝶在她耳边低语。 “我们没有多少时间了!”你必须行动起来!”“但是我该怎么办呢?”奎因用沙哑而微弱的声音低声说。 “相信你的感觉，”小鸟叽叽喳喳地说。 小提琴在袋子里跳得更厉害了。 影子女王把它拔了出来，她那残忍、闪闪发光的眼睛盯着奎因。 “我看你把‘心弦小提琴’偷回来了!”你为什么不把它还给我呢?”影子女王咕噜着。 “如果你愿意，我甚至可以让你帮我统治魔法森林。 我需要一个像你这样强壮的生物来控制大家。 别担心你的朋友。 他们只会拖你的后腿。”

Mei's face darkened and Aisha looked like she was about to explode. Quinn shot them a reassuring look. As if she would leave them and help the Shadow Queen! But strangely, Quinn's arm wanted to hand the violin over, even though her head knew it was a bad idea. The Shadow Queen's magic was truly powerful. Luckily, Aisha and Mei saw what was happening. They grabbed ahold of the violin, too, and dragged it back from the Shadow Queen. Quinn smiled gratefully at her friends. Then she held up the violin and positioned the bow above the strings. Warmth spread from the honey-colored wood of the violin up Quinn's arm and throughout her entire body. The violin clearly liked the idea of being played again! The problem was that Quinn had no idea if she could actually play the violin. So far she'd made only a single note on it. She knew that much more was needed this time.

小梅的脸沉了下来，艾莎看起来就要爆炸了。 奎因给了他们一个安慰的眼神。 好像她会离开他们去帮助影子女王似的!但奇怪的是，奎因的手臂想把小提琴递过来，尽管她的大脑知道这是个坏主意。 暗影女王的魔法真的很强大。 幸运的是，艾莎和梅看到了发生的事情。 他们也抓住了小提琴，从影子女王那里把它拖了回来。 奎因感激地对她的朋友们笑了。 然后她举起小提琴，把琴弓放在琴弦上方。 温暖从蜂蜜色的琴弦上传到奎因的手臂，传遍了她的全身。 小提琴显然很喜欢再次被演奏的想法!问题是奎因不知道她是否真的会拉小提琴。 到目前为止，她只在上面做了一个笔记。 她知道这次需要更多的东西。

She glanced across at her friends, who were both smiling and nodding excitedly at her. They think I can do it, Quinn thought. So maybe I can! "Don't you dare try playing that violin, Dragon Girl!" yelled the Shadow Queen as the sprites twisted and tumbled around Quinn, tugging at her tail and wings and doing the same to Aisha and Mei. "You'll regret it!" But Quinn paid her no attention. She closed her eyes and focused on the violin. Carefully, she

她瞥了一眼她的朋友们，他们都在对她微笑，兴奋地点头。 他们认为我能做到，奎因想。 所以也许我可以!“你敢拉那把小提琴，龙女!”影子女王喊道，精灵们在奎因周围扭来扭去，拽着她的尾巴和翅膀，对艾莎和梅也是这样。 “你会后悔的!”但奎因没有理会她。 她闭上眼睛，专注于小提琴。 她小心翼翼地

pulled the bow across one of the shining silver strings. A note floated up, simple but clear. Then Quinn pressed down on two strings to form a chord. It was strange, but somehow she knew exactly what to do. Quinn felt like she was being guided by the violin. Quinn continued to play, teasing out one note and gliding into the next. The more she played, the more confident she became. A strange and beautiful song began to flow from the violin. The music sounded like the wind in the trees. Like babbling water flowing over smooth stones. Like insects humming and bunnies playing. Like a mother bird returning to her nest to feed her chicks. It's music from the heart of the Magic Forest, Quinn realized. "Stop playing that horrible racket!" bellowed the Shadow Queen. She looked angry, but Quinn saw something else in her eyes, too. She was worried!

把弓拉过一根闪亮的银弦。 一个简单而清晰的音符飘了过来。 然后Quinn按下两根弦，形成一个和弦。 这很奇怪，但不知怎的，她知道该怎么做。 奎因觉得她是被小提琴引导着。 奎因继续演奏，梳理出一个音符，然后滑入下一个音符。 她弹得越多，就越有信心。 小提琴奏出了一首奇异而优美的歌曲。 音乐听起来就像树林里的风声。 像潺潺的流水流过光滑的石头。 像昆虫嗡嗡叫和兔子玩耍。 就像鸟妈妈回巢喂雏鸟一样。 奎因意识到，这是来自魔法森林中心的音乐。 “停止那可怕的吵闹!”影子女王吼道。 她看起来很生气，但奎因也从她的眼睛里看到了别的东西。 她很担心!

A strong wind picked up around the Shadow Queen, blowing her long hair into messy tangles. She lunged at Quinn with her impossibly long, thin fingers. Quinn darted away, but the Shadow Queen managed to grab ahold of the compass dangling around her neck. With an angry shout, the queen broke the compass chain and flung the precious object into the air. With a slow, perfect arc, the compass dropped into the lake far below them. Quinn wanted to shout in dismay, but without her voice, all she could do was keep playing the violin. So that's what she did. And finally something wonderful happened: The red and blue and green roars that the Shadow Queen had stolen broke free of her shadowy clutches! "Come back!" shrieked the Shadow Queen, lunging at the colorful roars. But the roars blew up out of her reach, like ribbons in a storm. They circled through the air before floating down toward Mei, Aisha, and

一阵强风在影子女王周围刮起，把她的长发吹得乱糟糟的。 她伸出纤长得不可思议的手指向奎因扑去。 奎因飞奔而去，但影子女王设法抓住了挂在她脖子上的指南针。 王后愤怒地大叫一声，挣断了指南针的链子，把这珍贵的东西抛向空中。 指南针划了一个缓慢而完美的弧线，落入了远远低于他们的湖中。 奎因沮丧地想大喊大叫，但她没有声音，只能继续拉小提琴。 这就是她所做的。最后，奇妙的事情发生了:暗影女王偷来的红、蓝、绿的吼声挣脱了她的魔爪!“回来!”影子女王尖叫着，扑向那五彩缤纷的吼声。 但咆哮声在她够不着的地方吹了起来，就像暴风雨中的缎带。 他们在空中盘旋，然后朝小美、阿伊莎和阿玲飞去