Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Dan felt like one of the Catacomb skulls — hollowed out inside. He was determined not to show it. He was embarrassed enough that he'd cried on the train platform. But he kept reaching for his backpack and it wasn't there. He couldn't stop thinking about his parents' picture, whisked away and lost in the Métro tunnels. Maybe it had been ripped to shreds, or maybe his parents would be smiling in the darkness forever with no company but the rats. All he'd wanted to do was make them proud. Now he didn't know if his parents would ever forgive him. The rain was still coming down. Thunder boomed across the sky. Every few minutes a flash of lightning would illuminate the Paris skyline.

丹觉得自己就像地下墓穴里的一个头骨——里面被掏空了。 他决定不表现出来。 他很尴尬，在火车站台上哭了。 但他一直伸手去拿背包，却不见了。 他不停地想着父母的照片，飞快地离开，迷失在姆萨姆特罗隧道里。 也许它已经被撕成碎片，也许他的父母将永远在黑暗中微笑，没有陪伴，只有老鼠。 他想做的只是让他们感到骄傲。 现在他不知道他的父母是否会原谅他。 雨还在下。 雷声隆隆地划过天空。 每隔几分钟，一道闪电就会照亮巴黎的天际线。

If Dan had been in a better mood, he would've wanted to explore Montmartre. It looked like a cool neighborhood. The whole area was one big hill, topped with a massive white-domed church that glowed in the rain. "That's where we're going?" Dan asked. Amy shook her head. "That's the Sacré-Coeur Basilica. The smaller church, St-Pierre, is just below it. You can't see it from here." "Two churches right together?" "Yeah." "Why wouldn't Franklin choose the big fancy one?" Amy shrugged. "Wasn't his style. He liked simple architecture. He would've thought it amusing to choose a small plain church in the shadow of a big fancy one." That didn't make much sense to Dan, but he was too wet and tired to argue. They hiked up the narrow streets, passing nightclubs with music blaring and neon signs that gleamed against the wet pavement. "I used to have a nightlife," Nellie sighed. As they climbed toward the top of the hill,

如果丹心情好一点，他就会想去探索蒙马特了。 它看起来像一个很酷的社区。 整个地区是一座大山，山顶是一座巨大的白色圆顶教堂，在雨中闪闪发光。 “那就是我们要去的地方？”丹问道。 艾米摇了摇头。“那是圣心大教堂。 较小的圣皮埃尔教堂就在它的下面。 你从这里看不到。” “两个教堂在一起？”“是的。” “富兰克林为什么不选那个又大又漂亮的呢？”艾米耸耸肩。 这不是他的风格。他喜欢简单的建筑。 他一定会觉得在一座华丽的大教堂的阴影下选择一座朴素的小教堂很有趣。” 这对丹来说没什么意义，但他又湿又累，没力气争辩。 他们沿着狭窄的街道往前走，经过几家夜总会，音乐震耳震耳，霓虹灯在潮湿的人行道上闪闪发光。 “我曾经有过夜生活，”内莉叹了口气。 当他们向山顶爬去时，

Amy told them what she knew about the neighborhood — how famous artists used to live here like Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, and Salvador Dali. Nellie pulled her raincoat tighter. "My mom told me another story—why it's called Montmartre, the Hill of the Martyr. She said Saint Denis was beheaded at the summit, right where we're going." That didn't sound like a very good omen. Dan wondered if they still kept the head in the church, and whether saints' heads really had haloes. A few minutes later they stood in a muddy graveyard, looking up at the dark silhouette of St- Pierre de Montmartre. The church was probably taller than it seemed, but with the white basilica towering on the hill behind it, St-Pierre looked short. It was made of gray stone slabs. A single square bell tower rose from the left-hand side, topped with a lightning rod and cross. Dan thought the building looked angry and resentful. If churches could frown, this one would. "How do we know where to look?" he asked. "Inside the sanctuary?" Nellie asked hopefully.

艾米告诉他们她对这个社区的了解——毕加索、文森特·梵高和萨尔瓦多·达利等著名艺术家曾经住在这里。 内莉把雨衣拉得更紧了。 “我妈妈给我讲了另一个故事——为什么叫蒙马特，殉道者的山。 她说圣丹尼斯在峰会上被斩首了，就在我们要去的地方。” 这听起来不是个好兆头。 丹想知道他们是否还在教堂里保留着这个头，圣徒的头是否真的有光环。 几分钟后，他们站在一片泥泞的墓地里，抬头望着蒙马特尔圣皮埃尔的黑影。 这座教堂可能比看上去要高，但由于它背后的小山上耸立着白色的大殿，圣皮埃尔教堂显得很矮。 它是用灰色石板砌成的。 左手边耸立着一座方形钟楼，塔顶有避雷针和十字架。 丹觉得整栋楼看起来很生气，充满怨恨。 如果教堂会皱眉，这座教堂也会。 “我们怎么知道去哪里找？”他问。 “在圣所里面？”内莉满怀希望地问。

"At least we'd be out of the rain." BOOM! Thunder rolled across the rooftops. Lightning flashed, and in that second, Dan saw something. "There," he said. "That tombstone." "Dan," Amy complained, "this is no time for your collection!" But he ran to a marble marker. If he hadn't been a tombstone admirer, he never would've noticed it. There were no dates. No name. At first, Dan thought the figure carved at the top was an angel, but the shape was wrong. It was weathered and worn, but he could still tell— "Entwined serpents," Amy gasped. "The Lucian crest. And there—" She knelt and traced an arrow carved at the base of the marker—an arrow pointing down into the earth. Amy and Dan looked at each other and nodded. "Oh, you're kidding," Nellie said. "You're not really going to—" "Dig up a grave," Dan said.

“至少我们不用再下雨了。” 繁荣!雷声从屋顶上滚过。 闪电闪过，就在那一瞬间，丹看到了什么。 “好了，”他说。“那墓碑。” “丹，”艾米抱怨道，“现在不是你收藏的时候！”但他跑向一个大理石标记。 如果他不是一个墓碑崇拜者，他永远不会注意到。 没有日期。没有名字。 起初，丹认为雕刻在顶部的人物是天使，但形状是错误的。 它已经饱经风霜，磨损不堪，但他仍然看得出来——“缠绕在一起的蛇，”艾美喘着气说。 “卢西安的徽章。在那儿——”她跪下来，描画着记号笔底部刻着的一支箭——一支直指大地的箭。 艾米和丹面面相觑，点了点头。 “哦，你在开玩笑吧，”内莉说。 “你不会真的要——”“挖个坟墓吧，”丹说。

They found a toolshed around the side of the church. They borrowed a shovel, a couple of gardening spades, and a flashlight that actually worked. Soon they were back at the graveside, digging in the mud. The rain made it hard going. In no time, they were completely filthy. It reminded Dan of the good old days when Amy and he were young. They used to have mud battles and their au pair would shriek in horror and make them spend the evening in a bubble bath, getting cleaned up. Dan didn't think Nellie was going to make them a bubble bath tonight. Slowly, the hole got deeper. It kept filling with water, but finally Dan's shovel struck stone. He scraped away the mud and found a marble slab about four feet long by three feet wide. "Too small for a coffin," Amy said. "Unless it's for a kid," Dan said. "I could fit in there." "Don't say that!" Dan wiped the mud off his face, which just made it muddier. "Only one way to find out." He worked the spade under the edge of the slab until

他们在教堂旁边发现了一个工具棚。 他们借了一把铲子、两把园艺锹和一个能用的手电筒。 不久，他们就回到了墓地边，在泥里挖土。 雨使路走得很艰难。 不一会儿，它们就变得很脏。 这让丹想起了他和艾米年轻时的美好时光。 他们过去常常打泥巴仗，他们的保姆会惊恐地尖叫，让他们整晚泡在泡泡浴里，把自己洗得干干净净。 丹认为内莉今晚不会给他们做泡泡浴。 慢慢地，洞越挖越深。 它不停地往里灌水，但最后丹的铲子碰到了一块石头。 他刮去泥土，发现一块大约四英尺长，三英尺宽的大理石板。 “太小了，装不进棺材，”艾米说。 “除非是给孩子的，”丹说。 “我可以挤进去。”“别这么说！”丹擦去脸上的泥，这使他的脸更泥泞了。 “只有一个办法能知道。” 他用铁锹在石板边缘下挖，直到

he found a crack and then started to pry. "I need help." Amy joined him. Nellie got the shovel into the crack and together they heaved the slab aside. Beneath was a square hole, but it wasn't a grave. Stairs led down, into the darkness of the Catacombs. As soon as they reached the bottom, Dan swept the flashlight around the room. It was a square chamber hewn from limestone, with a tunnel exiting to the left and the right. There were no stacks of bones, but the walls were painted with faded murals. In the center was an ornately carved stone pedestal about three feet high. On the top sat a porcelain vase. "Don't touch it!" Amy said. "It might be booby-trapped." Dan edged closer to the vase. "It's decorated with little Franklins." He could make out Ben holding a kite in a storm, Ben in a fur cap, Ben waving a cane over the ocean like he was doing some kind of magic trick.

他发现了一条裂缝，然后开始撬。 “我需要帮助。”艾米也加入了他。 内莉把铁锹伸到裂缝里，他们一起把石板抬到一边。 下面是一个方洞，但不是坟墓。 楼梯向下延伸，进入黑暗的地下墓穴。 他们一到达底部，丹就拿着手电筒在房间里扫了一圈。 这是一个用石灰石凿成的方形房间，左边和右边各有一条隧道。 没有成堆的尸骨，但墙上画着褪色的壁画。 在中心是一个雕刻华丽的石头基座，大约有三英尺高。 顶部放着一个瓷瓶。 “别碰它！”艾米说。 “这可能是陷阱。” 丹慢慢靠近花瓶。 “上面装饰着小富兰克林。” 他能辨认出本在暴风雨中拿着风筝，本戴着皮帽，本在海面上挥舞着手杖，就像在变魔术一样。