Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE At breakfast the following morning, Evie was astonished when Dr Briar beckoned her over to where she was sitting with Ms Nettles. "Evie, I wonder if I could ask you for a favour." The jewelled rings on Dr Briar's fingers flashed as she patted a strand of her sleek dark hair into place. "The academy has many more works of art than I realised. Would you like to help me today?" "Me?" Evie was confused. Had Dr Briar really meant to ask her or had she meant Lyra, who everyone knew wanted to be an archaeologist when she was older? But no, Dr Briar was looking right at her and smiling encouragingly. Evie's cheeks heated up. It was lovely– if slightly astonishing– to be singled out in such a way. "Yes, please," she said immediately. "Perfect. Meet me in the hall at lunchtime and I'll show you what needs to be done." Evie almost floated out of the dining room but Lyra frowned when Evie told them what the conversation had been about. "She asked you to help? Why? I mean, no offence, Evie, but you are quite accident-prone. And Sam knows how much I love archaeology. Surely he'd have suggested Dr Briar ask me not you." Her frown deepened. "Make sure you don't tell them anything about the map." "Evie's not stupid; of course she won't say anything," said Ivy. Evie was hurt that Lyra had felt a reminder was needed and while the others got ready for their first lesson– science– she went to the stables to talk to Sunshine about it. As she approached Sunshine's stall, Evie heard a bang and saw a pink spark shoot out of the doorway. Evie rushed forward, her heart in her mouth. "Sunshine!" she cried. "Was that you? Have you found your magic?"

第五章第二天早上吃早饭时，布瑞尔医生招呼艾维到她和荨麻女士坐在一起的地方，艾维吃了一惊。 “伊薇，我能请你帮个忙吗？” 布瑞尔博士手指上的珠宝戒指闪烁着光芒，她拍拍自己光滑的黑发。 “学院拥有的艺术作品比我想象的要多得多。 你今天愿意帮我吗？”“我?”伊薇很困惑。 布瑞尔博士是真的想问她，还是想问莱拉？大家都知道，莱拉长大后想当考古学家。 但不，布瑞尔医生正看着她，微笑着鼓励她。 伊薇的脸颊热了起来。以这样的方式被单独挑出来，虽然有点令人吃惊，但也很可爱。 “好的，”她马上说。 “完美。午餐时间在大厅等我，我会告诉你需要做什么。” 伊维差点飘出餐厅，但当伊维告诉他们刚才的谈话内容时，莱拉皱起了眉头。 “她让你帮忙？”为什么? 我无意冒犯，伊薇，但你很容易出事故。 山姆知道我有多喜欢考古。 他肯定会建议布瑞尔医生问我，而不是你。” 她的眉头更紧了。“千万别把地图的事告诉他们。” “伊薇不笨；她当然什么也不会说，”艾薇说。 莱拉觉得需要一个提醒，伊维很伤心，当其他人准备上他们的第一节课——科学课时，她去马厩和阳光谈谈这件事。 当她走近阳光的摊位时，伊维听到砰的一声，看到一个粉红色的火花从门口射出。 伊薇冲上前去，心都提到嗓子眼儿了。 “阳光！”她叫道。“是你吗？” 你找到你的魔法了吗？”

Sunshine popped her head out of her stable. "No!" she said quickly. "I haven't. Definitely not! Why are you here, Evie?" Her voice was almost unfriendly. Evie stopped in her tracks. She thought she'd seen a spark of magic. "I… I just wanted to talk to you about something." "Can't it wait?" said Sunshine. She didn't seem to want Evie to go into her stable. "Yes, I guess," said Evie uncomfortably. Sunshine had never been so short with her before. "I'll… um… come back later." "I'll see you at break then," said Sunshine. Evie turned away. What was up with Sunshine? She was acting as though Evie had really upset her. Feeling bewildered, Evie headed back to school.

阳光从马厩里探出头来。 “不！”她赶紧说。“我还没有。 当然不行!你为什么在这里，伊维？”她的声音近乎不友好。 伊薇停住了脚步。 她以为自己看到了魔法的火花。 “我……我只是想跟你说点事。” “不能等等吗？”阳光说。 她似乎不想让伊维进她的马厩。 “是的，我想。”伊薇不安地说。 阳光对她从来没有这么短暂过。 “我……嗯……一会儿再来。” “休息时见，”阳光说。 伊薇转过身去。阳光怎么了？ 她表现得好像伊维真的让她心烦意乱似的。 伊薇感到很困惑，她回到了学校。

Evie didn't go and see Sunshine at break. She didn't want to risk her unicorn being unfriendly to her in front of everyone. At lunchtime she waited for Dr Briar in the hall. In the centre of the room was the magic map, which showed the whole of Unicorn Island. It could transport people and their unicorns anywhere on the island but there was a magical force field protecting it and students were only allowed to use it with a teacher's permission. The walls of the hall were covered with enormous paintings of famous unicorns and previous headteachers. When Dr Briar arrived with Sam, she asked Sam and Evie to work their way round the room writing down the title and artist of each painting as well as making some brief notes. Evie felt shy at first. Sam often acted in a superior way but now it was just the two of them he was much more friendly. He knew lots of interesting stories about the artists who had painted the pictures. "How do you know so much?" she asked. "My mum's an art historian," Sam replied. "She's taught me lots about art. I often spend time with Aunt Angelica in the holidays too." He nodded towards Dr Briar, who was studying a large pink vase in an alcove. "I've helped her on tons of digs." He smiled at Evie. "I don't know nearly as much as you do about science and maths though. You're really clever." Evie felt a warm glow. "Thanks,' she muttered, thinking how much nicer Sam was when he was on his own. Sam's aunt called him over and had a low conversation with him. When he returned, he looked slightly uncomfortable. "So," he said, "what have you and the rest of your dorm been getting up to? You always seem to be whispering about something. What's the big secret?" Evie was surprised at the change of subject. "Nothing," she said, blushing. "There's no big secret at all. Who's this painting by?" she asked, moving on to a portrait of a previous headteacher. "Finoula Sparrow," said Sam, following her. "Did you know there are supposed to be lots of secret passageways and hidden rooms in the academy? I'd love to find one, wouldn't you?" He looked at her intently. "I guess," said Evie uneasily. "But you haven't found any secret places yet?" pressed Sam. "No, definitely not," said Evie quickly. She turned away. "I'm going to make some notes on the statues over there."

艾薇没有在休息时去看阳光。 她不想冒险让她的独角兽在大家面前对她不友好。 午饭时，她在大厅里等布瑞尔医生。 房间中央放着一张神奇的地图，上面画着整个独角兽岛。 它可以把人和他们的独角兽运送到岛上的任何地方，但有一个神奇的力场保护它，学生只有在老师允许的情况下才能使用它。 大厅的墙上挂满了巨幅的独角兽和前任校长的画像。 当布瑞尔医生带着萨姆来到时，她让萨姆和艾维在房间里四处走动，写下每幅画的标题和艺术家，并做一些简短的笔记。 艾薇起初感到害羞。萨姆常常表现得高高在上，但现在只有他们两个人，他友好多了。 他知道许多关于画这些画的艺术家的有趣故事。 “你怎么知道这么多？”她问。 “我妈妈是一位艺术史学家，”萨姆回答。 “她教会了我很多艺术方面的知识。 我也经常在假期里和安吉莉卡姨妈呆在一起。” 他朝布瑞尔博士点了点头，布瑞尔博士正在一个壁龛里研究一个粉红色的大花瓶。 “我帮过她很多次挖掘工作。” 他对伊薇笑了笑。“不过，我对科学和数学的了解远不如你。 你真聪明。”伊薇感到一阵温暖的光芒。 “谢谢，”她喃喃地说，想着山姆一个人的时候是多么的好啊。 萨姆的姨妈把他叫过去，和他低声交谈。 当他回来的时候，他看起来有点不自在。 “那么，”他说，“你和你宿舍的其他人都在忙些什么呢？ 你好像总是在窃窃私语。 有什么大秘密吗？”伊薇对话题的改变感到惊讶。 “没什么，”她红着脸说。 “根本没有什么大秘密。 这幅画是谁画的？”她问道，然后转向一位前任校长的肖像。 “菲努拉麻雀。”山姆跟着她说。 “你知道学院里应该有很多秘密通道和密室吗？” 我也想找一个，你呢？”他目不转睛地看着她。 “我想是吧。”伊薇不安地说。 “但你还没有找到任何秘密的地方吗？”萨姆追问道。 “不，绝对不是，”伊维赶紧说。 她转过身去。“我要在那边的雕像上做些笔记。”

As she walked away from Sam, she glanced at Dr Briar and she saw her giving Sam a questioning look. He shook his head. Evie frowned, suddenly certain that Dr Briar and Sam were up to something. Why had Dr Briar asked her to help and not Lyra? Did she think that Evie would tell her more about what they were up to? Well, they can try all they like, but they're not going to get any information about the map from me, she thought determinedly. She stopped by the statues and wrote down some notes. Her scalp prickled. She was sure Dr Briar and Sam were both still watching her. But why? After lunch, in the geography and culture lesson, Ms Rivers announced that they were going on a statue hunt in the school grounds with their

当她离开山姆时，她瞥了布瑞尔医生一眼，她看到她用疑惑的目光看了山姆一眼。 他摇了摇头。伊薇皱起眉头，突然确信布瑞尔医生和萨姆在密谋什么。 为什么布瑞尔博士请求她而不是莱拉帮忙？ 她认为艾维会告诉她更多他们在做什么吗？ “好吧，他们爱怎么试就怎么试吧，但他们不会从我这里得到任何关于地图的信息，”她坚决地想。 她在雕像旁停下来，写下了一些笔记。 她的头皮刺痛。她确信布瑞尔医生和萨姆都还在看着她。 但是为什么呢?午饭后，在地理和文化课上，里弗斯老师宣布，他们要和孩子们一起在学校操场上寻找雕像

unicorns. "I'll give you a list of artefacts to find," Ms Rivers told them. "Answer the questions about them and the first team to arrive back with the correct answers will win a prize." "This is the best lesson ever!" said Sienna as they fetched their unicorns. Sam and the boys from Topaz were ready first. "We are so going to win! Watch us and weep, Ruby dorm!" he cried, before galloping away with his friends. "I don't know how you coped with having to spend all lunchtime with him," Sienna said to Evie, pulling a face. "It was a bit weird," said Evie. She wondered whether to mention her suspicions about Sam and Dr Briar, but she didn't have any proof so she decided to keep quiet for now. To Evie's relief Sunshine seemed back to her usual friendly self that afternoon. "This is fun!" she whinnied as they galloped towards the rose gardens with the others. The girls visited the rose gardens, the safari trail, the play park, the vegetable garden and the lake, ticking nine of the ten items off their list. "We just need a winged unicorn statue now," said Lyra. "There's one in the orchard," said Evie. As they approached the orchard, the boys appeared at a gallop from the direction of the play park. "Faster! They're going to the orchard too," Sienna shouted. Ruby dorm raced into the orchard with the Topaz boys right behind them. The rearing unicorn with wings was on a plinth by a pear tree. Sunshine reached the statue first. She halted abruptly in front of it, making Evie slip sideways on her back. "Are you OK, Evie?" Sunshine said, anxiously stamping her feet. "Yes, yes, I'm—" But Evie broke off as there was a flash of pink and the statue exploded.

独角兽。“我会给你们一张要找的文物清单，”里弗斯女士告诉他们。 “回答关于他们的问题，第一个带着正确答案回来的团队将赢得奖品。” “这是有史以来最好的一课！”西耶娜说，这时他们把独角兽拿来了。 山姆和托帕石的孩子们先准备好了。 “我们一定会赢的！”看着我们哭吧，鲁比宿舍！”他喊道，然后和他的朋友们飞奔而去。 “我不知道你是怎么熬过整个午餐时间都要和他在一起的。”西耶娜对伊维说，做了个鬼脸。 “这有点奇怪，”伊维说。 她不知道是否该提到她对萨姆和布瑞尔医生的怀疑，但她没有任何证据，所以她决定暂时保持沉默。 让伊薇松了一口气的是，那天下午阳光似乎又恢复了她平时友好的样子。 “这太好玩了！”当他们和其他人一起奔向玫瑰园时，她低声说。 女孩们参观了玫瑰园、野生动物园、游乐场、菜园和湖泊，完成了清单上10个项目中的9个。 “我们现在只需要一个有翅膀的独角兽雕像。”莱拉说。 “果园里有一只，”伊薇说。 当他们走近果园时，孩子们从游乐场的方向飞奔而来。 “快!他们也要去果园，”西耶娜喊道。 鲁比·舍姆冲进果园，托帕兹的男孩们跟在后面。 那只长着翅膀的独角兽站在一棵梨树旁的基座上。 阳光先到达雕像。 她突然在它面前停了下来，弄得伊薇侧身滑倒。 “你还好吗，伊维？”阳光说着，焦急地跺着脚。 “是的，是的，我是——”但艾维不吭声了，因为有一道粉红色的闪光，雕像爆炸了。