Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Dan was shocked. "Did he see you?" "I'm not sure, but we can't take the chance. When Grace's house burned down, there he was. And when the bomb went off at the Franklin Institute. We've got to get out of here!" "Not until we find what we came for," Dan said stubbornly. "Uncle Alistair and the man in black? That's double proof we're on the right track!" Amy was surprised by the surge of admiration she felt. Sure, her brother was a dweeb who wouldn't last five minutes without her. But there were times — like now — that he found courage where she saw only fear. She swallowed hard. "Let's keep going." They forged deeper into the mountainside. The tunnel split and split again, and they made careful note of the twists and turns. Neither could think

丹惊呆了。 “他看见你了吗？”“我不确定，但我们不能冒这个险。 格蕾丝的房子被烧毁时，他就在那里。 当炸弹在富兰克林研究所爆炸时。 我们必须离开这里！”“除非我们找到我们要找的东西。”丹固执地说。 “阿利斯泰尔叔叔和黑衣人？” 这就双重证明了我们的方向是对的！”艾美被她心中涌起的钦佩之情惊呆了。 当然，她哥哥是个呆子，没有她活不了五分钟。 但有时——比如现在——他在她只看到恐惧的地方找到了勇气。 她使劲吞咽。“我们继续前进吧。” 他们深入山腰。 隧道裂开了，又裂开了，他们仔细地记录了这些曲折。 谁也想不到

of anything more terrifying than getting lost back here, halfway between Salzburg and the earth's core. The sting of eyestrain soon set in from scanning the endless walls for markings or coded symbols—anything that might indicate a secret compartment or hiding place. Only rock greeted them, and the occasional trickle of water. Dan was on his hands and knees, investigating a "carving" that turned out to be a groove in the stone, when the string of electric lights flickered once and went out. Dark didn't even come close to describing it. They were plunged into suffocating blackness, a total absence of light. It was as if they had suddenly been struck blind. The panic was like nothing Amy had experienced before. Her breath came out in gasps, faster and faster, as if the air she drew in was instantly sucked out of her. Dan flailed his arms, reaching to reassure her. But when he touched her arm, she let out a shriek that echoed through the passageway in all

没有什么比在萨尔茨堡和地核之间迷路更可怕的了。 在一望无际的墙壁上寻找标记或编码符号——任何可能表明有秘密隔间或藏身之处的东西——很快就使眼睛感到疲劳。 迎接他们的只有岩石，偶尔还有涓涓细流。 丹跪在地上，调查石头上的一个“雕刻”，结果是石头上的一个凹槽，这时一串电灯闪烁了一下就熄灭了。 黑暗甚至都无法描述它。 他们陷入了令人窒息的黑暗中，完全没有光。 他们好像突然被打瞎了。 这种恐慌是艾米从未经历过的。 她喘着气呼出来，越来越快，好像她吸进去的空气立刻被吸走了。 丹挥舞着双臂，试图安抚她。 但当他碰到她的手臂时，她发出一声尖叫，在走廊里回荡

directions. "Calm down, it's me!" he hissed, although calm was the opposite of what he felt. "It's probably just a power failure!" "And the man in black just happens to be here?" Amy squealed. Dan struggled to think rationally. "If we can't see him, he can't see us, right? Who knows? Maybe he's just as lost as we are." "And maybe he's back there somewhere, waiting for us." He took a deep breath. "We'll have to chance it. All we can do is retrace our steps and hope for the best." "Can we even find our way out?" she quavered. Dan tried to visualize the tunnels as they might appear on a map — as intersecting lines. "You run your hand along one wall of the passage. I'll run my hand along the other. We won't miss any turns that way." He gulped. "Simple." Simple. Oh, how Amy yearned for her brother's ability to reduce everything to a formula — a series of instructions to be followed. For her, no

的方向。“冷静，是我！”他嘶嘶地说，尽管冷静与他的感觉恰恰相反。 “可能只是停电了！”“那个黑衣人正好在这儿？”艾米叫苦不迭。 丹努力理性地思考。 “如果我们看不到他，他也看不到我们，对吧？” 谁知道呢?也许他和我们一样迷路了。” “也许他就在后面的某个地方，等着我们呢。” 他深吸了一口气。“我们只好碰碰运气了。 我们所能做的就是追溯我们的脚步，希望一切顺利。” “我们能找到出去的路吗？”她颤抖着说。 丹试图想象这些隧道在地图上可能出现的样子——它们是相交的线。 “你用手沿着通道的一面墙走。 我用手摸另一只手。 这样我们就不会错过任何转弯了。” 他一饮而尽。“简单”。简单。 哦，艾米多么渴望她哥哥有能力把所有事情简化成一个公式——一系列需要遵循的指示。 对她来说，没有

formula could ever be separated from the sheer terror of this darkness. She had a flashback to the Paris Catacombs, stacks of skulls grinning grotesquely at her. Yet at the same time she knew this was worse — the shaft much narrower, the walls pressing in on her, trapping her in the rock belly of this mountain. "Dan, I don't think I can do this," she whimpered. "I'm just too scared." "It's the same tunnel," he soothed. "We made it here; we can make it back." They set out through the blackness. Amy felt her way along the left wall, knowing that Dan was doing the same on the right. They locked fingers to avoid losing each other and talked constantly to keep out the terror that would surely overwhelm them if it found a way in. "Hey, Amy," said Dan, "when's the last time we held hands like this?" "I can't remember. It had to be when we were little, little kids. You know — with Mom and Dad." "What did Mom look like again?" He already

公式永远无法从这黑暗的恐怖中分离出来。 她仿佛回到了巴黎的地下墓穴，一堆堆骷髅对着她古怪地笑着。 但同时她也知道这里更糟——竖井更窄了，墙壁压在她身上，把她困在了这座山的岩石肚子里。 “丹，我觉得我做不到，”她呜咽着说。 “我只是太害怕了。”“这是同一条隧道，”他安慰道。 “我们在这里成功了；我们可以回来的。” 他们在黑暗中出发了。 艾米沿着左边的墙摸索着走，她知道丹也在右边摸索着。 他们互相锁着手指，以免失去彼此；他们不停地交谈，以防恐惧侵入，这种恐惧肯定会压倒他们。 “嘿，艾米，”丹说，“我们上次这样牵手是什么时候？”“我不记得了。 那一定是我们很小很小的时候。 你知道的——和爸爸妈妈一起。” “妈妈长什么样子来着？”他已经

knew the answer. He'd heard it at least a hundred times, yet the familiar conversation was comforting. "She was tall," Amy replied, "with reddish- brown hair—" "Like yours?" His standard question. "Mom's was a bit redder. You couldn't miss her in the audience at a school play. Dad was fairer, with—" A pause. "It gets harder and harder to picture them both. Like an old snapshot where the image is fading." "It stinks," muttered Dan. "Can't remember my own parents, but rotten Aunt Beatrice — she's a glowing electric billboard in my head." "We've got Grace," Amy reminded him gently. "Grace." The name came out as a sigh. "I miss her, but sometimes I wonder if I even should." "Grace loved us." "Then how come she didn't tell us about all this?" he demanded. "The Cahills! The contest! A little warning might've come in handy. Like, 'Okay, today you're a kid playing Super Mario, but in a couple of months you'll be lost in a

我知道答案。这句话他至少听过一百遍了，但这种熟悉的对话还是让他感到安慰。 “她个子很高，”艾美回答，“头发是红褐色的——”“像你一样？”他的标准问题。 “妈妈的更红一点。你不可能在学校演出的观众席上看到她。 爸爸比较公平，他说——”停顿了一下。 “越来越难以同时想象这两者。 就像一张老照片，图像正在褪色。” “臭死了。”丹喃喃地说。 “我不记得自己的父母了，只记得可怜的比阿特丽斯姨妈——她在我的脑海里是一块发光的电子广告牌。” “我们有格蕾丝，”艾米温柔地提醒他。 “恩典”。这个名字发出一声叹息。 “我想念她，但有时我甚至怀疑自己是否应该想念她。” “格蕾丝爱我们。”“那她怎么不把这一切告诉我们呢？”他质问道。 “卡希尔!比赛!一点警告可能会派上用场。 比如，‘好吧，今天你还是个玩超级马里奥的孩子，但几个月后你就会迷失在游戏中

European tunnel with a mad killer—'" Bang! The flash was a supernova in the blackness. Their eyes, wide-open, straining for night sight, were painfully overloaded. Dan could make out a figure running away from them in the passage. But his hands automatically snapped up to shield his face before he could make an ID. And then the explosion was over, replaced by the rumbling sound that signaled the ceiling was about to collapse. Amy heard her brother's cry when the boulder struck his shoulder. Their hands were still clenched, so she felt it when he went down, buried by rocks and dirt. "Dan!" She pulled his arm with all her might, even as she was pelted with falling gravel. Mustering a hidden cache of strength, she gave a mammoth yank, and her brother scrambled up beside her, spitting dust, unable to form words. "Are you hurt?" she rasped. Without answering, he reached into the blackness and felt along the outline of the rubble.

欧洲隧道里有个疯狂的杀手——“砰！”那道闪光是黑暗中的一颗超新星。 他们的眼睛睁得大大的，竭力想看清夜景，却承受着沉重的负担。 丹能看见走廊里有个人影从他们身边跑开了。 但他还没来得及确认身份，就自动举起双手挡住了脸。 然后爆炸结束了，取而代之的是轰隆隆的声音，表明天花板即将坍塌。 当巨石砸到弟弟的肩膀时，艾米听到了他的哭声。 他们的手仍然紧握着，所以当他被岩石和泥土掩埋的时候，她感觉到了。 “丹!”她用尽全身力气拉着他的胳膊，尽管她被落下的碎石击中。 她鼓起隐藏的力量猛拉了一下，哥哥爬到她身边，吐着灰尘，说不出话来。 “你受伤了吗？” 他没有回答，把手伸到黑暗中，沿着碎石的轮廓摸索。