Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Amy had come within an inch of being flattened by a subway train. She had escaped collapsing buildings and been trapped in airless tombs. But waiting for Dan outside a bookstore was a shock she never anticipated. "Maybe we should find a doctor," Nellie murmured. She handed Amy a recycled cell phone she had bought at an airport shop. "Thanks—well, at least he's interested in something," Amy said, pocketing the phone. Dan was grinning as he left the airport bookshop with a biography of Shaka Zulu. "Thanks, guys, this is awesome. They didn't have anything by the Gekks, but this one looked cool." "The Gekks?" Amy asked. "The people who wrote the text on the Shaka

艾美差点儿就被一列地铁撞倒了。 她从倒塌的建筑物中逃了出来，被困在没有空气的坟墓里。 但在书店外面等丹的时候，她从未预料到这一震惊。 “也许我们应该找个医生，”内利低声说。 她递给艾米一个在机场商店买的回收手机。 “谢谢——好吧，至少他对什么感兴趣，”艾米说着，把电话放进了口袋。 丹带着一本沙卡·祖鲁（Shaka Zulu）的传记离开机场书店时笑了。 “谢谢大家，这太棒了。 他们没有Gekks的任何东西，但这个看起来很酷。” “Gekks ?”艾米问。“在沙卡上写文字的人

card." Dan flashed his postcard. "I can't pronounce their first names, but I like their style. Hey, how's Saladin?" Hearing his name, Saladin scratched the side of his pet carrier. It was amazing how much anger could be contained in a mrrp. As Dan knelt in front of the pet carrier, Nellie grabbed his arm. "Who-o-o-oa! The last time you did this, I ended up chasing that cat all over a library. Best behavior, guys. The rental-car clerk is eyeing me. It was hard enough convincing her to rent to me. I'm scared she's going to change her mind. Oh, and here's your phone, Dan. Don't say I never gave you anything." Nellie grabbed the carrier and headed down the corridor. Dan followed her, leafing through the Shaka biography. "Nothing Cahill-ish in the index. He's got to be descended from Thomas, right?" Amy shook her head. "Thomas Cahill settled in Japan. Shaka's parents were members of African tribes— and none of them had seen Europeans. Ever. Shaka didn't meet any Europeans until, like, the 1800s. Right?"

卡。”丹亮出他的明信片。 “我不会念他们的名字，但我喜欢他们的风格。 嘿，萨拉丁怎么样了？”听到他的名字，萨拉丁抓了抓他的宠物笼。 令人惊讶的是，在mrrp中可以包含多少愤怒。 当丹跪在宠物笼前时，内莉抓住他的胳膊。 “Who-o-o-oa !上次你这么做的时候，我在图书馆追着那只猫跑。 表现好点，伙计们。出租汽车的职员正打量着我。 说服她把房子租给我已经够难的了。 我怕她会改变主意。 哦，这是你的电话，丹。 别说我什么也没给过你。” 内莉抓起行李架，朝走廊走去。 丹跟着她，翻阅着沙卡的传记。 “索引中没有卡希尔式的东西。 他一定是托马斯的后裔，对吧？”艾米摇了摇头。 托马斯·卡希尔在日本定居。 Shaka的父母是非洲部落的成员，他们都没有见过欧洲人。 永远。夏卡直到19世纪才遇到欧洲人。 对吗?”

"Right…" He leafed through his Shaka book. "Some guy from a British delegation— Fynn— saves Shaka's life. Heals a sword wound, gives him meds. Hair dye, too. When Shaka sees his gray hair disappear, he's, like, whoa, they made me younger. It's magic! Up till then, Shaka hasn't liked the Europeans. Now he realizes, hey, they have something I need." "The hair dye?" Nellie said. "The weapons," Dan answered. "So now he's, like, okay, I trust them. Which ends up being a bad call." Nellie led them to an elevator. "The point is, if he wasn't descended from a Cahill, he couldn't be one," Amy said. "So how did he get a shield with a Tomas crest?" "A certified pre-owned shield store?" Dan replied. "I don't know. Let's do some more research on him." "I can't believe you suggested that." "Shaka's fun, not boring," Dan said. "The Zulus did this killing head-twist? Snnnap— dead. They impaled enemies on stakes, then planted them like

“对……”他翻了翻他的沙卡书。 “英国代表团的一个人——芬恩——救了莎卡的命。 治愈他的剑伤，给他药。 还有染发剂。当沙卡看到他的白发消失时，他会说，哇，他们让我更年轻了。 这是魔法!在那之前，沙卡一直不喜欢欧洲人。 现在他意识到，嘿，他们有我需要的东西。” “染发剂？”内莉说。 “武器，”丹回答。 “所以现在他说，好吧，我相信他们。 这最终会是一个糟糕的决定。” 内莉把他们带到电梯前。 “关键是，如果他不是卡希尔家族的后裔，他就不可能是卡希尔家族的后裔，”艾米说。 “那他是怎么得到带着托马斯徽章的盾牌的呢？”“一家经过认证的二手盾牌店？”丹说。 “我不知道。我们再对他做些调查吧。” “我真不敢相信你会这么说。” “沙卡很有趣，不无聊，”丹说。 “祖鲁人做了这种杀人扭头术？” Snnnap——死了。他们把敌人钉在木桩上，然后像

trees! Shaka was a genius. He's, like, what's up with spear-throwing, dudes? It's like throwing fly balls. The bad guys just step out of the way—plus, you lose the spear! So he teaches everyone to shish-kebob enemies with recyclable swords— green combat! His archrival, a dude named Zwide? Shaka fed his mother to the jackals. Who wouldn't want to research someone like that?" "Sounds like a real laugh riot," Amy said flatly. The elevator door opened, and Nellie stepped into the car-rental lot. "The chariot waits, kids. We're looking for slot thirty-seven K." Dan followed her into the lot and scanned the area. "Whoa… you ordered a Hummer? WOOHOO!" Yipping with glee, he sprinted toward an enormous black Hummer near a post labeled 37K. Nellie examined her receipt. "I said the cheapest car. Even one with holes in the floor, like the Flintstones." Amy counted to seven before she heard what she expected— a devastated "AAGHHHH!" from Dan. They found him slumped against a yellow

树!沙卡是个天才。 他在说，你们扔长矛是怎么回事？ 就像扔飞球一样。 坏人会让路，而且你还会失去长矛！所以他教大家用可回收的剑串敌人——绿色战斗！他的劲敌，一个叫兹维德的家伙？ 沙卡把他的母亲喂给豺狼。 谁不想调查一下这样的人呢？”“听起来像是一场真正的大笑暴动，”艾米平淡地说。 电梯门开了，内莉走进了汽车租赁处。 “车子在等着，孩子们。我们在找37 k时段。” 丹跟着她进了停车场，扫视了一下那片区域。 “哇……你订了一辆悍马？” 哦吼!”他高兴地叫了一声，冲向一辆巨大的黑色悍马，停在一个标有37K的柱子旁。 内莉检查了她的收据。 我说最便宜的车。即使是地板上有洞的，就像《摩登原始人》一样。” 艾米数到七，才听到了她所期待的——丹发出了一声悲痛欲绝的“啊”。 他们发现他倒在一张黄牌上

two-door Yugo, looking forlornly to his right, where the Hummer sat in the slot marked 38K. "I was off by one." Nellie looked inside. "Sweet. A stick shift!" "I think you should demand an upgrade," Dan said. "Look at this hunk of junk. The steering wheel in on the wrong side!" "They're all like that," Nellie said. "They drive on the wrong side of the road here." "The rental clerk insulted your honor!" Dan pressed. "Shaka Zulu would not have settled for a Yugo." "Dude, this was hard enough to get," Nellie said. Amy backed away from her brother and au pair, leaving them to their argument. She crept around to the other side of the Hummer. There was something strange about it. The windows were dark, a dusky black. But they were also fogged. She leaned in to the driver's side, peering through the window. She couldn't see much, but the front seat seemed to be shaped funny—lumpy, not straight across.

他绝望地望着右边，那辆悍马正停在标有38K的车位上。 “我差了一个。”内莉朝里面看了看。 “甜的。手动挡！”“我认为你应该要求升级，”丹说。 “看看这堆垃圾。 方向盘在错误的一边！”“他们都是那样，”内莉说。 “他们在这里逆行。” “出租职员侮辱了你的名誉！”丹。 “沙卡·祖鲁不会满足于一辆尤戈。” “老兄，这已经够难的了，”内莉说。 艾米从她哥哥和互惠生身边退了出来，留下他们继续争吵。 她蹑手蹑脚地走到悍马的另一边。 这有点奇怪。 窗户很暗，一片暗黑。 但它们也被雾笼罩着。 她靠向驾驶座一侧，透过车窗向外张望。 她看不太清楚，但前座的形状似乎很滑稽——凹凸不平，而不是笔直的。

Then the lump moved. Dan reluctantly settled into the front seat of the Yugo, putting Saladin's carrier on his lap. The seats were hard. "Smells like fish in here," Dan said. "At least Saladin will like it," Nellie replied. "Now can I let him out?" Dan said, beginning to unlatch the pet carrier straps. But Amy was flinging open the passenger door, diving into the backseat. "Go! Go!" Next to them, the Hummer began to bounce. From inside came the sound of shouting voices. "Someone's in there?" Dan said. "They were waiting for us!" Amy shouted. "I thought they were all in Illinois!" Nellie slammed on the gas and threw the stick shift into reverse. The car jumped off the ground and jolted backward. EEEEEEEEEE… "You're right, this is a piece of junk," Nellie said.

然后那个肿块动了。丹不情愿地坐在尤戈的前座，把萨拉丁的行李架放在腿上。 座位很硬。“这里闻起来像鱼，”丹说。 “至少萨拉丁会喜欢的，”内莉回答。 “现在我可以放他出去了吗？”丹说着，开始解开宠物背带。 但艾米猛地打开副驾驶车门，一头扎进后座。 “去!去吧!”在他们旁边，悍马开始弹跳起来。 里面传来了喊叫的声音。 “有人在里面？”丹说。 “他们在等我们！”艾米喊道。 “我还以为他们都在伊利诺伊州呢！”内莉猛踩油门，把手动挡挡倒档。 汽车从地面上跳起来向后摇晃。 “你说得对，这是一块垃圾，”内莉说。