Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX,

第六章,

"Wake up, everyone. We've overslept!" Lyra opened the curtains and sunlight flooded the room. "If we don't hurry, we'll miss breakfast!" Ivy groaned. Sienna off ered her a hand to help her up. "Come on, Ivy. You might get more homework if you're late for class." Ivy gave in and got out of bed. That was the last thing she wanted! They washed and dressed then ran down to the dining hall. Sam, Nawaz, Reuben and Archie had already finished eating and were stacking their plates and mugs with the dirty crockery. "So you finally got up," said Reuben, as the girls loaded their trays with porridge, croissants, peaches and orange juice. Sam looked at them curiously. "Were you doing something last night?" "Actually we were," said Sienna quickly. "We went to the barn and had a midnight feast with our unicorns." "You had a feast and didn't invite us?" said Reuben indignantly. "Your loss!" said Archie. "Granny sent me a huge box of chocolate biscuits that I could have shared." "I think we should have our own midnight feast tonight," said Nawaz. The boys left the dining hall, planning their midnight feast. Sam shot a look back at them. Lyra frowned. "I'm sure Sam suspects we're up to something." "I bet he's still spying on us for his aunt," said Sienna darkly. Lyra lowered her voice. "It's good he doesn't know what we found out last night. After lunch let's find a map of the grounds and work out where the Memory Tree is." "I can't," said Ivy. "I promised Flame I'd help him practise his magic." "Have lunch with us first, then afterwards we'll find out where the Memory Tree is while you help Flame," said Lyra. "Please, Ivy," chorused Evie and Sienna. Ivy barely hesitated; she loved eating with her friends and there would still be time to help Flame. "OK," she agreed readily.

“醒醒吧，大家。我们睡过头了!”莱拉拉开窗帘，阳光洒满了房间。 “如果我们不快点，就要错过早餐了！”艾薇呻吟着。 西耶娜伸手扶她起来。 “来吧，艾薇。如果你上课迟到，你可能会有更多的家庭作业。” 艾薇让步了，下了床。 那是她最不愿意看到的！他们洗好衣服，然后跑到楼下的餐厅。 萨姆、纳瓦兹、鲁本和阿奇已经吃完了饭，正把他们的盘子和杯子和脏陶器堆在一起。 “你终于起床了，”鲁本说，这时女孩们把她们的盘子装满了粥、羊角面包、桃子和橙汁。 萨姆好奇地看着他们。 “你昨晚有什么事吗？”“事实上我们是，”西耶娜很快地说。 “我们去了谷仓，和我们的独角兽们吃了一顿午夜大餐。” “你办了一个宴会，却没有邀请我们？”鲁本气愤地说。 “你的损失！"阿尔奇说。“奶奶送了我一大盒巧克力饼干，我本来可以分享的。” 纳瓦兹说：“我认为我们今晚应该举行自己的午夜宴会。 男孩们离开了食堂，计划着他们的午夜盛宴。 萨姆回头看了他们一眼。 莱拉皱起了眉头。“我肯定萨姆怀疑我们在搞什么阴谋。” “我敢打赌他还在替他姨妈监视我们。”西耶娜阴郁地说。 莱拉压低了声音。“幸好他不知道我们昨晚发现了什么。 午饭后，我们找一张场地地图，找出记忆树在哪里。” “我不能，”艾薇说。“我答应过火苗帮他练习魔法。” “先和我们一起吃午饭，然后你去帮助火种，我们去找记忆树在哪里。”莱拉说。 “求你了，艾薇，”艾薇和西耶娜齐声说。 艾薇几乎没有犹豫；她喜欢和朋友们一起吃饭，而且还有时间帮助火焰。 “好吧，”她欣然同意。

The morning felt very long to Ivy and she almost dozed off in their Geography and Culture lesson. Evie rescued her, nudging her to warn her when Ms Rivers was coming over. At last they were free to go. In the dining hall they loaded their trays with sandwiches, cookies, apples and juice. But lunchtime was halfway through when Ivy reached the stables with an apple she'd saved for Flame. He greeted her with a cross look. "What took you so long?" "I had lunch. But there's still plenty of time to practise your magic and, look, I brought you an apple," said Ivy. "I'm not hungry," said Flame impatiently. "I want to get started." Ivy went to the storeroom for a broom and a rake, then she filled a bucket with some grooming brushes and as an afterthought she added several scoops of sky berries to another bucket to keep Flame's strength up. "OK, why don't you start by shrinking and regrowing these things?" she said, laying them out on the grass behind the stables.

对艾薇来说，这个早晨太漫长了，她在地理文化课上几乎睡着了。 艾薇救了她，用胳膊肘轻推她，提醒她里弗斯女士过来了。 他们终于可以自由地走了。 在餐厅里，他们把三明治、饼干、苹果和果汁装满了托盘。 但午餐时间已经过半，艾薇拿着一个给火苗留的苹果来到了马厩。 他生气地看了她一眼。 “你怎么花了这么长时间？”“我吃了午饭。 不过你还有很多时间练习你的魔法，瞧，我给你带来了一个苹果。”艾薇说。 “我不饿。”火苗不耐烦地说。 “我想开始了。”艾薇去储藏室拿了一把扫帚和一把耙子，然后她在一个桶里装满了一些梳洗刷，后来她在另一个桶里加了几勺天空莓，以保持火焰的力量。 “好吧，你为什么不从缩小和再生这些东西开始呢？”她说着，把它们放在马厩后面的草地上。

Flame still seemed uptight, but he selected a brush and, fixing it with an intense stare, stamped his hoof. Ivy gave him a thumbs-up as a handful of pink and green sparks swirled over it and when they'd cleared, the brush was the size of a beetle. "Well done!" she said, settling down on the grass to watch. Flame gave a little bow then he eyed up a hoof pick. He shrank it with ease and moved on to the broom. "I'm getting really good at this, aren't I?" he said confidently. "Soon I'll be powerful enough to shrink the academy!" Ivy gave him an alarmed look. "You'd better not!" Flame snorted with laughter. "Only kidding. But watch how good I am!" He turned back to the line of objects and stamped his hoof repeatedly. "Pow! Pow! Pow!" he exclaimed as one after another the objects shrank. "Flame! Stop!" Ivy giggled. "You're supposed to be taking things slowly and learning how to regrow them too." "I need help with that," Flame admitted. "Can you help me imagine it like you did last night?" Ivy stretched. She was really comfy and didn't want to move. "Why don't you try on your own? I bet you can do it if you concentrate." Flame looked disappointed but when Ivy didn't budge he stared at the tiny bucket of sky berries. "OK. Here goes." He stamped his hoof. There was a loud bang and something shot into the air.

火苗似乎仍然紧张不安，但他选了一把刷子，用紧张的目光盯着它，跺了跺脚。 艾薇朝他竖起大拇指，一把粉红色和绿色的火花在上面旋转，当他们清理干净时，刷子有甲虫那么大。 “干得好！”她说着，在草地上坐下来观看。 火苗微微鞠了一躬，然后抬起了一只蹄镐。 他轻松地把它缩了起来，然后转向扫帚。 “我越来越擅长这个了，不是吗？”他自信地说。 “很快我就会强大到足以缩小学院！”艾薇惊恐地看了他一眼。 “你最好不要！”火焰哼了一声笑。 “只有在开玩笑。但是看看我有多厉害！”他转身回到那排东西跟前，不停地跺脚。 “战俘!战俘!噗！”他叫道，这时那些东西一个接一个地缩小了。 “火焰!住手!”艾薇咯咯笑了。 “你应该慢慢来，学习如何让它们再生。” “我需要帮助，”Flame承认。 “你能像昨晚那样帮我想象一下吗？”艾薇拉伸。 她真的很舒服，不想动。 “你为什么不自己试试呢？” 我敢打赌，只要你集中精神，你一定能做到。” 火焰看起来很失望，但艾薇没有动，他盯着那一小桶天空浆果。 “好吧。就在这里。”他跺脚。 砰的一声巨响，什么东西飞向空中。

Ivy shrieked as everything went black. "Ivy! Ivy! Are you OK?" she heard Flame gasp. "What have I done?" Ivy pulled the bucket off her head. Something dark and sticky was dripping down her face and clothes. Cautiously she dipped a finger in it. "Sky-berry juice!" she exclaimed. "I'm OK. Don't freak out, but you'd better be more careful, Flame. You must have used too much magic when you were trying to regrow the bucket." "It wouldn't have happened if you'd helped me," said Flame defensively. Ivy pulled a hanky from her pocket and started to clean herself. "Yuck! Try again, but gently this time." Flame shook his head and backed away. "No, I don't want to." Ivy suddenly realised that underneath his defensiveness, he was shaken up and upset. She scrambled to her feet. "Please don't give up now," she said. "You're right, I should have been helping you more—" She broke off as Sienna, Lyra and Evie came running round the side of the stables. "There you both are!" exclaimed Lyra. "Guess what! We've discovered where the Memory Tree is and—"

艾薇尖叫着，一切都变黑了。 “常春藤!常春藤!你还好吗？”她听到火苗喘着气。 “我做了什么？”艾薇把水桶从她头上扯下来。 一种又黑又粘的东西正从她的脸上和衣服上滴下来。 她小心翼翼地把一根手指伸进水里。 “天莓汁！” “我很好。别慌，但你最好小心点，火苗。 你想让水桶再生的时候，一定是施了太多魔法。” “如果你帮了我，这事就不会发生了。”火苗辩解道。 艾薇从口袋里掏出一块手帕，开始清洁自己。 “啐!再试一次，但这次要轻轻地。” 火苗摇了摇头，退了回去。 “不，我不想去。”艾薇突然意识到，在他的防御之下，他被动摇了，心烦意乱。 她爬了起来。 “请不要放弃，”她说。 “你说得对，我本应该多帮你的——”她停了下来，这时西耶娜、莱拉和伊维从马厩边跑了过来。 “你们俩都来了！”莱拉叫道。 “猜猜看!我们发现了记忆树在哪儿，而且——”

"Ivy! Are you OK?" interrupted Evie, staring at her in alarm. "Yes, it's just sky-berry juice, I tripped over and dropped the bucket and the berries went all over me," Ivy lied. She didn't want Flame to feel any worse. Then, changing the subject, she added, "So you've found out where the Memory Tree is?" "Yes, it's in the woods," said Evie. "We're going to go there now," said Sienna. "Cool," said Ivy. "Flame and I had better tidy up here first, though." "We'll fetch Misty, Sparkle and Sunshine," said Lyra. "Meet us at the front of the stables in five minutes." When they had gone, Ivy looked at Flame. "Should we change these things back before we go?" "No, I don't feel like doing magic any more," he replied. "Not even if I help you?" she asked. Flame shook his head hard. Guilt swamped Ivy. If she'd helped him earlier, she was sure he'd have been able to regrow the bucket of sky berries with no problem at all, just like he'd regrown the map. She remembered Ms Nettles' words from the night before. The headteacher had warned her that her habit of putting things off could cause trouble for others. Her tummy squirmed. Ms Nettles had been right. She'd let Flame down and it wasn't a nice feeling at all. Just then she heard Lyra calling her name. Flame was hanging his head but there was nothing she could do about it now. The others were waiting. I'll talk to him later, she thought. Now it's time to search for the Memory Tree and find the final piece of the map!

“常春藤!你还好吗？”伊薇插嘴说，惊恐地盯着她。 “是的，只是天莓汁，我绊了一跤，桶掉了，浆果溅了我一身。”艾薇撒谎道。 她不想让火苗感觉更糟。 然后，她改变了话题，又说：“这么说，你已经找到记忆树在哪里了？”“是的，它在树林里，”伊薇说。 “我们现在就去那儿，”西耶娜说。 “酷，”艾薇说。“不过，我和火苗最好先把这里收拾一下。” “我们去找米斯蒂、闪闪和阳光。”莱拉说。 “五分钟后在马厩前面等我们。” 他们走后，艾薇看着火苗。 “我们应该在走之前把这些东西换回来吗？”“不，我不想再施魔法了，”他回答。 “即使我帮你也不行吗？”她问。 火苗使劲摇着头。 内疚淹没了艾薇。如果她早点帮他的话，她相信他可以毫不费力地重新长出那桶天空莓，就像他重新长出那张地图一样。 她想起了前一天晚上内特尔斯女士说过的话。 校长警告过她，她的拖延习惯会给别人带来麻烦。 她的肚子在蠕动。内特尔斯女士是对的。 她让火苗失望了，这种感觉一点也不好。 就在这时，她听到莱拉叫她的名字。 火焰正垂着他的头，但她现在已经无能为力了。 其他人都在等着。我以后再跟他谈，她想。 现在是时候搜索记忆树并找到地图的最后一块了！