Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT "She's seen us!" Violet squeaked as Ms Willow swung round. For a moment, she hoped she was mistaken, that Ms Willow was really just the lovely teacher she had always thought her to be, but as Ms Willow's face creased into a furious frown and her eyes hardened, Violet's heart sank into her boots. "I knew something was going on!" Ms Willow's voice snapped out through the night air like an icicle cracking. "Trying to outsmart me!" She gave a shrill whistle and Daffodil emerged reluctantly from the trees. The little unicorn moved slowly, almost as if she was fighting against leaving the woods but had no choice.

第八章“她看见我们了！”维洛太太转过身来，维奥莱特尖叫起来。 有那么一刻，她希望自己搞错了，希望威洛小姐真的就是她一直认为的那个可爱的老师，但是当威洛小姐的脸皱成愤怒的眉头，眼睛变得僵硬时，维奥莱特的心一下子沉到了谷底。 “我就知道出事了！”威洛女士的声音像冰柱裂了一样在夜空中劈啪作响。 “想比我聪明！”她发出一声尖锐的口哨，水仙花不情愿地从树林里钻了出来。 小独角兽走得很慢，好像在与离开树林作斗争，但她别无选择。

"Daffodil? You really should know better!" said Ms Willow. Daffodil sent Twinkle and Violet a desperate look but began to trot towards Ms Willow. Violet didn't know what was going on, but she did know that she and Twinkle had to get help– and fast! "Come on, Twinkle!" she gasped. "Let's get back to the school!" Twinkle spun round and set off at a flat-out gallop just as Daffodil reached Ms Willow. Violet clung to his mane, her thoughts swirling. How could the cloaked figure be lovely Ms Willow? It just didn't seem possible. Something brushed past them at a great speed and suddenly Ms Willow and Daffodil appeared from nowhere, blocking their way. Twinkle had to swerve abruptly to avoid crashing into them.

“水仙花吗?你真的应该更清楚！”威洛女士说。 水仙花绝望地看了小闪和紫罗兰一眼，然后开始向威洛女士小跑。 维奥莱特不知道发生了什么事，但她知道她和小闪必须得到帮助——而且要快！“加油，闪儿！”她喘着气说。 “我们回学校去吧！”“闪儿”转过身来，就在水仙花跑到威洛夫人身边的时候，她全速疾驰而去。 紫罗兰紧紧抓住他的鬃毛，思绪纷飞。 那个披着斗篷的身影怎么会是可爱的威洛女士呢？ 这似乎是不可能的。 有什么东西飞快地从他们身边擦过，突然，威洛女士和水仙花不知从哪里冒出来，挡住了他们的去路。 闪烁不得不突然转向，以免撞到他们。

"There's no escape for you two now!" Ms Willow hissed. Her voice sounded harsh and bitter, nothing like her usual soft tone. Before Twinkle or Violet could do anything, she flicked her hand. There was a great flash of green and the world tilted as Violet and Twinkle spun through the air.

“你们俩现在逃不掉了！”威洛女士嘶嘶地说。 她的声音听起来刺耳而苦涩，一点也不像她平时温柔的语调。 闪烁和紫罗兰还没来得及做什么，她就轻轻弹了弹她的手。 一道绿色的大闪光，紫罗兰和闪烁在空中旋转，整个世界都倾斜了。

Everything blurred. Violet's hands numbed as she desperately hung on to Twinkle's neck. Then they were falling. Violet tensed, expecting the worst, but Twinkle's hooves sunk into the ground and he landed with a bounce as the world came back into focus. Above them, the inky night sky glittered with thousands of stars. Their light was reflected by the thick ice of a huge frozen lake, and Violet realised that they were standing just at its edge. At the far side, a strip of land separated it from a vast black sea. Beneath the layer of ice, the water looked dark. "Where are we?" said Twinkle. "I think it's the Frozen Lagoon!" breathed Violet. "We learnt about it from Ms Rivers a month ago. It's bottomless, it's always frozen, and supposedly no one's ever been able to find it because magic keeps its location secret." A thin mist swirled like ghosts above the dark ice. Beneath it, they could see the water bubbling like a volcano on the verge of eruption. Violet shivered– there was something unnatural about the way the mist was moving and the sickly sweet smell was rising from it that scared her. "Why do you think Ms Willow brought us here?" said Twinkle.

一切都模糊。维奥莱特绝望地抓住小光的脖子，双手麻木了。 然后他们开始坠落。维奥莉特紧张起来，以为会发生最坏的情况，但小光的蹄子陷进了地面，弹跳着落在地上，世界又重新聚焦起来。 在他们头顶上，漆黑的夜空闪烁着成千上万颗星星。 他们的光被一个巨大的冰冻湖的厚冰反射，维奥莱特意识到他们正站在湖的边缘。 在远处，一条狭长的陆地将它与广阔的黑海隔开。 冰层下面的水看起来很黑。 “我们在哪儿？” “我想是冰湖！”维奥莉特轻声说。 “一个月前，我们从里弗斯女士那里得知了这件事。 它是无底的，永远是冰冻的，据说从来没有人能找到它，因为魔法把它的位置保密了。” 一层薄雾像幽灵一样在黑暗的冰面上盘旋。 在它下面，他们可以看到水在冒泡，就像一座即将喷发的火山。 维奥莱特打了个寒噤——雾气移动的方式有点不自然，雾气中飘出一股令人作呕的甜味，这让她感到害怕。 “你认为柳树女士为什么带我们来这里？”闪烁说。

"I don't know," said Violet. "I can't believe she's the cloaked figure, Twinkle. She's always seemed so nice." "I can't believe that Daffodil has been helping her," said Twinkle, shaking his head in astonishment. "I don't understand. Whenever we saw the cloaked figure with a unicorn, it didn't look anything like Daffodil," said Violet. "It was taller, with a long golden mane, just like Prancer, the stolen unicorn. It didn't look anything like Daffodil." "Maybe Ms Willow has two unicorns," suggested Twinkle. It seemed the only explanation. Violet looked around. "What are we going to do now?" "Try and escape?" suggested Twinkle. There was a flash of green and Ms Willow and Daffodil landed nearby. Twinkle reared bravely, slashing the air with his forelegs. Then, wheeling around, he galloped away. Ms Willow's laughter echoed after him. "You can run but there's no escape from me!" Violet ducked as something whizzed over her head. A bolt of magic hit the rocks in front of them, which exploded into shards. Twinkle swerved, and

“我不知道，”维奥莱特说。 “我不敢相信她就是那个披着斗篷的人，闪儿。 她看起来总是那么好。” “我不敢相信水仙花一直在帮助她，”闪烁惊讶地摇着头说。 “我不明白。每当我们看到那个带着独角兽的披着斗篷的身影时，它看起来一点也不像水仙花。”维奥莱特说。 它个子更高，长着长长的金色鬃毛，就像那只被偷来的独角兽普兰瑟。 它一点也不像水仙花。” “也许威罗女士有两只独角兽，”闪烁暗示道。 这似乎是唯一的解释。 维奥莱特环顾四周。“我们现在该怎么办？”“想逃跑？”闪烁建议道。 一道绿光闪过，威洛女士和水仙花落在了附近。 闪烁勇敢地站立起来，用前腿猛砍空中。 然后，他转过身，疾驰而去。 威洛女士的笑声在他身后回响。 “你可以跑，但你逃不掉我！”有什么东西在她头顶上嗖嗖地掠过，维奥莱特低下了头。 一道魔法箭击中了他们面前的岩石，岩石炸成了碎片。 一闪一闪，然后

the sour smell of bad magic filled Violet's nostrils. "Don't try and get away– you'll only get hurt," Daffodil called anxiously. Twinkle swung round. "Daffodil, why are you helping her? I thought you were my friend!" Ms Willow smirked. "Oh, dear sweet Daffodil has no choice! Those ribbons– the ones you admired so much, Violet– contain a powerful binding spell and, while they are in her mane, Daffodil must obey my every command. For some reason, she thought that she could warn you tonight about what was going on, but she should have known better. I have forbidden her to speak of my plans so, even if she had met with you, she couldn't have told you anything." Daffodil gave Twinkle a desperate look. "I thought I would find a way and…" she gasped and fell silent as Ms Willow glared at her. "Let us go!" Violet cried. "What?" sneered Ms Willow. "And have you return to school and tell everyone about me? I think not. You will stay here while I see out my scheme to force every unicorn on Unicorn Island to do my bidding. I have spent years preparing for this. I am not going to let one foolish girl and her unicorn, who hasn't even found his magic, stop me." She

维奥莱特的鼻孔里充满了邪恶魔法的酸味。 “不要试图离开——你只会受伤，”水仙花焦急地叫道。 闪烁转身。“水仙花，你为什么要帮她？” 我还以为你是我的朋友呢！”威洛女士得意地笑了。 “哦，亲爱的水仙花没有选择！”那些丝带——你非常欣赏的那些，紫罗兰——含有强大的束缚咒，当它们在水仙花的鬃毛上时，它必须服从我的每一个命令。 出于某种原因，她认为她今晚可以提醒你发生了什么，但她应该更清楚。 我不准她把我的计划说出去，所以，即使她见到了你，她也不会告诉你任何事情的。” 水仙花绝望地看了小闪一眼。 “我想我会找到一个方法，然后……”她喘着气，沉默了，威洛女士瞪着她。 “我们走吧!”紫哭了。 “什么？”威洛女士冷笑道。 “你回到学校把我的事告诉大家了吗？” 我不这么认为。你待在这里，我来执行我的计划强迫独角兽岛上的每一只独角兽听我的命令。 我为此准备了很多年。 我不会让一个愚蠢的女孩和她的独角兽，甚至没有发现他的魔法，阻止我。” 她