Chapter 1

The New York Times bestselling series BOOK SEVEN THE VIPER'S NEST PETER LERANGIS READ THE BOOKS. COLLECT THE CARDS. PLAY THE GAME.

《纽约时报》畅销书系列书《七：毒蛇之巢》彼得·莱兰吉斯读过这些书。 收集卡片。玩游戏。

CHAPTERR 1 Amy Cahill didn't believe in omens. But black snow was falling, the earth was rumbling beneath her feet, her brother was meowing, and her uncle Alistair was prancing on the beach in pink pajamas. She had to admit, the signs were not promising. "Ahoy, Nellie!" Alistair shouted across the Java Sea, his hands cupped to his mouth. "Rescue us, dear girl!" Amy wiped a dark flake from her cheek. Ash. Could it be left over from the fire last night? Don't think of that. Not now. Out at sea, a distant engine noise grew louder. On a small launch, speeding toward the tiny Indonesian island where they were stranded, was Amy and Dan's au pair, Nellie Gomez. In the

第一章艾米·卡希尔不相信预兆。 但是黑雪正在飘落，大地在她脚下隆隆作响，她的哥哥在喵喵叫，她的叔叔阿利斯泰尔穿着粉红色的睡衣在海滩上蹦蹦跳跳。 她不得不承认，这些迹象并不乐观。 “喂,内莉!”阿利斯泰尔双手托在嘴上，对着爪哇海喊道。 “救救我们，亲爱的姑娘！”艾米擦去脸颊上的一块黑色的雪花。 灰烬。会不会是昨晚火灾留下的？ 别这么想。不是现在。 在海上，远处的发动机噪音越来越大。 艾米和丹的保姆内莉·戈麦斯（Nellie Gomez）坐上了一艘小船，正驶向他们被困的印尼小岛。 在

eerie morning darkness, sky and water merged into a blue-gray wall, and she seemed to be floating in midair. "Mrrrrrrrrrrp!" Dan wailed. "What are you doing?" Amy asked. "Imitating an Egyptian Mau." Dan gave Amy an exasperated look, as if what he had just said made perfect sense. "Saladin hates the water. If he hears another Mau, maybe he'll come on deck with Nellie—and we'll see him at least! Don't you miss him?" Amy sighed. "I do. But after last night… I mean, I love Saladin, too, Dan, but honestly I haven't thought too much about him." She heard a distant rumble of thunder. As she glanced out to sea, her eyes stung. A tear washed a gray line down her cheek. How could a fire from last night still produce so much ash? It was only one building. A place where she and Dan and Alistair would have become charcoal if it weren't for… Don't think of her. Think about normal things. Peanut butter. Homework. TV. Saladin.

阴森的清晨，天空和水融合成一堵蓝灰色的墙，她似乎漂浮在半空中。 “Mrrrrrrrrrrp !”丹恸哭。 “你在干什么？”艾米问。 “模仿埃及的Mau。” 丹恼怒地看了艾米一眼，好像他刚才说的话很有道理似的。 “萨拉丁讨厌水。如果他听到另一个Mau的声音，也许他会和nellie一起到甲板上来——我们至少会看到他！你不想念他吗？”艾米叹了口气。 “我做的。但昨晚之后……我的意思是，我也喜欢萨拉丁，丹，但老实说，我并没有太想过他。” 她听到远处隆隆的雷声。 她向大海望去，眼睛一阵刺痛。 一滴眼泪在她脸颊上划下一道灰色的线。 昨晚的大火怎么还能产生这么多灰烬？ 那只是一栋楼。一个她和丹还有阿利斯泰尔早就变成灰烬的地方，如果不是因为… 想想正常的事情。 花生酱。家庭作业。电视。 萨拉丁。

But images from last night were racing through her mind. The flames licking up the wall… Dan's expression, like a frightened toddler… Alistair shouting to them… the call from out the window, from the last person they'd wanted to see… the woman who had almost murdered them in Russia. You thought she was trying to burn you alive last night. But she wasn't. It wasn't Irina. Isabel Kabra had done it. She had burned down their house in Massachusetts all those years ago, and Dan and Amy's parents hadn't been able to escape. Now Isabel was finishing the job. She was a murderer. A Lucian killing machine in pearls and perfume. Until last night, Isabel had been one of the two people Amy had feared most. The other was the blond woman who had called up to them from below the ledge. Yesterday, if you'd asked Amy to list the Predictions Least Likely Ever to Come True in a Million Years, right up there with The world will turn into cheese and My brother Dan will say he loves me, would have been this:

但昨晚的画面在她脑海里闪过。 火焰舔舐着墙壁……丹的表情，像个吓坏了的小孩……阿利斯泰尔对他们大喊大叫……窗外的呼唤，来自他们最不想见到的人……那个在俄罗斯差点杀了他们的女人。 你以为她昨晚想把你活活烧死。 但她不是。不是伊琳娜。 伊莎贝尔·卡布拉做到了。多年前，她烧毁了他们在马萨诸塞州的房子，丹和艾米的父母没能逃出来。 现在伊莎贝尔完成了这项工作。 她是个杀人犯。戴着珍珠和香水的卢西安杀人机器。 直到昨晚，伊莎贝尔一直是艾米最害怕的两个人之一。 另一个是那个从窗台下面朝他们喊的金发女人。 昨天，如果你让艾米列出一百万年后最不可能实现的预言，就在“世界将变成奶酪”和“我哥哥丹会说他爱我”前面，她会说：

Irina Spasky will sacrifice herself—for us. But Irina had leaped to the roof on a pole, into the flames. She had held that pole in front of their window so they could slide to safety. Then she had disappeared into the fire before Amy's eyes. Why? How could a person change so much? "Earth to Amy," Dan said. "Dude, can you hear what Nellie's saying?" Stop. Thinking. Amy's thoughts blew away into the smoky air. Out at sea, Nellie was waving frantically. Behind her, the sky was dark with ominous low clouds. "The dear girl looks frightened," Alistair said. "There's a storm coming," Amy said. "Maybe she just noticed your pjs, Uncle Alistair," Dan suggested. "They are kind of scary." Alistair glanced down. His silken sleepwear was tattered and sooty from the previous night's fire. "Oh, dear, would you pardon me while I change?" Now Nellie was gesturing to something behind her, toward an island called Rakata. Amy

伊琳娜·斯帕斯基会为我们牺牲自己。 但伊琳娜已经跳到屋顶的一根杆子上，跳进了火焰中。 她扶着窗前的杆子，好让他们滑到安全的地方。 然后她就在艾米眼前消失在火里了。 为什么?一个人怎么能改变这么多？ “地球给艾米，”丹说。“老兄，你能听到内莉在说什么吗？”停止。 思考。艾米的思绪被吹进了烟雾弥漫的空气中。 在海上，内莉疯狂地挥舞着。 在她身后，乌云密布，天空一片漆黑。 “这个可爱的女孩看起来很害怕，”阿利斯泰尔说。 “暴风雨就要来了，”艾米说。 “也许她只是注意到了你的睡衣，阿利斯泰尔叔叔。”丹暗示道。 “它们有点吓人。”阿利斯泰尔向下看了一眼。 他的丝绸睡衣已经破烂不堪，还被前一天晚上的火熏黑了。 “哦，亲爱的，你能原谅我换衣服吗？”现在，内莉指着她身后一个叫拉卡塔岛的东西。 艾米

stiffened. In 1883, the Krakatau volcano had erupted there, one of the worst natural disasters in recorded history. Amy remembered the words of the motorboat skipper who had taken them here. Not good today… very active. She felt the ash on her cheek and suddenly it made sense. She held out her blackened fingertips toward her brother. It wasn't only the storm Nellie was worried about. "I— I think she's trying to tell us something about the volcano," Amy said. Dan's eyes lit up. "Whoa. Are we going to be like Pompeii? Like, hmm-hmm, here we are, cleaning the kitchen— whoa, zap!— lavafied!" "This is no joke," Amy said. "For your information, the last time the volcano blew, there were tidal waves all over the South Seas. Thirty- six thousand people died." Dan took a deep breath. "Okay, Amy, let's chill. Nellie's almost here. In a few moments we'll be riding away, cuddling Saladin, everything situation normal…." "We have no lead, Dan," Amy said. "Even if we

加强了。1883年，喀拉喀托火山在那里爆发，这是有史以来最严重的自然灾害之一。 艾米想起了把他们带到这里的汽艇船长的话。 今天不太好，很活跃。 她感觉到脸颊上的灰，突然间她明白了。 她向弟弟伸出她那发黑的指尖。 内莉担心的不仅仅是暴风雨。 “我——我想她是想告诉我们一些关于火山的事情，”艾米说。 丹的眼睛亮了起来。“哇。我们会像庞贝一样吗？ 就像，嗯，嗯，我们在这里，打扫厨房-哇，太棒了！——lavafied !”“这可不是开玩笑，”艾米说。 “告诉你，上次火山喷发的时候，整个南海都是潮汐。 三万六千人死亡。” 丹深吸了一口气。“好吧，艾米，我们冷静一下。 内莉快到了。再过一会儿我们就可以骑马离开了，拥抱着萨拉丁，一切都恢复正常....” “我们没有线索，丹，”艾米说。 "即使我们