Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 Josh stood up, too, and sniffed the air. Yes, he smelled it. Just barely. "Could it be a campfire?" he asked. He pictured a group of Boy Scouts sitting outside their tents, cooking up their morning eggs and sausages. Holly shook her head. "Nobody is supposed to be having campfires now, anywhere. Not with the fire risk so high."

乔希也站了起来，嗅了嗅空气。 是的，他闻到了。只是几乎。 “会是篝火吗？”他问。 他描绘了一群童子军坐在帐篷外，煮早餐的鸡蛋和香肠。 霍莉摇了摇头。“现在任何人都不应该在任何地方生火。 但火灾风险这么高。”

Her eyes flicked back and forth. "There's a wildfire somewhere." Josh's heart thumped. Holly looked all around and up at the sky, and Josh followed her gaze. But it was impossible to see anything because they were in the middle of this forest. The trees towered up over them, blocking their view of the sky and everything around. "It's probably not close to here," Holly said. "We smell smoke all the time. It could be from a fire ten miles away." Josh nodded, praying that was it. Holly gave the air another big sniff. "It's not getting stronger, is it?" Josh raised his nose up, breathing in. "I don't think so," he said. The smell hadn't disappeared, but he didn't think it was getting stronger, either. It was about the same. "Good," Holly said. "Let's just get back." Josh wasn't going to argue with that.

她的眼睛忽来忽去。 “某处发生了野火。” 乔希的心怦怦直跳。霍莉环顾四周，仰望天空，乔希跟着她的目光。 但他们什么也看不见，因为他们是在森林的中央。 树木高耸在他们头顶，挡住了他们看天空和周围一切的视线。 “它可能离这里不近，”霍利说。 “我们一直闻到烟味。 可能是十英里外的大火。” 乔希点了点头，祈祷就这样。 霍莉又深深嗅了嗅空气。 “它没有变得更强，是吗？”乔希抬起鼻子，吸气。 “我不这么认为，”他说。 气味并没有消失，但他也不认为它变得更强了。 差不多是一样的。“很好，”霍莉说。 “我们回去吧。”乔什不会反驳的。

They headed down the skinny path in the direction of Holly's house. The pine trees towered over them. Their footsteps crunched on the brush and dried-up pine needles that covered the ground. Holly's eyes were fixed ahead, and Josh's thoughts swung back to Dad. To home. By now everyone in his town must know that Dad was going to jail. How could he and Mom go back there? What kind of life would they have? Suddenly, the hot wind gusted hard, drying up the tears that had sprung into Josh's eyes. Something landed on his head. Instantly he felt a searing pain, like he'd been stung by a giant wasp. "Ouch!" he cried, brushing the thing off his head and onto the ground. It wasn't a buzzing insect. It was a small chunk of burned tree bark, glowing red. He and Holly stared as it landed on a pile of dried-up twigs and brown pine needles. Whoosh! The dried brush immediately caught fire.

他们沿着狭窄的小路朝霍莉家的方向走去。 松树高耸于他们之上。 他们的脚步踩在地上的灌木丛和干枯的松针上，发出嘎吱嘎吱的声音。 霍莉的眼睛盯着前方，乔希的思绪又回到了爸爸身上。 在家里。现在镇上的每个人都知道爸爸要进监狱了。 他和妈妈怎么能回去？ 他们会过什么样的生活？ 突然，一阵猛烈的热风吹来，吹干了乔希眼中涌出的泪水。 有东西落在他的头上。 他立刻感到一阵灼痛，就像被一只巨大的黄蜂蜇了一样。 “哎哟！”他叫道，把头上的东西掸到地上。 那不是一只嗡嗡叫的昆虫。 那是一小块烧过的树皮，发出红光。 他和霍莉看着它落在一堆干树枝和棕色松针上。 嗖!干刷子立刻着火了。

Holly lunged at the low, flickering flame like it was her worst enemy. She stamped on it with her tattered running shoes until it was out. "You see any more?" she said, swiveling all around. Josh shook his head. "Whew," Holly said. She let out a big breath. What was that? Josh wondered. And then he remembered what Lucas has said the other night, that big wildfires give off burning bits of wood—embers—that blow in the wind and set new fires. So the wildfire they were smelling… it couldn't be very far away. Josh had the creeped-out feeling that that ember had been sent out to find them, a flaming eyeball flying through the sky. I'm watching you. "Come on," Holly said. They walked more quickly now. And for the first time, Josh looked closely at the forest around them. He thought of what Eleanor had said—that

霍莉扑向那低低的、闪烁着的火焰，仿佛那是她最大的敌人。 她用破旧的跑鞋跺着它，直到把它踩灭。 “你还看见别的吗？”她说着，转过身来。 乔希摇了摇头。“哇，”霍莉说。 她深深地吸了一口气。那是什么？ 杰克想知道。这时他想起了卢卡斯那天晚上说过的话，大火会释放出燃烧的木头余烬——这些余烬在风中吹起，会引起新的火灾。 所以他们闻到的野火不可能离得很远。 乔什有一种毛骨悚然的感觉，那余烬是被派去找他们的，一个燃烧的眼球飞过天空。 我看着你呢。“来吧，”霍莉说。 他们现在走得更快了。 这是乔希第一次仔细观察他们周围的森林。 他想起了埃莉诺说过的话

some forests were in bad shape. Now he saw what she meant. The trees were all crammed together, branches tangled up. Lots of the trees looked sick—too small and too skinny, bark peeling off, with branches spindly and bare. And every inch of the ground was covered with fallen limbs, weedylooking bushes, and dried-up pine needles. He thought of how quickly that one little ember had ignited that patch of ground. A chill went up his spine. But he stopped himself from panicking. This is California, he reminded himself, not New Jersey. Wildfires were normal here, and most of them were put out quickly. Hadn't Lucas and Eleanor said that? It was like the snowstorms at home. Every few winters there was a monster blizzard that shut everything down. But mostly they got a few inches of powdery snow, not even enough for a snow day from school. Josh had just about calmed himself down when a strange sound rose from behind them. A low growl.

有些森林的情况很糟糕。 现在他明白她的意思了。 树都挤在一起，树枝纠缠在一起。 许多树看起来都病了——太小太瘦，树皮剥落，树枝又细又光秃秃的。 每一寸地上都铺满了倒下的树枝、杂草丛生的灌木丛和干枯的松针。 他想到那一点余烬很快就点燃了那块土地。 一阵寒意袭上他的脊背。 但他抑制住了自己的恐慌。 他提醒自己，这里是加州，不是新泽西。 野火在这里很常见，而且大多数都很快被扑灭了。 卢卡斯和埃莉诺不是这么说的吗？ 就像家里的暴风雪一样。 每隔几年冬天就会有一场可怕的暴风雪，使一切都瘫痪。 但大多数情况下，他们得到的是几英寸厚的粉状雪，甚至不足以让他们在下雪天离开学校。 乔希刚要让自己平静下来，一个奇怪的声音从他们身后传来。 一声低沉的咆哮。

He and Holly both froze. They locked eyes, then slowly turned around. A mountain lion was crouched on the path behind them.

他和霍莉都僵住了。他们对视了一下，然后慢慢转过身来。 一只美洲狮蹲在他们身后的小路上。