8 READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!

CHAPTER 8 READY OR NOT, HERE I COME! It's the ghost," Eli said, pulling his knees to his chest. His mom scowled. His dad glared. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Eli asked, his eyes shifting from one parent to the other. "I'm not doing anything!" His parents got up from the sofa and headed for the kitchen. "Wait for me," Eli said, running after them. Kaz followed close behind. Lauren and Little John were already in the kitchen. Little John shrugged at Kaz as Lauren went from cupboard to cupboard, opening and closing doors.

不管你准备好了没有，我来了！是鬼魂，”伊莱说，把膝盖拉到胸前。 他妈妈皱起了眉头。他爸爸怒目而视。 “什么?你为什么那样看着我？”伊莱问道，他的目光从父母一方转向另一方。 “我什么也没做！”他的父母从沙发上站起来，朝厨房走去。 以利就追赶他们说：“你们等我。” 卡兹紧随其后。 劳伦和小约翰已经在厨房里了。 小约翰对卡兹耸了耸肩，劳伦从一个橱柜走到另一个橱柜，把门打开又关上。

"What are you doing, Lauren?" her mom asked. "Looking for the recorder," Lauren said. "What recorder?" her mom asked. "The recorder that he hid in here." Lauren tilted her head toward Eli. "Didn't you guys hear that weird voice?" Eli stomped his foot. "I didn't hide any recorder!" he said. "Yes, you did," Lauren insisted. "And I'm going to find it and prove that you're the ghost once and for all." "Maybe you're the ghost!" Eli shot back. "You were in here when that voice started talking." "I was getting a snack," Lauren said. "You probably rigged something up to go off when I opened the refrigerator." "I didn't!" Eli argued. "Did you see what happened?" Kaz asked Little John.

“你在干什么，劳伦？”她妈妈问。 “找录音机，”劳伦说。 “什么录音机？”她妈妈问。 “他藏在这里的录音机。” 劳伦朝伊莱歪了歪头。 “你们没听到那个奇怪的声音吗？”以利跺着脚。 “我没有藏任何录音机！”他说。 “是的，你说了，”劳伦坚持说。 “我要把它找出来，证明你就是那个鬼。” “也许你就是鬼！”伊莱回击道。 “那个声音开始说话的时候，你就在这里。” “我在吃零食，”劳伦说。 “你可能在我打开冰箱的时候装了什么东西，然后就爆炸了。” “我没有!”伊莱说。“你看到发生了什么事吗？”卡兹问小约翰。

"Not really," Little John said. "I followed Lauren down here. And I heard the voice, too. It was right behind me. But when I turned around, there was nothing there." "There's a cabinet behind you." Kaz pointed. "I know. I looked in there, but I didn't see anything," Little John said. Eli and Lauren's mom opened the refrigerator door. "I don't see any of Eli's contraptions in here," she said, peering at the shelves. "That's because there aren't any contraptions in there," Eli said. "I'm telling you, it's a ghost. A real, live ghost!" "It did sound like a real ghost wailing," Little John said. Kaz had to agree that it did. But he'd heard wailing like that before when he and Claire had been out solving other cases. And each time there was another explanation. Lauren and her parents opened every cupboard and pulled out every drawer in the whole kitchen

“不完全是，”小约翰说。 “我跟着劳伦来到这里。 我也听到了那个声音。 它就在我身后。但当我转过身时，那里什么也没有。” “你后面有个柜子。” Kaz指出。“我知道。我往里面看了看，但什么也没看到。”小约翰说。 伊莱和劳伦的妈妈打开冰箱门。 “我没看到伊莱设计的任何玩意儿，”她盯着架子说。 “那是因为里面没有任何精巧的装置，”伊莱说。 “我告诉你，那是个鬼。 一个活生生的鬼！”“听起来确实像一个真正的鬼在哀号，”小约翰说。 卡兹不得不同意这一点。 但他以前和克莱尔一起解决其他案件时，也听到过这样的哀号。 每次都有另一种解释。 劳伦和她的父母打开了整个厨房的每个橱柜，把每个抽屉都拉了出来

while Eli stood in the middle of the kitchen with his arms crossed. "See?" Eli said when they finished. "No recorder." "Wooooooooo!" Something wailed in the living room this time. Everyone rushed to the living room. Nothing seemed to be out of place. There were no ghosts. No hidden recorders. Nothing. "I don't know what's going on around here," their dad said. "But it's time for bed. For real this time." "What about the ghost?" Eli asked. "There's no such thing as ghosts," his dad said. His mom nodded. "We're all scaring ourselves silly. Things will look better in the morning."

而伊莱则交叉着双臂站在厨房中央。 “看到了吗?”当他们结束时，伊莱说。 “没有录音机。”“Wooooooooo !”这次客厅里有什么东西在哀号。 每个人都冲到客厅。 一切似乎都井然有序。 没有鬼。没有隐藏的录音机。 什么都没有。“我不知道这里发生了什么，”他们的父亲说。 “但是该睡觉了。这次是真的。” “那鬼呢？”伊莱问道。 “没有鬼这种东西，”他爸爸说。 他妈妈点点头。“我们都把自己吓傻了。 明天早上一切都会好起来的。”

"I wish Claire was here," Kaz moaned once Eli and his family were asleep. He and Little John wafted back and forth along the upstairs hallway. Kaz had no idea how they were going to solve this case. "Claire's good at solving mysteries," Little John said. "But so are we. We can figure out what's going on ourselves." "How?" Kaz asked. "I don't know," Little John said. "We need a plan." They'd already searched the house from top to bottom. They'd tried splitting up. Kaz had kept an eye on Eli, and Little John had kept an eye on Lauren. Kaz didn't know what else to try. "About all we can do is wait for something else to happen," he said. "Maybe we can make something else happen," Little John said. "If it's a real ghost, maybe we can figure out a way to make it come out."

“我真希望克莱尔在这里，”伊莱和他的家人睡着后，卡兹呻吟道。 他和小约翰在楼上的走廊里走来走去。 卡兹不知道他们要怎么解决这个案子。 “克莱尔擅长解谜，”小约翰说。 “但我们也是。我们可以自己弄清楚到底发生了什么。” “如何?”Kaz问道。“我不知道，”小约翰说。 “我们需要一个计划。”他们已经把房子搜了个底朝天。 他们试过分手。 卡兹照看着伊莱，小约翰照看着劳伦。 卡兹不知道还能尝试什么。 “我们所能做的就是等待其他事情的发生，”他说。 “也许我们可以让别的事情发生，”小约翰说。 “如果真的是鬼，也许我们能想办法让它出来。”

"How?" Kaz asked again. "Well," Little John said as he and Kaz reached the end of the hallway. They turned around and drifted back the other way. "If a new ghost came into the library, what could it do to make you or me come out?" "It could say, 'Hi! Are there any other ghosts in this place?' "Kaz said. But they'd already tried calling out to any real ghosts in Eli's house. "Eli said the ghost likes to play hide-and- seek," Little John said. "Maybe we should hide and see if we can make the ghost find us!" "Sure," Kaz said. Like that will actually work. Little John cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Do you hear that, you ghost? We're going to play hide-and-seek. This time, it's your turn to find us!" Kaz rolled his eyes. Only a real ghost would have heard Little John. And Kaz didn't think it was a real ghost. It was never a real ghost.

“如何?”卡兹又问。“嗯，”小约翰和卡兹走到走廊尽头时说。 他们转过身来，朝另一个方向漂了回去。 “如果一个新的鬼魂来到图书馆，它怎么能让你或我出来呢？”“它可以说，‘嗨！这地方还有别的鬼吗？’”卡兹说。 但他们已经试过召唤伊莱家的鬼魂了。 “伊莱说鬼魂喜欢玩捉迷藏，”小约翰说。 “也许我们应该躲起来，看看能不能让幽灵找到我们！”“当然，”卡兹说。 这样就可以了。 小约翰用手捂住嘴，喊道：“你听到了吗，你这个鬼？ 我们要玩捉迷藏。 这次轮到你来找我们了！”卡兹翻了个白眼。 只有真正的鬼魂才会听到小约翰的声音。 卡兹不认为那是真的鬼魂。 它从来不是一个真正的鬼魂。