Chapter 7

Epilogue IN WHICH the Story of the Grace Children Comes to Its Conclusion Jared sat down on the gleaming floor of Arthur's newly cleaned library and leaned against Aunt Lucinda's leg. Mallory knelt next to him, making stacks of old letters written in languages that none of them spoke. Simon flipped through an old book of sepia photographs while their mother poured hot tea into mugs. All of that might have seemed normal if Hogsqueal

在亚瑟刚打扫干净的图书馆里，贾里德坐在闪闪发光的地板上，靠在露辛达姨妈的腿上。 马洛里跪在他身边，堆着一堆用他们都不会说的语言写的旧信。 西蒙翻看一本旧书，里面是深褐色的照片，而他们的母亲正在往杯子里倒热茶。 如果霍格squeal

wasn't seated on a nearby footstool, playing checkers with a bandaged and annoyed-looking Thimbletack. Lucinda held up one of the paintings of the little girl from Arthur's desk. "I can't believe it. All this time and I never knew." It had been three weeks since they had defeated Mulgarath, and Jared was finally starting to think things were going to stay okay. The goblins had dispersed into bickering groups. Byron was gone by the time they had left the palace, and he appeared to have eaten every last dragonet. Jared, Simon, Mallory, and their mother had all walked home from the dump. It had been a long walk, and they had been so tired that once they'd arrived home, they had collapsed into the piles of feathers and cloth that had been their beds without complaint or comment. It was dark when Jared had finally woken and noticed Thimbletack curled up on a pillow beside him, with Simon's tiny, marmalade cat nestled against the little brownie. Jared had smiled, taken a deep breath, and choked on the feathers. Downstairs he'd found his mother cleaning up the

并没有坐在附近的脚凳上，和缠着绷带、一脸恼火的西姆布兰蒂克下跳棋。 露辛达从阿瑟的书桌上拿起一幅小女孩的画。 “我简直不敢相信。一直以来我都不知道。” 他们打败马尔加拉斯已经三个星期了，贾里德终于开始觉得一切都会好起来的。 半兽人分散成一群争吵不休的人。 他们离开宫殿的时候拜伦已经走了，他似乎吃光了最后一只龙。 贾里德、西蒙、马洛里和他们的母亲都是从垃圾场走回家的。 他们走了很长一段路，太累了，一回到家，他们就瘫倒在一堆羽毛和布料上，没有抱怨，也没有评论。 杰瑞德终于醒来时，天已经黑了，他发现西姆布兰蒂克蜷缩在他身边的枕头上，西蒙那只小橘子酱猫依偎在小布朗尼蛋糕上。 杰瑞德笑了笑，深深吸了一口气，然后被羽毛噎住了。 他发现他妈妈正在楼下打扫

kitchen. When Jared had walked into the room, she had hugged him tightly. "I'm so sorry," she'd said. Even though it had kind of made him feel like a baby, he'd hugged her back for a long time. Later that week their mother had arranged for

厨房。杰瑞德走进房间时，她紧紧地拥抱了他。 “我很抱歉，”她说。 尽管这让他觉得自己像个婴儿，但他已经拥抱了她很长时间。 母亲安排的那个星期晚些时候

Lucinda to leave the asylum and come stay with them. Jared had been amazed to find his great-aunt, with a haircut and a new suit, sitting in the parlor one day after school. When Mulgarath died, his magic must have died with him, and although Lucinda often walked with a cane now, her back was as straight as it had ever been. Mrs. Grace had been less miraculous in curing Jared's school troubles; he had been expelled. His mother had enrolled him and Simon in a private school nearby. She claimed the school had excellent art and science programs. Mallory decided to stay at the old school. She only had one year till she was in high school anyway and plenty still to prove to the J. Waterhouse fencing team. For his part, Jared had locked Arthur's field guide in its metal trunk again. But after all that he still didn't know what to think. Were there creatures still after them? Had the ogre been the worst—or just the worst yet? A breeze blew through the office, scattering papers and snapping Jared out of his thoughts. Simon

露辛达离开精神病院和他们住在一起。 一天放学后，贾里德惊讶地发现，他的姑母剪了头发，穿了一套新西装，坐在客厅里。 马尔加拉斯死后，他的魔法一定也随他一起消失了。虽然露辛达现在经常拄着拐杖走路，但她的背还是和以前一样直。 格雷斯太太在治疗贾里德的学校问题上没有那么神奇；他被开除了。 他的母亲把他和西蒙送到附近的一所私立学校。 她声称学校有优秀的艺术和科学课程。 马洛里决定留在老学校。 反正她离高中也只有一年的时间了，还有很多事情要向J证明。 沃特豪斯击剑队。至于杰瑞德，他又把阿瑟的野外指南锁在了金属箱子里。 但尽管如此，他还是不知道该怎么想。 还有生物在追他们吗？ 食人魔是最坏的，还是迄今为止最坏的？ 一阵微风吹过办公室，吹散了文件，把杰瑞德从他的思绪中惊醒。 西蒙

jumped up, trying to catch hold of the letters. "Did you leave a window open?" their mother asked Aunt Lucinda. "I don't recall doing so," their great-aunt replied. "I'll get it," Mallory said, and started toward the window. Then a single leaf blew inside. It danced in the air, swooping and swirling, until it fell directly in front of Jared. The leaf was greenish brown, and Jared thought it might be from a maple tree. Written on the leaf in a delicate hand was Jared's name. He turned it over and read:

跳起来，想抓住那些信。 “你没关窗户吗？”母亲问露辛达姨妈。 “我不记得这样做过，”他们的姨婆回答。 “我去拿。”马洛里说着，朝窗户走去。 然后一片叶子被吹了进来。 它在空中跳舞，俯冲，旋转，直到它直接落在杰瑞德面前。 叶子是绿棕色的，贾里德认为它可能来自枫树。 叶子上用精致的笔迹写着杰瑞德的名字。 他把它翻过来读道：

"It doesn't say where," Mallory said, reading over his shoulder. "The grove, I guess," Jared said. "You're not going to go, are you?" Simon asked. "I'm going," said Jared. "I promised. I need to give them Arthur's field guide. I don't want anything like this to happen again." "Then we're going with you," said Simon. "I'm coming too," their mother said.

“上面没说在哪儿。”马洛里一边说，一边转过头看书。 “我想是树林吧。”贾里德说。 “你不打算去，是吗？”西蒙问。 “我要走了。”杰瑞德说。“我承诺。 我得把亚瑟的野外指南给他们。 我不希望这样的事情再次发生。” “那么我们和你一起去，”西蒙说。 “我也要去，”他们的妈妈说。