1 TOP SECRET

BY EDGAR AWARD WINNER DORI HILLESTAD BUTLER The HAUNTED LIBRARY THE SECRET ROOM

埃德加奖得主多里·希勒斯塔德·巴特勒著《闹鬼的图书馆和密室》

CHAPTER 1 TOP SECRET Kaz!" Little John called from behind the wall of books. "Kaz, you've got to see this!" Kaz and Little John were brothers. Ghost brothers. They used to live in an old schoolhouse with the rest of their family. Now they lived in a library with their ghost dog, Cosmo, another ghost named Beckett, a solid girl named Claire, and Claire's family. Claire could see the ghosts, but no one else could. Not unless the ghosts were glowing. "What's back there?" Kaz called to Little John. He knew there was a secret room behind that wall. Beckett often went back there to get away from the solids. But Kaz had never passed through the

第一章最高机密卡兹！”小约翰从书墙后面喊道。 “卡兹，你一定要看看这个！”卡兹和小约翰是兄弟。 鬼兄弟。他们过去和家人住在一所旧校舍里。 现在他们和他们的鬼狗科斯莫、另一个鬼叫贝克特、一个结实的女孩克莱尔以及克莱尔的家人一起住在一个图书馆里。 克莱尔能看见鬼魂，但其他人看不见。 除非鬼魂在发光。 “后面是什么？”卡兹叫着小约翰。 他知道那堵墙后面有一间密室。 贝克特经常回到那里远离固体。 但是卡兹从来没有穿过

wall himself. "Come and see," Little John called back. "In a minute," Kaz said. Little John poked his head through the wall of books. "Why 'in a minute'?" he asked. "Why not now?" Beckett snorted. "Because, Little John, your big brother is still scared to pass through a wall." "I am not!" Kaz protested. He had passed through walls four times already today. He was getting used to it. Sort of. "I just want to wait for Claire. Otherwise she won't know where I went." "I don't think Claire will be looking for you anytime soon," Beckett said. He was probably right. Claire's parents had been away all week at a conference for private detectives. The family had some catching up to do. "Fine," Kaz said. "I'll show you I'm not scared!" "Hooray!" Little John cried. His face disappeared from the wall of books.

墙。“过来看看，”小约翰喊道。 “等一下。”卡兹说。小约翰从书墙里探出头来。 “为什么是‘一分钟’？”他问。 “为什么现在不行呢？”贝克特哼了一声。 “因为，小约翰，你哥哥仍然害怕穿过一堵墙。” “我没有！”Kaz抗议道。 他今天已经穿墙四次了。 他渐渐习惯了。 排序的。“我只想等克莱尔。 不然她就不知道我去哪儿了。” 贝克特说：“我认为克莱尔短期内不会来找你。” 他可能是对的。克莱尔的父母整个星期都在参加一个私人侦探会议。 这家人得叙叙旧了。 “好吧，”卡兹说。“我要证明给你看，我不怕！”“万岁!”小约翰哭了。 他的脸从书墙上消失了。

Kaz's heart went thumpety-thump. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and swam into the bookshelf. As the books, the shelf, and the back wall passed through his body, Kaz started to feel skizzy. He pumped his arms and kicked his legs harder and harder... until he finally felt himself floating freely in the air again. Little John giggled. "Open your eyes, Kaz. You're here!" "Woof! Woof!" Cosmo barked cheerfully. Kaz opened one eye, then the other. "I did it!" he said with a short laugh. "I passed all the way through to the secret room!" Beckett drifted through the wall behind Kaz. "I never would've believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes," he said. Kaz was pretty amazed himself. "See what I mean about this place?" Little John said as he waved his hand around. The room was small. And dark. It didn't have any doors or windows. But the most interesting

卡兹的心怦怦直跳。 他深吸了一口气，闭上眼睛，向书架游去。 当书本、书架和后墙穿过他的身体时，和子开始感到头晕。 他使劲地挥动双臂，蹬腿越来越用力…… 直到他终于感到自己又自由地漂浮在空中。 小约翰咯咯地笑。“睁开你的眼睛，卡兹。 你在这里!”“汪!汪!”科斯莫高兴地叫着。 卡兹睁开一只眼睛，又睁开另一只。 “我做到了！”他笑着说。 “我一路走到了密室！”贝克特跟在卡兹后面穿过墙。 “如果不是亲眼所见，我永远也不会相信，”他说。 卡兹自己也很惊讶。 “明白我说的这个地方的意思了吧？”小约翰边说边挥挥手。 房间很小。和黑暗。 它没有门也没有窗户。 但最有趣的是

thing about it was that it was full of ghostly objects! A doll... several sets of keys... a catcher's mitt... four balls... some socks... a strange-looking statue... two teddy bears... an old shoe... a yo-yo... some books... They all floated there in the air with Kaz, Little John, Beckett, and Cosmo. "Where did all this stuff come from?" Kaz gazed around the room in wonder. "Different places," Beckett replied. "A lot of it was here when I moved in. The rest was left by various ghosts who have come and gone." "This looks fun," Little John said as he picked up a ghostly box. A little crank stuck through one of the sides. Little John turned the crank, and music began to play. All of a sudden, the top of the box opened and a clown popped up. "Ahhh!" Little John and Kaz shrieked. Beckett laughed. "Are you scaredy-ghosts afraid of a little jack-in-the-box?"

关于它的问题是，它充满了幽灵的东西！一个娃娃…… 几套钥匙……接球手的手套…… 四个球……一些袜子… 一个奇怪的雕像…… 两只泰迪熊……一只旧鞋…… 一个溜溜球…一些书……他们和卡兹、小约翰、贝克特和科斯莫一起漂浮在空中。 “这些东西都是从哪儿来的？”卡兹惊奇地环顾着房间。 “不同的地方，”贝克特回答。 “我搬进来的时候，很多东西都在这里。 其余的都是来来往往的鬼魂留下的。” “这看起来很有趣，”小约翰说，他拿起一个幽灵般的盒子。 一个小曲柄插在其中一侧。 小约翰转动曲柄，音乐开始响起。 突然，盒子的顶部打开了，一个小丑跳了出来。 “啊!”小约翰和卡兹尖叫起来。 贝克特笑了。“你们这些鬼害怕盒子里的玩偶吗？”