Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 Abigail "Abbi" Wallace held the walkie-talkie to her face. "Check, check. Come in, Lydia. Do you read me?" The walkie-talkie buzzed to life. "Loud and clear, Captain. Copy," Lydia said. "We're all set up here. Over." Abbi was sitting on the front porch of Moose Manor—the old castle where she lived with her mom, mystery writer Wallis Wallace, and their dog, Barkley. The sun was setting, and the air was chilly. Not bad for early October in Maine.

第一章阿比盖尔·华莱士把对讲机举到脸上。 ”检查,检查。进来，莉迪亚。 你听到了吗？”对讲机嗡嗡地响了起来。 “清清楚楚，船长。收到。”莉迪亚说。 “我们都准备好了。结束了。” 阿比正坐在驼鹿庄园的前廊上——那是一座古老的城堡，她和母亲、推理作家沃利斯·华莱士以及他们的狗巴克利一起住在那里。 太阳落山了，空气很冷。 对于十月初的缅因州来说还不错。

Normally, Abbi and her two best friends, Lydia and Daniel Herrera, would be up on the third-floor balcony. They all liked to watch the local bats come out for their nightly flight. Both the view and the sound quality were much better from up there. But tonight, the elevator Abbi used to go upstairs was broken! It was old, just like the rest of the castle, and it didn't always work right. Temperamental, Abbi's mom liked to call it. The repair people were coming to fix it soon. In the meantime, Abbi was stuck on the first floor. Again. A few years ago, she would have been able to walk up the stairs with some help. But the disease she was born with, called spinal muscular atrophy, caused her muscles to weaken over time, and now she always used her power wheelchair. So the elevator was the only way she could go upstairs. "Okay, you opened the app on my phone? And plugged the mic in?" Abbi said into the walkie-talkie. "Nothing's red or blinking? There shouldn't be any blinking!"

通常，阿比和她的两个最好的朋友，莉迪亚和丹尼尔·埃雷拉，会在三楼的阳台上。 他们都喜欢看当地的蝙蝠夜间飞行。 从那里看风景和音质都要好得多。 但是今晚，阿比用来上楼的电梯坏了！它很旧了，就像城堡的其他部分一样，而且它并不总是能正常工作。 阿比的妈妈喜欢叫它喜怒无常。 修理人员很快就会来修理它。 与此同时，阿比被困在了一楼。 再一次。几年前，她还能在别人的帮助下爬上楼梯。 但她生来就患有脊髓性肌萎缩症，随着时间的推移，她的肌肉变得越来越弱，现在她总是使用电动轮椅。 所以电梯是她上楼的唯一途径。 “好吧，你打开了我手机上的应用？” 把麦克风插好了吗？”阿比对着对讲机说。 “没有红色或闪烁的东西？” 不应该眨眼睛！”

"Looks good to me," Lydia said. "Hey, don't grab th—" Daniel's voice came through. "Do you want us to take a picture so you can check we did it right?" Abbi smiled. "That's okay. I trust you both!" "Roger that. Be down soon," Daniel said. Since Abbi couldn't be there herself, her friends were checking to make sure her recording equipment was ready for the night's action.

“我看不错，”丽迪雅说。 “嘿，别抓——”丹尼尔的声音传了过来。 “你想让我们拍张照片，这样你就可以检查一下我们做对了吗？”艾比笑了。 “没关系。我相信你们两个！”“罗杰。 很快就下来，”丹尼尔说。 由于阿比自己不能去，她的朋友们正在检查她的录音设备是否准备好了。

She had been recording animal sounds for as long as she could remember. First on a tape recorder. Later on her cell phone. But humans can't hear most bat sounds on their own. So for her birthday a few months ago, her mom had bought her a special bat detection microphone to record the sounds bats made and transform them into something audible. It could even track the bats' flight paths based on their calls! This was the first weekend she wouldn't be on the balcony to record things herself. But her

从她记事起，她就一直在记录动物的声音。 首先是在录音机上。之后在她的手机上。 但人类自己无法听到大多数蝙蝠的声音。 所以在几个月前她生日的时候，她妈妈给她买了一个特殊的蝙蝠探测麦克风，用来记录蝙蝠发出的声音，并把它们转化成可听到的声音。 它甚至可以根据蝙蝠的叫声来追踪它们的飞行路线！这是她第一次不在阳台上自己录东西。 但她的