Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25 Amy's decision was instant. She dropped the Janus serum and clamped both hands on Ian's arm. The vial plunged down the face, disappearing from sight long before it shattered far below. The Sherpas joined her, and Ian was hauled back to the safety of the summit. Amy had no more breath. Even as she sprinted for the ultralight, she knew it was too late. She was running on empty, already collapsing, the snow of the summit swinging up to meet her…. Dan clamped his arms around his sister and hauled her bodily into the A-Star. As they tumbled aboard, the pilot reached up and closed the bubble. With a lurch, the little craft left Everest behind. "The serum!" Dan asked anxiously. Amy shook her head, awareness returning.

第二十五章艾美立刻下了决定。 她放下杰诺斯血清，双手紧紧抓住伊恩的手臂。 瓶子从他的脸上掉了下来，在摔碎之前很久就从他的视线中消失了。 夏尔巴人加入了她的行列，伊恩被拖回了安全的山顶。 艾米喘不过气来。即使在她冲向超轻型汽车的时候，她也知道已经太晚了。 她空空如也地跑着，已经倒下了，山顶上的雪荡上来迎接她.... 丹紧紧抱住妹妹，把她的身体拖进了A-Star。 当他们滚落上船时，飞行员伸手关上了气泡。 吃过午饭后，这艘小船离开了珠穆朗玛峰。 “血清!”丹焦急地问。 艾米摇了摇头，恢复了知觉。

"Smashed." She regarded her brother apologetically. "I couldn't let him die." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized the importance of what she'd just said. "Dan— I had a choice! And I saved Isabel Kabra's son!" "Don't remind me," Dan said through clenched teeth. "The next time Ian and Natalie feed me to a lollipop machine, I'll know who to thank." "Don't you get it?" Amy persisted. "If the Madrigals were as bad as everybody says, I would have saved the bottle, not Ian! I did the human thing." She looked at him earnestly. "We don't have to be evil just because we're Madrigals. Madrigals are horrible— but we can change our destiny." "What about Mom and Dad?" asked Dan. "I don't know…." If Amy had learned one lesson from the Clue hunt and its many deceptions, it was to value truth above all. She would have given anything to believe that their parents were good people. But her eyes met Dan's, and the name beamed between them as if by radar: Nudelman.

“砸”。她带着歉意看着她哥哥。 “我不能让他死。”话一出口，她就意识到自己刚才所说的话的重要性。 “丹——我有选择！”我救了伊莎贝尔·卡布拉的儿子！”“别提醒我，”丹咬紧牙关说。 “下次伊恩和娜塔莉把我喂给棒棒糖贩卖机的时候，我就知道该感谢谁了。” “你还不明白吗？”艾米持久化。 “如果牧歌真像大家说的那么糟糕，我就会保存这瓶酒，而不是伊恩！”我做了人类该做的事。” 她认真地看着他。 “我们不必因为是牧歌人就变得邪恶。 牧歌很可怕，但我们可以改变自己的命运。” “爸爸妈妈呢？”丹问。 “我不知道....”如果艾米从寻找线索和它的许多欺骗中学到了什么，那就是把真相看得高于一切。 她愿意付出一切去相信他们的父母是好人。 但她的目光与丹的相遇了，那个名字仿佛通过雷达在他们之间闪烁：努德尔曼。

"I wouldn't have let Ian die, either," Dan admitted after a solemn pause. "I just hate losing the serum. Especially since we didn't even get a clue out of this." Amy smiled broadly. "Yes, we did. We've had it since the Forbidden City," She told him. "I just didn't understand it until now. Alistair translated Puyi's poem: 'That which you seek, you hold in your hand, Fixed forever in birth, Where the Earth meets the sky.'" "I understand the 'Earth meets sky' part," said Dan. "But holding it in your hand? The only thing you could be holding is the sheet with the poem on it." "Which is silk," Amy added, eyes alight. "Silk is spun by the silkworm, which is really—" "The Bombyx mori caterpillar," her brother supplied, thinking of snack time at the Shaolin Temple. "It tastes like chicken." She gave him a strange look and went on. "The

“我也不会让伊恩死的。”丹在一阵严肃的停顿后承认。 “我只是讨厌失去血清。 特别是我们甚至没有从中得到任何线索。” 艾米笑得很开心。“是的，我们做到了。 我们从紫禁城就有了，”她告诉他。 “我只是直到现在才明白。 阿利斯泰尔翻译了溥仪的诗：“你所追求的，你握在手中，在出生时永远固定，在天地相遇的地方。”“我明白‘天与地相遇’的部分，”丹说。 “但是把它拿在手里呢？” 你手里唯一可能拿着的就是那张写着那首诗的纸。” “这是丝绸做的，”艾米补充道，眼睛亮了起来。 “蚕丝是蚕纺的，这真是——”“家蚕毛虫，”她哥哥补充道，想起了少林寺的点心时间。 “它尝起来像鸡肉。”她奇怪地看了他一眼，继续说下去。 “

stuff comes out liquid and solidifies into silk filament when it hits the air. But the ingredient is 'fixed forever in birth.' In other words, the silk in its liquid form— raw silkworm secretion." Dan shook his head in wonder. "And Puyi didn't have a freezer, so he got Mallory to stick it up on Mount Everest for him. Wow!" Amy nodded. "Can you imagine what must have been going through Mallory's head when he planted that vial on the summit eighty-six years ago? He'd just conquered Everest— and he did it twenty-nine years before Sir Edmund Hillary in 1953." She paused ruefully. "Little did the poor guy realize that he was going to die on the way down. He's still on the mountain, you know. His body is frozen solid, so he's always going to be there." "Cool," said Dan. "I mean, not the being dead part. But, you know— the spot of his greatest triumph becomes his final resting place. It makes sense." Amy regarded him with disapproval. "I'd forgotten how weird you are."

这些东西出来的时候是液体，碰到空气就凝固成丝。 但这种成分“在出生时就永远固定了”。换句话说，蚕丝的液态——生蚕丝的分泌物。” 丹惊奇地摇了摇头。 溥仪没有冰箱，所以他让马洛里帮他把冰箱贴在珠峰上。 哇!”艾米点点头。“你能想象八十六年前马洛里把那瓶药放在山顶上时他脑子里在想什么吗？ 他刚刚征服了珠穆朗玛峰，比埃德蒙·希拉里爵士早了29年。” 她悲哀地停了一下。“这个可怜的家伙没有意识到他会死在下去的路上。 他还在山上，你知道的。 他的身体是冰冻的，所以他会一直在那里。” “酷，”丹说。“我是说，不是说死了那部分。 但是，你知道，他最伟大的胜利的地方成为他最后的安息之地。 这是有道理的。”艾美不以为然地看着他。 “我都忘了你有多怪了。”

The pilot's voice intruded on their conversation. "Since neither of you American hotshots bothered to ask if we have enough fuel to land, the answer is yes. Barely." "That's great news!" Amy exclaimed, embarrassed. "Thank you for the— uh— ride." "De rien, mademoiselle. You have powerful friends. At least, your companion with the nose ring does." "Yeah, what's up with that?" Dan mused. "How many au pairs could make a phone call and score you a ticket up Everest in an experimental chopper?" "She's definitely more than a regular au pair," Amy agreed. "You should have seen her at the Great Wall. She picked a lock like a pro." Her expression softened. "But whatever else she is, she's on our side. I think." They looked back at Everest, silent and severe in its powerful majesty. "Did you ever dream of being up there?" Amy asked in a hushed tone. "Sure," Dan enthused. "All the time. One day

飞行员的声音打断了他们的谈话。 “既然你们两个美国高手都懒得问我们是否有足够的燃料降落，答案是肯定的。 几乎没有。”“这真是个好消息！”艾米尴尬地叫道。 “谢谢你载我一程。” “De rien，小姐。你有强大的朋友。 至少，你那个戴鼻环的同伴知道。” “是啊，这是怎么回事？”丹若有所思。 “有多少互惠生可以打个电话，让你坐着实验直升机登上珠穆朗玛峰？”“她绝对不只是一个普通的互惠生，”艾米同意道。 “你真该看看她在长城的样子。 她像专业人士一样撬了一把锁。” 她的表情缓和下来。“但不管她是什么，她站在我们这边。 我认为。”他们回头望着珠穆朗玛峰，它威严威严，沉默而严肃。 “你有没有梦想过到那里去？”艾米轻声问道。 “当然，”丹兴奋地说。“一直都是。 有一天

I'm going to climb it." She made a face. "Be sure to send me a postcard." They were low enough to make out the village of Tingri now, a small collection of ancient buildings on the vast Tibetan plateau. A mile or so outside of town, the helipad came into view, and, standing outside, Nellie was shading her eyes as she scanned the sky. Not far from her, a tiny gray dot— Saladin. Family, waiting to welcome them home. For two orphans, that was something you couldn't put a price on.

我要爬上去。”她做了个鬼脸。 “一定要给我寄张明信片。” 它们很低，可以辨认出现在的定日村，这是广阔的青藏高原上的一小群古建筑。 出了镇子一英里左右，直升机停机坪映入眼帘。内莉站在停机坪外面，用手遮着眼睛，扫视着天空。 离她不远，有一个灰色的小点——萨拉丁。 家人，等着欢迎他们回家。 对于两个孤儿来说，这是无法用金钱衡量的。