Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 "This place gives me the serious creeps," Dan whispered. "You're not k-k-kidding," stammered Amy. No one was waiting for them. They'd entered a small, round room with an elaborate painting that covered all the walls and the domed ceiling. There were no doors except the one that had closed behind them. "Where'd she go?" asked Dan. "And how the heck are we getting out of here?" Amy shrugged her shoulders nervously, gazing at the intricately painted walls around her. "It looks like something Michelangelo would have done." "Hey!" said Dan. "I know some of these people. That's Ben Franklin!" Sure enough, the bespectacled figure was towering over their heads, holding the string for a

“这个地方让我浑身起鸡皮疙瘩，”丹低声说。 “你不是在开玩笑，”艾米结结巴巴地说。 没有人在等他们。 他们走进了一间小小的圆形房间，墙上和圆顶天花板上都挂着一幅精美的油画。 除了在他们身后关上的那扇门，没有别的门了。 “她去哪儿了？”丹问。 “我们到底要怎么离开这里？”艾米紧张地耸了耸肩，凝视着周围那些画得错综复杂的墙壁。 “看起来像米开朗基罗会做的东西。” “嘿！”丹说。“我认识其中一些人。 那是本·富兰克林！”果然，那个戴眼镜的身影高高耸立在他们的头顶上，握着绳子

kite and smiling into the sky. "And I'm pretty sure that's Napoleon. He's definitely small enough," said Amy. "That's gotta be Churchill," said Dan, spying a round man making the V sign. "Dan," said Amy, her eyes huge in her face. "They're all Lucians. Every one of them." Dan's stomach sank. It could only mean one thing. "We're in a Lucian stronghold," he whispered. "Bad," said Amy. "Very bad! Let's get out of here!" She ran her hands frantically over the great surface of the door, searching for a latch or a dial that would set them free. "Come on, Dan!" There was a fast sliding sound from one of the walls, and Dan turned around to see that a panel on the far wall had opened. The painted form of Sir Isaac Newton stood next to the door and seemed to beckon them forward. The voice returned, confident and smooth as silk. "There is no need to be afraid. Follow the lights.

风筝微笑着飞向天空。 “我很确定那就是拿破仑。 他肯定够小了，”艾米说。 “那一定是丘吉尔，”丹说，他看到一个胖胖的人在做V形手势。 “丹，”艾米说，她的眼睛瞪得大大的。 “他们都是卢西亚人。每一个人。” 丹的心一沉。这只能说明一件事。 “我们在卢西恩的据点。”他低声说。 “不好，”艾米说。“非常糟糕!我们离开这里吧！”她的手在巨大的门面上疯狂地摸索着，寻找一个门闩或一个拨号盘，让它们自由。 “加油，丹！”从一堵墙上传来一阵快速滑动的声音，丹转过身来，看到远处墙上的一块嵌板打开了。 艾萨克·牛顿爵士的画像站在门边，似乎在向他们招手。 那声音回来了，像丝绸一样自信而流畅。 “没有必要害怕。 跟着灯光走。

Quickly now, before you're caught!" A runway of lights directed them down an endless hall, just as they had upstairs. These lights were orange, not white as the others had been, and they seemed to go on forever. "Follow the lights until you reach the twelfth door on the left. And hurry! These halls never stay empty for long." "The voice must be coming from a speaker in this room," said Amy. "She's not in here." Dan and Amy took one last look at each other and nodded. They had no choice. Not two steps in, the panel slid shut and it was more dark than light. "How many doors is that?" said Dan, trying to figure out just how imprisoned they'd become. "We're never getting out of here." They counted the doors until at last they came to the twelfth. They stood for a long, silent moment. A door opened somewhere in the distance and they stood perfectly still. Dan turned his head and saw a figure seven or eight doors back walking away. The panel opened just long enough for the person to slip through and then it

在你被抓住之前，快点！”一束灯光指引着他们穿过一个没有尽头的大厅，就像他们在楼上看到的一样。 这些灯是橙色的，不像以前的灯是白色的，而且似乎永远都不会熄灭。 “跟着灯走，一直走到左边第十二扇门。 ,快点!这些大厅从来不会空太久。” “声音一定是从这个房间里的一个扬声器里传出来的，”艾米说。 “她不在这里。”丹和艾米最后看了对方一眼，点了点头。 他们别无选择。还没走两步，嵌板就关上了，屋里一片漆黑。 “那有多少扇门？”丹问，试图弄清楚他们到底被禁锢了多少。 “我们永远也出不去了。” 他们数着门，终于数到第十二扇。 他们默默地站了很长时间。 远处某处的一扇门打开了，他们一动不动地站在那里。 丹转过头去，看见一个七、八个门后的人影走开了。 嵌板打开的时间刚好让人溜进去，然后

closed again. "An agent of some k-k-kind, no doubt," whispered Amy. "Let's do this," said Dan. He lifted his hand to the knob, then hesitated. "Are you absolutely sure we went twelve doors on the left side?" asked Dan. "It would be a real bummer if we were knocking on the wrong door." The last thing Dan wanted to do was barge in on a meeting between dark-suited secret agents. Amy hesitated. Dan could tell she wanted to go back and recount, just to be sure, but the panel at the far end of the hall opened again. Dan turned the knob and the two of them darted inside the room, slamming the door behind them. They were in what appeared to be a rather run-ofthe mill office. There was a big oak desk, a rug over a wooden floor, and a freestanding globe of the world. A long white coat hung on an equally white coatrack, and the Lucian crest filled one entire wall. The only thing at all remarkable about the room was the person sitting behind the desk.

关上。“一定是某种——某种特工，”艾美小声说。 “我们开始吧，”丹说。 他把手举到门把手上，然后犹豫了一下。 “你绝对确定我们从左边走过了十二扇门吗？”丹问。 “如果我们敲错了门，那将是一个真正的遗憾。” 丹最不愿意做的事就是闯进一群穿着深色西装的特工开会。 艾米犹豫了一下。丹看得出来，她想回去重新说一遍，只是为了确定，但大厅另一端的镶板又打开了。 丹转动门把手，两人冲进房间，砰地一声关上了门。 他们在一间看起来相当普通的办公室里。 房间里有一张大橡木桌，木地板上铺着地毯，还有一个独立的地球仪。 一件白色的长大衣挂在同样白色的衣架上，卢西亚的徽章占据了一整面墙。 房间里唯一引人注目的是坐在桌子后面的那个人。

She wore a suit of white, which was all the more striking against her black hair. And she was, in a word, ageless. Dan couldn't have said whether she was forty or sixty, for there was something very old about her eyes, and yet her face was unlined. She was beautiful in a classic Russian way. Amy stared at her as if the woman were a queen. "You do make things interesting. I like that about you. Please, come, sit down," the woman said. There were two chairs before her desk, and Dan and Amy promptly did what they were told. "You may dispense with the disguises. They do you no good here." Dan had set the backpack on the floor. He was happy to tear the mustache and goatee off his face and drop them in the backpack, glancing at his watch as he did. We made it! he thought. Only minutes to spare, but Amy and I did it! Amy's hair tumbled down as she took off the black wig and dropped it in the backpack. "You're very pretty, young lady," said the woman in white. "I hope Grace was kind enough

她穿了一套白色的衣服，在她乌黑的头发的映衬下显得更加引人注目。 总之，她是不老的。 丹说不出她是四十岁还是六十岁，因为她的眼睛有一种很老的感觉，但她的脸上却没有皱纹。 她的美是典型的俄罗斯美。 艾米盯着她，好像那女人是女王似的。 “你确实让事情变得有趣。 我喜欢你这点。请，过来，坐下，”女人说。 她的桌子前放着两把椅子，丹和艾米立刻按她说的做了。 “你可以不用伪装了。 它们在这儿对你没有好处。” 丹把背包放在地板上。 他高兴地把胡子和山羊胡从脸上扯下来，扔进背包，一边看了看手表。 我们成功了！他想。只剩下几分钟了，但艾米和我做到了！艾米摘下黑色的假发，把它扔进背包里，头发乱了下来。 “你很漂亮，小姐，”穿白衣服的女人说。 “我希望格蕾丝足够善良

to tell you that when she was alive." "You knew Grace?" The woman nodded, her eyes brimming with secrets. "You might say our families go way back. I never met Grace Cahill personally. My mother did. They were both remarkable women— my mother and your grandmother. Remarkable women have a way of finding one another." I hope this remarkable woman doesn't kill us, thought Dan. Amy seemed to have no reservations. Her cheeks turned pink and she asked, "Are you the grand duchess Anastasia?" The moment Amy said the words, NRR burst out laughing. A light flashed on her desk and she resumed her air of dignity. "If you'll excuse me a moment," she said. "Very bad timing, but I'm afraid it can't be helped." She turned in her chair, away from Dan and Amy, and drew open the doors on a wooden credenza to reveal a bank of monitors. One of them was receiving a feed from the painted room

在她还活着的时候告诉你。” “你认识格蕾丝？”女人点了点头，眼里充满了秘密。 “你可能会说我们的家族渊源久远。 我从没见过格蕾丝·卡荷尔本人。 是我妈妈干的。她们都是杰出的女性——我的母亲和你的祖母。 杰出的女性总有办法找到另一半。” 我希望这个了不起的女人不会杀了我们，丹想。 艾米似乎毫无保留。 她脸红了，问道：“您是阿纳斯塔西娅公爵夫人吗？”艾米刚说完这句话，全国广播公司就大笑起来。 桌上一盏灯一闪，她又恢复了尊严。 “请原谅我失陪一下，”她说。 “时机不太好，但我恐怕没办法。” 她在椅子上转过身，远离丹和艾米，拉开一个木制书柜的门，露出一排显示器。 其中一个从粉刷过的房间接收到信号