Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT When Olivia woke up she found she was in a thatched hut with straw on the floor and a boarded-up window. Her head felt fuzzy as she scrambled to her feet. The words her attacker had spoken came back to her. "Be good and you'll be returned to your parents safe and sound." Olivia groaned. Her parents had often warned her that someone might try to kidnap her in order to get a ransom from them– a large sum of money in exchange for her release. But they'd told her she would be absolutely safe at Unicorn Academy. Ms Primrose and all the other teachers would

当奥利维亚醒来时，她发现自己在一间茅草屋里，地上铺着稻草，窗户用木板封住。 当她爬起来的时候，她觉得头很模糊。 她想起了攻击她的人说过的话。 “乖乖的，你就会安然无恙地回到你父母身边。” 奥利维亚呻吟着。她的父母经常警告她，有人可能会试图绑架她，以便向他们索要赎金——一大笔钱来换取她的释放。 但他们告诉她，她在独角兽学院绝对安全。 樱草花女士和其他老师会的

protect her. Olivia banged on the door. "Let me out!" Anger and fear gave her extra strength but no matter how hard she walloped the door it wouldn't open. Exhausted, she finally gave up. Who had kidnapped her? She thought back to what had happened. Was it Ms Nettles who had put the sack over her head and brought her here? She remembered how someone had touched her head and said words that had made her pass out. It hadn't sounded like Ms Nettles' sharp, high voice at all. But if it wasn't Ms Nettles, who was it? She shook her head. Right now, the important thing was getting out of here. She tried to prise the wooden board away from the window but although she worked until her fingers were sore, it wouldn't budge. She thought about Snowflake. Surely her unicorn would realise there was something wrong when she didn't turn up to get her ready

保护她。奥利维亚砰地敲门。 “放我出去！”愤怒和恐惧给了她额外的力量，但无论她怎么用力敲门，门都打不开。 精疲力竭的她最终放弃了。 谁绑架了她？她回想所发生的事情。 是荨麻女士把麻袋套在她头上，把她带到这儿来的吗？ 她记得有人摸了摸她的头，说了一些让她昏倒的话。 听起来一点也不像荨麻女士尖利、高亢的声音。 但如果不是内特尔斯女士，那会是谁呢？ 她摇了摇头。现在最重要的是离开这里。 她试着把木板从窗户上撬开，但尽管她努力到手指酸痛，木板还是纹丝不动。 她想着雪花。 当她没有去帮她准备时，她的独角兽肯定会意识到出了什么问题

for graduation. They'd bonded and promised to have no more secrets. Snowflake would know that she would never just disappear without telling her what she was doing. Olivia sank to the floor. Oh, Snowflake, she thought. Please come. Olivia had nearly given up hope of a rescue when she heard the clatter of unicorn hooves accompanied by the sound of voices. She rushed to the door and banged on it. "Help! Help!" she shouted. "Olivia, is that you?" Someone rattled the door handle. Relief made Olivia dizzy as she recognised Scarlett's familiar voice. "Yes! Someone trapped me in here!" "Don't worry," called Scarlett. "We'll soon have you out. It's locked but Blaze can burn a hole in the wood. Stand back so she doesn't

毕业。他们曾经亲密无间，承诺不再有秘密。 雪花会知道她不会不告诉她自己在做什么就凭空消失。 奥利维亚倒在地板上。哦，雪花，她想。 请过来。奥利维亚几乎放弃了获救的希望，这时她听到了独角兽的蹄声和说话声。 她冲到门口砰地一声敲门。 “救命!救命！”她喊道。 “奥利维亚，是你吗？”有人把门把手弄得嘎嘎作响。 奥莉维亚听出了思嘉熟悉的声音，松了一口气，心里一阵眩晕。 “是啊!有人把我困在这里了！”“别担心，"思嘉喊道。 “我们很快就把你弄出来。门锁上了，但火焰可以在木头上烧个洞。 退后，别让她看见

burn you by mistake." Olivia stood well away from the door. There was a muffled crack and a flash followed by the smell of burning wood. Red-gold flames crackled through the door, burning a hole. Olivia worried the whole shed might catch alight but when the hole was large enough for her to climb through the flames died down.

误伤了你。”奥利维亚站在离门很远的地方。 先是一声闷响，接着是一道闪光，接着是木柴燃烧的气味。 红金色的火焰噼噼啪啪地穿过门，烧出了一个洞。 奥利维亚担心整个小屋会着火，但当洞大到足以让她爬进去时，火焰熄灭了。

Helped by several hands, Olivia ducked out through the hole. She blinked and took a deep breath of the fresh air. Snowflake was instantly at her side, pushing her muzzle in Olivia's hair and whickering softly. Olivia flung her arms around her. She'd never been so pleased to see her in all her life. "Oh, Olivia, I'm so glad you're OK," whickered Snowflake. "When you didn't come to the stables to get me ready, I knew something bad had happened. I just knew it." Layla took up the story. "We asked Ms Nettles where you were. She said that all students not graduating were in the library with Ms Rosemary. But when we looked, you weren't there and no one had seen you. That's when we knew something was wrong." "Rainbow used his magic that lets him see things that are far away and we saw you in this shed," said Sophia. "What happened?" demanded Isabel.

在几只手的帮助下，奥利维亚从洞里钻了出来。 她眨了眨眼睛，深深地吸了一口新鲜空气。 雪花立刻来到了她的身边，用它的嘴抵着奥利维亚的头发，轻轻地低声叫着。 奥利维亚猛地搂住了她。 她一辈子都没有这么高兴见到她。 “哦，奥利维亚，我很高兴你没事。”雪花低声说。 “当你没有来马厩帮我准备时，我就知道出事了。 我就是知道。”莱拉开始讲这个故事。 “我们问内特尔斯女士你在哪里。 她说，所有没有毕业的学生都和罗斯玛丽一起在图书馆。 但我们看的时候，你不在那儿，也没人见过你。 那时我们就知道出了问题。” “彩虹用他的魔法让他看到很远的东西，我们看到你在这个小屋里，”索菲亚说。 “发生了什么事？”伊莎贝尔问道。

"Wait, let's not talk here," said Layla quickly. "Whoever locked Olivia in might come back at any time." They headed through the Tropical Garden until they found a quiet mango grove and then Olivia told them everything. "But why would someone want to kidnap you, Olivia?" said Ava. Olivia felt herself start to tremble. Her moment had finally arrived. "Well," she said slowly. "There is a reason. I know I should have told you sooner, but I was scared you wouldn't be my friends any more. I'm not exactly who you think I am…" When Olivia finished explaining, everyone stared at her. "You thought you couldn't tell us this because we wouldn't like you?" said Isabel. "That we'd think you were like Valentina?" said Ava, her eyes wide. Olivia swallowed. "Yes." "But you're nothing like Valentina!" burst

“等等，我们别在这里谈了。”莱拉赶紧说。 “把奥利维亚锁在里面的人随时都可能回来。” 他们穿过热带花园，直到他们发现了一个安静的芒果林，然后奥利维亚告诉了他们一切。 “但是为什么会有人想绑架你呢，奥利维亚？”艾娃说。 奥利维亚感到自己开始发抖。 她的时刻终于到来了。 “嗯，”她慢慢地说。“这是有原因的。 我知道我应该早点告诉你，但我害怕你不再是我的朋友了。 奥利维亚解释完后，所有人都盯着她看。 “你以为你不能告诉我们这些是因为我们不喜欢你？”伊莎贝尔说。 “我们会认为你像瓦伦蒂娜吗？”艾娃说，眼睛睁得大大的。 奥利维亚吞下。“是的。”“可是你一点也不像瓦伦蒂娜！