Chapter 5

Chapter five, Phoebe groaned as she leafed through a big pile of books in the library the next morning. "I wish we were out riding instead of being cooped up here." "Me too," sighed Aisha. She wished she could be playing her flute instead of writing reports on extreme weather for Mr Longnose. He would be back in a few hours and would expect the work done by then. "There's nothing about magic hailstorms in these books," said Lily. "I thought this detention might be a good chance to try and find out more but all the hailstorms I've read about are normal ones." "This is interesting," said Zara, holding up a thick leather book. "It's about avalanches." "So's this," said Aisha. "It's all about the Frozen Wastelands, where there are lots of dangerous things like avalanches and sabre-toothed bears. There's also a glacier that has special pink diamonds trapped under the ice. If you find one, you can use it to undo any freezing spell, no matter how strong. It sounds like an amazing place." "This one mentions the Frozen Wastelands too," said Lily, holding up a very old, thin book. "It was tucked behind another book at the back of the bookshelf. It's a biography about Count Thornberry. It says he has a secret laboratory in the ice caves of the Diamond Glacier." "He's the person Mr Longnose is always going on about, isn't he?" said Aisha.

“第五章，”第二天早上，菲比在图书馆翻阅一大堆书时呻吟道。 “我希望我们出去骑马，而不是被关在这里。” “我也是。”阿伊莎叹了口气。她希望她能吹笛子，而不是为朗鼻先生写极端天气的报告。 他会在几个小时后回来，并希望在那之前把工作做完。 “这些书里没有关于魔法冰雹的内容。”莉莉说。 “我想这次关禁闭可能是一个好机会，可以了解更多的情况，但我读到的所有冰雹都是正常的。” “这很有趣，”扎拉说着，举起一本厚厚的皮革书。 “这是关于雪崩的。”“原来是这样。”艾莎说。 “这都是关于冰封荒原的，那里有很多危险的东西，比如雪崩和剑齿熊。 还有一个冰川的冰下有特殊的粉色钻石。 如果你找到了，你可以用它来解除任何冰冻咒，不管它有多强。 听起来是个很棒的地方。” “这本书也提到了冰封荒原。”莉莉说，举起一本很旧很薄的书。 它被塞在书架后面的另一本书后面。 这是一本关于索恩伯里伯爵的传记。 上面说他在钻石冰川的冰洞里有一个秘密实验室。” “他就是长鼻鼻子先生经常提起的那个人，是不是？”

"I thought he lived in the south of the island," said Zara. "His family castle is there but his lab is in the Frozen Wastelands according to this," said Lily. "It says he's worked in secret since he left the university." She read straight from the book: "The count was furious when leading scientists questioned his methods, worried that he could unbalance the natural world by using magic to amplify science. Angered by this criticism, the count became a recluse and refused to share his work with the rest of the scientific community." Lily turned the page. "There's a picture of him here. He looks pretty weird– look at that moustache!" She turned the book round to show everyone. Phoebe squealed. "Oh my gosh!" "What?" demanded Zara. "Look at him!" said Phoebe, jabbing her finger at the picture. "He's tall and thin and wearing a cloak. Could he be the man Moonbeam sees in her visions?" She ticked things off on her fingers. "He fits the physical description. He's clever. He's angry with people on the island, which could mean he wants revenge. He knows about weather…"

“我以为他住在岛的南部，”扎拉说。 “他家的城堡在那里，但他的实验室在冰封荒原。”莉莉说。 “上面说他离开大学后一直在秘密工作。” 她直接从书中读到：“当著名科学家质疑他的方法时，伯爵非常愤怒，担心他会用魔法来放大科学，从而破坏自然世界的平衡。 伯爵被这种批评激怒了，于是隐居起来，拒绝与科学界的其他人分享他的研究成果。 莉莉翻过了这一页。“这里有一张他的照片。 他看起来很奇怪——看看他的胡子！”她把书翻过来给大家看。 菲比叫苦不迭。“我的天哪！”“什么？”扎拉问。 “你看他！”菲比用手指戳着照片说。 “他又高又瘦，穿着一件斗篷。 难道他就是月光在幻象中看到的那个人吗？”她在手指上打叉。 “他符合外貌描述。 他是聪明的。他对岛上的人很生气，这可能意味着他想报复。 他知道天气……”

Zara pointed at the picture. "And look at this design embroidered on the pocket of his cloak." She gasped. "It's just like the one on the button we found in that ruined cottage, near to where the tidal wave hit!" "Lysander Thornberry," said Lily quickly. "LT. Those were the initials in the notebook about weather disasters that we found in Mr Longnose's tent!" "You know what this means?" exclaimed Phoebe. "Drum roll, please!" She drummed her hands on the desk. "I absolutely bet that we have just found out who Mr Longnose is in league with!" Aisha stiffened. A drum roll would be perfect for the climax of her piece of music. She tried to fit one into the music in her head. Yes! It was the final flourish she needed! She was so excited, she barely heard the rest of her friends' conversation. "It's a good theory, Phoebs," said Zara, "but we need actual evidence before we go to Ms Nettles. She's cross enough with us as it is. I vote when we write our reports, we don't put in any of this stuff about Count Thornberry. We don't want to alert Mr Longnose and make him think we're on to him. Let's keep this between ourselves for now, agreed?" "Agreed," chorused Lily and Phoebe. "Aisha?" said Zara. "Do you agree?" "Yes, of course," said Aisha, busy thinking about drum rolls. Zara smiled. "Great. Let's get our reports written up and then we can be free from detention!" They all started to write apart from Aisha, who started humming again and tapping her fingers on the desk. "Aisha! Write!" Zara ordered, handing her a pen. "Unless you want to stay in here all day!" Aisha definitely didn't want to do that! Grabbing the nearest book, she started to write her report. When Mr Longnose returned, he took their work with a disgruntled sniff. Whooping for joy, the girls raced outside to the stables. On the way to Silver's stall, Aisha grabbed a handful of sky berries for him, stuffing them in her pocket as a treat for later. "Silver! I think I've finally finished the music! Will you listen to it? We can go in the barn– it'll be quieter there." They went into the barn next door to the stable block. Aisha shut the door behind them and they settled behind the piled-up bales of hay.

扎拉指着那幅画。 “看他斗篷口袋上绣的这个图案。” 她喘着气。“就像我们在那座被毁坏的小屋里找到的纽扣上的那个一样，就在海啸袭击的地方附近！”“拉山德·索恩伯里。”莉莉赶紧说。 “LT.那是我们在朗鼻先生帐篷里发现的关于天气灾害的笔记本上的首字母缩写！”“你知道这是什么意思吗？” “请打鼓！”她用手敲打着桌子。 “我敢打赌，我们刚刚发现了Longnose先生的同伙！”艾莎僵硬了。 鼓声作为她那首曲子的高潮再合适不过了。 她试着把一首曲子放进脑子里。 是的!这是她需要的最后一招了！她太兴奋了，几乎没听见朋友们的谈话。 “这是一个很好的理论，菲比，”扎拉说，“但我们在去找内特尔斯女士之前需要实际的证据。 她对我们已经够生气了。 我认为我们写报告的时候，不会写任何关于索恩伯里伯爵的事。 我们可不想惊动长鼻鼻先生，让他以为我们盯上他了。 这件事咱们先保密，好吗？”“同意。”莉莉和菲比异口同声地说。 “阿伊莎？”“你同意吗？”“是的，当然。”艾莎说，忙着想着鼓声。 Zara笑了。“好了。让我们把报告写好，然后我们就可以不被关禁闭了！”除了艾莎，大家都开始写了起来，她又开始哼起歌来，用手指敲着桌子。 “艾莎!写!”扎拉命令道，递给她一支笔。 “除非你想在这里待一整天！”艾莎绝对不想这么做！她抓起最近的一本书，开始写报告。 朗鼻先生回来后，不满地嗅了嗅他们的作业。 女孩们欢呼着跑到外面的马厩里。 在去西尔弗摊位的路上，艾莎给他抓了一把天空莓，塞进口袋里，作为以后的款待。 “银!我想我终于完成音乐了！你会听吗？ 我们可以到谷仓去——那里会安静些。” 他们走进马厩隔壁的谷仓。 艾莎关上了他们身后的门，他们在成堆的干草后面坐了下来。

"I can finally play you the whole piece now," said Aisha, feeding him some of the berries. "All right," said Silver, gobbling them up. "But then I want to talk to you. Moonbeam had another vision while you were doing your detention. She said she saw me vanish again." "Mmm," said Aisha, only half listening as she got her flute out of its case. "Please, Aisha. I really do want to talk about this. I'm worried," said Silver. "There was a plot to kidnap unicorns a year ago and–" He broke off as they heard adult voices outside the barn door. "It's Mr Longnose and Ms Tulip!" "Shh," said Aisha. "They're probably just getting a bale of hay." She stroked Silver's mane as the door creaked open. Mr Longnose and Ms Tulip came in and shut the door behind them. Ms Tulip giggled. "Why are we here, Ivor?" "I needed to talk to you in private, somewhere there are no prying eyes or listening ears," said Mr Longnose. "This is very important." Aisha stiffened. What was Mr Longnose about to say? She leaned forward to listen, her heart pounding. But as she did so, she dropped her flute and it clattered to the ground.

“现在我终于可以为你演奏整首曲子了。”艾莎说着，喂了他一些浆果。 “好吧，”西尔弗说着，狼吞虎咽地吃了起来。 “但是我想和你谈谈。 月光在你被关禁闭的时候看到了另一个幻象。 她说她看见我又消失了。” “嗯，”艾莎说，她把笛子从盒子里拿出来，只听了一半。 “请,阿伊莎。我真的很想谈谈这个。 我很担心，”西尔弗说。 “一年前有一起绑架独角兽的阴谋，而且——”他们听到谷仓门外有成年人的声音，他停住了话头。 “是长鼻子先生和郁金香小姐！”“嘘，”艾莎说。 “他们可能只是在拿一捆干草。” 门吱吱地开了，她抚摸着西尔弗的鬃毛。 朗鼻先生和郁金香小姐走了进来，随手关上了门。 郁金香女士咯咯地笑了。“我们为什么在这里，艾弗？”“我需要私下跟你谈谈，找个没有人窥探和偷听的地方。” “这非常重要。”艾莎僵硬了。 朗鼻大夫想说什么？ 她倾身倾听，心怦怦直跳。 但就在她这么做的时候，她的笛子掉在了地上，发出咔哒一声。

Aisha quickly grabbed it. She and Silver exchanged horrified glances. "What was that?" Mr Longnose snapped. "I don't know," said Ms Tulip. "What should we do?" Aisha mouthed to Silver. Silver looked round desperately but there was nowhere they could hide. A smell of burnt sugar wafted through the air. "The noise came from over there!" Mr Longnose strode across the barn. Aisha froze. She and Silver were about to be discovered! She hugged Silver's neck and buried her face in his thick mane as Mr Longnose peered around the hay bales…

阿伊莎迅速抓住了它。她和西尔弗惊恐地交换了一下眼色。 “那是什么？”朗鼻先生厉声说。 “我不知道，”郁金香女士说。 “我们该怎么办？”艾莎用嘴对西尔弗说。 西尔弗绝望地环顾四周，但他们无处可藏。 空气中飘着一股烧焦糖的味道。 “声音是从那边传来的！”长鼻子先生大步走过谷仓。 艾莎愣住了。她和西尔弗就要被发现了！她搂着西尔弗的脖子，把脸埋在他浓密的鬃毛里，而长鼻子先生正环顾着干草捆……