Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX Phoebe, Lily and Aisha followed Zara into the tunnel. Zara was good at climbing and guided the others, carefully feeling for handholds and footholds in the cold stone wall. "Be careful!" whinnied the unicorns anxiously as they waited at the top. "Very, very careful," added Moonbeam. Once all the girls had climbed down, they set off. Zara traced her hand along the rough stone wall as she edged forward, her eyes gradually getting used to the darkness. She could hear the steady drip of water.

第六章菲比、莉莉和艾莎跟着扎拉进了隧道。 扎拉擅长攀爬，并引导其他人，小心翼翼地在冰冷的石墙上寻找支点和落脚点。 “小心！”独角兽们焦急地低声说，他们在山顶上等着。 “非常非常小心。”月光补充道。 姑娘们一爬下来，就出发了。 扎拉一边向前移动，一边用手在粗糙的石墙上摸索着，她的眼睛逐渐适应了黑暗。 她能听到滴水的声音。

"Eeek!" squealed Phoebe, slipping on a stone. "Sssh!" Zara stopped, motioning for everyone to be quiet. What if Mr Longnose was ahead of them and heard Phoebe? What if he came back and attacked? They waited tensely but there was no sound. Cautiously they set off again. The sound of water began to get louder as they walked, until suddenly the tunnel opened into a chamber. Multicoloured water trickled down the damp walls. "I think we might be under Sparkle Lake." Zara squinted into the darkness and saw two more tunnels leading out of the chamber. "There are two ways out of here—" She gasped as she spotted something white lying on the floor at the entrance to one of the tunnels. "Look!" She hurried to pick it up. It was a white handkerchief and she could just make out the initials EL in one corner. "This belongs to Mr Longnose!" she exclaimed.

“呸！”菲比尖叫一声，踩在石头上滑倒了。 “嘘!”扎拉停了下来，示意大家安静。 如果长鼻鼻子先生在他们前面听到菲比的声音怎么办？ 如果他回来攻击呢？ 他们紧张地等待着，但没有声音。 他们又小心翼翼地出发了。 他们走着走着，水声越来越响，直到隧道突然打开，通向一个房间。 五颜六色的水顺着潮湿的墙壁滴落下来。 “我想我们可能在闪光湖下面了。” 扎拉眯着眼睛在黑暗中看到又有两条地道通向房间。 “有两条路可以出去——”当她发现其中一条隧道入口的地板上躺着一个白色的东西时，她倒吸了一口气。 “看!”她急忙把它捡起来。 那是一块白手帕，她只能辨认出角落里EL的首字母。 “这是长鼻子先生的！”

"I saw him with it yesterday. He must have dropped it. It's proof he's been down here. He was the person I saw come into the tunnel." Phoebe clutched hold of her. "What should we do?" Zara took a breath. What if Moonbeam really was having visions and her strange feelings were true? She'd said the tunnel was dangerous. But how could they give up now? They couldn't. "Let's go on!" she said. The others nodded eagerly. As Zara walked into the tunnel where the hanky had been lying, she was grateful that her friends were right behind her. The passageway began to climb upwards, getting steeper and narrower until it ended in a small space with a chimney rising up from it. Zara felt around the stones and her hand snagged against something round. Instinctively, she pressed it. There was a grating noise and a small door swung open. Ducking through, Zara saw that the door led out into a fireplace in a round room. "We're in one of the towers in the academy," she said, climbing out. The others followed her. "It's a secret room!" Aisha gasped, looking

“我昨天看见他拿着它。 他一定是把它掉了。这是他来过这里的证据。 他就是我看到走进隧道的那个人。” 菲比一把抓住她。 “我们该怎么办？”扎拉深吸了一口气。 如果月光真的看到了幻象而且她的奇怪感觉是真的呢？ 她说过隧道很危险。 但他们现在怎么能放弃呢？ 他们不能。“我们走吧！”她说。 其他人急切地点点头。 当扎拉走进放手帕的隧道时，她很感激她的朋友们就在她身后。 通道开始往上爬，变得越来越陡，越来越窄，直到尽头有一个小空间，一个烟囱从里面升起。 扎拉摸了摸石头，她的手碰到了一个圆形的东西。 她本能地按了一下。 一阵刺耳的声音，一扇小门打开了。 扎拉钻了进去，看到那扇门通向一个圆形房间里的壁炉。 “我们在学院的一座塔楼里，”她边说边爬了出来。 其他人跟着她。“这是一间密室！”艾莎喘着气看了看

around. There was an old wooden desk to one side and the walls were lined with curved shelves stacked with glass jars. Over the fireplace hung a portrait of a beautiful unicorn with a long golden mane. "I wonder what that thing does," said Zara, spotting a lever in the opposite wall and hurrying over. She pulled it and jumped back as the wall started to spin slowly like a revolving door. "This must be the way out!" she said in excitement. The wall revolved back into place. Zara pulled the lever again and this time she and the others slipped out as the wall turned. They found themselves in a cupboard full of empty cardboard boxes and wooden crates.

周围。一边放着一张旧木桌，墙上排列着弯曲的架子，上面堆放着玻璃罐子。 壁炉上方挂着一幅长着长长的金色鬃毛的美丽独角兽的肖像。 “我想知道那东西是做什么的，”扎拉说，发现对面墙上有一个杠杆，急忙走过去。 她拉了拉，跳了回去，因为墙开始像旋转门一样慢慢地旋转。 “这一定是出去的路！”她兴奋地说。 墙又转回原处。 扎拉又拉了一次操纵杆，这次她和其他人在墙转动的时候溜了出去。 他们发现自己在一个装满空纸板箱和木箱的橱柜里。

"Maybe it's not the way out after all," said Aisha in surprise. "Wait…" Zara looked around. "This looks familiar. I think it's the cupboard on the landing above Diamond dorm." She spotted the door and turned the handle. It swung open and she stepped out on to the landing between Diamond dorm and the top floor of the tower. "This is where I lost Mr Longnose yesterday," she said excitedly. "So that's why he keeps disappearing. He's using secret tunnels to move around the school!" "Do you think he heard us following him?" said Phoebe.

“也许这根本不是出路。”艾莎惊讶地说。 “等等……”扎拉环顾四周。 “这看起来很眼熟。我想是钻石宿舍楼上楼梯平台上的碗柜。” 她发现了门，转动了门把手。 门打开了，她走到戴蒙德宿舍和塔楼顶层之间的平台上。 “这就是我昨天失去朗鼻先生的地方。”她兴奋地说。 “所以这就是他一直消失的原因。 他在利用秘密通道在学校里活动！”“你觉得他听到我们跟踪他了吗？”菲比问。

"What do you think he will do if he did?" asked Lily. "Nothing," said Zara, sounding more confident that she felt. "I bet Mr Longnose wouldn't want Ms Nettles to know we found him sneaking around using the secret tunnels, so he won't do anything." "Shouldn't we tell Ms Nettles?" said Aisha. Zara thought for a moment. "No. Sneaking around is weird and suspicious but we need proof that he's actually up to no good. We're on to him now. As soon as we find evidence, then we'll tell Ms Nettles. Let's all be careful though, right?" "Definitely!" said Phoebe. She gave a dramatic shiver. "After all, we don't know what he's capable of!" They hurried back to the barn to tell their unicorns what had happened. "I told you I saw a dangerous tunnel!" Moonbeam muttered to Zara as they walked back to the stable block. "What if Mr Longnose had attacked you? You shouldn't have gone down there." Zara glanced at her. Moonbeam had been in a bad mood with her ever since she had returned. "We had to. If we hadn't gone down there we wouldn't have found out that Mr Longnose was

“你觉得如果他知道了，他会怎么做？”莉莉问。 “没什么，”扎拉说，听起来比她感觉的更自信。 “我敢打赌，长鼻子先生不会想让荨麻小姐知道我们发现他在秘密通道里鬼鬼祟祟的，所以他不会采取任何行动的。” “我们不应该告诉荨麻女士吗？” 扎拉想了一会儿。 “没有。偷偷摸摸很奇怪，也很可疑但我们需要证据证明他真的不怀好意。 我们已经找到他了。我们一找到证据，就会告诉内特斯女士。 不过我们都要小心，好吗？”“当然！”菲比说。 她戏剧性地打了个寒战。 “毕竟，我们不知道他能做出什么来！”他们急忙回到谷仓，告诉他们的独角兽发生了什么事。 “我告诉过你我看到了一条危险的隧道！”他们走回马厩时，月光喃喃地对扎拉说。 “要是Longnose先生袭击了你怎么办？” 你不应该下去的。” 扎拉瞥了她一眼。自从她回来后，月光一直对她很不满意。 “我们必须这么做。如果我们不去那里，我们就不会发现朗鼻nose先生在