Chapter 6

Chapter Six IN WHICH All Hell Breaks Loose What are you doing here?" Jared asked. Behind him he heard Simon and Mallory exclaim "Dad!" together. Their father's black hair looked slightly mussed and his shirt was untucked on one side, but it was definitely him. Their father's eyes went wide. "Jared! Simon! Mallory! Thank goodness you're okay." Jared furrowed his brow. Something about this didn't feel right. He looked around the room again.

第六章大祸临头你在这里干什么？”杰瑞德问。 在他身后，他听到西蒙和马洛里一起喊道：“爸爸！” 父亲的黑发看上去有些凌乱，衬衫也歪着掖着，但那绝对是他。 父亲睁大了眼睛。 “贾里德!西蒙!马洛里!谢天谢地，你没事。” 杰瑞德皱起眉头。这件事让我感觉不对劲。 他又环视了一下房间。

Out beyond the balcony he saw goblins milling in the gloom, holding torches. What was going on? "Quick," Mallory said. "We have to move. Jared, untie Mom. I'll work on Dad." Jared leaned down and touched his mother's pale cheek. It felt cold and clammy. Her glasses were gone. "Mom's unconscious," he said. "Is she breathing?" Mallory asked, halting. Jared put his hand against his mother's lips and felt the ghost of her breath. "She's okay. She's alive." "Did you see Mulgarath?" Simon asked his father. "The ogre?" "There was some commotion outside," Mr. Grace said. "I didn't see anything after that." Mallory fumbled with the pulley and managed to lower her dad's hands. "How did they get you all the way from California?" Their dad shook his head wearily. "Your mother called to say how worried she was—all three of you acting strange and then going missing. I came as soon as I could, but the monsters were already at the house. It was terrible. At first I couldn't believe what was

阳台那边，他看见半兽人拿着火把在黑暗中走来走去。 发生了什么事？“快，”马洛里说。 “我们必须行动起来。杰瑞德，给妈妈松绑。 我来对付爸爸。”杰瑞德俯下身，摸摸母亲苍白的脸颊。 感觉又冷又湿。她的眼镜不见了。 “妈妈昏过去了，”他说。 “她还有呼吸吗？”马洛里停顿了一下问道。 贾里德把手放在母亲的嘴唇上，感觉到她呼吸的气息。 “她是好的。她还活着。” “你看到马尔加拉斯了吗？”西蒙问他的父亲。 “怪物?”“外面有些骚动，”格雷斯说。 “在那之后我什么也没看到。” 马洛里摸索着滑轮，设法把爸爸的手放下来。 “他们是怎么把你从加利福尼亚弄来的？”他们的爸爸疲惫地摇了摇头。 “你妈妈打电话来说她有多担心——你们三个都表现得很奇怪，然后就失踪了。 我尽快赶来了，但怪物已经在房子里了。 太可怕了。一开始我不敢相信这是什么

happening. And they kept talking about a book. What is this book?" "Our uncle Arthur—" Jared began. "More like Mom's great-uncle, our great-greatuncle," Mallory said as she picked at the knots. "Right. Well, he was interested in faeries." Jared untied his mother as he talked, but even free from her bonds, she didn't move. Jared smoothed back her hair, wishing she would open her eyes. "His brother got eaten by a troll," Simon put in. Jared nodded, looking nervously around. How long before they were discovered? Did they really have time for this? Now that they had found their mother, they had to get out as quickly as possible. "And so he made this book that was all about faeries. It had stuff in it that even some of the faeries themselves didn't know."

发生。他们一直在谈论一本书。 这是什么书？”“我们的亚瑟叔叔——”贾里德开口说。 “更像是妈妈的曾叔祖父，我们的曾叔祖父。”马洛里边说边拨弄结。 “正确。嗯，他对仙子很感兴趣。” 杰瑞德一边说一边给他母亲松绑，但即使挣脱了束缚，她也一动不动。 贾里德捋了捋她的头发，希望她能睁开眼睛。 “他哥哥被巨魔吃掉了，”西蒙插嘴说。 杰瑞德点点头，紧张地环顾四周。 它们是多久才被发现的？ 他们真的有时间这么做吗？ 既然他们已经找到了妈妈，他们必须尽快离开。 “所以他写了这本关于精灵的书。 里面有些东西连一些仙子自己都不知道。”

"Because they mostly don't bother with one another, it seems," Mallory said. How were they going to get their mother down the stairs? Could their dad carry her? Jared tried to concentrate on explaining. They had to make sure their dad would understand. "But the faeries didn't want one guy to have that much power over them, so they tried to get the book back. When he wouldn't give it to them, they took him instead." "The elves did," Simon said.

马洛里说：“因为它们似乎大多不为彼此烦恼。” 他们要怎么把妈妈弄下楼梯呢？ 他们的爸爸能抱着她吗？ 贾里德试图集中精力解释。 他们必须确保他们的父亲会理解。 “但是精灵们不希望一个人对他们有那么大的影响力，所以他们想把书拿回来。 他不肯给他们，他们就把他带走了。” “是精灵们干的，”西蒙说。

"Really?" said their father with a strange gleam in his eye. Jared sighed. "Look, I know it sounds unbelievable, Dad, but look around. Does this look like the set of one of your movies?" "I believe you," their father said softly. "To make a very long story short," Mallory said, "we found the book." "Except we lost the book again," said Simon. "The ogre has it." "And he's got a really idiotic plan to take over the world," Mallory put in. Their father's eyebrows rose, but he only said, "So, now that the book is gone, all of the knowledge is gone with it. There's no other copy? That seems like a shame." "Jared remembers a lot," Simon said. "I bet he could make a book of his own." Mallory nodded. "And we learned some stuff along the way—right, Jared?" Jared smiled, looking down. "I guess so," he said finally. "But I wish I remembered more."

“真的吗？”他们的父亲说，眼里闪着奇怪的光芒。 杰瑞德叹了口气。“听着，我知道这听起来难以置信，爸爸，但是看看周围。 这看起来像你电影的布景吗？”“我相信你，”他们的父亲轻声说。 “长话短说，”马洛里说，“我们找到了那本书。” “除了我们又把书丢了，”西蒙说。 “被食人魔拿走了。”“他有一个接管世界的愚蠢计划，”马洛里插嘴说。 他们的父亲眉毛一扬，但他只是说：“所以，现在书没了，所有的知识也跟着没了。 没有别的副本了吗？这似乎是一个耻辱。” “贾里德记得很多，”西蒙说。 “我打赌他可以自己出一本书。” 马洛里点了点头。“一路上我们学到了一些东西——对吧，贾里德？”杰瑞德笑了，低下头。 “我想是的，”他最后说。 “但我希望我记得更多。”

Their father flexed his newly freed wrists and stretched his legs. "I'm sorry that I wasn't here sooner. I shouldn't have left you kids and your mom alone. And I want to make it up to you. I want to stay." "We missed you too, Dad," Simon said. Mallory looked down at her boots. "Yeah." Jared said nothing. Something about this was too easy. It just felt wrong. "Mom?" he said softly, and shook her. Dad spread his arms wide. "Come and give your father a hug." Simon and Mallory embraced him. Jared looked down at his mother and reluctantly started to cross the room, when his dad said, "I want us all to be together from now on." Jared froze. He wanted it so much to be true, but it didn't feel true. "Dad would never say that," he said. His father grabbed hold of his arm. "Don't you want us to be a family again?" "Of course I do!" Jared yelled, jerking his arm free and stepping back. "I want Dad to be less of a jerk, and for Mom to not be sad. I want my dad to stop

他们的父亲弯曲了刚刚解放的手腕，伸了伸腿。 “我很抱歉我没有早点来。 我不该把你们和你们妈妈单独留下。 我想补偿你。 我想留下来。”“我们也想你，爸爸，”西蒙说。 马洛里低头看着自己的靴子。 “是的。”杰瑞德什么也没说。 有些事情太简单了。 只是感觉不对。“妈妈？”他轻轻地说，摇了摇她。 爸爸张开双臂。“过来给你爸爸一个拥抱。” 西蒙和马洛里拥抱了他。 杰瑞德低头看着妈妈，不情愿地开始穿过房间，这时他爸爸说：“我希望我们从现在开始都在一起。” 贾里德冻结。他非常希望这是真的，但感觉不是真的。 “爸爸永远不会这么说，”他说。 他父亲抓住他的胳膊。 “你不想让我们再次成为一家人吗？”“我当然知道！”杰瑞德喊道，猛地抽了抽胳膊，往后退了一步。 “我希望爸爸不要那么混蛋，希望妈妈不要伤心。 我想让我爸爸停止