Chapter 1

the seeing stone

透视石

Chapter One IN WHICH More Than a Cat Goes Missing The late bus dropped Jared Grace at the bottom of his street. From there it was an uphill climb to the dilapidated old house where his family was staying until his mother found something better or his crazy old aunt wanted it back. The red and gold leaves of the low-hanging trees around the gate made the gray shingles look forlorn. The place looked as bad as Jared felt.

第一章不止一只猫失踪一辆迟到的公共汽车把杰瑞德·格雷斯丢在了街道的尽头。 从那里爬到他的家人住的破旧的老房子，直到他的母亲找到更好的房子，或者他的疯狂的老阿姨想要回它。 大门周围低垂的树的红色和金色的叶子使灰色的瓦片显得凄凉。 这地方看起来和杰瑞德的感觉一样糟糕。

He couldn't believe he'd had to stay after school already. It wasn't like he didn't try to get along with the other kids. He just wasn't good at it. Take today, for example. Sure, he'd been drawing a brownie while the teacher was talking, but he was still paying attention. More or less. And she didn't have to hold up his drawing in front of the whole class. After that, the kids wouldn't stop bothering him. Before he knew it, he was ripping some boy's notebook in half. He'd hoped things would be better at this school. But since his parents' divorce, things had gone from bad to worse. Jared walked into the kitchen. His twin, Simon, sat at the old farmhouse table with an untouched saucer of milk in front of him. Simon looked up. "Have you seen Tibbs?" "I just got home." Jared went to the fridge and took a swig of apple juice. It was so cold that it made his head hurt.

他不敢相信他已经放学后不得不留下来了。 他并不是不想和其他孩子好好相处。 他只是不擅长而已。 以今天为例。当然，他在老师讲话的时候一直在画巧克力蛋糕，但他仍然在专心听讲。 或多或少。而且她也不用在全班同学面前举着他的画。 从那以后，孩子们就不停地骚扰他。 他还没反应过来，就把一个男孩的笔记本撕成了两半。 他希望这所学校的情况会好一些。 但自从他父母离婚后，情况变得越来越糟。 杰瑞德走进厨房。 他的孪生兄弟西蒙坐在农舍的老桌子旁，面前放着一碟没动过的牛奶。 西蒙抬起头来。“你看见蒂布斯了吗？”“我刚到家。” 杰瑞德走到冰箱前，喝了一大口苹果汁。 天气太冷了，他的头都痛了。

"Well, did you see him outside?" Simon asked. "I've looked everywhere." Jared shook his head. He didn't care about the stupid cat. She was just the newest member of Simon's menagerie. One more animal wanting to be petted or fed, or jumping on his lap when he was busy. Jared didn't know why he and Simon were so different. In movies, identical twins got cool powers like reading each other's minds with a look.

“嗯，你在外面看到他了吗？”西蒙问。 “我到处都找遍了。”杰瑞德摇了摇头。 他根本不在乎那只笨猫。 她只是西蒙动物园里的新成员。 又有一只动物想要被爱抚或喂食，或者在他忙的时候跳到他的腿上。 贾里德不知道为什么他和西蒙如此不同。 在电影中，同卵双胞胎有很酷的能力，比如通过一个眼神读懂对方的思想。

It figured that the most real-life twins could do was wear the same-size pants. Their sister, Mallory, thundered down the stairs, lugging a large bag. The hilts of fencing swords stuck out from one end. "Hey, good job getting detention, nutcase." Mallory slung the bag over her shoulder and walked toward the back door. "At least this time, no one's nose got broken." "Don't tell Mom, okay, Mal?" Jared pleaded. "Whatever. She's going to find out sooner or later." Mallory shrugged and headed out onto the lawn. Clearly this new fencing team was even more competitive than the last. Mallory had taken to practicing at every spare moment. It bordered on obsessive.

研究发现，现实生活中的双胞胎能做的最多的事情就是穿同样大小的裤子。 他们的妹妹马洛里拖着一个大袋子，轰隆隆地走下楼梯。 击剑的剑柄从一端伸出。 “你被关禁闭干得不错，疯子” 马洛里把包挎在肩上，朝后门走去。 “至少这次没有人的鼻子受伤。” “别告诉妈妈，好吗，马尔？”贾里德辩护。 “不管。她迟早会发现的。” 马洛里耸了耸肩，走到草坪上。 显然，这支新的击剑队比上一届更有竞争力。 马洛里一有空闲时间就练习。 它接近于强迫症。

"Hey, good job getting detention, nutcase."

“你被关禁闭干得不错，疯子”