18 Chapter 18

Chapter 18 The contestants raced down the stairs to the Rotunda Reading Room. Kyle saw Haley Daley dash down another set of steps into the basement, to what the floor plan called the Stacks. Miguel and Andrew, the two library experts, grabbed separate tables and started working the touch-screen computers. Bridgette Wadge did the same thing. Charles Chiltington strolled out the arched doorway and into the foyer with the fountain.

参赛者跑下楼梯来到圆形大厅阅览室。 凯尔看见海莉·戴利冲下另一层台阶，进入地下室，到了平面图上叫斯塔克斯的地方。 米格尔(Miguel)和安德鲁(Andrew)是两位图书馆专家，他们分别拿起桌子，开始操作触摸屏电脑。 Bridgette Wadge也做了同样的事情。 查尔斯·齐廷顿漫步走出拱门，走进有喷泉的门厅。

Yasmeen Smith-Snyder was running around the circular room with her floor plan in front of her face, like someone frantically checking their text messages while racing down a crowded sidewalk. Sierra Russell found a comfy chair and sat down. To finish her book. The girl definitely wasn't into the whole spirit of The Game. "So, Kyle," said Akimi, "you want to form an alliance?" "What do you mean?" "It's what people do on reality shows like Survivor. We help each other until, you know, everybody else is eliminated and we have to stab each other in the back." "Um, I don't remember hearing anything about 'eliminations.'" "Oh. Right." "But, hey, there was nothing in the rules that said we couldn't share the top prize. I just want to win!" "Cool. So, we're a team?" "Sure."

Yasmeen Smith-Snyder在圆形的房间里跑来跑去，她的平面图就在她的面前，就像有人在拥挤的人行道上奔跑时疯狂地查看短信一样。 塞拉·拉塞尔找了一把舒服的椅子坐了下来。 完成她的书。那女孩显然没有完全融入比赛的精神。 “那么，凯尔，”明美说，“你想组建一个联盟吗?”“你是什么意思?”“这就是人们在《幸存者》这样的真人秀节目中所做的。 我们互相帮助，直到其他人都被淘汰，我们不得不在背后捅对方一刀。” “嗯，我不记得听说过什么‘淘汰’。”“哦。 对的。”“但是，嘿，规则中没有规定我们不能分享头奖。 我只想赢!”“酷。 所以，我们是一个团队?”“当然。”

"Great," said Akimi. "I nominate you to be our captain. All in favor raise their hands." Kyle and Akimi both raised their hands. "It's unanimous," said Akimi. "Okay. Let's go ask that antique librarian a question." "What?" "We both get to ask one question, right?" "Right." "Okay, here's mine: 'Hey, lady—how do we get out of here?' " "And you think she'll tell you?" "No. Not really. So, what's your plan?" "Well, I was thinking—" Suddenly, Yasmeen shouted, "I win!" The rest of them stopped whatever they were doing. "It's just like last night when Kyle found dessert in the most obvious place. To get out of the library, all we have to do is use one of the fire exits. Duh." She headed toward a hallway between the Book Nook Café and Community Meeting Room A. Kyle stood up. "Um, Yasmeen? I think maybe you missed some of what …"

“太好了，”明美说。“我提名你为我们的队长。 赞成的请举手。” 凯尔和阿基米都举起了手。 “一致同意，”明美说。 “好吧。我们去问那个古董图书管理员一个问题吧。” “什么?”“我们都可以问一个问题，对吧?”“对的。” “好吧，这是我的:‘嘿，女士，我们怎么离开这里?“你认为她会告诉你吗?”“没有。 不是真的。那么，你的计划是什么?”“嗯，我在想——”突然，雅斯明喊道，“我赢了!”其余的人停止了他们正在做的事情。 “就像昨晚凯尔在最显眼的地方发现甜点一样。 要离开图书馆，我们只需要从其中一个消防出口出去。 咄。”她朝Book Nook咖啡馆和社区会议室a之间的走廊走去。 凯尔站了起来。“嗯,Yasmeen吗? 我想你可能漏掉了一些……”

Charles Chiltington dashed into the room and shouted, "You're not going to win, Yasmeen. Not unless you beat me to that fire exit!" He bolted toward the corridor. Yasmeen bolted toward it, too. "You guys?" said Kyle. Kyle could see a red Exit light glowing at the far end of the hallway Charles and Yasmeen were sprinting down. Charles stumbled and fell. Yasmeen kept running. Harder. Faster. She slammed into the exit bar on the metal door. Alarms sounded. Flashing red lights swirled. Somewhere, a tiger roared. Mr. Lemoncello's voice rang out of the overhead speakers. "Sorry, Yasmeen. That's where your sidewalk ends. You broke the rules. You are out of the game. Your library card will be placed in the discard bowl and you will be going home." As the fire exit door slowly swung shut and Yasmeen disappeared into the bright sunshine outside the library, Kyle checked out Charles Chiltington, who would've been sent home if he hadn't stumbled and had reached the exit first. The guy was smirking.

查尔斯·齐廷顿冲进房间喊道:“你赢不了的，雅斯明。 除非你比我先走到安全出口!”他奔向走廊。 雅斯敏也朝它跑去。 “你们?”凯尔说。凯尔看到走廊尽头有一盏红色的出口灯在亮着，查尔斯和雅斯敏正在冲下来。 查尔斯踉跄着跌倒了。 雅斯敏继续跑。困难。 得更快。她猛地撞上了金属门上的出口栏。 警报响起。闪烁的红灯旋转着。 不知在什么地方，一只老虎在咆哮。 莱蒙切罗的声音从头顶的扬声器里传出来。 “对不起,Yasmeen。那是人行道的尽头。 你违反了规定。你出局了。 你的借书证会被放在废纸碗里，然后你就可以回家了。” 消防出口的门慢慢地关上了，雅丝敏消失在图书馆外面明亮的阳光里，凯尔检查了查尔斯·齐廷顿，如果不是他绊了一下，先走到出口，他就会被送回家了。 那家伙傻笑着。

That was when it hit Kyle: Chiltington had faked Yasmeen out. He knew she couldn't win by going out a fire exit. But he ran down the hall to fool her into thinking she was doing the right thing. Oh, yeah. Chiltington was definitely in it to win it. No matter who he had to trample. Whistling casually, Charles strolled back to the lobby. "What's Chiltington doing out in the entrance hall?" said Akimi. "They told us the way out isn't the way in." Before Kyle could answer, Andrew Peckleman started shouting at Miguel, who had wandered over to Peckleman's table. "Get away! You're trying to steal my idea!" "No, man," said Miguel. "I just happened to see your screen and I don't think that particular periodical—" "You know what, Miguel? I don't really care what you think! This isn't school. This is the public library and you're not the boss in here, so just leave me alone!"

就在这时，凯尔突然意识到:齐廷顿骗走了雅斯明。 他知道她不可能从安全出口出去。 但他跑过大厅，骗她以为自己做的是对的。 哦,是的。奇廷顿肯定会赢的。 不管他要踩死谁。 查尔斯吹着口哨，悠闲地走回大厅。 “奇廷顿在门厅里干什么?”明美问。 “他们告诉我们，出去的路不是进来的路。” 凯尔还没来得及回答，安德鲁·佩克曼就开始对米格尔大喊大叫，米格尔已经走到佩克曼的桌子旁。 “走开!你想窃取我的创意!”“不，伙计，”米格尔说。 “我只是碰巧看到了你的屏幕，我不认为那份特别的期刊——”“你知道吗，米格尔? 我才不管你怎么想!这里不是学校。 这里是公共图书馆，你不是这里的老板，所以别烦我!”

Miguel tossed up his hands. "No problem, bro. I was just trying to help." "Ha! You mean help me lose." Andrew stormed up the closest spiral staircase to the second floor and the Dewey decimal rooms. Miguel, looking sort of sad, headed up a separate spiral staircase. Bridgette Wadge trailed after them. "Want to follow those guys like Bridgette did?" whispered Akimi. "I'll take Peckleman, you take Miguel." "No thanks," said Kyle, looking up at the domed ceiling. "I'm much more interested in the windows up there." Three stories above the rotunda floor, just below the Wonder Dome, there was a series of ten arched windows set between the recessed statue nooks. The windows acted like skylights at the base of the dome, allowing sunshine to flood into the room below. "Do you think those windows open?" asked Akimi. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I've never let a closed or locked window stand between me and winning a game. Just ask my dad."

米格尔举起双手。 “没问题，兄弟。我只是想帮忙。” “哈!你是说帮我输。” 安德鲁气冲冲地走上最近的螺旋楼梯，来到了二楼的杜威十进位室。 米格尔看上去有些悲伤，他走上了另一个螺旋形楼梯。 布里奇特·韦奇跟在他们后面。 “想像布里奇特那样跟着那些家伙吗?”明米小声说。 “我带佩克曼，你带米格尔。” “不用了，谢谢。”凯尔抬头看着穹顶天花板说。 “我对上面的窗户更感兴趣。” 在圆形大厅楼上三层，就在神奇圆顶的下面，在雕像凹陷的角落之间，有十扇拱形的窗户。 穹顶底部的窗户就像天窗一样，让阳光照进下面的房间。 “你认为那些窗户开着吗?”明美问。 “也许。也许不是。但我从不让一扇紧闭或上锁的窗户妨碍我赢得比赛。 问问我爸爸就知道了。”