Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17 Amy was no longer in Venice. She stood in a strange underground chamber hewn into the native limestone beneath a church in the Montmartre section of Paris. On the wall before her was a faded mural of four siblings named Cahill. Luke, Thomas, Jane, and Katherine — the ancestors of the family branches, Lucian, Tomas, Janus, and Ekaterina. And in the distance, a burning house. Even then, centuries ago — conflict, violence, tragedy. We're still at each other's throats — this time over the 39 Clues. What were they fighting about back then? The image shifted to a different burning building. With a stab of pain, Amy recognized her own childhood home. Her poor parents, trapped inside

第十七章艾美已经不在威尼斯了。 她站在一个奇怪的地下房间里，这个房间是在巴黎蒙马特区的一座教堂下面的天然石灰岩中凿成的。 在她面前的墙上是一幅褪色的壁画，画的是四个名叫卡希尔的兄弟姐妹。 卢克，托马斯，简和凯瑟琳——家族分支的祖先，卢西安，托马斯，Janus和Ekaterina。 远处，一座着火的房子。 即使在那时，几个世纪以前——冲突，暴力，悲剧。 我们还在互相掐架——这次是为了39条线索。 他们当时在吵什么？ 画面切换到另一座燃烧的建筑物。 一阵剧痛刺痛着艾米，她认出了自己童年的家。 她可怜的父母被困在里面

Through her anguish, she struggled for logic. How can I remember this? I wasn't a spectator at that fire! I had to be pulled out of it! Amy and Dan had been rescued. Mom and Dad … The blast of grief was too powerful — a gale-force wind that could not be withstood. Make it stop— The picture changed to something she recalled all too well. The funeral — dark clouds, dark suits, and dark veils. Tears — so many, and yet not enough, not nearly. Somber faces — four-year-old Dan, too young to comprehend the scope of the heartbreak that had befallen them; Grace, now dead and gone herself; awful Aunt Beatrice; Mr. McIntyre, friend or enemy? It was impossible to be sure…. Far beyond the grave site, indistinct in the ground fog, she could just make out another figure, dressed entirely in black. Impossible! No way could I remember that! But their enemy was coming into clearer focus — his gray hair, his sharp eyes. His lips were

在极度痛苦中，她挣扎着寻找逻辑。 我怎么能记住这些？我不是那场火灾的旁观者！我必须被拉出来！艾米和丹获救了。 妈妈和爸爸……悲伤的冲击太强大了，就像大风一样，无法抵挡。 让它停下来——画面变成了她记忆犹新的一幕。 葬礼——乌云，黑衣，黑纱。 眼泪——那么多，但还不够，还远远不够。 忧郁的面孔——四岁的丹，还太小，无法理解降临在他们身上的心碎的程度；格蕾丝，现在她自己也死了；可怕的比阿特丽斯姨妈；麦金太尔先生，是敌是友？ 这是不可能确定的.... 在墓地的远处，在地面的雾中，她只能辨认出另一个人，全身穿着黑色的衣服。 不可能的!我怎么可能记得住！但是他们的敌人越来越清晰了——他的白发，他锐利的眼睛。 他的嘴唇

moving. He was calling to her. What was he saying? "Amy—" She awoke with a start. Dan knelt over her, gently shaking her arm. His hair and clothes were wet. Her T-shirt and jeans felt cold and damp, and her toes squished inside clammy socks and sneakers. She ached all over from countless bumps and bruises. Dan's lips were swollen. A gash on his cheek looked raw. The launch. The accident … She sat up on a narrow bunk. "Where are we?" The room was tiny, yet oddly luxurious, with rich dark paneling and shiny brass hardware on built-in drawers and cabinets. "Shhh," her brother whispered. "I think we're on the yacht." She got shakily to her feet. The deck pitched slightly. Water lapped below them. "Door's locked," Dan supplied, seeing her eyes travel to the closed hatch. "I've heard voices outside. I don't think Jonah's one of them, though."

移动。他在呼唤她。 他在说什么？“艾美——”她猛然惊醒。 丹跪在她身边，轻轻地摇着她的胳膊。 他的头发和衣服都是湿的。 她的t恤和牛仔裤又冷又潮，她的脚趾在湿漉漉的袜子和运动鞋里被压扁了。 无数的肿块和瘀伤使她浑身疼痛。 丹的嘴唇肿了起来。他脸颊上的一道伤口看起来很粗糙。 发射。她在一张狭窄的铺位上坐了起来。 “我们在哪儿？”房间很小，但出奇地豪华，镶有厚实的深色镶板，内置抽屉和橱柜上有闪亮的黄铜五金。 “嘘，”她哥哥低声说。 “我想我们在游艇上。” 她摇摇晃晃地站了起来。 甲板微微倾斜。 水在他们下面拍打着。“门锁上了。”丹补充道，看着她的目光移向紧闭的舱门。 “我听到外面有声音。 不过，我认为约拿不是其中之一。”

Amy looked nervous. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Dan. What if we escaped from the Janus only to get caught by somebody even worse?" "Worse?" echoed Dan. She bit her lip. "Do you think they could be the Madrigals?" In the search for the 39 Clues, the mysterious Madrigals were the wild card. Amy and Dan had no information about them beyond William McIntyre's dire warning: "Beware the Madrigals." The lawyer had refused to provide any more detail, but his somber face and urgent tone had spoken volumes. There was little question that the group was extraordinarily powerful and possibly deadly. The hatch was thrown open. "What do you know about Madrigals?" Dark hair, olive skin, handsome features. It always made Amy guilty to find him good-looking. Ian Kabra. His sister, Natalie, stepped into the compartment behind him. So it wasn't the Madrigals, but this was nearly as

艾米看起来很紧张。“我有一种不好的预感，丹。 如果我们从雅努斯那里逃出来，结果却被更坏的人抓住了呢？”“更糟？”丹重复道。 她咬着嘴唇。“你觉得会是牧歌吗？”在寻找39条线索的过程中，神秘的牧歌是不确定因素。 艾米和丹对他们一无所知，除了威廉·麦金太尔的可怕警告：“当心牧歌。” 律师拒绝提供更多细节，但他阴沉的脸和急切的语气说明了一切。 毫无疑问，该组织非常强大，甚至可能是致命的。 舱门被打开了。 “你对牧歌了解多少？”黑发，橄榄色皮肤，五官英俊。 艾米一发现他长得帅就觉得内疚。 伊恩Kabra。他的妹妹娜塔莉（Natalie）走进了他身后的车厢。 所以这不是牧歌，但这几乎是

bad. Of all the other teams, the Kabras were the most ruthless. Like Irina Spasky, they were Lucians — the cold-blooded and conniving branch of the Cahill family. Dan stuck out his jaw. "We know more about them than you!" Natalie rolled her eyes. "Nobody understands the Madrigals. No one's even sure who they are." "No one except Grace," Dan blustered, "and she told us!" "Liar!" Ian's complexion reddened. Dan smiled. "Touchy! I guess you don't like it when somebody knows something that you don't." "Our parents tell us everything," Ian said haughtily. "Not like your precious Grace, who left you in the dark and then turned you loose to wreck the contest!" "Calm down," Natalie said to her brother. "He's just trying to get to you — and succeeding. For someone who's smarter than a supercomputer, sometimes you're a real idiot." "What do you want?" Amy demanded.

坏的。在所有其他队伍中，卡布拉是最无情的。 和伊琳娜·斯帕斯基一样，他们都是卢西亚人——卡希尔家族中冷血、狡猾的分支。 丹伸出下巴。“我们比你更了解他们！”娜塔莉翻了个白眼。 “没人懂牧歌。 甚至没人知道他们是谁。” “没人告诉过我们，除了格蕾丝，”丹吼道，“她告诉了我们！”“骗子!”伊恩脸色变红了。 丹笑了。“敏感!我猜你不喜欢别人知道一些你不知道的事情。” “我们的父母什么都告诉我们，”伊恩傲慢地说。 “不像你亲爱的格蕾丝，她把你丢在黑暗中，然后又把你放出来破坏比赛！”“冷静点，”娜塔莉对她哥哥说。 “他只是想接近你，而且成功了。 对于一个比超级计算机还聪明的人来说，有时候你真是个白痴。” “你想要什么？”艾米要求。

"Only what you stole from the Janus stronghold," Natalie replied reasonably. "I don't know what you're talking about," Dan said stubbornly. "Don't play dumb," Ian snapped. "Although you are a natural—" "We know the stronghold exits somewhere in the canal network," his sister interrupted. "We put surveillance cameras all over Venice. But when Jonah turned up chasing you — well, it wasn't hard to connect the dots." "We were in the stronghold," Amy admitted, "but we didn't take anything. It's just an art museum down there." "Search us if you don't believe it," Dan added. "As if we hadn't already done that," Natalie said in bored exasperation. "You've lost weight, Amy. I don't think this contest is good for your health." Amy ignored the barb. "So you know we're telling the truth." "The two of you make me sick," Ian spat. "You look like you crawled out of a sewer…."

“只有你从雅努斯要塞偷的东西。”娜塔莉理智地回答。 “我不知道你在说什么，”丹固执地说。 “别装傻了，”伊恩厉声说。 “我们知道那个据点在运河网的某个地方，”他姐姐打断了他的话。 “我们在威尼斯各处安装了监控摄像头。 但是当约拿追着你出现的时候——嗯，把这些点联系起来并不难。” “我们在堡垒里，”艾米承认，“但我们什么也没拿。 那只是个艺术博物馆。” “如果你不相信，就搜我们吧，”丹补充道。 “好像我们还没有那样做过似的，”娜塔莉不耐烦地说。 “你瘦了，艾米。我认为这个比赛对你的健康没有好处。” 艾米没有理会她的话。“所以你知道我们说的是实话。” “你们两个真让我恶心，”伊恩啐了一口。 “你看起来像从下水道爬出来的....”