Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14 Note to self, Dan thought. Do not think of brain- sucking mummies while standing in ancient tomb. The darkness pressed around them. They had just pushed on the door of the tomb, and it had swung open. Theo must have forgotten to lock it. Somehow without his cheery presence, the tomb seemed darker. Spookier. "D-do you think we should go down?" Amy whispered. "That's why we're here," Dan said. He didn't move. "This is ridiculous," Amy said, straightening her shoulders. "Come on." She eased the door shut, but left it open a crack. Dan stayed close behind her as she went down the

第14章自我提醒，丹想。 当你站在古墓里的时候，不要去想吸脑的木乃伊。 黑暗笼罩着他们。 他们刚推了一下坟墓的门，门就开了。 西奥一定是忘记锁门了。 不知怎的，没有了他那欢快的身影，坟墓显得更暗了。 令人毛骨悚然的。“你——你认为我们应该下去吗？”艾米低声说。 “这就是我们来这里的原因，”丹说。 他没有动。“这太荒唐了，”艾米说着，挺直了肩膀。 “来吧。”她轻轻地把门关上，但留了一条缝。 当她下楼时，丹紧跟在她身后

stairs. When they got to the antechamber, they both looked up at the ceiling. The stars looked like a field of golden flowers against the brilliant blue. They looked back at the stairs. "Let's look at the risers," Amy said. "The stone that is behind the step. Katherine would have left a clue there rather than on the step itself. She'd know that hundreds of years of footsteps would wear away any message." They examined each riser, but there was nothing except ancient, worn stone. "Next staircase," Amy said. "We'd better hurry." They cautiously made their way down the stairs, deeper into the tomb. "Wait!" Amy whispered. She didn't know why she whispered, but it felt wrong to shout in this place. She bent over, squinting in the dim light. She forgot her nervousness as the discovery jolted through her. "Dan, come here! I think it's a hieroglyph. It's carved into the stone."

楼梯。当他们来到前厅时，他们都抬头看了看天花板。 星星看起来像一片金色的花朵，衬着灿烂的蓝色。 他们回头看了看楼梯。 “让我们看看立管，”艾米说。 “台阶后面的那块石头。 凯瑟琳会在那里留下线索而不是台阶上。 她知道几百年的脚步会磨掉任何信息。” 他们检查了每一个立管，但除了古老、磨损的石头外，什么也没有。 “下一层楼梯，”艾米说。 “我们最好快点。”他们小心翼翼地走下楼梯，深入坟墓。 “等等!”艾米低声说。她不知道自己为什么要小声说话，但在这种地方大声喊叫总觉得不对。 她弯下腰，在昏暗的灯光下眯着眼睛。 当这一发现震撼了她的全身时，她忘记了自己的紧张。 “丹，过来！”我想这是个象形文字。 它刻在石头上了。”

"And here," Dan said. Down they went, collecting one hieroglyph after another. Suddenly, they heard a squealing noise, the sound of metal against metal. There was a loud clang as the iron tomb door

“还有这里，”丹说。他们下去了，收集了一个又一个象形文字。 突然，他们听到刺耳的声音，金属碰撞的声音。 铁墓门哐当一声关上了

shut completely. The lights immediately went out. "Amy?" Dan whispered. "I'm right here." Amy only knew Dan was inches away by the sound of his voice. It was so dark she couldn't see her own hand. She fought down panic. The darkness pressed against them like a living thing. Dan felt his breath catch. Amy grabbed his hand. Normally, Dan would have pulled his hand away and said something like "Ew," but just then his sister's fingers felt good, even if they were kind of sweaty. "Somebody shut the door," Amy whispered. "Thanks for the tip, Miss Obvious," Dan whispered back. Suddenly, he heard a noise. Was it a footstep? Shuffling, as if a foot was being dragged along the dusty ground. As though wrappings were dragging behind… "Did you hear that?" Amy whispered. "No," Dan lied.

完全关闭。灯立刻熄灭了。 “艾米?”丹低声说。“我就在这儿。” 通过丹的声音，艾米只知道他就在几英寸之外。 天太黑了，她看不见自己的手。 她抑制住了恐慌。黑暗像有生命的东西一样压在他们身上。 丹觉得自己喘不过气来。 艾米抓住他的手。通常情况下，丹会把手抽开，说一句“恶心”之类的话，但就在这时，他妹妹的手指感觉很好，尽管它们有点出汗。 “有人把门关上，”艾米低声说。 “谢谢你的提示，显而易见的小姐。”丹小声回答。 突然，他听到一个声音。 是脚步声吗？拖着脚步，好像一只脚在尘土飞扬的地面上被拖着走。 好像有什么东西拖在后面……“你听见了吗？”艾米低声说。 “不，”丹撒了谎。

DEATH SHALL COME ON SWIFT WINGS TO HIM WHO DISTURBS THE PEACE OF THOSE WHO SLEEP. Dan knew he was breathing dust. He could feel his lungs struggling. He heard his own wheezing in his ears. "Dan." Amy gripped his shoulder. "There's plenty of air. Do you have your inhaler?" His sister's calm voice steadied him. He didn't know how she could be so calm, but it helped him. He knew how she'd panicked when she'd almost been buried alive. The Amester was getting braver all the time. He reached into the pocket of his shorts and brought out his inhaler. Better. The noise came again, terrifying in its soft menace. He didn't even bother saying he didn't hear it. He imagined a mummy, black holes for eyes, trailing linen. His brains had already been sucked out, and he was just a dead thing… reaching… Slow down, he told his heartbeat. If this was a video game, you'd think it was way cool.

扰乱睡眠之人安宁的，死亡必展翅而来。 丹知道他呼吸的是灰尘。 他能感觉到自己的肺在挣扎。 他听到了自己的呼哧呼哧的声音。 “丹”。艾米抓住他的肩膀。 “空气很充足。你带吸入器了吗？”他姐姐平静的声音使他镇定下来。 他不知道她怎么能如此平静，但这帮助了他。 他知道她差点被活埋时是多么惊慌失措。 阿梅斯特越来越勇敢了。 他把手伸进短裤口袋，拿出了吸入器。 更好。那声音又来了，柔和的威胁使人害怕。 他甚至都懒得说他没听到。 他想象了一具木乃伊，眼睛是黑洞，拖着的亚麻布。 他的大脑已经被吸干了，他只是一个死人……慢慢来，他告诉自己的心跳。 如果这是一个电子游戏，你会觉得很酷。

Another shuffling noise, closer still. But it's not a game! Whoever it was— person or thing— it was hunting them. "We've got to hide," Amy whispered. "The burial chamber." He didn't, didn't, didn't want to go back to the burial chamber. The thought of it froze his blood. But he followed Amy into the place the mummy had lain thousands of years ago. Even in the enveloping dark, Irina was completely oriented. She heard Dan and Amy inching their way toward her. Her vision was like a cat's. She could find her way out of a cave miles underground if she had to. As a matter of fact, she already had, thanks to that nasty little job in Marrakech back in the nineties. The acoustics in the tomb magnified every sound. They were coming right toward her. This was her chance. They were hers at last. The question was, what to do, exactly. The children needed to be slowed down, they needed

又是一阵拖拽的声音，离得更近了。 但这不是游戏！不管是人还是东西，都在追杀他们。 “我们得躲起来，”艾米低声说。 “墓室。”他不想，不想，不想回到墓室。 一想到这一点，他就胆战心惊。 但他跟着艾米来到了几千年前木乃伊躺过的地方。 即使是在黑暗中，伊琳娜也完全没有方向感。 她听见丹和艾米慢慢朝她走来。 她的视力像猫一样。 如果有必要，她可以从地下几英里的洞穴里找到出路。 事实上，她已经做到了，多亏了九十年代在马拉喀什的那份肮脏的小工作。 坟墓里的音响效果放大了每一个声音。 他们正朝她走来。 这是她的机会。他们终于是她的了。 问题是，到底该怎么做。 孩子们需要放慢脚步，他们需要