Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 Dan was rubbing a sore shoulder as they stumbled through the interior of the church. "Still hurts, huh?" whispered Amy. "Falling out of a helicopter and being crushed by your big sister will do that to a guy. I'm just glad I didn't land on my head." "That makes two of us. Next time, think twice before pressing the red button." "It got us out of there!" Dan protested. Two seconds after the trapdoor in the Shark had shut, Dan had pressed a glowing red button that dropped the floor out, sending them both tumbling out onto the pavement before Irina got close enough to see them. "Let's just find the Amber Room and get out of here as fast as we can," said Amy. "We don't want to come face-to-face with Irina again." "Do you see anything that looks like amber?"

当他们跌跌撞撞地穿过教堂内部时，丹正在揉着酸痛的肩膀。 “还疼吗？”艾米小声说。 “从直升机上摔下来，被你的姐姐压扁，这对一个男人来说就是这样。 我只是很高兴我没有头着地。” “我们都是这样。下次按红色按钮前要三思。” “它把我们救了出来！”丹抗议。 鲨鱼车上的活板门关上两秒钟后，丹按下了一个红色的按钮，地板掉了出来，在伊琳娜靠近他们看到他们之前，他们俩都滚到了人行道上。 “我们还是找到琥珀屋，尽快离开这里吧。”艾米说。 “我们不想再和伊琳娜面对面了。” “你看到什么像琥珀的东西了吗？”

asked Dan. There were small lights here and there, and all the colors inside the church seemed to melt into the white marble floor. "Let's try up there," said Amy. She started walking down the middle aisle that separated the pews. It was eerie being in a church at night, especially one with a tomb underneath it, and Amy shuddered at the thought of what might jump out from the shadows. Dan thought the pews looked like rows of black teeth. The floor was worn and grooved at the front of the church. Looking down, Dan was the first to see what they'd been looking for. "Amber squares." Burnt-orange tiles were beginning to appear every few feet between the marble. "It looks like a trail of blood," said Dan. They followed the amber tiles around the altar and down a flight of stone steps. A cold wisp of air brushed Dan's cheek as he opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and peered down a darkened passageway. The underground hallway led twenty feet in one direction and then turned into the shadows. They

丹问道。到处都是小灯，教堂里所有的颜色似乎都融入了白色的大理石地板。 “我们上去试试吧，”艾米说。 她开始沿着中间的过道走下去。 晚上呆在教堂里，尤其是教堂下面有一座坟墓，真是令人毛骨悚然。艾米一想到阴影里可能跳出什么东西，就不寒而栗。 丹觉得那些长椅看起来像一排排黑牙。 教堂前面的地板磨破了，开了槽。 往下看，丹第一个看到了他们一直在寻找的东西。 “琥珀广场”。大理石之间每隔几英尺就会出现一片焦黄的瓷砖。 “看起来像一条血迹，”丹说。 他们沿着祭坛周围的琥珀瓷砖走下一段石阶。 一缕冷风拂过丹的脸颊，他打开楼梯底部的门，朝黑暗的过道里望去。 地下走廊向一个方向延伸20英尺，然后转到阴影里。 他们

walked, careful not to make any noise, until they stood at the cross of a T. The walls turned to concrete slab, and Dan had the distinct feeling they were about to enter the restricted area. "I think we should go that way," said Amy, pointing to the left. At the end of a long hallway, a murky bulb shed light on an orange door bolted to the concrete wall with thick iron hinges. It looked like it belonged in a bank, not a church. "Why am I so n-n-nervous?" said Amy. The orange key was shaking in her hand. "I don't know, maybe because we're about to enter a tomb at night in a place called the Church on the Blood?" "You're n-n-not helping," said Amy. "Give me the key. I'll open it." Dan inserted it into a keyhole to the left of the vault door and turned his hand. A panel slid open and revealed a set of dials. The four symbols from a deck of cards appeared randomly, and Dan quickly turned the dials to diamonds and hearts. The door clicked open. "Here we go," said Amy, taking a deep breath as Dan pulled the heavy door forward just enough

他们小心翼翼地走着，不发出任何声音，一直走到一个十字路口。 墙壁变成了水泥板，丹有一种明显的感觉，他们即将进入禁区。 “我想我们应该走那条路，”艾米指着左边说。 在一条长长的走廊的尽头，一盏昏暗的灯泡照亮了一扇橙色的门，门用厚厚的铁铰链栓在混凝土墙上。 它看起来像是属于银行的，而不是教堂的。 “我为什么这么紧张？”艾米说。 那把橙色的钥匙在她手里颤抖着。 “我不知道，也许是因为我们要在夜里进入一个叫‘血上教堂’的地方的坟墓吧？”“你帮不上忙，”艾米说。 “把钥匙给我。我来打开它。” 丹把它插进保险库门左边的锁孔里，然后把手转了过来。 一块面板滑开，露出一组表盘。 一副牌中的四个符号随机出现，丹很快把转盘转到方块和红心。 门咔哒一声开了。“我们走吧，”当丹把沉重的门向前拉得恰到好处时，艾米深吸了一口气

for them to sneak through. The air was cool and dank, as if they were walking on packed earth. It was dark down there and Dan couldn't feel a light switch on the wall. He flicked on their one flashlight. "Should we close the door behind us?" asked Amy. "Better not. What if we get locked in? I don't want them discovering our bones in ten years." Dan's thoughts flashed back to the cave in Korea. Cobwebs hung from a low-slung ceiling as they made their way down wide steps. When they reached the bottom, Amy lost it. "Dan, I d-d-don't think I'm— I'm— I'm…" Dan grabbed his sister's hand and pointed the light into the tomb, shooting the beam into every dark corner. It was a big space, and it was filled with dusty old coffins. On the far wall, in the deepest corner of the tomb, sat one final door. "This place is awful," said Amy. "People were gunned down in here, killed in cold blood." She instinctively leaned toward the door they had entered, but Dan wouldn't budge. "Amy, we're right here. What if it leads to

让他们偷偷溜过去。 空气又冷又湿，好像他们是在压实的泥土上行走。 下面很黑，丹感觉不到墙上有灯的开关。 他打开了他们的一个手电筒。 “我们应该把门关上吗？”艾米问。 “最好不要。如果我们被锁在里面怎么办？ 我不希望他们在十年内发现我们的骨头。” 丹的思绪又回到了韩国的山洞。 他们走下宽阔的台阶时，低矮的天花板上挂着蜘蛛网。 当他们到达底部时，艾米失去了理智。 “丹，我——我——我——我不觉得我——我——我……”丹抓住妹妹的手，把灯对准坟墓，把光束照进每一个黑暗的角落。 这是一个很大的空间，里面摆满了满是灰尘的旧棺材。 在远处的墙上，在坟墓最深的角落里，有最后一扇门。 “这地方糟透了，”艾米说。 “人们在这里被枪杀，被残忍地杀害。” 她本能地向他们进来的那扇门倾斜，但丹不愿挪动。 “艾米，我们就在这儿。如果它导致

something about Mom and Dad? Just hold my hand and close your eyes if you have to. I'll get us there. Trust me." Dan cracked a crooked smile, but his eyes were as nervous as Amy's. "C'mon, Amy. A history paper is scary, but this?" For once, Amy let her brother lead and followed his instructions without argument. She closed her eyes, shuffling past six coffins filled with brittle bones. Dan kept the flashlight beam focused on the door until he'd managed to crisscross his way around a maze of the dead. "Hold the light," said Dan. He didn't want to let go of her hand, but he needed to turn the knob on the door. Amy reached out her hand and felt for the flashlight, keeping her eyes sealed tight. "Don't open your eyes yet," said Dan. But Amy didn't listen. She peeked and saw that Dan had opened the lid to one of the coffins. "Are you crazy! Close that thing right now!" "Calm down. Nothing but bones in there." Dan set the coffin lid down and reached for the final door.

关于爸爸妈妈的事？ 握住我的手，如果有必要就闭上眼睛。 我会带大家去的。相信我。” 丹歪歪地笑了笑，但他的眼睛和艾米的一样紧张。 “来吧,艾米。历史论文很吓人，但这篇呢？”这一次，艾米让她哥哥领导，毫无争议地听从了他的指示。 她闭上眼睛，拖着脚步走过六具装满碎骨的棺材。 丹一直把手电筒的光束对准门，直到他设法在迷宫般的死人中纵横交错。 “拿着灯，”丹说。 他不想放开她的手，但他需要转动门把手。 艾米伸出手去摸手电筒，眼睛紧闭着。 “先不要睁开眼睛，”丹说。 但艾米不听。她偷看了一下，看到丹打开了其中一个棺材的盖子。 “你疯了吗？”马上把那东西关上！”“冷静下来。 里面除了骨头什么都没有。” 丹放下棺材盖，伸手去打开最后一扇门。

"You can turn that off now," said Dan. "We won't be needing a flashlight in here." Dan slowly stepped inside and found himself surrounded by soft golden light. He closed the door behind him and Amy clicked off the flashlight. It was impossible to say where the light inside the room came from, but it seemed as if its source was everywhere, like a thousand candles were hidden in the walls. "The Amber Room," Amy marveled. "We made it, Dan. We're in!" The ceiling had opened up above them and rose twenty feet in the air. Every part of the room was the deep color of burnt honey shot through with dazzling light. "Where's the light coming from?" asked Dan. "I can't figure it out." Amy had moved to one of the walls, touching its intricate designs. Panel after panel of glowing orange framed delicately carved amber. The superb craftsmanship must have taken years to achieve. It was like the pyramids in Egypt or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Yet Dan and Amy stood within the golden light of its walls.

“你现在可以把它关掉了，”丹说。 “我们在这里不需要手电筒。” 丹慢慢地走进去，发现自己被柔和的金色光线包围着。 他关上了身后的门，艾米关上了手电筒。 说不出房间里的光是从哪里来的，但似乎它的光源无处不在，就像一千根蜡烛藏在墙壁里。 “琥珀屋，”艾米惊叹道。 “我们成功了，丹。我们在!”他们头顶上的天花板打开了，高了二十英尺。 房间的每一个部分都是烧焦的蜂蜜的深颜色，闪耀着耀眼的光芒。 “光是从哪里来的？”丹问。 “我想不明白。”艾米已经走到其中一面墙上，摸了摸那错综复杂的图案。 一面板又一面板的发光的橙色框精致雕刻琥珀。 精湛的工艺一定是花了好几年才完成的。 它就像埃及的金字塔或罗马西斯廷教堂的天花板。 然而丹和艾米站在墙的金色光芒里。