Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 "Ava, this is brilliant." Olivia stared at the neat rows of seedlings that Ava and Star had planted that morning. Ava's plot in the kitchen gardens was laid out in sections, with a flower bed tucked away in a corner and sheltered on two sides by a red- brick wall. "It's not up to much right now," Ava apologized, gesturing around her plot. "Most of the plants look dead, but they're not. They're sleeping. They'll start flowering when the air and ground warm up some more." "I think it's awesome," said Sophia loyally. "Which one is knitbone?" "That's here." Ava jumped from Star and carefully walked between two rows of herbs. She stopped at a pale-green plant with spiky leaves in the shape of a fish bone and carefully removed a sprig. "Knitbone has tiny red flowers in the spring. Look here, you can just see the buds. You have to

“艾娃，这太棒了。” 奥利维亚凝视着那天早上艾娃和斯达种下的一排排整齐的幼苗。 艾娃在厨房花园里的那块地分成几部分，一个花坛藏在一个角落里，两边有一面红砖墙遮挡。 “现在还不是很好，”艾娃道歉，指着她的情节。 “大多数植物看起来都死了，但实际上并没有。 他们睡觉。等空气和地面再暖和一些，它们就会开始开花。” “我觉得太棒了，”索菲娅忠实地说。 “哪一个是针织品？”“就是这里。” 艾娃从星号上跳下来，小心翼翼地走在两排草药之间。 她在一棵淡绿色的植物前停了下来，它长着鱼刺状的尖叶子，她小心翼翼地摘下了一根小枝。 “针织品在春天开着小小的红花。 看这里，你可以看到花蕾。 你必须

be careful not to confuse it with boneheal—it's very similar but with feathery leaves." "You're so clever to know so much," said Olivia, studying the knitbone cutting. Ava let a wing of dark hair fall across her face to hide her embarrassment as she stored the knitbone in the backpack. Olivia couldn't be more wrong. She definitely wasn't clever. "I like plants, so I guess it's easy for me to remember stuff about them. What else do we need to find?" Sophia read the list again. "There's a snowy owl nest in the orchard," Ava said. "Let's go there next." "I'm hungry," said Sophia. She rummaged in the bag and found some delicious breakfast pastries. "Let's eat these as we go!" They set off, munching on the cinnamon and apple pastries. Soon, thanks to Ava's knowledge of the plants and animals at the academy, they had collected a snowy owl feather, a twig of conkhorn, and two blue stones. Then she suggested they look for fox fur near the boat swing on the playground. "I go there to think sometimes, and I've seen the foxes there, especially at dusk when the cubs come out to play."

小心别把它和骨愈合弄混了——它们很相似，只是有羽毛状的叶子。” “你真聪明，知道这么多，”奥利维亚说，一边研究着针织品的切割。 艾娃把针织品放进背包时，一头黑发披在脸上，以掩饰她的尴尬。 奥利维亚大错特错了。 她肯定不聪明。 “我喜欢植物，所以我想我很容易记住它们的东西。 我们还需要找到什么？”索菲亚又读了一遍名单。 “果园里有一个雪白的猫头鹰窝，”艾娃说。 “我们下一个去那里吧。”“我饿了，”索菲亚说。 她在袋子里翻找，发现了一些美味的早餐糕点。 “我们边走边吃吧！”他们出发了，大嚼着肉桂和苹果糕点。 很快，由于艾娃对学院里的植物和动物的了解，他们收集了一根雪白的猫头鹰羽毛、一根角树叶和两颗蓝色的石头。 然后她建议他们在操场上的船秋千附近找狐狸毛。 “我有时去那里思考，我在那里看到过狐狸，尤其是在黄昏的时候，小狐狸出来玩耍。”

They raced to the playground. "You're right. Here's some fur!" exclaimed Olivia as she pulled a snagged piece of fox fur from the boat swing. "I'm very glad we have you, Ava." "Yes, you're so smart. You definitely know more about plants and wildlife than anyone else at the school," said Sophia. Ava chuckled to hide her blushes. Her friends were lovely even if they were wrong. "Stop it, you two. My head's getting so big it's not going to fit through the door when I get back to school." She frowned. "Hang on. What's that noise? It sounds like someone screaming!" They all listened. There were definitely screams coming from a little way off in a grove of trees. "Quick! Someone must be in trouble!" Sophia said, urging Rainbow into a fast canter. The unicorns thundered along the path and into the trees. They skidded to a halt as they saw Valentina, her back to a tree, screeching and waving a stick around while her friends, Delia and Jacinta, clung to each other on the path. "It's going to eat me!" Valentina was crying. Golden Briar, Valentina's unicorn, saw Ava and the others. "Help!" he whinnied. "Please help!"

他们跑到操场上。 “你是对的。这里有一些皮毛！”奥利维亚喊道，她从船的秋千上扯下了一块破损的狐狸皮毛。 “我很高兴你来了，艾娃” “是的，你很聪明。你对植物和野生动物的了解肯定比学校里的任何人都多，”索菲亚说。 艾娃咯咯地笑着，以掩饰她的脸红。 她的朋友很可爱，即使他们错了。 “住手，你们两个。我的头越来越大，回学校的时候都进不了门了。” 她皱起了眉头。”等等。那是什么声音？ 听起来像是有人在尖叫！”他们都听着。 远处的树林里肯定有尖叫声。 “快!一定有人有麻烦了！”索菲娅说，催促彩虹快跑。 独角兽们沿着小路轰隆隆地跑进了树林。 他们看到瓦伦蒂娜背对着一棵树，尖叫着挥舞着一根棍子，而她的朋友迪莉娅和杰辛塔则在小路上紧紧地抱在一起。 “它要吃了我！”瓦伦蒂娜哭了。 金荆棘，瓦伦蒂娜的独角兽，看到了艾娃和其他人。 “救命！”“请帮!”

Ava felt a shiver of fear. What was going on? Jacinta's and Delia's unicorns collided on the path as they snorted and pranced around. "What is it?" asked Sophia, scanning the area frantically. "What's going to eat you?" "That…that…sp…sp…!" The words stuck in Valentina's throat. "SPIDER!" she choked out, pointing in front of her. "Spider?" echoed Ava. She hurried forward, her eyes widening as she spotted a plump spider, the size of an apple, just in front of Valentina. It had long legs and googly eyes and was the hairiest spider Ava had ever seen. It scuttled a few steps closer to Valentina, its huge eyes full of hope.

艾娃感到一阵恐惧。 发生了什么事？杰辛塔和迪莉娅的独角兽一边哼着鼻子，一边蹦蹦跳跳地在路上撞在了一起。 “这是什么？”索菲亚问道，疯狂地扫视着这片区域。 “什么会吃掉你？”“这……这……sp sp…!”这句话哽在瓦伦蒂娜的喉咙里。 “蜘蛛！”她指着前方，哽咽着说。 “蜘蛛？”艾娃应声说。她急忙向前跑去，当她发现一只苹果大小的胖蜘蛛就在瓦伦蒂娜面前时，她睁大了眼睛。 它有长长的腿和大大的眼睛，是艾娃见过的毛最多的蜘蛛。 它飞快地向瓦伦蒂娜靠近了几步，大大的眼睛里充满了希望。

"Help!" Valentina turned whiter than a snowy- owl feather. "I want Mooooommy!" she screamed. The spider scuttled closer, and Valentina took aim, hurling a stick at it. "Stop!" shouted Ava. "It's not dangerous!" Luckily, Valentina missed. The terrified spider leaped past her and scuttled up a tree. "NEVER do that again!" Ava stormed over to Valentina. "Do not EVER hurt a spider or any creature. Not unless it attacks you. That's a cave spider. They're quite harmless." "Harmless?" Valentina repeated, the color returning to her cheeks as she backed hastily away from the tree. Ava nodded. "Cave spiders live underground and usually only come out at night. This one must be lost." She picked up Valentina's stick, snapped it in half, and threw the pieces under a bush. "I can't believe you did that," she continued hotly. "You scared the poor thing so much it's run up into a tree. What are we going to do? If we leave it there, it might get eaten by a bird." "Like I care!" exclaimed Valentina. "Stupid

“救命!”瓦伦蒂娜变得比雪鸮的羽毛还白。 “我要穆姆！”她尖叫道。 蜘蛛爬得更近了，瓦伦蒂娜瞄准了它，朝它扔了一根棍子。 “停下！”艾娃喊道。“不危险！”幸运的是，瓦伦蒂娜没打中。 受惊的蜘蛛从她身边跳过去，爬上了一棵树。 “再也不要那样做了！”艾娃冲到瓦伦蒂娜面前。 “永远不要伤害蜘蛛或任何生物。 除非它攻击你。 那是一只洞穴蜘蛛。它们是无害的。” “无害吗?”瓦伦蒂娜又说了一遍，她急忙从树上后退，脸上又泛起了红晕。 艾娃点点头。“洞穴蜘蛛生活在地下，通常只在晚上出来。 这个一定是丢了。”她拿起瓦伦蒂娜的棍子，啪地一声把它折成两半，扔到灌木丛下面。 “我不敢相信你会那样做，”她愤怒地继续说。 “你把这可怜的东西吓得跑到树上去了。 我们要做什么？如果我们把它留在那里，它可能会被一只鸟吃掉。” “好像我在乎似的！”瓦伦蒂娜叫道。 “愚蠢