Chapter 24

chapter twenty-four Back home, we get Alfred into his cage. Then, I examine the weed killer. We have nine GIANT JUGS of something called Walt's Weed-B-Gone. "I'm going to hook hoses up to the weed killer," Quint says. "We'll run the hoses to Super Soakers. And then we blast away at the tree." I begin climbing up into the tree house to retrieve the space marine suit. I have a feeling we might need it. But halfway up the ladder, I stop. Looking at the garage, I watch Quint lose control of the hose and spray water everywhere. June's hair is soaked. She laughs. Dirk grabs Quint and lifts him up into the air, pretending he's about to unleash one of John Cena's Five Moves of Doom. Quint and Dirk both giggle. I can't lose these guys. I'd rather lose myself than lose them. I finish climbing up into the tree house—and I immediately gag. I throw my hand over my nose

第二十四章回到家，我们把阿尔弗雷德关进笼子。 然后，我检查除草剂。 我们有九大罐的东西叫沃尔特的大麻。 昆特说：“我要把水管和除草剂连在一起。” “我们要把水管伸向超级浸泡者。 然后我们向那棵树猛烈射击。” 我开始爬上树屋去取回宇航服。 我觉得我们可能需要它。 但爬到一半，我停了下来。 看着车库，我看到昆特失去了对水管的控制，把水喷得到处都是。 琼的头发湿透了。她笑着说。 德克抓住昆特，把他举到空中，假装要释放约翰·西纳的毁灭五招之一。 昆特和德克都咯咯地笑起来。 我不能失去这些人。我宁愿失去我自己，也不愿失去他们。 我爬上树屋，马上就呕吐了。 我用手捂住鼻子

and mouth. A thick, acidic scent fills the air, like burnt brownies and sidewalk chalk. The smell of evil. The smell of Thrull. The tree house interior is pitch-black somehow, even though it's the middle of the day. It's like all light has been sucked from the room. Slowly, a dim light returns. And I see him... HELLO, JACK. I gulp. Need to play this freeze-pop cool. "Hey, Thrull! Long time no see. You just, ah, let yourself right in, huh? I didn't even realize you knew where we lived." "I know many things," Thrull says.

和嘴。空气中弥漫着浓厚的酸味，就像烧焦的布朗尼蛋糕和人行道上的粉笔。 邪恶的气味。Thrull的味道。 不知怎么的，树屋内部一片漆黑，尽管现在是中午。 就像房间里所有的光都被吸走了。 慢慢地，一盏昏暗的灯回来了。 我看到他…你好,杰克。 我吞咽。你要耍酷。 “嗨,Thrull !好久不见。 你就这么不请自来了吗？ 我甚至不知道你知道我们住在哪里。” “我知道很多事情，”Thrull说。

"Right." Suddenly, Thrull grins. "I haven't seen you guys around Joe's Pizza in a few weeks, so I thought I'd pop in and pay you a visit. How's the bestiary coming?" I swallow hard. I can feel the fear on my face—I need to hide it. I try cracking a smile, but I'm sure I just look like the Joker.

“对的。”突然，Thrull笑了。 “我有几个星期没在乔披萨店看到你们了，所以我想我应该顺便来看看你们。 《动物寓言》写得怎么样了？”我使劲吞咽。 我能感觉到我脸上的恐惧——我得把它藏起来。 我试着挤出一个微笑，但我确定我看起来就像小丑。

We kinda lost interest in the bestiary. We've Leen doing other stuff. Lot of Frisbee, actually. Ultimate Frisbee. You play? Thinking about putting together a post— apocalyptic Ultimate Frisbee team. I was maybe gonna put up a flyer at Joe's. Any interest? Thrull lowers his head and chuckles softly. When he raises it again, his eyes are narrowed and seem to glow red. He speaks in a thick, wet growl. "Jack, where is the key?"

我们对兽书没兴趣了。 我们让琳做其他事情。 实际上，有很多飞盘。极限飞盘。 你玩吗?正在考虑组建一支末日后的极限飞盘队。 我可能会在乔家发个传单。 感兴趣吗?瑟鲁低下头，轻声笑了起来。 当他再次举起它时，他的眼睛眯起来，似乎发出红光。 他说话的声音又粗又湿。 “杰克，钥匙在哪儿？”

I gulp. We were so careful! We hid. We covered our tracks. Maybe if I play dumb... "Ah, the key?" I ask. "The bestiary," Thrull growls. "Um, Thrull," I say, "I'm really not sure what you're talking about. Is everything OK?" Thrull's beady eyes look me up and down. If he gets his hands on the bestiary, he only needs to bring it to the tree. And then he will perform the ceremony and the bestiary will open the Tree of Entry—and we're done for. .e...c. will come. Everything, kaput. "Do not lie," he says. "I know you were at the Tree of Entry. .e...c. the Ancient saw you. He sees all." "The book is gone," I say after a long moment. "We destroyed it." Thrull laughs. It's a harsh sound, like footsteps on gravel. "No human can destroy an enchanted bestiary. Your lies are foolish. You speak nonsense. Tell me where it is. Now." "OK, you're right," I say. "I lied. But for real— for truth—we lost it. Actually, to be specific, I lost

我吞咽。我们太小心了！我们藏。 我们掩盖了我们的踪迹。也许如果我装傻… “啊，钥匙？”我问。“那本兽书。”Thrull咆哮道。 “嗯，Thrull，”我说，“我真的不知道你在说什么。 一切都还好吗？”Thrull的大眼睛上下打量着我。 如果他拿到了野兽之书，他只需要把它带给树。 然后他会举行仪式，圣书会打开入口树，我们就结束了。 社会事务部…c。会来。一切,不复存在。 “不要撒谎，”他说。“我知道你在入口树那儿。 社会事务部…c。远古的人看见你了。 他什么都看得到。”“书不见了。”过了好一会儿，我说。 “我们毁了它。”Thrull笑着说。 声音很刺耳，就像踩在沙砾上的脚步声。 “没有人能摧毁被施了魔法的兽书。 你的谎言是愚蠢的。你胡说八道。 告诉我在哪儿。现在。” “好吧，你说得对。”我说。 ”我撒了一个谎。但说实话，我们失去了它。 确切地说，我输了

it." Thrull says nothing. "I'm like, y'know, super absentminded. You should have seen my locker back in school. You know—before your evil overlord opened the portal door thing and the monsters came and DESTROYED the joint. But yeah, my locker was just papers and old sandwiches everywhere. So I just, y'know, lost the bestiary. Misplaced it. I swear sometimes, if my head wasn't attached to my shoulders..." Thrull rises. He fills the room. LIE TO ME AGAIN, BOY, AND YOUR HEAD WILL NO LONGER BE ATTACAHED TO YOUR SHOULDER5 I PROMISE YOU THIS. I want to step back. I want to cower in the corner. I want to cry. But I don't do any of that.

它。”Thrull什么也没说。“我就像，你知道，超级健忘。 你真该看看我在学校的储物柜。 你知道，在你邪恶的霸主打开传送门之前，怪物来了，摧毁了关节。 但是我的储物柜里到处都是报纸和旧三明治。 所以我就，你知道的，丢了那本动物书。 放错了地方。有时候我发誓，如果我的头没有挂在肩膀上……” Thrull上涨。他占据了整个房间。 孩子，你再对我撒谎，我就把你的头砍下来。我向你保证。 我想退一步。我想躲在角落里。 我想哭。但这些我都不做。