Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO After chatting with Dancer, and painting his hooves with the glittery hoof polish, Layla hurried back to the academy for lunch. Rainbows sparkled on the walls of the building, reflecting up from the lake that shone brightly in the latesummer sunshine. Layla ran to the bathroom to wash her hands and found the rest of Sapphire dorm there. "I think it's Ms Nettles," Scarlett was saying. "What's Ms Nettles?" asked Layla. "We were talking about the time someone used magic rain seeds to flood the lake," said

莱拉和丹瑟聊了一会儿，给他的蹄子涂上闪闪发光的指甲油，然后匆匆赶回学校吃午饭。 在夏末的阳光照耀下，湖面上的彩虹在建筑物的墙壁上闪闪发光。 蕾拉跑到浴室去洗手，发现蓝宝石宿舍的其他人都在那里。 “我想是荨麻太太，"思嘉说。 “荨麻老师是干什么的？”莱拉问。 “我们说的是有一次有人用神奇的雨水种子淹没了湖泊，”他说

Isabel. "And I think it was Ms Nettles. She's so mean," said Scarlett. Isabel, Scarlett's best friend, nodded. "I bet she thought if she could get the academy closed down, she'd get an extra-long holiday. She really doesn't like the students being here." "Which is odd for a teacher," said Sophia thoughtfully. "She is odd though," said Olivia. "I mean, who collects beetles for a hobby?" "Well, beetles are quite—" Layla broke off as her friends stared at her. She'd been going to say interesting but changed her mind. "Weird," she finished. "Do you really think Ms Nettles is the person causing all the trouble?" "I do," said Ava. "Remember how she was on the mountainside when there weren't any sky berries for the unicorns to eat and we were chased by the scary cloaked figure on a unicorn? It could easily have been her, couldn't

伊莎贝尔。“我想是荨麻女士。 她真小气，"思嘉说。 思嘉最好的朋友伊莎贝尔点点头。 “我敢打赌，她认为如果她能让学院关闭，她就能得到一个额外的长假。 她真的不喜欢学生在这里。” “这对老师来说很奇怪，”索菲亚若有所思地说。 “不过她很奇怪，”奥利维亚说。 “我是说，谁会把收集甲虫当作爱好呢？”“嗯，甲虫是相当——”莱拉的朋友们盯着她，她停了下来。 她本来想说有趣的，但后来改变了主意。 “真奇怪。”她说完。“你真的认为所有的麻烦都是荨麻女士造成的吗？”“是的，”艾娃说。 “还记得她是怎么在山坡上的吗？当时没有任何天空浆果给独角兽吃，我们被一个可怕的独角兽斗篷人影追赶。” 很可能是她干的，不是吗

it, Sophia?" Ava rearranged the blue sprig of forget-me-nots she always wore in her dark hair. Sophia nodded. "And when we were looking for berries, the plants were bewitched and grew into a thorny cage, trapping us in. Thyme, Ms Nettles' unicorn, has plant magic so he could have made that happen." Ava nodded, her brown eyes serious. "I remember her acting suspiciously by the lake just before it froze over," said Scarlett "OK, don't all freak out," said Olivia. "But guess who I saw this morning, down by the lake, drinking some sort of potion from a tiny black bottle? Ms Nettles! And after that she climbed a tree!" They all stared. "She was drinking a potion and climbing a tree?" echoed Sophia. Olivia nodded. "That is definitely weird," breathed Ava. "Why would she do those things?"

它,索菲娅?”艾娃重新整理了她常戴在黑发上的勿忘我的蓝色小枝。 索菲娅点了点头。“当我们寻找浆果时，这些植物被施了魔法，长成了一个带刺的笼子，把我们困在里面。 百里香，荨麻女士的独角兽，有植物魔法，所以他可以让这一切发生。” 艾娃点了点头，棕色的眼睛很严肃。 “我记得就在湖水结冰之前，她在湖边表现得很可疑，“思嘉说。”好吧，大家别惊慌，"奥利维亚说。 “但是你猜今天早上我看见谁了，在湖边，喝着装在一个黑色小瓶子里的某种药水？” 荨麻女士!然后她爬上了一棵树！”他们都目瞪口呆。 “她在喝药水爬树？”索菲娅附和道。 奥利维亚点点头。“这确实很奇怪，”艾娃喘着气说。 “她为什么要做那些事？”

"Because she's up to no good, of course. We should tell Ms Primrose," said Isabel. "We can't," Layla put in. "Ms Primrose has just left. I saw her on Sage. She had a backpack with her and it looked as if she was going to be away for a while." "Who's in charge then?" said Scarlett. Layla gulped. "Ms Nettles." Her tummy did a somersault. If the others were right and she was to blame for the bad magic, what would happen now Ms Primrose had gone away? Judging by her friends' faces she could see they were thinking the same. "This calls for action," said Isabel decisively. "I vote we keep a close eye on Ms Nettles while Ms Primrose is away. If she's up to no good, we'll get proof and tell the other teachers." The others all nodded. "We need to catch her red-handed so people will believe us," said Scarlett. She held up her hand. "Sapphire dorm

“当然是因为她不怀好意。 我们应该告诉樱草花女士，”伊莎贝尔说。 “我们不能，”蕾拉插嘴说。“樱草花女士刚走。 我在Sage上见过她。她带着一个背包，看起来她要离开一段时间。” “那谁负责呢？"思嘉说。 蕾拉一饮而尽。“荨麻女士。” 她的肚子翻了个筋斗。 如果其他人是对的，她应该为邪恶的魔法负责，那么现在樱草花女士走了会怎么样呢？ 从朋友们的表情来看，她可以看出他们的想法是一样的。 “这需要采取行动，”伊莎贝尔果断地说。 “我建议我们在迎春花女士不在的时候密切关注荨麻女士。 如果她做了坏事，我们就去找证据告诉其他老师。” 其他人都点了点头。“我们得当场抓住她，这样人们才会相信我们，"思嘉说。 她举起手来。“蓝宝石宿舍

will save the day!" she exclaimed as the others high-fived her. At lunchtime, in the large dining room overlooking Sparkle Lake, the girls from

她将拯救世界！”当其他人与她击掌时，她惊呼道。 午餐时间，在俯瞰闪闪湖的大餐厅里，女孩们从

Sapphire dorm sat together. Ms Nettles, sitting alone at the teachers' table, gave the girls and boys in the dining room disapproving looks as they laughed and chatted. Layla studied her as her friends talked. Could Ms Nettles really be the culprit? She was very strict and Layla knew the others didn't like her– particularly Isabel and Scarlett, who were always getting into trouble in her lessons– but actually Ms Nettles had never been horrible to her. OK, she could be a bit snappy at times, especially when people messed around, but she was a good teacher and her lessons taught them a lot about the land. Layla often visited the library and she had seen Ms Nettles in there, chatting to the librarian and taking out books. She rubbed her forehead. Ms Nettles was stern and hardly ever smiled but was she bad? And why would she want to shut the school down? If that happened, she would lose her job– and her home.

蓝宝石宿舍坐在一起。 纳特尔斯女士独自坐在教师桌旁，当餐厅里的男孩和女孩笑着聊天时，她不赞成地看了他们一眼。 朋友们谈话时，蕾拉端详着她。 荨麻真的是罪魁祸首吗？ 她非常严厉，蕾拉知道其他人都不喜欢她——尤其是伊莎贝尔和思嘉，她们总是在她的课上惹麻烦——但实际上，荨麻老师从来没有对她不好过。 好吧，她有时可能会有点暴躁，尤其是当人们胡闹的时候，但她是一个好老师，她的课教会了他们很多关于土地的知识。 蕾拉经常去图书馆，她看到内特尔斯女士在那里和图书管理员聊天，拿书。 她揉了揉额头。荨麻女士很严厉，几乎从不微笑，但她坏吗？ 她为什么要关闭学校呢？ 如果发生这种情况，她将失去工作——还有她的家。