Chapter 4

chapter four June and I take three nervous steps back. Not-So-Tiny Splotcher approaches. Then, suddenly, a voice—booming from the trees— "I COME BACK TO YOU NOW AT THE TURN OF THE TIDE." Huh? I glance around, looking for the source of the voice, but finding nothing. Then— Tiny Splotcher is gone! Obliterated! Little scraps of paper flutter onto the parking lot, floating down

第四章琼和我紧张地后退了三步。 “不那么微小的斑点”方法。 然后，突然，一个声音从树林里传来——“我现在回到你身边，在潮水的转向。” 嗯?我环顾四周，寻找声音的来源，但一无所获。 然后，小斑点消失了！抹去!小纸片飘到停车场，飘下来

like feathers on the wind. Each piece of paper has a small image of a Splotcher on it, like baseball cards. "Uh..." I say, looking suspiciously at my Cosmic Hand. June lifts Blasty and shakes her head. "Wasn't me." Noise above us. June and I both jerk our heads up to see... He's been dying to say that turn of the tide thing. "QUINT! DIRK!" I exclaim. "You're alive!" "Sure are. And we saved your butts," Dirk says, grinning. And seeing that grin just about makes my heart explode with happiness. Drooler slides from the hilt of Dirk's sword and hits the ground with a happy wheeze. Whoa. Drooler's not totally a squashy little baby anymore. "Quint did the saving," a voice growls—and again, I'm hit by a wave of shock and surprise. It's Skaelka, coming up behind them, riding a Carapace. She's in

像风中的羽毛。 每张纸上都有一个斑点的小图像，就像棒球卡一样。 “嗯…”我说，怀疑地看着我的宇宙之手。 琼抬起布莱斯蒂，摇了摇头。 “不是我。”我们头顶上有噪音。 琼和我都抬起头来看…… 他一直很想说形势逆转那句话。 “五胞胎!德克!”我惊叫。“你还活着!”“当然。 我们救了你们的命，”德克笑着说。 看到她的笑容，我的心都快被幸福炸开了。 流口水从德克的剑柄上滑落下来，愉快地喘息着摔在地上。 哇。流口水不再是一个软绵绵的小婴儿了。 “昆特救了我的命，”一个声音咆哮着——我又一次感到震惊和惊讶。 是斯卡卡，骑着一顶甲壳，跟在他们后面。 她在

full armor—Quint-built armor, I realize—and bearing a giant ax. "Skaelka, too!" June shouts. "Hey, girl!" In a flash, we're all racing toward each other. "We're all alive and back together!" I cry. Quint, is that a proton pack? Conjurers, cannon have almost got conjuring under control. Now almost. It's a long story. Read the book. Whoop, "But how are you... like... here?" I'm still so stunned that I can barely put my thoughts into a coherent question. "Yursl promised you'd survive the teleporting—but oh man, we were so scared, you have no idea, I can't even... We sent out about a zillion monsters looking for you!" "We know," Quint says. "We ran into Smud and Johnny Steve; they told us where to find you." Smud, you foul servant of God. Prepare to taste steel. I do love the taste of steel though. Nice of you to offer Duck. It's okay. I read Smud two bedtime stories about managing anger, and he's a decent fellow now.

全副武装——我意识到是五件盔甲——手持一把巨大的斧头。 “Skaelka !”6月大喊。 “嘿,女孩!”刹那间，我们都奔向彼此。 “我们都活了下来，又在一起了！”我哭了。 昆特，那是质子包吗？ 魔术师，大炮几乎控制住了魔法。 现在几乎。说来话长。 读这本书。“但是你怎么……” 喜欢……在这里?”我仍然很震惊，我几乎无法把我的思想纳入一个连贯的问题。 “你答应过你会在瞬间传送中活下来——但是，天哪，我们太害怕了，你不知道，我甚至不能…… 我们派出了无数的怪物来找你！”“我们知道，”昆特说。 “我们遇到了斯穆德和约翰尼·史蒂夫；他们告诉我们在哪里可以找到你。” 斯慕德，你这个上帝的仆人。 准备尝尝钢铁的味道吧。不过我确实喜欢钢铁的味道。 谢谢你邀请达克。 没关系。我给斯穆德读了两篇关于控制愤怒的睡前故事，他现在是个正派的人了。

I wish I had a minute alone with Quint. I want to hear everything, about where he's been, what they did, who they— Wait. Skaelka's back, too. Which means—Rover should be here. I glance around, scanning the surrounding cars and stores— expecting him to leap out, doing a big puppy-dog surprise thing. But as I catch Skaelka's eye, my stomach goes sickly hollow and my body twitches, just slightly. "Skaelka..." I start. "Where's Rover?" Skaelka takes a step forward, then kneels in front of me. "I swore an oath to you, Jack. And I regret that I could not keep it." Dread—shaky-leg, mind-racing dread—floods through me. "What do you mean you—but...? Is Rover..?" "He's OK, bud," Dirk says, jumping in. "He's alive. Just... not here. Out there." Skaelka bows her head—then explains... "Enemies caught Rover and me unaware. They swept down from the sky. Skaelka leapt into battle and—as I vowed—I kept Rover alive. They turned their fury on Skaelka. And as they carried me away, the last thing I saw was Rover, unharmed, but alone..."

我真希望能和昆特独处一分钟。 我要知道一切，他去过哪里，他们做了什么，他们是谁-等等。 斯卡卡也回来了。也就是说，罗孚应该在这里。 我环顾四周，扫视着周围的汽车和商店，期待着他跳出来，做一个大惊喜。 但当我看到斯卡卡的目光时，我的胃突然空虚起来，身体微微抽搐。 “Skaelka……”我开始。“罗孚在哪儿?”斯卡卡向前迈了一步，然后跪在我面前。 “我对你发过誓，杰克。 我后悔没能留住它。” 恐惧——颤抖的腿，疯狂的思维——充斥着我的全身。 “你什么意思——但是……？” 罗孚……?”“他很好，伙计，”德克说着跳进来。 ”他还活着。只是…不在这里。 了”。Skaelka低下头，然后解释说…… 敌人抓住了我和罗孚。 它们从天上呼啸而下。 斯卡卡跳进了战场——正如我发誓的那样——我让罗孚活了下来。 他们把怒火转向了斯卡卡。 当他们把我带走的时候，我最后看到的是罗孚，他没有受伤，但是孤单一人……”

I try to swallow, but my mouth is desert dry. Alone! Rover's out there—all by himself? Who's going to give him scritches? Who's going to tell him he's the best boy? "He's a monster. He can handle himself," June says, trying to reassure me. "Maybe! But he's not supposed to have to!" I say, trying not to shout and mostly failing. "We're supposed to be together! We're supposed to all be..."

我想吞咽，但我的嘴是干燥的。 独自一人!罗孚一个人在外面？ 谁来给他挠痒痒？ 谁来告诉他他是最棒的男孩？ “他是个怪物。他能控制自己，”琼说，试图让我放心。 “也许!但他不应该这么做！”我说，努力不让自己大喊大叫，但大部分都失败了。 “我们应该在一起的！”我们都应该……”

I trail off, suddenly feeling very tired. I shut my eyes, and all I see is Rover out there, on his own in the wilds, hunted by Thrull's awful soldiers. I never should have let him go with Skaelka. I failed him. Skaelka looks up at me. "Jack, I swear to you—I will right my wrong. I will—" "It's fine, Skaelka," I say, cutting her off. That's a big fat lie, it's not fine, but whatever. "I'm the one who let him go. I'm the one who failed him." And that part isn't a lie. "Now, please stand up, Skaelka. You're making me super uncomfortable." I feel everybody staring at me. I know they want me to act like everything's OK. But it's not. Although, right now, it sorta has to be... I turn to Dirk and Quint. "I wanted to go out and look for you guys more than I've ever wanted anything. But I couldn't. And now... it's the same thing again. I can't go looking for Rover. Because... Thrull. Ghazt. That fortress. But as soon as we're done with all this..." "We're gonna find him," Dirk swears. "That's a promise. Like you promised me we'd get Drooler back." I nod and quickly turn away—my eyes are watering, and I don't want my friends seeing that.

我慢慢地走开了，突然觉得很累。 我闭上眼睛，只看到罗孚在外面，独自一人在野外，被瑟鲁可怕的士兵追杀。 我就不该让他跟斯卡卡走。 我辜负了他。斯卡卡抬头看着我。 “杰克，我向你发誓，我会纠正我的错误。 我会——”“没关系，斯凯尔卡，”我打断她说。 这是个弥天大谎，一点也不好，不过无所谓了。 “是我放他走的。 是我让他失望的。” 这不是谎言。 “现在，请站起来，斯卡卡。 你让我超级不舒服。” 我觉得每个人都在盯着我看。 我知道他们想让我表现得若无其事。 但事实并非如此。不过，现在，我得…… 我转向德克和昆特。“我想出去找你们，比我想要的任何东西都多。 但我做不到。而现在…… 还是一样的。 我不能去找罗孚。 因为…Thrull。Ghazt。这堡垒。 不过等我们把这一切都弄完了……” “我们会找到他的，”德克发誓。 “这是一个承诺。就像你答应我要把流口水找回来一样。” 我点点头，迅速转过身去——我的眼睛在流泪，我不想让我的朋友看到这一点。