Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE, "What happened?" cried Sienna, banging on the crack between the walls where the entrance had been. "Why did the walls just shut like that?" said Ivy, her eyes scared. "Listen!" Lyra motioned for everyone to stop talking. Muffled voices came from the other side of the tower's walls. It sounded like two people arguing. "There's someone out there," said Sienna, frowning. "Let us out!" shouted Lyra, thumping on the stone. The others joined IN. A sheet of paper suddenly slid through the crack between the two walls. Evie grabbed it. The paper was folded in half. Her fingers shook as she opened it and read aloud: "HAND OVER THE MAP PIECES. IN RETURN YOU WILL BE SET FREE. NO MAP, NO ESCAPE." The girls stared at each other. "Someone's locked us in here on purpose!" said Ivy. "Dr Briar, it has to be," said Lyra grimly. "She can't have the map– not when we're so close to finding the treasure," said Sienna. Evie bit her lip. "We don't have a choice. Unless we hand it over, we could be trapped here forever." Lyra's torch flickered. "The batteries are running out." She shook the torch in alarm. "You mean we're going to be trapped in the dark?" Sunshine burst out. "It's OK, Sunshine," said Evie soothingly. "Just stay calm." "I can't!" Sunshine's voice rose In panic as the torch beam flickered again. "No!" she whinnied, stamping her front hooves. Sparks flew up and hit the wall. The stone shattered, and the girls shrieked as their unicorns dodged the flying shards.

第九章“发生了什么事？”西耶娜喊道，敲打着原来是入口的墙缝。 “为什么墙就这样关上了？”艾薇说，她的眼睛里充满了恐惧。 “听!”莱拉示意大家不要说话。 塔楼墙的另一边传来低沉的说话声。 听起来像是两个人在争吵。 “外面有人，”西耶娜皱着眉头说。 “放我们出去！”莱拉大声喊道，重重地敲着石头。 其他人也加入了进来。一张纸突然从两堵墙之间的裂缝里滑了进来。 伊薇抓住了它。这张纸对折了。 她打开信，手指颤抖着大声读道：“交出地图碎片。 作为回报，你将获得自由。 没有地图，就逃不掉。”女孩们面面相觑。 “有人故意把我们锁在这里！”艾薇说。 “布瑞尔博士，一定是这样。”莱拉冷酷地说。 “她不能拿着地图——我们马上就要找到宝藏了。”西耶娜说。 伊薇咬着嘴唇。“我们没有选择。 除非我们交出它，否则我们可能永远被困在这里。” 莱拉的火炬闪烁着。“电池快没电了。” 她惊慌地摇晃着手电筒。 “你是说我们要被困在黑暗里了？”阳光突然照了出来。 “没事的，阳光，”伊薇安慰说。 “保持冷静。”“我不能!”当火炬再次闪烁时，阳光的声音在恐慌中响起。 “不！”她呜咽着，跺着前蹄。 火花飞了起来，打在墙上。 石头碎了，女孩们尖叫着，她们的独角兽躲避着飞来的碎片。

Lyra gasped. "What just happened?" "It was Sunshine!" Ivy said, her eyes wide. "Sunshine, you've just found your magic!" exclaimed Evie. "You've got exploding magic!" To her surprise Sunshine hung her head. "Actually I, um… I haven't just found it. I discovered it a few days ago. All the explosions that have been happening– they're all my fault. Whenever I feel anxious and stamp my hooves, things just explode around me." Evie stared at her. "Why didn't you tell me?" Sunshine swallowed. "I didn't think you'd be very happy about me having exploding magic." "Oh, Sunshine," said Evie, hugging her. "Of course I'm happy. Exploding magic IS cool." A thought struck her. "Is this why you've been asking me to leave you alone all week? You didn't want me to find out?"

莱拉气喘吁吁地说。“刚才发生了什么事？”“是阳光！”艾薇说，眼睛睁得大大的。 “阳光，你找到了你的魔力！” “你有爆炸魔法！”令她吃惊的是，阳光低下了头。 “实际上，我……我还没有找到。 我几天前发现的。 所有发生的爆炸，都是我的错。 每当我感到焦虑和跺脚时，我周围的事情就会爆炸。” 伊薇盯着她。“你为什么不告诉我？”阳光吞下。 “我以为你对我拥有爆炸魔法不会很高兴。” “哦，阳光，”伊维拥抱着她说。 “我当然高兴。魔法爆炸很酷。” 她突然有了一个念头。“这就是你整个星期让我不要打扰你的原因吗？” 你不想让我发现吗？”

Sunshine nodded. "I can't control it and I thought you'd find that really embarrassing. It's awful. I almost killed us when the unicorn statue exploded." "So that was you, not Dr Briar or Sam?" Sienna said. "Yes," muttered Sunshine "You should have told me. I could have helped you," said Evie. She hugged her unicorn tightly. "I thought that you wanted a different partner. I'm so embarrassing. It's true," she added when Sunshine started to shake her head. "I'm always having accidents. I know that's why you try to stop me from doing things." "It's not that," said Sunshine in surprise. "I only want to stop you from getting hurt." She nuzzled Evie. "But what about you? Are you OK about me having exploding magic? You don't like being the centre of attention and my magic IS pretty hard to ignore." Evie grinned. "I'm accident-prone and that's very tricky to hide! Sunshine, your magic makes you different and special, and I'd love you whatever magic you had." "Really?" asked Sunshine hopefully. "Really," said Evie firmly. Sunshine buried her head in Evie's arms and Evie hugged her. "Your hair, Evie!" gasped Ivy. She reached out and held up a strand of Evie's brown hair that had turned pink, turquoise and yellow. "You've bonded!" Evie felt a rush of delight. "We're partners forever, Sunshine!" "Partners and best friends," said Sunshine happily. "Now let's use your awesome magic to help us get out of here," said Evie. "Can you blow a hole in the wall so we can escape?" "I'll try," Sunshine said, tossing her mane. "Stand back, everyone, and watch out for flying stones." Lyra put the new bit of map in her pocket with the original pieces. Everyone shuffled back down the passageway, leaving Evie alone with Sunshine by the closed-up entrance. "What if I blow the whole tower to smithereens and hurt everyone?" asked Sunshine. "You won't." Evie felt confident. "I know you're going to get your magic exactly right because you're the best, Sunshine!" Sunshine took a deep breath and stamped her front hooves down hard.

阳光点了点头。“我控制不了，我以为你会觉得很尴尬。 这是可怕的。独角兽雕像爆炸的时候，我差点杀了我们俩。” “这么说那是你，不是布瑞尔医生或萨姆？”黄土说。 “是的，”阳光喃喃地说，“你应该告诉我的。 我本可以帮助你的，”伊薇说。 她紧紧抱着她的独角兽。 “我以为你想要一个不同的伴侣。 我太尴尬了。是真的，”当阳光开始摇头时，她补充道。 “我总是出事故。 我知道这就是你想阻止我做事的原因。” “不是那样的。”阳光惊讶地说。 “我只是不想让你受到伤害。” 她用鼻子蹭了蹭伊薇。“那你呢？” 你不介意我有爆炸魔法吗？ 你不喜欢成为人们关注的焦点，而我的魔法很难被忽视。” 艾维咧嘴一笑。“我很容易出事故，这很难隐藏！”阳光，你的魔法让你与众不同，不管你有什么魔法，我都会爱你。” “真的吗？”阳光满怀希望地问。 “真的吗？”伊薇坚定地说。 Sunshine把头埋进了Evie的怀里，Evie抱住了她。 “你的头发，伊薇！” 她伸出手，拿起伊维的一缕棕色头发，它已经变成了粉红色、绿松石色和黄色。 “你保税!”伊薇感到一阵喜悦。 “我们永远是伙伴，阳光！”“伙伴和最好的朋友，”阳光高兴地说。 “现在让我们用你令人敬畏的魔法帮助我们离开这里吧。” “你能在墙上炸个洞，让我们逃出去吗？”“我试试，”阳光说着，甩了甩鬃毛。 “大家退后，小心飞石。” 莱拉把新地图和原来的地图一起放进口袋里。 每个人都拖着脚步走回走廊，只留下伊薇和阳光在封闭的入口。 “如果我把整个塔炸成碎片，伤害到所有人呢？”阳光问道。 “你不会。”艾薇感到很自信。 “我知道你会把你的魔法做得恰到好处的，因为你是最棒的，阳光！”阳光深吸了一口气，用前蹄狠狠地踩了一下。

Bright pink sparks shot up in the darkness. There was a strong smell of burnt sugar and, as the sparks hit the stone wall, a deafening bang. The stones exploded outward in a cloud of dust, making everyone cough. Through the swirling dust, Evie saw Flash and Solomon, Dr Briar's unicorn, rearing backwards in surprise. Dr Briar and Sam clung to their manes, struggling to keep their balance. The explosion seemed to have caught them in the middle of an argument. Dr Briar spluttered. "You're not going to get away with this!" she shouted. "Give me the map!" "No way!" yelled Lyra, galloping out on Misty. "Ruby dorm, back to the academy, NOW!"

明亮的粉红色火花在黑暗中蹿起。 有一股浓烈的糖烧焦的味道，当火花击中石墙时，发出震耳欲聋的巨响。 石头炸出一团灰尘，弄得大家都咳嗽起来。 透过旋转的灰尘，伊维看到了闪电和所罗门，布瑞尔博士的独角兽，惊讶地向后仰着身子。 布瑞尔医生和萨姆紧紧抓住他们的鬃毛，挣扎着保持平衡。 爆炸似乎使他们正在争吵。 布瑞尔博士结结巴巴地说。“你逃不掉的！”她喊道。 “把地图给我！”“没门！”莱拉喊道，向米斯蒂扑去。 “鲁比宿舍，回学院去，马上！”