Chapter 7

Chapter seven Back in the stables, Lyra brushed Misty down and fetched her some sky berries. "I wish we'd found another piece of the map," she said. "Mmm," said Misty. She gave a shiver. "I didn't like those caves much." "They were fine," said Lyra. "There wasn't anything to be scared of." Misty sighed. "When I was little I found everything scary. My older sister, Dewdrop, used to tease me and say I was scared of my own shadow. She's always been much braver than me." She snorted sadly. "I do miss her. I bet you'd like her, Lyra. She's—" "Hey," Lyra interrupted. She didn't want Misty to start feeling sad about missing her family. "I've just had an idea. Maybe I can persuade the others to go back to the caves tomorrow morning? Ms Rivers has organised a treasure hunt. It's supposed to help us learn more about the school and the grounds but I bet we could sneak off and no one would notice. What do you think?" "You could try," Misty muttered. "I will!" said Lyra. "A treasure hunt is fun but finding another piece of a real treasure map will be even better! See you later, Misty." She left the stable block and caught up with her friends as they reached the school building. "How about this for a plan?" Lyra said as they went up the staircase to Ruby dorm. "Instead of doing the treasure hunt tomorrow, we—" She broke off with a gasp as Sienna opened the door to their dorm.

回到马厩，莱拉给米斯蒂梳洗，给她拿了一些天空莓。 “我希望我们能找到另一块地图，”她说。 “嗯，”米斯蒂说。她打了个寒颤。 “我不太喜欢那些洞穴。” “他们很好。”莱拉说。 “没有什么好害怕的。” 雾叹了口气。“当我还小的时候，我觉得一切都很可怕。 我的姐姐露珠过去常常取笑我，说我害怕自己的影子。 她总是比我勇敢得多。” 她伤心地哼了一声。“我真的很想她。 我打赌你会喜欢她的，莱拉。 她——”“嘿，”莱拉打断了他的话。 她不想让米斯蒂开始因为想念家人而感到悲伤。 “我刚想到一个主意。也许我可以说服其他人明天早上回到洞穴？ 里弗斯女士组织了一次寻宝活动。 它应该能帮助我们更多地了解学校和场地，但我打赌我们可以偷偷溜出去，没有人会注意到。 你觉得怎么样？”“你可以试试，”米斯蒂喃喃地说。 “我会的！”莱拉说。“寻宝很有趣，但找到另一张真正的藏宝图会更好！”再见，米斯蒂。” 她离开了马厩，在到达学校大楼时赶上了她的朋友们。 “这个计划怎么样？”他们上楼去露比宿舍时，莱拉说。 “我们明天不去寻宝了，我们——”当西耶娜打开他们宿舍的门时，她喘着气说不下去了。

Their room had been completely ransacked! Clothes spilled from open drawers and the floor was strewn with books, pencils and papers. "What's happened?" asked Evie, her eyes huge. Lyra and the others picked their way through the mess to their beds. "None of my things are missing," said Lyra in relief. "Nor mine," said Ivy and Evie.

他们的房间被洗劫一空！衣服从敞开的抽屉里洒出来，地板上散落着书、铅笔和纸张。 “发生了什么事？”伊维问道，她的眼睛睁得大大的。 莱拉和其他人从混乱中挑出一条路，回到自己的床上。 “我的东西一件也没丢。”莱拉如释重负地说。 “也不是我的，”艾薇和艾薇说。

"All my stuff is here." Sienna put her hands on her hips. "So who did this?" "And why?" added Evie. Lyra touched the map fragment in her pocket anxiously. Could someone have been looking for it? The only other people who knew about it were Dr Briar and Sam, and Dr Briar wasn't at the school any more. Sam is, though, she thought. "I bet it was the Topaz boys," said Sienna, picking a hoodie up from the floor. "They must have realised we'd been in their dorm yesterday and decided to get their own back." "But why make such a mess?" said Ivy, looking around. "We didn't wreck their room." "Maybe they thought it was funny," said Sienna. "No, they're not that mean," said Evie. "It could have been Sam, not all the boys," said Lyra. "If Dr Briar didn't tell us the truth, and the map is valuable, then she might have asked Sam to try to find it." "But she said it wasn't worth anything. Why would she lie?" asked Evie. "Maybe because it's really valuable. So valuable she didn't want us to realise what we had," said Lyra. Her friends didn't look convinced. Sienna shook her head. "I still think it was the boys just trying to annoy us." "We don't know that," Lyra insisted. "We must find the rest of the map quickly in case Dr Briar is looking for it too. Let's go tomorrow morning when everyone else is doing the treasure hunt." "But we already missed the crossnet match and I want to do treasure hunt!" protested Sienna. "Me too," said Evie. "Ms Rivers said it would help us to learn more about the school." "Tomorrow's our last chance to sneak off without the teachers realising. If we don't go then, we'll have to wait until the weekend," Lyra said impatiently. "The map can wait," said Sienna, shrugging. Evie nodded. "I agree with Sienna." "And me," said Ivy.

“我的东西都在这儿。”西耶娜把手放在屁股上。 “那么这是谁干的？”“为什么？”伊薇又问。 莱拉焦急地摸着口袋里的地图碎片。 会不会有人一直在找它？ 知道这件事的只有布瑞尔医生和萨姆，而布瑞尔医生已经不在学校了。 不过山姆是，她想。 “我敢打赌是托帕兹男孩，”西耶娜说着，从地板上捡起一件连帽衫。 “他们一定是意识到我们昨天去过他们的宿舍，于是决定报复我们。” “但为什么弄得这么乱？”艾薇环顾四周说。 “我们没有破坏他们的房间。” “也许他们觉得这很有趣，”西耶娜说。 “不，他们没那么刻薄，”伊薇说。 “可能是萨姆，不是所有的男孩。”莱拉说。 “如果布瑞尔博士没有告诉我们真相，而这张地图很有价值，那么她可能会让萨姆去找它。” “但她说它一文不值。 她为什么要撒谎？”伊维问。 “也许是因为它真的很有价值。 太宝贵了，她不想让我们意识到我们拥有什么。”莱拉说。 她的朋友们似乎并不相信。 西耶娜摇了摇头。“我仍然认为那是男孩们想惹恼我们。” “我们不知道。”莱拉坚持说。 “我们必须尽快找到地图的其余部分，以防布瑞尔博士也在找。 我们明天早上大家都去寻宝的时候去吧。” “可是我们已经错过了比赛，我还想去寻宝呢！”西耶娜抗议道。 “我也是，”伊维说。“里弗斯女士说，这将有助于我们更多地了解这所学校。” “明天是我们最后一次偷偷溜走的机会了。 如果我们那时不去，就得等到周末了。”莱拉不耐烦地说。 “地图可以等一下，”西耶娜耸耸肩说。 艾维-点了点头。“我同意西耶娜的观点。” “还有我，”艾薇说。

"Three votes to one," Sienna told Lyra. Lyra stared at them. She couldn't believe they would rather take part in the fake treasure hunt than look for the map and some genuine treasure. But the others had voted against her. Feeling very frustrated, she tidied away her things, shoving her clothes into her drawers and yanking the covers straight on her bed. She was still feeling fed up when it was time to go and settle the unicorns for the night. She made an excuse so the others would go on to the stables without her and then she stomped after them alone. Misty whinnied when she saw her. "I thought you weren't coming." "Sorry," muttered Lyra grumpily, emptying a bucket of sky berries into her manger. Misty nuzzled her. "Are you OK?" "Mmm," said Lyra. "Is this about you wanting to miss the treasure hunt to go and look for the map?" Misty asked. "I heard Sienna telling Sparkle about it."

“三票对一票。”西耶娜告诉莱拉。 莱拉瞪着他们。她不敢相信他们宁愿参加假寻宝，也不愿去找地图和一些真正的宝藏。 但其他人都投了反对票。 她感到非常沮丧，整理了一下自己的东西，把衣服塞进抽屉里，把被子直接拉到床上。 到了该去安顿独角兽过夜的时候，她仍然感到厌烦。 她找了个借口，好让其他人不带她去马厩，然后她一个人在后面跺脚。 米斯蒂看见她时呜呜地叫了起来。 “我还以为你不来了呢。” “对不起。”莱拉暴躁地嘟囔着，把一桶天空莓倒进她的马槽里。 米斯蒂用鼻子蹭她。“你还好吗？”“嗯。”莱拉说。 “你是想错过寻宝活动，去找地图吗？”雾问道。 “我听西耶娜跟斯巴克说过这件事。”

"The map fragment must be important for Sam to go through our things," said Lyra. "There's no time to lose. We should continue our search tomorrow." On impulse she added, "I think I'll go on my own. Will you come with me?" Misty looked alarmed. "But what if the teachers find out and we get into trouble?" Lyra shrugged. "Hopefully they won't." "Lyra, I don't think you should do this." Lyra felt a sharp stab of frustration. "Oh, Misty!" she snapped. "Why do you always have to be so boring?" Misty's eyes widened with hurt and Lyra instantly felt awful. She'd spoken sharply because she was cross and it was no excuse. "Sorry, I didn't mean it," she said quickly as Misty hung her head.

“地图碎片对萨姆翻我们的东西一定很重要。”莱拉说。 “不能再浪费时间了。我们明天应该继续搜寻。” 她一时冲动又说：“我想我还是自己去吧。” 你愿意和我一起去吗？”米斯蒂显得很惊慌。 “但是如果老师发现了，我们就有麻烦了怎么办？”莱拉耸耸肩。 “希望他们不会。”“莱拉，我觉得你不应该这么做。” 莱拉感到一阵挫败感。 “哦，米斯蒂！”她厉声说。“你为什么总是这么无聊？”米斯蒂的眼睛因受伤而睁得大大的，莱拉立刻感到很难受。 她说话尖刻是因为她生气了，这不是借口。 “对不起，我不是故意的。”她很快地说，这时米斯蒂低下了头。

"I really didn't," said Lyra, but Misty just continued to stare at the floor. Just then, Evie looked over the door. "There you are, Lyra. Are you coming? We need to get back before the bedtime bell." Lyra hesitated. She didn't want to leave Misty when she'd hurt her feelings but the teachers were very strict about everyone being back in their dorm on time. She gave Misty a quick hug. "Goodnight," she said, but Misty didn't reply. Lyra walked back to the dorm feeling very guilty. She shouldn't have snapped at Misty. She was fed up but it wasn't fair to take it out on her sweet-natured unicorn. "Are you OK?" Evie asked as they got into their pyjamas. "You've been really quiet this evening." "I've got a headache," Lyra lied. As she pulled the soft, feather-filled duvet over her head, remorse was coursing through her. I'll make it up to Misty first thing in the morning, she promised herself.

“我真的没有。”莱拉说，但米斯蒂只是继续盯着地板。 就在这时，伊薇从门那边看了看。 “你在这儿啊，莱拉。你要来吗？ 我们得在睡觉铃响之前赶回去。” 莱拉犹豫了。她不想离开米斯蒂，因为她伤害了她的感情，但是老师们对每个人都要按时回到宿舍非常严格。 她迅速地拥抱了米斯蒂一下。 “晚安。”她说，但米斯蒂没有回答。 莱拉走回宿舍，心里非常内疚。 她不该冲米斯蒂发火。 她受够了，但把气撒在她可爱的独角兽身上是不公平的。 “你还好吗？”他们穿上睡衣时，伊薇问道。 “你今晚真的很安静。” “我头痛。”莱拉撒了个谎。 当她把柔软的羽毛羽绒被盖在头上时，悔恨之情油然而生。 我明天早上第一件事就是补偿米斯蒂，她向自己保证。