Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16 For Amy, it was like seeing all her least favorite Shakespeare villains come to life. With their faces shadowed, Mary-Todd, Reagan, and Madison Holt reminded her of the three witches from Macbeth. Alistair was like mad King Lear, who punished the child who loved him best. Hamilton was like Brutus from Julius Caesar, the supposed friend who joined in the murder plot. Jonah was like the two-faced Richard III, who pretended to be a good guy but killed off one relative after another. Sinead was like… Amy remembered this wasn't English class. She didn't have time to come up with analogies for everyone. Did she and Dan have time to save their own lives? Amy threw the flashlight down on the floor, so the beam of light pointed out toward the other teams. She and Dan were in total darkness.

第十六章对艾美来说，这就像看到她最不喜欢的莎士比亚作品中的恶棍都活过来了。 玛丽·托德、里根和麦迪逊·霍尔特的脸都蒙上了阴影，这让她想起了《麦克白》中的三个女巫。 阿利斯泰尔就像疯狂的李尔王，惩罚最爱他的孩子。 汉密尔顿就像恺撒大帝的布鲁图斯，他被认为是朋友，却参与了谋杀阴谋。 约拿就像两面派的理查三世，他假装是个好人，却杀死了一个又一个亲戚。 西尼德说艾米记得这不是英语课 她没有时间为每个人想出类比。 她和丹有时间挽救自己的生命吗？ 艾米把手电筒扔到地板上，所以光束指向其他球队。 她和丹完全处于黑暗之中。

"Amy, Dan— we don't want to hurt you," Alistair called. "Of course not," Amy yelled back. "Did you want to hurt our parents seven years ago?" Shouting that made her voice shake. And it made her ears ring, so she couldn't hear what, if anything, Alistair said in reply. No time to think about that, Amy told herself. No time to feel. Just… plan. Amy bent down and picked up the delicate ribbon from the floor. The end of the ribbon was already coming unraveled. "Dan!" she whispered. "Did you get a good look at this? Enough to memorize the letters?" "I think so," he whispered back. "I'm pretty sure." "Sure enough that it's okay if I destroy it?" Amy asked. Dan glanced at the ribbon quickly. "Go ahead," he whispered. Amy put one end of the ribbon under the vase holding the bouquet of flowers. She grabbed the

“艾米，丹——我们不想伤害你们。”阿利斯泰尔喊道。 “当然不是，”艾米喊道。 “七年前你想伤害我们的父母吗？”叫得她声音颤抖。 这让她的耳朵嗡嗡作响，所以她听不见什么，如果有的话，阿利斯泰尔回答说。 没时间想这些了，艾米对自己说。 没有时间去感受。只是…计划。 艾米弯下腰，从地板上捡起精致的丝带。 缎带的末端已经散开了。 “丹！”她低声说。“你看清楚了吗？” 足以记住这些字母吗？”“我想是的。”他小声回答。 “我很确定。”“我真的可以毁掉它吗？”艾米问。 丹迅速瞥了一眼缎带。 “说吧。”他低声说。艾米把丝带的一端放在装着花束的花瓶下面。 她抓住了

metal pole from the coffin top and handed it to Dan. "Swing it at them if you have to," she told him grimly. Then she picked up the flashlight and directed the beam of light toward the end of the ribbon she still held in her hand. "This is the next lead," she called out to her relatives. "If you get up here in time, maybe you can stop me from unraveling all of it!" She pulled on the ribbon end that wasn't under the vase. It obligingly separated out into individual threads. She kept her end of the unraveling ribbon firmly between her fingers. Then she dropped the flashlight and grabbed Dan's hand. "Run!" she yelled at him. Dan was halfway down the side aisle of the church before he figured out what Amy was trying to do. He knew she was unraveling the ribbon, leaving a trail of thread behind them as they ran. But why? Oh, yeah, he thought. She's trying to get

从棺材顶上取下一根金属杆递给丹。 “如果有必要，就朝他们挥吧，”她冷酷地对他说。 然后她拿起手电筒，把光束对准她仍然握在手里的丝带的末端。 “这是下一条线索，”她对亲戚们喊道。 “如果你及时赶到这里，也许你能阻止我解开这一切！”她拉了拉不在花瓶下面的丝带。 它亲切地分成单独的线程。 她紧紧地用手指夹住正在散开的丝带的那一端。 然后她放下手电筒，抓住丹的手。 “快跑！”她对他喊道。丹走到教堂侧廊的一半，才明白艾米想做什么。 他知道她正在解开丝带，在他们跑的时候，身后留下了一串线。 但是为什么呢?哦，是啊，他想。 她想要

everyone to run up to the front of the church to save what's left of the ribbon, instead of chasing us. She's buying us time to get away. Was it working? Dan and Amy reached the door without Dan having to swing the metal pole even once. All right, Amy! Dan thought. He almost regretted calling her pigeon-livered. "Let's hide in the cemetery," Dan hissed to her. "No—keep running," Amy whispered. "We've got to get back to Nellie. We've got to get out of Stratford." Dan couldn't see how that would work. Sure, the other Clue hunters hadn't caught them yet. But any of the Holts could run faster than Dan and Amy. Probably Ian and Jonah and the Starlings could, too. If this turned into a flat-out race, Dan and Amy would lose. They sprinted through the cemetery and burst out the gate to the street outside. Dan could already hear footsteps behind them, getting closer and closer. "Turn left!" Dan whispered to Amy. "Everyone

每个人都跑到教堂前面去救剩下的彩带，而不是追着我们跑。 她在为我们争取时间逃跑。 它有效吗？丹和艾米走到门口，丹一次也没动金属杆。 好了，艾米！丹的想法。 他几乎后悔说她胆小。 “我们躲到墓地里去吧，”丹低声对她说。 “不——继续跑，”艾米低声说。 “我们得回去找内莉。 我们必须离开斯特拉特福德。” 丹看不出这是怎么回事。 当然，其他线索猎人还没有抓到他们。 但霍尔特家的任何一个人都能跑得比丹和艾米快。 也许伊恩，约拿和星鸟们也可以。 如果这变成了一场激烈的比赛，丹和艾米会输的。 他们冲过墓地，冲出大门，来到外面的街道上。 丹已经能听到他们身后的脚步声，越来越近了。 “向左转!”丹低声对艾米说。 “每个人都

would expect us to turn right, so we've got to fool them!" Amy cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "But if anyone's close enough to see—" A car down the street suddenly turned on its headlights, pinning Amy and Dan in the bright beams. "Oh, no— get out of the light!" Amy yelled. A figure stepped out of the car. "Amy! Dan! Over here!" It was Nellie. The old man sat beside the open grave, his face buried in his hands. Fifteen generations. That was how long his family had been working at Holy Trinity Church. His father, his grandmother, his great-grandmother, his great- great-grandfather… all the way back to the 1600s. All of them had watched over Shakespeare's grave and watched over his Madrigal secrets.

他们以为我们会向右转，所以我们得骗过他们！”艾米迅速地回头瞥了一眼。 “但如果有人离得够近能看到——”街上的一辆车突然打开了前灯，把艾米和丹照在了明亮的光束里。 “哦，不——躲到光里去！”艾米喊道。 一个人影从车里走了出来。 “艾米!丹!在这里!”是内莉。 老人坐在敞开的坟墓旁，双手捂着脸。 十五代人。这就是他的家人在圣三一教堂工作的时间。 他的父亲，他的祖母，他的曾祖母，他的曾曾祖父……一直追溯到17世纪。 他们都曾守护过莎士比亚的坟墓，守护过他的牧歌秘密。

As Cahill accomplishments went, it wasn't much. Their tiny offshoot branch of Madrigals had produced no Shakespeares of their own. But the old man's family, generation after generation, had been loyal and hardworking and true. They took their pride in that. Every five years they would replace a decaying old ribbon with a newer one, after meticulously copying down a string of letters. Once or twice they had made strategic decisions to modernize, updating even what was printed on the ribbon. But mostly, for fifteen generations, they had waited. The old man had been so sure that this would be the night everyone was waiting for. He picked up a wisp of thread still lingering by the grave. Ruin, he thought. All our hopes in ruin. But his family had had their hopes dashed before. They had learned the value of backup plans. He went to the church gift shop and reached under the desk to pull out a very precise length of satin ribbon. Then he went to a secret

就卡希尔的成就而言，这并不算多。 他们的牧歌小分支没有产生自己的莎士比亚。 但老人的家人，一代又一代，一直是忠诚、勤劳和真诚的。 他们为此感到自豪。 每隔五年，他们就会在一丝不苟地抄下一串字母后，用一条新的丝带替换一条腐朽的旧丝带。 有一两次，他们做出了现代化的战略决定，甚至更新了印在彩带上的东西。 但大多数情况下，他们已经等了十五代人。 老人一直很确定，这将是每个人都在等待的夜晚。 他拾起一缕仍在坟墓旁徘徊的线。 毁灭，他想。我们所有的希望都破灭了。 但他的家人以前也曾希望破灭过。 他们懂得了后备计划的价值。 他来到教堂的礼品店，伸手到桌子下面拿出一条长度非常精确的缎带。 然后他谈到了一个秘密