17 The Light Will Set Us Free

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN The Light Will Set Us Free Mercury (noun). One of two elements that is a liquid at room temperature. It moves around like an alien and it's super shiny—you could almost imagine it's from the planet Mercury! "OKAY, IT'S SIMPLE NOW," said Jeremy. "We just need to find a black light." "On it," I said, kneeling on the floor to search under the desk. Birdie went back to inspecting the bookshelf. Elijah banged open and shut every drawer, while Memito inspected behind various doors. And Jeremy checked behind some framed posters. My eyes scanned the tile floor for something we had missed. I picked up area carpets as Birdie slid her hands behind the old radio to check it out one more time. Suddenly there was shuffling outside. "Please, hurry!" said the spy formerly known as Ms. Daly.

第十七章光明将使我们自由水星（名词） 液体：在室温下为液体的两种元素之一 它像外星人一样四处走动，而且超级闪亮——你几乎可以想象它来自水星！“好了，现在很简单了，”杰里米说。 “我们只需要找到一盏黑光灯。” “在找。”我说着，跪在地板上，在桌子底下找。 伯蒂又回去检查书架。 以利亚砰砰地打开和关上每个抽屉，而梅托则在各个门后面检查。 杰里米在一些裱好的海报后面查了一下。 我的眼睛扫视着瓷砖地板，寻找我们错过的东西。 伯迪把手伸到旧收音机后面，想再看一遍，我拿起地毯。 突然，外面响起了一阵脚步声。 “请快一点！” 戴利。

"Dr. Dragas and his gang are almost at the lab. You're running out of time." "Guys, we can do this!" said Elijah, staring at the clock. "Only eight more minutes," reported Memito. His voice sounded as panicked as I felt. He plopped onto a seat. "I don't see how we can get out in time before... you-know-who arrives." I frantically scanned the lab. Could there be a black light clue near one of the gazillion test tubes? No, we had already checked. Or maybe in the bookshelf? No. It had been thoroughly searched as well. "The answer has to be here somewhere. I'm sure we're missing something big." "Kate's right," said Jeremy. And for a moment, I blinked in complete shock. Did Jeremy Rowe just agree with me for the second time today? I felt too stunned to say anything back. "Hey, what if it's something right in front of our eyes," added Jeremy. "Something so obvious it's funny." That's when Elijah started grinning really big. He raced into the closet and pulled out a blue lab coat. He dug his hands into the left pocket of it and whipped out what looked like a thick black pen. "Look what I found!"

“德拉加斯博士和他的同伙快到实验室了。 你快没时间了。” “伙计们，我们能做到的！”以利亚盯着时钟说。 “只有八分钟了，”梅托说。 他的声音听起来和我一样惊慌。 他扑通一声坐在座位上。“我不知道我们怎么能在…… 人一样到来。”我疯狂地扫视了整个实验室。 在这无数的试管附近会不会有黑光线索呢？ 没有，我们已经查过了。 或者在书架上？ 否。它也被彻底搜查过。 “答案一定在这里的某个地方。 我确信我们错过了一些重要的东西。” “凯特说得对，”杰里米说。 一时间，我震惊得眨了眨眼睛。 杰里米·罗今天第二次同意我的观点了吗？ 我惊呆了，一句话也说不出来。 “嘿，如果它就在我们眼前呢？”杰里米补充道。 “很明显，很有趣。” 这时以利亚开始咧着嘴笑。 他冲进壁橱，拿出一件蓝色的实验服。 他把手伸进左边的口袋，掏出一支粗黑的钢笔。 “看我找到了什么！”

"Dude, how?" asked Memito. "We already checked those coats." "I know," said Elijah. "I put on the lab coat I'm wearing now when we first got here. The one I got in Daly's lab was too small. Ms. Daly must have planted this blacklight in my pocket." Memito smacked his head. "That's why we didn't find it. Because you had already switched lab coats." "Yup!" Elijah clicked the back of the light, and suddenly Jeremy's white shirt was glowing super bright. "It's you!" joked Elijah. "Jeremy is the message." "You know it, bay-bee!" said Jeremy. Phoenix and I snickered. The light hit a bar of soap near the faucet in the WC. I raced over to pick it up to see if any message was on it. It was so bright it almost looked radioactive in the dim room. But nothing. Elijah continued to shine the black light around the room, but nothing else was glowing, except for some paper on the desk, which we had already examined. "It doesn't seem to be doing anything," I said, exasperated. "Seven minutes," announced Jeremy, shining his regular flashlight on the timer.

“老兄，怎么做到的？” “我们已经检查过那些外套了。” 以利亚说：“我知道。”“我们刚到这里的时候，我穿上了现在身上穿的实验服。 我在戴利实验室买的那个太小了。 一定是戴利女士把这个黑灯放在我口袋里的。” 梅托拍了拍他的头。“这就是为什么我们没有找到它。 因为你已经换了实验服。” “是的!”以利亚按了一下灯的后面，突然杰里米的白衬衫发出了超级明亮的光。 “是你！”以利亚开玩笑说。“杰里米就是信息。” “你知道的，宝贝儿！”杰里米说。 菲尼克斯和我窃笑起来。灯光照在厕所水龙头附近的一块肥皂上。 我跑过去把它捡起来，看看上面有没有留言。 它是如此明亮，以至于在昏暗的房间里几乎看起来有放射性。 但是什么都没有。以利亚继续用黑光灯照着房间，但除了桌子上一些我们已经检查过的纸外，没有别的东西在发光。 “它似乎什么也没做，”我恼怒地说。 “七分钟。”杰里米宣布，用他常用的手电筒照着计时器。

Meanwhile, Memito started to try to open up the drawers in a cabinet. "I've looked through those," Jeremy huffed. "Well, you didn't find this." Memito held up a ball of black slime and threw it for Elijah to catch. "Gross," said Elijah. He set it down on a nearby table. "Why would Dr. Franklin have slime in her lab?" asked Phoenix as she started opening drawers on the desk. "I've already done that," said Memito. "Well, you didn't open this center drawer." Phoenix tapped the drawer right under the desktop. "Because it's stuck." Memito pulled on the knob. "Because it's supposed to be that way. It's one of those fake drawers." Crouching down, Jeremy inspected. "Nope. They usually only do those fake drawers in bathrooms. They're directly under the sink. An actual drawer assembly can't fit because of all the plumbing." "Wow. I didn't know that," admitted Elijah as Jeremy began to try to pry open the drawer. "My uncle is a plumber." Jeremy shrugged. "He's taken me to a few jobs." He tugged on the knob. "This is a real drawer all right. I could

与此同时，梅托开始试着打开橱柜里的抽屉。 “我看过了。”杰里米生气地说。 “嗯，你没有发现这个。” Memito举起一个黑色黏液球，扔给Elijah去接。 “真恶心。”以利亚说。他把它放在旁边的一张桌子上。 “为什么富兰克林博士的实验室里会有黏液？”菲尼克斯一边打开桌上的抽屉一边问。 “我已经这么做了，”梅托说。 “嗯，你没有打开中间这个抽屉。” 凤凰敲了敲桌面下面的抽屉。 “因为它卡住了。”梅托拉了一下旋钮。 “因为事情应该是这样的。 这是一个假抽屉。” 杰里米蹲下，仔细察看。 “不。他们通常只在浴室里装假抽屉。 它们就在水槽下面。 由于所有的管道，实际的抽屉组件无法安装。” “哇。当杰里米开始撬开抽屉时，以利亚承认道。 “我叔叔是个水管工。”杰里米耸耸肩。 “他带我做过几份工作。” 他猛拉门把手。“这确实是一个真正的抽屉。 我可以

probably do something if I could just work the blade of a putty knife right down in there." He continued to try to pull. "Whoa, stop," I said. "Remember what Ms. Daly—I mean that spy said. We shouldn't force anything." "I think the drawer might have a magnet inside," said Jeremy. Memito started counting down the minutes. "Five minutes. That's all we got." "Stop," said Birdie. "You're making me nervous." Crouching down, I shone a flashlight in the little crack in the drawer. "I don't see a magnet," I said. "I don't know what you're talking about." "Me either," said Elijah. Then I remembered something I saw on Dr. Caroline, and suddenly, it all made sense.

如果我能把油灰刀的刀刃插进去，我可能会做点什么。” 他继续试着拉。 “哇，停，”我说。“还记得吗？ 戴利——我是说那个间谍说的。 我们不应该强迫任何事情。” “我想抽屉里可能有一块磁铁，”杰里米说。 Memito开始倒计时。 “五分钟。这就是我们的全部。” “停，”小鸟说。“你让我很紧张。” 我蹲下来，用手电筒照着抽屉的小缝。 “我没看到磁铁，”我说。 “我不知道你在说什么。” 以利亚说：“我也是。”然后我想起了我在医生身上看到的东西。 卡罗琳，突然之间，一切都说得通了。