Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 Amy lined up listening devices on the desk. After Nellie had destroyed the Kabra bug, the Cahill kids had belatedly searched the entire hotel room, as they should have from the very beginning. They'd found three more bugs: an ingeniously tiny one inside a lamp; an elegant one on a picture frame that Amy had originally thought was part of the artwork; and, under the bed, a rather crude one that looked like it might have been built by a football player with thick fingers. "Ekat," Amy said, pointing at the ingenious one. "Janus," Dan said, pointing at the artistic one. "Tomas," Nellie said, pointing at the crude one and rolling her eyes. "And the Kabra one was Lucian, so that's everybody," Amy said. They were naming off branches of the Cahill family—the other branches searching for the

艾米在桌子上把监听设备排成一排。 内莉销毁了卡布拉的窃听器后，卡希尔家的孩子们迟来搜查了整个酒店房间，他们从一开始就应该这样做。 他们又发现了三只虫子：一只巧妙地小在一盏灯里；一张优雅的照片挂在相框上，艾米原本以为是艺术品的一部分；在床底下，有一个相当粗糙的盒子，看起来像是一个手指粗的足球运动员做的。 “Ekat，”艾米指着那个精巧的盒子说。 “杰纳斯，”丹说，指着那个有艺术气息的。 “托马斯，"耐莉指着那只粗糙的说，翻了个白眼。 “卡布拉家的那个是卢西恩，所以是所有人，”艾米说。 他们在给卡希尔家族的分支命名——其他分支在寻找

Clues. Each branch was descended from one of the four feuding children of Gideon and Olivia Cahill: Katherine, Jane, Thomas, and Luke. Only the Madrigals—Amy and Dan's branch— knew that there'd also been a fifth sibling born after the family fell apart: Madeleine. My ancestor, Amy thought. It was nice to know where she fit. She'd been longing for that knowledge ever since the Clue hunt began. But do I really fit if I don't try to do what the Madrigals want? she wondered. Dan shoved the three bugs a little closer together on the desk. He raised his fist above them, ready to smash them all in one blow. "Three, two, one…" he counted down dramatically. At the very last minute before his hand hit the bugs, Amy grabbed his wrist. "What are you doing?" he asked, trying to jerk away from her. "Are you nuts?" "I have to talk to you," Amy said. She gestured toward the bathroom and pulled on his wrist. Dan

的线索。每个分支都是吉迪恩和奥利维亚·卡希尔四个不和的孩子中的一个的后裔：凯瑟琳、简、托马斯和卢克。 只有牧歌家——艾米和丹的分支——知道在家庭破裂后还有第五个兄弟姐妹出生：玛德琳。 我的祖先，艾米想。很高兴知道她适合哪里。 自从寻找线索开始，她就一直渴望知道这一点。 但如果我不按牧歌的要求去做，我真的适合吗？ 她想知道。丹把三只虫子推得更近一些。 他把拳头举过他们，准备一拳把他们全都打倒。 “三，二，一……”他戏剧性地倒数着。 在他的手碰到虫子之前的最后一分钟，艾米抓住了他的手腕。 “你在干什么？”他问道，试图挣脱她。 “你疯了吗？”“我得跟你谈谈，”艾米说。 她指了指浴室，拉了拉他的手腕。 丹

frowned but followed along. Nellie pointed to herself and raised her eyebrows as if to ask, "Me, too?" Amy nodded. In the bathroom, Amy turned on the faucets in the sink and the bathtub full blast. Together, they made a sound like a waterfall. Nellie and Dan had to lean in close to hear what Amy was saying. There was no danger her words would be picked up by any bug. "If we're just trying to make sure the Kabras don't win, should we throw some help to the other teams? Let them know our lead?" she asked. "And… doesn't that fit with what the Madrigals want us to do?" "Are you kidding?" Dan said. "You want to just give away our hard work?" "What if you share your answers and then, I don't know, the horrible Holts end up ruling the world?" Nellie asked. The Holts were the Tomas representatives: Eisenhower and Mary-Todd Holt and their three kids— Hamilton, Reagan, and Madison.

皱起眉头，但还是跟着走了。 内莉指了指自己，扬起眉毛，好像在问：“我也是吗？”艾米点点头。 在浴室里，艾米打开了水槽的水龙头，把浴缸的水开到最大。 他们一起发出瀑布般的声音。 内莉和丹不得不凑近身子听艾米在说什么。 她的话不会有被窃听器听到的危险。 “如果我们只是想确保卡布拉队不赢，我们是不是应该给其他队一些帮助？” 让他们知道我们的线索？”她问。 “而且……这不符合牧歌希望我们做的吗？”“你在开玩笑吧？”丹说。 “你想让我们的努力付诸东流吗？”“如果你分享了你的答案，然后，我不知道，可怕的霍尔特人最终统治了世界呢？”内莉问道。 霍尔特夫妇是托马斯家族的代表：艾森豪威尔、玛丽-托德·霍尔特夫妇和他们的三个孩子——汉密尔顿、里根和麦迪逊。

"Hamilton's not so bad," Dan said. "Okay, but Eisenhower?" Nellie said. Eisenhower Holt was a muscle-bound, knuckle headed buffoon. And he was there when Mom and Dad died, Amy thought. She clenched her fists, as if that could smash the Holts' clumsily made bug. "Uncle Alistair can be okay," Dan offered. "He hasn't betrayed us… recently." Alistair Oh, an Ekat, had teamed up with them more than anyone else. But he'd also double- crossed them again and again. Then, during a horrifying fire on an Indonesian island, he'd made sure that they got to safety before him. He'd even seemed willing to sacrifice his life for theirs. Was that enough to redeem him? He lied to us in China after that, Amy thought. And he was also there when Mom and Dad died. He didn't start the fire that killed them, but… he didn't save them, either. "How do you know the Ekat bug is Alistair's, not Bae Oh's?" Nellie asked, making a face. Bae Oh was Alistair's uncle and a completely

“汉密尔顿还不错，”丹说。 “好吧，那艾森豪威尔呢？”内莉说。 艾森豪威尔·霍尔特（Eisenhower Holt）是一个肌肉发达、笨手笨脚的小丑。 爸爸妈妈去世的时候他也在场，艾米想。 她握紧了拳头，仿佛这样就能打碎霍尔特夫妇笨拙地制造出来的虫子。 “阿利斯泰尔叔叔会没事的。”丹说。 “他没有背叛我们……最近没有。” 阿利斯泰尔·欧，一个叫伊卡特的人，和他们合作得比任何人都多。 但他也一次又一次地欺骗了他们。 然后，在印度尼西亚的一个岛上发生了一场可怕的火灾，他确保他们比他先到达安全地带。 他甚至愿意为他们牺牲自己的生命。 这足以救赎他吗？ 在那之后，他在中国对我们撒了谎，艾米想。 爸爸妈妈去世的时候他也在。 他没有放火烧死他们，但他也没有救他们。 “你怎么知道Ekat的窃听器是阿利斯泰尔的，而不是裴·吴的？”内利做了个鬼脸问。 裴欧是阿利斯泰尔的叔叔，也是个彻头彻尾的

unpleasant old man. He would have let Amy and Dan die in Egypt if Nellie hadn't rescued them. Amy's fists clenched tighter. The Ekat bug would have to be destroyed, too. "So that leaves the Janus," Nellie said. "You want to tip off Jonah Wizard? Want to let him add 'king of the world' to all his other titles?" Jonah Wizard was already an international hip- hop star, bestselling pop-up book author, and Pez dispenser model. The only thing bigger than his fame was his ego. Amy waited for Dan to defend Jonah so she could squash his arguments flat. Dan had kind of bonded with Jonah in China. But Dan just got a stunned look on his face. "Whoa," he said. "Are you sure Jonah's still on the hunt? When was the last time we saw him looking for a clue?" "He wasn't in Tibet. Or the Bahamas. Or Jamaica," Nellie mused. "Could the great Jonah Wizard actually have given up?" "There's a bug out there that has 'Janus' written all over it," Amy pointed out.

讨厌的老头。如果不是内莉救了艾米和丹，他会让他们死在埃及的。 艾米的拳头攥得更紧了。 Ekat虫也必须被摧毁。 “那就剩下两面神了，”内莉说。 “你想给巫师约拿通风报信吗？” 想让他在其他头衔上再加上‘世界之王’吗？”乔纳巫师已经是一个国际嘻哈明星，畅销立体书的作者，和Pez自动售货机的模特。 唯一比他的名声更重要的是他的自负。 艾米等着丹为乔纳辩护，这样她就能粉碎他的论点。 丹和约拿在中国的时候有点交情。 但丹只是一脸惊愕。 “哇，”他说。“你肯定约拿还在打猎吗？” 我们最后一次看到他寻找线索是什么时候？”“他不在西藏。 或者巴哈马群岛。或者牙买加，”内莉若有所思地说。 “伟大的巫师约拿真的会放弃吗？”“外面有个虫子，上面写着‘Janus’，”艾米指出。

"Maybe Cora Wizard is doing her own dirty work now," Nellie said. Cora Wizard. Jonah's mother. Amy could barely remember ever meeting the woman. No, wait. She could. That night, Amy thought. I saw her there the night our parents died, too. Amy had to grip the counter. She felt the blood drain from her face. "We can't let Cora Wizard win," she whispered. Nellie and Dan looked at her. Both of them seemed to understand instantly. "So that's it. You can't trust any of the other teams," Nellie said. "Not really. Not all together." "Duh," Dan said. "We knew that a month ago." Amy blinked back something that might have been tears. She hoped Nellie and Dan would just think it was steam from the sink and bathtub faucets running full blast. "Then how do the Madrigals possibly think we can—" she began. "Power," Dan said. "We have to win. And then

“也许科拉·奇才现在正在做她自己的肮脏工作，”内莉说。 科拉向导。约拿的母亲。 艾米几乎不记得曾经见过那个女人。 不,等等。她可以。那天晚上，艾米想。 我们父母死的那晚，我也在那儿见过她。 艾米不得不抓住柜台。 她感到血从脸上流了出来。 “我们不能让科拉赢。”她小声说。 内莉和丹看着她。 他们俩似乎立刻就明白了。 “就是这样。你不能相信其他任何一支球队，”内利说。 “不是真的。不是全部都在一起。” “废话，”丹说。“我们一个月前就知道了。” 艾米眨了眨眼睛，好像是眼泪。 她希望内莉和丹会以为那是水槽和浴缸水龙头里的蒸汽在开大。 “那么牧歌们怎么可能认为我们能——”她开始说。 “权力，”丹说。“我们必须赢。 然后