Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 Amy's vacuum-cleaner wheeze threatened to suck her brother in. "Okay," she told herself. "Don't panic—" "Why not?" he asked bitterly. "If there ever was a time to panic, this is it! What happened to the boat?" "Aw, Dan," she moaned, "why'd you have to hide the Nannerl pages on something that can pick up and sail away?" Dan bristled. Anguish, disappointment, and frustration mingled in his stomach, a roiling, toxic brew. "I didn't have a lot of choice, Little Miss Perfect! I was on a motor launch with half the Janus branch chasing me! And what help was I getting from my dear sister? 'Oh — you can't drive a boat!' That's all I ever hear from you — you can't; we shouldn't; it's impossible! I saved our butts back there!"

艾米用吸尘器发出的呼哧呼哧的声音差点把她弟弟吸进去。 “好吧，”她对自己说。“别慌——”“为什么不呢？”他痛苦地问。 “如果有恐慌的时候，就是现在！”船怎么了？”“啊，丹，”她呻吟道，“你为什么要把《南报》藏在一个能捡起来飞走的东西上？”丹直立。 痛苦、失望和挫折在他的胃里混合在一起，就像一种翻滚的有毒的啤酒。 “我没有太多选择，完美的小小姐！”我当时在一艘摩托艇上一半的杰纳斯分支都在追我！我从我亲爱的姐姐那里得到了什么帮助？ “哦——你不会开船！”这就是我从你那里听到的一切——你不能；我们不应该;这是不可能的!我刚才救了我们的命！”

"This isn't about butts," Amy pointed out. "It's about clues, and that means the diary pages." "Which the Cobras would have taken off us if I hadn't stashed them on the Royal Saladin!" Dan shot back. "You think I'm a stupid baby who's too immature to understand what's at stake! Well, you're the one who doesn't get it! A contest; a search — who's better at that kind of stuff, you or me?" She scowled at him. "We're not talking about strafing the neighborhood with bottle rockets—" "You're treating me like a kid again!" he exploded. "Okay — I like bottle rockets! And water balloons! And cherry bombs! I lick batteries! I experiment!" "You're a regular Madame Curie." "At least I try things," he persisted. "It's better than sitting around biting your nails, wondering, Should I or shouldn't I?" His sister sighed miserably. "Fine. I'm sorry. It still doesn't answer the million-dollar question: What happens now?" He shrugged. He wasn't ready to accept her

“这不是屁股的问题，”艾米指出。 “它是关于线索的，这意味着日记的页面。” “如果我没有把它们藏在皇家萨拉丁号上，眼镜蛇就会把它们从我们身上拿走了！”丹反驳道。 “你认为我是一个不成熟的笨孩子，不明白什么是危险的！”你才是那个不懂的人！一场比赛;搜索——你和我，谁更擅长做这种事？”她怒视着他。 “我们不是在谈论用瓶形火箭扫射邻居——”“你又把我当小孩子了！”他爆发了。 “好吧——我喜欢瓶子火箭！”还有水球！还有樱桃炸弹！我舔电池！我实验!”“你真是个地道的居里夫人。” “至少我在尝试，”他坚持说。 “这比坐在那里咬着指甲，想着‘我该不该’要好得多。”他妹妹痛苦地叹了口气。 “很好。我很抱歉。它仍然没有回答那个价值百万美元的问题：现在发生了什么？”他耸了耸肩。 他还没准备好接受她

apology, but there was nothing to be gained by continuing the argument. "We wait. What else can we do? The boat moored here once. Maybe it'll come back." She spoke the words he'd been dreading — the awful possibility that haunted him. "What if before was a one-time thing? What if we've lost those pages forever?" Dan had no answer. All at once, the breakneck pace of it caught up with him. Five hours in the Fiat, tailing the limo, Disco Volante, the Janus stronghold, the canal chase, the Cobras. And now this. He could have flopped down on the stone walkway and slept for a year. It was a crushing exhaustion that sucked the strength out of every single cell in his body. He felt old at eleven. Amy must have sensed this, because she put a supportive arm around his shoulders as they headed back to the church to update Nellie on the latest twist. "We could be waiting a long time," Amy told her. "Maybe you should find a hotel and get a few

道歉，但继续争论也无济于事。 “我们等待。我们还能做什么？ 这条船曾经在这里停泊过一次。 也许它会回来。”她说出了他一直害怕的话——萦绕在他心头的可怕的可能性。 “如果以前只是一次性的呢？” 如果我们永远失去了那几页呢？”丹没有回答。 突然间，他被它的快节奏追上了。 开了五个小时的菲亚特，跟踪豪华轿车，迪斯科浩兰，雅诺斯的据点，运河追逐，眼镜蛇。 现在是这个。他本可以扑通一声躺在石阶上睡上一年。 这是一种令人窒息的疲惫，吸干了他身体里每一个细胞的力量。 他十一岁就觉得自己老了。艾米一定感觉到了这一点，因为当他们回到教堂告诉内莉最新的情况时，她用一只胳膊搂住了他的肩膀。 “我们可能要等很长时间，”艾米告诉她。 “也许你应该找家旅馆，订几张

hours' sleep." "If you two think I'm leaving you alone for another minute today, then you've been drinking the canal water," the au pair said severely. "Go and wait. I'll be here." "Mrrp," Saladin added drowsily. Good old Nellie. The show of support lightened the mood slightly. The thought of someone who would look out for them — someone older, even if only by a handful of years — seemed almost parental. It was a mere penlight in a vast void. Yet Amy and Dan Cahill had seen nothing in that darkness for a very long time. But as they settled in behind the church to wait, the grim reality began to press down on them. If they could not recover the papers encased in the vinyl seat cushion of the Royal Saladin, they were at a complete dead end. They had staked everything on this quest. Washing out would leave them as nothing more than fugitives from Massachusetts Social Services. Homeless orphans, with no past and no future, stranded half a world away from anyone or

小时的睡眠。”“如果你们两个认为今天我会再让你们单独呆一分钟，那你们一定是喝了运河里的水。” “去等着吧。我会在这里的。” “哼。”萨拉丁迷迷糊糊地补充道。 好心的老内莉。支持的表示稍微缓和了气氛。 一想到有人会照顾他们——一个比他们年长的人，哪怕只比他们年长几岁——就像父母一样。 那不过是茫茫虚空中的一盏铅笔灯。 然而艾米和丹·卡希尔很长一段时间在黑暗中什么也看不见。 但当他们在教堂后面安顿下来等待时，残酷的现实开始向他们袭来。 如果他们不能找到包裹在皇家萨拉丁的乙烯基坐垫里的文件，他们就完全是死路一条。 他们为这次探索赌上了一切。 一旦被淘汰，他们就会成为马萨诸塞州社会服务机构的逃犯。 无家可归的孤儿，没有过去也没有未来，被困在半个地球之外，远离任何人或

anything familiar. The minutes passed like months, as if time itself had been slowed by the black-hole gravity of their situation. They hugged themselves against the clammy dampness of night, chilled further by fear and uncertainty. Amy took in the lights of Venice, gleaming off the water. "Weird, huh? That so many bad things can happen in such a beautiful place." Dan was not on her wavelength. "Maybe we should steal another boat. Then at least we can cruise the canals. The Royal Saladin must be somewhere." He looked at her intensely. "Giving up is not an option." "Then how would we know the Royal Saladin won't come back a minute after we leave? Here we are and here we stay." For Dan, it was extra-special torture. Doing something — even the wrong thing — was easier to take than sitting around. The first hour was misery. The second was actual physical pain. By the third, they were numb, sunk deep in despair as the city sounds and motorboat noise diminished,

熟悉的东西。时间一分一秒地过去，就像几个月一样，仿佛时间本身被黑洞般的引力拖慢了。 他们紧紧拥抱着潮湿的夜晚，恐惧和不确定使他们更加寒冷。 艾米欣赏着威尼斯的灯光，在水面上闪闪发光。 “奇怪,嗯?这么美丽的地方会发生这么多不好的事情。” 丹和她不合拍。 “也许我们应该再偷一条船。 至少我们可以在运河上巡游。 皇家萨拉丁一定在什么地方。” 他热切地望着她。 “放弃不是一种选择。” “那我们怎么知道皇家萨拉丁在我们离开后一分钟不会回来呢？” 我们在这里，我们在这里。” 对丹来说，这是一种特别的折磨。 做一些事情——即使是错误的事情——比坐在那里更容易接受。 第一个小时是痛苦的。 第二种是实际的身体疼痛。 到了第三天，他们已经麻木了，陷入了深深的绝望之中，城市的声音和摩托艇的噪音逐渐减弱，

leaving only lapping water and distant accordion music. They had always known that their quest was a long shot. But neither had expected defeat to take this form — an unfortunate choice stashing a few vital pieces of paper in a hiding place that got up and left. Both sat forward on the stone path. Was the music getting louder? The lilting melody swelled, and a boat sailed around the bend of the canal, lit up like a Christmas tree. The open stern was packed with revelers, dancing and celebrating wildly. Amy and Dan felt like celebrating themselves. It was the Royal Saladin. Dan looked on from the shadows. "A party?" "Not a party," Amy managed. "A wedding!" The bride and groom embraced by the wheelhouse, while flower girls showered them with rose petals. Laughter rang out. Champagne toasts soared. There must have been fifteen people squeezed onto the small craft, including the accordion player, who was balanced precariously

只留下潺潺流水和远处的手风琴乐。 他们一直都知道，他们的探索是一个漫长的过程。 但两人都没有想到失败会以这种形式出现——一个不幸的选择——把几张重要的文件藏在一个藏身之处，然后起身离开了。 两人向前坐在石径上。 音乐越来越响了吗？ 轻快的旋律越来越响亮，一艘船在运河的转弯处航行，像一棵圣诞树一样亮起了灯。 开放的船尾挤满了狂欢者，他们疯狂地跳舞和庆祝。 艾米和丹想庆祝一下。 这是皇家萨拉丁。丹从阴影里看着。 “一个聚会吗?”“不是派对，”艾米设法说。 “一个婚礼!”新娘和新郎被驾驶室拥抱，花童向他们洒下玫瑰花瓣。 笑声响起。香槟祝酒词飙升。 小船上挤了十五个人，包括手风琴手，他的身体极不稳定