Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 Ian adjusted the focus on the binoculars. "He's definitely got something in his hand," he said, "but I'm not sure what it is. It could be— it's long and pointed—" "Another fang?" Natalie asked. She glanced at her mother's wrist. Isabel was wearing a bracelet of heavy gold links that held a small collection of intricate charms. So classy, Natalie thought. Why do the masses persist in thinking that more is always better? One of the charms was a gold wolf fang. Natalie didn't know why the charm was important, only that it was somehow part of the Clue hunt, and that Isabel was sure there were other charms like it out there somewhere. They were on the Kabra family yacht, the Universal Force. Natalie loved everything about the sleek black boat, especially its name. It had

伊恩调整了双筒望远镜的焦距。 “他手里肯定拿着什么东西，”他说，“但我不确定那是什么。 它可能是——它又长又尖——”“另一个毒牙？”娜塔莉问道。 她瞥了一眼母亲的手腕。 伊莎贝尔戴着一条由沉重的金链组成的手镯，上面挂着一些精致的饰物。 太优雅了，娜塔莉想。 为什么群众坚持认为越多越好？ 其中一个护身符是金狼牙。 纳塔利不知道这个符咒为什么重要，只知道它在某种程度上是寻找线索的一部分，伊莎贝尔确信在某个地方还有其他类似的符咒。 他们在卡布拉家族的游艇上，宇宙之力号。 娜塔莉喜欢这艘光滑的黑色船的一切，尤其是它的名字。 它

been Isabel's inspiration, but Natalie and Ian had done the legwork. With the help of the Internet, they had researched anagram sites and found the perfect name. Universal Force was an anagram for Lucians Forever. "Whatever it is, they've found it," Isabel said in a grim voice. She lowered the binoculars and stared at Ian, her eyes like laser beams. "How long have we known that the cave was a Tomas site? And you searched it how many times?" Ian muttered something under his breath. Natalie glanced nervously between her mother and her brother. "Maybe it wasn't there before. Maybe it got washed in by the waves." she said. "Or somebody put it there, um, just now." She cringed from the force of Isabel's withering glare. "Don't you dare make excuses for him, Natalie," Isabel said. "Those brats have bested you again." Isabel shoved the throttle. The boat leaped forward.

是伊莎贝尔的灵感来源，但娜塔莉和伊恩已经做了跑腿的工作。 在互联网的帮助下，他们研究了字谜网站，找到了一个完美的名字。 宇宙之力是卢西亚人永远的字谜。 “不管它是什么，他们已经找到了。”伊莎贝尔用冷酷的声音说。 她放下望远镜盯着伊恩，她的眼睛像激光束一样。 “我们知道这个洞穴是托马斯的遗址有多久了？ 你搜了多少遍？”伊恩低声咕哝着什么。 娜塔丽紧张地在母亲和弟弟之间看了一眼。 “也许它以前不存在。 也许是被海浪冲进来了。” 她说。“或者刚才有人把它放在那儿了。” 伊莎贝尔凶狠的目光使她畏缩了。 “你竟敢替他找借口，娜塔莉，”伊莎贝尔说。 “那些小鬼又把你打败了。” 伊莎贝尔猛踩油门。 船向前跳跃。

"I'm telling you both," she said, "I won't stand for it anymore!" Natalie knew that to the rest of the world, she and Ian were golden. They had it all: money, good looks, intelligence. It was only around Isabel that Natalie found herself feeling uncertain, hesitant, afraid to make a mistake. Especially lately. It wasn't easy having a mother who was always perfectly dressed and exquisitely coiffed and strode through the world as if she owned it. (She did, in fact, own considerable chunks of it.) Natalie stood alone at the Force's bow, trying to collect herself. Her mother was always at her worst when it came to Dan and Amy. They made her so angry! Why did they have to keep fouling things up for Natalie's family? The Kabras had to win the race for the Clues, it was as simple as that. Who else could possibly handle the power and responsibility? The dunderheaded Holts? The shallow, media–crazed Wizards? The inept Alistair Oh and his decrepit uncle?

“我告诉你们俩，”她说，“我再也不能忍受了！”娜塔莉知道，对其他人来说，她和伊恩是黄金。 他们什么都有：金钱、美貌、智慧。 只有在伊莎贝尔身边，娜塔莉才感到不确定、犹豫、害怕犯错。 尤其是最近。有一个总是穿着完美、发型精致、昂首阔步地走遍世界的母亲，真是不容易。 （事实上，她确实拥有相当大的一部分股份。）娜塔莉一个人站在原力的船头，试图镇定下来。 一提到丹和艾米，她妈妈就很生气。 他们让她很生气！他们为什么要一直给娜塔莉的家人添乱？ 卡布拉家族必须赢得线索的比赛，就这么简单。 还有谁能承担这样的权力和责任呢？ 愚蠢的霍尔特？肤浅的，痴迷于媒体的奇才？ 无能的阿利斯泰尔·吴和他年迈的叔叔？

Any one of them as head of the Cahill clan would be a complete disaster. From the beginning of the Clue hunt, Ian and Natalie had worked to find the answers, sometimes even competing against each other in an effort to win Isabel's approval. But time after time, Dan and Amy had defeated them. How was it possible? They're nothing! No family, no power, not even any staff— except for that crazy au pair— how could they have beaten us so many times? And the worst of it was that her mother had lost faith in Natalie. In Ian, too. Since their failure in Russia, Isabel had taken over, and nothing Natalie or her brother did was ever right. Now Natalie shivered in the full sunshine. The scene in the hangar was haunting her waking hours as well as her dreams. The propeller, rotating slowly at first, then faster, faster, until it was a lethal blur… the boy tied to the chair being pushed closer and closer… Natalie squeezed her eyes shut tight, which did nothing to block out the image in her mind.

他们中的任何一个成为卡希尔家族的首领都会是一场灾难。 从寻找线索开始，伊恩和娜塔莉就一直在努力寻找答案，有时甚至为了赢得伊莎贝尔的认可而相互竞争。 但一次又一次，丹和艾米打败了他们。 这怎么可能？他们没有!没有家庭，没有权力，甚至没有任何员工——除了那个疯狂的互惠生——他们怎么能打败我们这么多次呢？ 最糟糕的是，她的母亲对娜塔莉失去了信心。 在伊恩也是如此。自从他们在俄国失败后，伊莎贝尔接管了政权，娜塔莉和她哥哥做的任何事都不对。 现在娜塔莉在阳光下瑟瑟发抖。 机库里的场景在她醒着的时候和梦中都萦绕着她。 螺旋桨一开始旋转得很慢，然后越来越快，越来越快，最后变成了一个致命的模糊……绑在椅子上的男孩被推得越来越近……娜塔莉紧紧地闭上眼睛，但这并没有阻止她脑海中的画面。

She wouldn't have done it. She'd have stopped the propeller somehow. At the very last second. She wouldn't really have killed them. Not like that. Natalie herself, along with Ian, had tried several times to thwart Dan and Amy in ways that were… less than pleasant. But their ruses were all planned so they would never have to witness the end results. Which meant that Natalie could— and did— choose not to consider the grisly consequences of their actions. She focused instead on the hope that Dan and Amy would be out of the way once and for all. When Isabel stepped in, some of her plans had followed a similar pattern: the poisonous snakes in the mine, the fire in Indonesia. If those schemes had worked, the Kabras wouldn't have been there when the Cahills actually met their doom. The sharks in Australia— that would have been different, but Natalie hadn't been there. So she had conveniently been able to put any thought of bloodshed out of her mind.

她不会这么做的。 她会设法让螺旋桨停止转动。 在最后一秒。她不会真的杀了他们。 不是那样的。娜塔莉自己，和伊恩一起，曾多次试图用一些不太愉快的方式来阻挠丹和艾米。 但他们的诡计都是计划好的，所以他们永远不会看到最终的结果。 这意味着娜塔莉可以——也确实——选择不去考虑他们行为的可怕后果。 相反，她专注于希望丹和艾米能一劳永逸地消失。 当伊莎贝尔介入时，她的一些计划遵循了类似的模式：矿井里的毒蛇，印度尼西亚的大火。 如果这些计划成功了，卡希尔家族灭亡的时候卡布拉家族就不会在那里了。 澳大利亚的鲨鱼——那就不一样了，但娜塔莉没有去过那里。 这样，她就很方便地把流血的念头抛在脑后了。

Until the propeller had started its deathly whirl. Overhead, a seagull made a harsh sound, almost like it was laughing… like the laughter in her dream. Natalie gasped and opened her eyes. The person laughing in her dream was Isabel! Could her mother be so cruel and heartless that she would laugh at the prospect of a violent and agonizing death for the Cahills? Is that what the dream meant? No! She's perfect! Or as perfect as anyone can be. And nobody really understands her except me— not even Ian. She might be a bit demanding at times, but that's only because she's so determined. She's warned me about this— that people always resent when a woman has a lot of power…. Natalie knew that Ian was having doubts about their mother. She had seen it in small ways: how he wouldn't quite meet their mother's eyes and often muttered under his breath when she was around. Perhaps it wasn't surprising; after all, he was the one who had turned on the propeller,

直到螺旋桨开始致命的旋转。 头顶上，一只海鸥发出刺耳的声音，几乎像是在笑……就像她梦中的笑声。 娜塔莉喘着气睁开了眼睛。 在她梦中笑的人是伊莎贝尔！难道她的母亲会如此残忍无情，对卡希尔一家即将遭受的暴力和痛苦的死亡而发笑吗？ 这就是那个梦的意思吗？ 不!她是完美的!或者像任何人一样完美。 除了我，没有人真正理解她——甚至伊恩也不理解。 她有时可能有点苛刻，但那只是因为她太坚定了。 她警告过我——当一个女人拥有很多权力时，人们总是会怨恨.... 娜塔莉知道伊恩在怀疑他们的母亲。 她从一些小事上看到了这一点：他怎么不愿直视母亲的眼睛，当母亲在身边时，他经常低声咕哝。 也许这并不奇怪；毕竟，是他打开了螺旋桨，