Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11 "I thought it was Nefertiti," Amy said, trying to stall. Theo shook his head. "Different queen. Queen Nefertari, favorite wife of Ramses the Second. He ruled Egypt for sixty-six years during the Nineteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom, 1279 to 1213 BC." Dan sighed. Everywhere they went, it seemed, he got a lecture. "Nefertari's tomb wasn't discovered until 1904 by the Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli. It was closed for a long time— about thirty years— because the wall paintings are so vulnerable. It was carved out of limestone and the reliefs were damaged by water, humidity, and salt. Then it underwent a massive conservation effort back in

“我还以为是娜菲蒂蒂呢，”艾美说，试图拖延时间。 西奥摇了摇头。“不同的女王。 奈菲塔里王后，拉美西斯二世最宠爱的妻子。 他在公元前1279年至公元前1213年的新王国第十九王朝统治埃及66年。” 丹叹了口气。似乎无论他们走到哪里，他都会受到训斥。 直到1904年，意大利考古学家埃内斯托·斯基亚帕雷利（Ernesto Schiaparelli）才发现奈费尔塔里的坟墓。 它关闭了很长一段时间——大约30年——因为墙上的画太脆弱了。 它是用石灰石雕刻而成的，浮雕被水、湿度和盐破坏了。 然后它经历了大规模的保护工作

the early nineties. Now it's regarded as the most beautiful tomb in all Egypt." "But I don't understand," Hilary said. "You can't take anything out of the tomb. Why do you have a map of it?" "It's hard to explain," Amy said. "There might be a message there for us." "I see," Hilary said, even though she clearly didn't. "A kind of game?" "Exactly," Amy said. "A sort of scavenger hunt." "Wacky family, huh?" Dan said. "Well, you could have a problem," Theo said. "The paintings are still so fragile that they limit access to the tomb. Very difficult to get in and have a look. I might be able to blag my way in…." "Why don't you let Theo be your guide down to Luxor?" Hilary suggested. "My doctor has forbidden me to travel— he's such a fussbudget, I'm only seventy-nine— but Theo will be a perfect guide. He's led tours down to Luxor many times. He knows every inch of the valley. Let us help you, my dears. For Grace. I could do nothing for her in her final illness. Let me do this. I'll ring

九十年代初。现在它被认为是全埃及最美丽的坟墓。” “但我不明白，”希拉里说。 “你不能从坟墓里拿走任何东西。 你为什么有它的地图？”“这很难解释，”艾米说。 “那里可能有给我们的信息。” “我明白了，”希拉里说，尽管她显然没有明白。 “一种游戏？”“没错，”艾米说。 “一种寻宝游戏。” “奇怪的家庭，是吧？”丹说。 “嗯，你可能有问题，”西奥说。 “这些画仍然很脆弱，限制了人们进入坟墓。 很难进去看一看。 我也许可以通过博客进入...." “你为什么不让西奥做你去卢克索的向导呢？”希拉里建议。 “我的医生不让我去旅行——他太爱花钱了，我才79岁——但是西奥会是一个完美的向导。 他曾多次带领旅行团前往卢克索。 他对这个山谷了如指掌。 让我们来帮你吧，亲爱的。 格蕾丝。在她弥留之际，我无能为力。 让我来做这个。我要戒指

and make the plane reservations right now." Dan nodded. "All right," Amy said. Hilary looked at the Sakhet. "I have a suggestion, dears. Now that you found your note, you might want to put her back in the bank. She's too valuable to tote in your luggage. I'd be happy to do that for you." Amy reached for the Sakhet. She wrapped the statue back in the soft linen. She zipped open her waist pack. The Sakhet fit perfectly inside. "Thanks, anyway. I'll keep her with me." Hilary was probably right, but somehow Amy couldn't let go of the statue Grace had wanted them to have, not even for a day. There was so little she had left. The jade necklace, and now this. Grace had reached out and sent them something. She didn't understand where Grace was leading them or why, but she wasn't about to let it go. The sun had barely risen when Hilary knocked softly at their doors. They ate a hasty breakfast and Hilary gave them another hair-raising ride to the airport. She offered to watch Saladin while

现在就订机票。” 丹点了点头。“好吧，”艾米说。 希拉里看了看沙基特。 “亲爱的，我有个建议。 既然你找到了纸条，也许你该把她放回银行了。 她太贵重了，不能放在你的行李里。 我很乐意为你做这件事。” 艾米伸手去拿沙吉特。 她用柔软的亚麻布把雕像包起来。 她拉开腰袋的拉链。 沙克特非常适合里面。 “谢谢,无论如何。我要带着她。” 希拉里可能是对的，但不知怎么的，艾米就是放不下格蕾丝想让他们拥有的雕像，一天也放不下。 她所剩无几了。 玉项链，现在又是这个。 格蕾丝给他们寄了些东西。 她不明白格蕾丝要把他们带到哪里去，也不明白为什么要这样做，但她不打算就此罢休。 太阳刚升起，希拉里就轻轻地敲了敲他们的门。 他们匆匆吃了一顿早餐，希拉里又送他们去机场。 她主动提出照看萨拉丁

they were gone. "Don't fret a bit, ducks," she said as Saladin hissed at her. "I love felines. We'll get along just fine." The airport terminal was hot and crowded. They stood in line, waiting for their boarding passes. The flight to Luxor was a little over an hour. They would be there mid-morning if it left on time. Amy felt like the crowds were pressing in on her, making it hard to breathe. So many people pushing their way to ticket counters and gates. She clutched Grace's guidebook. She'd looked through it last night before going to sleep. It was clear that Grace had used the book on many trips to Egypt. Amy could tell from the different inks Grace had used. She'd dated her trips on the inside cover, from the 1960s through the 1990s. Most of the entries were about cafés she'd liked, or the names of drivers she'd used. Many of them had been crossed out. Amy wondered why Grace hadn't just bought another guidebook. Anyway, there was no message in the margin like, Here's where you'll find Katherine's Clue!

他们走了。“别担心，宝贝儿。”她说，这时萨拉丁对她发出了嘶嘶声。 “我喜欢猫。我们会相处得很好的。” 机场候机楼又热又挤。 他们排队等候领取登机牌。 到卢克索的飞行时间是一个多小时。 如果飞机准时起飞，他们会在上午10点左右到达那里。 艾米觉得人群把她压得喘不过气来。 这么多人挤着去售票柜台和登机口。 她紧紧抓住格蕾丝的旅游指南。 她昨晚睡觉前看了一遍。 很明显，格蕾丝多次去埃及旅行时都用过这本书。 艾美可以从格蕾丝用过的不同墨水中分辨出来。 她在内页封面上注明了从20世纪60年代到90年代的旅行日期。 大多数条目都是关于她喜欢的咖啡，或者她用过的司机的名字。 其中许多都被划掉了。 艾米奇怪格蕾丝为什么不买另一本旅游指南。 不管怎么说，页边空白处也没有这样的留言，在这里你可以找到凯瑟琳的线索！

There had been one ink color that looked fresher. She'd looked inside the cover but it wasn't dated like the others were. Amy had thumbed through the book until the type had blurred, looking for notations in that light blue ink. She'd fallen asleep with the book next to her on the pillow. Theo led them to their gate. They stood to the side, watching passengers disembark from a flight from Rome. Suddenly, they heard a commotion. "Yo, my man. In the usual, I get an escort off the plane. The fans, they have a tendency to adore the Wizard. They spread the love, and it can get just a little too real, you know what I'm saying?" Dan groaned. "Oh, no." Amy pulled him behind a pillar and gestured frantically at Nellie. Theo followed them curiously. They peeked around the pillar. Jonah Wizard stood with his father and a tall woman in a uniform, part of airport personnel. "Check out that mob," Jonah Wizard said.

有一种墨水颜色看起来更新鲜。 她看了看封面，但封面上的日期和其他几本不一样。 艾米翻着那本书，一直翻到字迹模糊为止，她一直在用淡蓝色的墨水寻找记号。 她睡着了，旁边的枕头上放着书。 西奥把他们带到门口。 他们站在一旁，看着从罗马飞来的乘客下飞机。 突然，他们听到一阵骚动。 “嘿，我的朋友。照例，有人护送我下飞机。 球迷们，他们倾向于崇拜巫师。 他们把爱传播出去，这可能有点太真实了，你懂我的意思吗？”丹呻吟着。 “哦,不”。艾米把他拉到一根柱子后面，疯狂地指着内莉。 西奥好奇地跟着他们。 他们在柱子周围偷看。 约拿·奇才和父亲站在一起，还有一个穿制服的高个子女人，是机场工作人员。 “看看那群暴徒，”巫师乔纳说。

"Those are the passengers awaiting the next flight," the woman said. They could hear the clank of Jonah's gold chains as he turned back to the attendant. "Solid. We've got some lead time. But as soon as I step foot out there, there's going to be pandemonium a-go-go. Fo' shizzle." "A go… fosh… Excuse me, sir?" "I'll be calling your superior about the lack of crowd control," Mr. Wizard said. "And I can't access my BlackBerry!" "Do you know that young gentleman?" Theo asked in a low voice. "I wouldn't throw the term gentleman around," Dan said. "It might hit him and some manners might stick." "Don't you know him?" Amy asked. "He's a huge star in the US." At Theo's blank look, Nellie said, "You know, 'Get Your Groove Pants On'? 'Turn Back the Feet of Time'? 'You Makes My Funk Go Fresh'?" "Are you speaking English?" Theo asked.

“这些是等待下一班航班的乘客，”这位女士说。 他们可以听到约拿的金链子的叮当声，他转过身来对着那侍从。 “固体。我们还有一些交货时间。 但只要我一走出去，就会发生大混乱。 Fo shizzle。”“一……一……你说什么，先生？”“我会给你的上级打电话，说你对人群控制不力，”Wizard先生说。 “而且我连黑莓手机都用不上了！”“你认识那位年轻的先生吗？”西奥低声问。 “我不会随便用‘绅士’这个词，”丹说。 “这可能会打击他，他可能会遵守一些规矩。” “你不认识他吗？”艾米问。 “他是美国的大明星。” 看到西奥一脸茫然，内莉说：“你知道，‘穿上你的最佳裤子’？ “让时间倒流”？ ‘你让我的放克变得新鲜’？”“你说的是英语吗？”西奥问道。