1 LOST IN THE OUTSIDE

BY EDGAR AWARD WINNER DORI HILLESTAD BUTLER The HAUNTED LIBRARY

埃德加奖得主多里·希勒斯塔德·巴特勒著《闹鬼的图书馆》

CHAPTER 1 LOST IN THE OUTSIDE Kaz floated nervously back and forth in front of the dusty classroom wall. His whole family was watching him. Mom. Pops. Little John. Even Cosmo, the family dog. They were all watching... waiting... and wondering: Would he do it this time? Kaz swam back away from the wall. "I don't want to," he said in a small voice. Everyone groaned. "Come on, son," said Pops. "There's nothing to be afraid of. All you have to do is take a deep breath and slide on through. Like this." Pops stuck his foot through the wall first. Then his whole

迷失在外面和子在满是灰尘的教室墙壁前紧张地飘来飘去。 他的全家人都在看着他。 妈妈。持久性有机污染物。小约翰。就连家里的狗狗Cosmo也不例外。 他们都在看……等待…… 心想：这次他还会这么做吗？ 卡兹从墙边游了回去。 “我不想，”他小声说。 每个人都呻吟着。“来吧，儿子，”老爷子说。 “没什么好害怕的。 你所要做的就是深吸一口气，然后继续前进。 这样的。”老爷子先把脚戳穿了墙。 然后他的整个

leg... his arm... and finally the rest of his body. Poof! Pops was gone. "Woof! Woof!" barked Cosmo. The dog's tail swished from side to side as he dashed through the wall after Pops. "Passing through is easy, Kaz," Little John said. "Watch!" Kaz watched his little brother turn cartwheels through the wall. Little John was only six. He had already mastered most of the basic ghost skills. He could glow, wail, shrink, expand, and pass through walls. Kaz was nine. He could shrink and he could expand. But he couldn't glow, he couldn't wail, and he didn't like to pass through walls. He had tried it once. It made him feel skizzy. Cosmo poked his head back through the wall. He barked twice at Kaz, then disappeared again.

腿……他的手臂……最后是他身体的其他部分。 噗!老爷子走了。“汪!汪！”宇宙叫道。 狗冲过墙去追老爷子，尾巴嗖嗖地左右摇摆。 “通过很容易，卡兹，”小约翰说。 “看!”卡兹看着他的弟弟翻筋斗穿过墙。 小约翰只有六岁。他已经掌握了大部分的基本鬼技。 他会发光，会哭泣，会收缩，会膨胀，还能穿墙而过。 卡兹九岁了。他可以收缩，也可以扩张。 但他不能发光，不能哭泣，也不喜欢穿墙而过。 他曾经试过一次。这使他感到头晕目眩。 科斯莫从墙里探出头来。 它朝卡兹叫了两声，然后又消失了。

"I think Cosmo is saying, 'Follow me, Kaz. Follow me!'" Mom said in a pretend doggy voice. Kaz moaned. Mom reached for Kaz's hand and led him toward the wall. "Let's try it together." A solid mouse skittered into a hole in the floorboard. A solid spider danced across her web in front of the window.

“我想Cosmo是在说，‘跟我来，卡兹。 跟我来!’”妈妈假装像狗一样说。 Kaz抱怨道。妈妈拉住卡兹的手，把他领到墙边。 “我们一起试试吧。”一只结实的老鼠窜进地板上的一个洞里。 一只结实的蜘蛛在窗前的网上跳来跳去。

"Here we go," Mom said. "One... two... three!" She passed through the wall. Kaz yanked his hand out of Mom's grasp. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't! Instead, he swam over to the door, sucked his body in, and shrunk down, down, down... until he was no larger than that old book in the corner and no thicker than one of the pages inside. Then he dived down and slid under the door. Blowing dust mites out of his way, he swam along the hallway and into the next classroom, where his family waited. Little John groaned as Kaz expanded to his normal size and shape. Mom and Pops shook their heads sadly.

“我们走吧，”妈妈说。“一个…… 两个……三!”她穿过了墙。 卡兹猛地把手从妈妈手里抽出来。 他做不到。他就是做不到！相反，他游到门口，把身体吸进去，然后往下缩，往下缩，往下缩…… 直到他不比角落里的那本旧书大，不比里面的一页厚。 然后他从门缝里钻了进去。 他吹开挡道的尘螨，沿着走廊游到下一个教室，他的家人在那里等着他。 小约翰呻吟着，因为和子长到了正常的大小和形状。 爸爸妈妈伤心地摇了摇头。

"You'll never survive in the Outside if you don't learn your basic ghost skills," warned Pops. "We worry about you, Kaz," Mom said, putting her arm around him. "There are solids in the Outside. You need ghost skills to protect yourself from solids." There was also WIND in the Outside. Wind that could pick up a ghost and blow him away

“如果你不学习基本的鬼技能，你永远无法在外面生存。”老爷子警告道。 “我们为你担心，卡兹。”妈妈说着，用胳膊搂住了他。 “外面有固体。 你需要鬼魂的技能来保护自己免受固体的伤害。” 外面也有风。 能把鬼卷起来吹走的风