Chapter 3

Chapter 3, Amy Cahill thought she had the most annoying little brother on the planet. And that was before he almost got her killed. It all started when Mr. McIntyre read their grandmother's will and showed them the video. Amy sat there in shock. She found herself holding a green slip of paper worth one million dollars. A challenge? A dangerous secret? What was going on? She stared at the blank projector screen. She couldn't believe her grandmother would do something like this. The video must have been made months ago, judging from the way Grace had looked. Seeing her on the screen like that had stung Amy worse than salt in a cut. How could Grace have been planning something this huge and not have warned them in advance?

第三章，艾米·卡希尔认为她有一个世界上最讨厌的弟弟。 那是在他差点害死她之前。 这一切都始于麦金太尔宣读了他们祖母的遗嘱，并给他们看了那段视频。 艾米震惊地坐在那里。她发现自己手里拿着一张价值一百万美元的绿色纸条。 一个挑战吗?一个危险的秘密？ 发生了什么事？她盯着空白的投影仪屏幕。 她不敢相信祖母会做出这样的事。 从格蕾丝的样子来看，视频肯定是几个月前拍的。 看到她那样出现在银幕上，艾美比伤口上的盐更难受。 格蕾丝怎么能计划这么大的事却不提前通知他们？

Amy never expected to inherit much. All she wanted was something to remember Grace by—a keepsake, maybe one piece of her beautiful jewelry. Now this … she felt completely lost. It didn't help that Dan was jumping around like he needed to go to the restroom. "One million dollars!" he squealed. "I could get a Mickey Mantle rookie card and a Babe Ruth 1914!" His tie was crooked, which matched his crooked grin. He had a scar under one eye from when he'd gone commando-raiding at seven and fallen on his plastic AK-47. That's just the kind of little demon he was. But what Amy really resented was how comfortable he seemed, like all these people didn't bother him. Amy hated crowds. She felt like everyone was watching her, waiting for her to make a fool of herself. Sometimes in her nightmares, she dreamed she was at the bottom of a pit, and all the people she knew were staring down at her, laughing. She'd try to climb out of the pit, but she could never make it. Right now, all she wanted to do was run up to Grace's library, close the door, and curl up with a

艾米从没想过会继承很多遗产。 她只想要一些东西来纪念格蕾丝——一个纪念品，也许是她的一件漂亮的珠宝。 现在，她感到完全迷失了。 丹跳来跳去，好像他要去洗手间一样。 “一百万美元！”他尖叫道。 “我可以得到一张米奇·曼特尔的新秀卡和一张贝比·鲁斯1914年的棒球卡！”他的领带歪着，和他歪着的笑容很相配。 他的一只眼睛下面有一道伤疤，那是他七岁参加突击行动时被他的塑料AK-47冲锋枪砸中而留下的。 他就是这样的小恶魔。 但艾米真正讨厌的是他显得那么自在，好像所有这些人都不会打扰他似的。 艾米讨厌人群。她觉得每个人都在看着她，等着她出洋相。 有时在她的噩梦中，她梦见自己在一个坑的底部，所有她认识的人都盯着她，笑着。 她试着从坑里爬出来，但她永远也爬不出来。 现在，她只想跑到格蕾丝的书房，关上门，蜷成一团

book. She wanted to find Saladin, Grace's Egyptian Mau, and cuddle with him. But Grace was dead, and the poor cat … who knew where he was now? She blinked tears out of her eyes, thinking about the last time she'd seen her grandmother. You will make me proud, Amy, Grace had said. They'd been sitting on Grace's big four- poster bed, with Saladin purring next to them. Grace had shown her a hand-drawn map of Africa and told her stories about the adventures she'd had when she was a young explorer. Grace had looked thin and frail, but the fire in her eyes was as fierce as ever. The sunlight turned her hair to pure silver. I had many adventures, my dear, but they will pale next to yours. Amy wanted to cry. How could Grace think that Amy would have great adventures? She could barely muster enough courage to go to school every morning. "I could get a ninja sword," Dan kept babbling. "Or a Civil War saber!" "Dan, shut up," she said. "This is serious." "But the money—"

书。她想找到萨拉丁，格蕾丝的埃及毛，拥抱他。 可是格蕾丝死了，那只可怜的猫……谁知道它现在在哪儿？ 她眨了眨眼睛，想着最后一次见到祖母的情景。 “你会让我感到骄傲的，艾米，”格蕾丝说。 他们一直坐在格蕾丝的四柱大床上，萨拉丁在他们旁边打呼噜。 格蕾丝给她看了一张手绘的非洲地图，给她讲了她年轻时的探险经历。 格蕾丝看上去又瘦又虚弱，但她眼中的火焰却一如既往地炽烈。 阳光把她的头发染成了纯银。 我有过许多冒险经历，亲爱的，但与你的相比就逊色多了。 艾米想哭。格蕾丝怎么会认为艾米会有伟大的冒险呢？ 她每天早上几乎都不能鼓起足够的勇气去上学。 “我可以弄到一把忍者剑，”丹不停地说。 “或者是一把内战时期的军刀！”“丹，闭嘴，”她说。 “这很严重。”“可是钱——”

"I know," she said. "But if we took the money, we'd need to keep it for college and stuff. You know how Aunt Beatrice is." Dan frowned like he'd forgotten. He knew good and well that Aunt Beatrice only looked after them for Grace's sake. Amy always wished Grace had adopted them after their parents died, but she hadn't. For reasons she never explained, she'd pressured Beatrice into being their guardian instead. For the last seven years, Dan and Amy had been at Beatrice's mercy, living in a tiny little apartment with a series of au pairs. Beatrice paid for everything, but she didn't pay much. Amy and Dan got enough to eat and a new set of clothes every six months, but that was it. No birthday presents. No special treats. No allowance. They went to regular public school and Amy never had extra money to buy books. She used the public library, or sometimes she'd hang out at the second-hand bookshop on Boylston, where the staff knew her. Dan made a little money on his own trading collectible cards, but it wasn't much. Every weekday for seven years, Amy had

“我知道，”她说。“但如果我们拿了这笔钱，我们就得留着上大学之类的。 你知道比阿特丽斯姨妈是怎样的人。” 丹皱起眉头，好像忘记了。 他很清楚比阿特丽斯姨妈照顾他们是为了格蕾丝。 艾米一直希望格蕾丝在他们父母去世后收养他们，但她没有。 出于她从未解释过的原因，她迫使比阿特丽斯成为他们的监护人。 在过去的七年里，丹和艾米一直受比阿特丽斯的摆布，和一些互惠生一起住在一间很小的公寓里。 比阿特丽斯付了所有的钱，但她付得不多。 艾米和丹吃饱了，每六个月换一套新衣服，但仅此而已。 没有生日礼物。没有特殊待遇。 没有津贴。他们上的是普通的公立学校，艾米从来没有多余的钱买书。 她使用公共图书馆，或者有时她会在博伊尔斯顿的二手书店闲逛，那里的工作人员都认识她。 丹通过自己的收藏卡牌交易赚了一点钱，但并不多。 七年来的每个工作日，艾米都会

resented Grace for not raising them herself, but every weekend Amy just couldn't stay mad at her. When they came to the mansion, Grace gave them undivided attention. She treated them like the most important people in the world. Whenever Amy got up the courage to ask why they couldn't stay with Grace all the time, Grace just smiled sadly. There are reasons, dear. Someday, you will understand. Now Grace was gone. Amy didn't know what Aunt Beatrice would do, but they could definitely use money. It would mean they'd have some independence. They could get a bigger apartment, maybe. They could buy books whenever they wanted and even go to college. Amy was desperate to go to Harvard. She wanted to study history and archaeology. Her mom would've liked that. At least … Amy hoped she would have. Amy knew so little about her parents. She didn't even know why she and Dan carried their mom's maiden name — Cahill — when their dad's last name had been Trent. She'd asked Grace about it once, but Grace had only smiled. "It's how your

对格蕾丝没有亲自抚养他们感到不满，但每个周末艾米都忍不住生她的气。 当他们来到豪宅时，格蕾丝给了他们全心全意的关注。 她像对待世界上最重要的人一样对待他们。 每当艾米鼓起勇气问为什么他们不能一直和格蕾丝在一起时，格蕾丝只是悲伤地笑了笑。 这是有原因的，亲爱的。总有一天，你会明白的。 现在格蕾丝走了。艾米不知道比阿特丽斯姨妈会怎么做，但他们肯定需要钱。 这意味着他们会有一些独立性。 也许他们可以找个更大的公寓。 他们可以随时买书，甚至可以上大学。 艾米非常想去哈佛。 她想学习历史和考古学。 她妈妈会喜欢的。 至少艾米希望她会这么做。 艾米对她的父母知之甚少。 她甚至不知道为什么她和丹都用妈妈的娘家姓卡希尔，而他们爸爸的姓是特伦特。 她曾经问过格蕾丝，但格蕾丝只是笑了笑。 “这就是你的

parents wanted it," she said. But the stubborn pride in her voice made Amy wonder if it had really been Grace's idea for them to carry the Cahill name. Amy had trouble remembering her mother's face, or anything about her parents before the terrible night they died. And that was something Amy tried hard not to think about. "Okay," Dan said slowly. "So I'll spend my million on my collection. You can spend yours on college. And everybody's happy." Amy felt heartsick. Arguments were breaking out all over the room. The Holts looked like they were conducting a combat exercise. Sinead Starling was holding her brothers, Ned and Ted, apart so they wouldn't strangle each other. Irina Spasky was talking in rapid-fire Russian to that kid from the reality TV show, Jonah Wizard, and his dad, but from the way they were staring back at her, it was obvious they didn't speak Russian. Angry voices filled the Great Hall. It was like they were tearing up Grace bit by bit, squabbling over her inheritance. They didn't care at all that Amy's grandmother had just passed away.

父母们想要它，”她说。 但她声音里顽固的骄傲让艾米怀疑，让他们继承卡希尔这个名字，是不是格蕾丝的主意。 艾米记不起她母亲的脸，也记不起她父母在那个可怕的夜晚死去之前的任何事情。 这是艾米努力不去想的事情。 “好吧，”丹慢慢地说。“所以我要把我的一百万花在我的收藏上。 你可以把钱花在大学上。 每个人都很开心。”艾米感到很伤心。 房间里到处都在争吵。 霍尔特一家看起来像是在进行战斗演习。 西尼德·斯塔林把她的兄弟内德和泰德分开，以免他们互相勒死。 伊琳娜·斯帕斯基正在用俄语和真人秀节目《巫师约拿》里的孩子和他爸爸快速交谈，但从他们盯着她的眼神来看，很明显他们不会说俄语。 礼堂里充满了愤怒的声音。 就像他们在一点一点地撕裂格蕾丝，为她的遗产争吵。 他们一点也不关心艾米的祖母刚刚去世。