Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE Matilda watched in delight as Pearl, disguised as a tiger, roared and sprinted after the panicked unicorn. She had no idea how Pearl was finding the strength to use her magic when she was already so tired. The cloaked figure and her unicorn crashed through the trees and disappeared from sight. "Pearl," yelled Matilda. "You can stop now. She's gone!" As Pearl slowed and turned back, her stripes faded and her body changed from a stocky tiger with huge paws back to a slender unicorn.

第九章玛蒂尔达高兴地看着珠儿化装成一只老虎，咆哮着冲向那只惊慌失措的独角兽。 她不知道珠儿在已经如此疲惫的情况下是如何找到力量来使用她的魔法的。 那个披着斗篷的身影和她的独角兽冲进树林，从视线中消失了。 “珠儿，”玛蒂尔达喊道。“你现在可以停下来了。 她走了!”珠儿放慢了脚步，转过身来，身上的条纹褪了色，她的身体也从一只长着大爪子的粗壮老虎变成了一只纤细的独角兽。

Matilda realised the hornets had disappeared along with the cloaked person. A thought flashed across her mind: Perhaps they have glamor magic too. Pearl walked back to Matilda, her sides heaving. "That was incredible!" gasped Rosa. "Wasn't it?" Matilda was glowing. "You were so brave, Pearl. I don't know how you did that when you were so tired." "I did it because you believed in me. You gave me the confidence to find more energy when I thought I was exhausted." Pearl pushed her head into Matilda's arms. Matilda hugged her tightly. "It was lucky the person thought I was a shape-shifter," Pearl went on. "If she'd realised it was just a glamour she'd have known I couldn't really hurt her. My tiger teeth might have looked sharp but they couldn't do any real damage." "Which makes you even braver for chasing

玛蒂尔达意识到大黄蜂和隐形人一起消失了。 一个念头闪过她的脑海：也许它们也有魅力魔法。 珠儿走回玛蒂尔达身边，身子上下起伏。 “太不可思议了！”罗莎喘着气说。 “不是吗?”玛蒂尔达容光焕发。 “你真勇敢，珠儿。 我不知道你这么累是怎么做到的。” “我这么做是因为你相信我。 你给了我信心，让我在筋疲力尽的时候找到更多的能量。” 珠儿把头伸进玛蒂尔达的怀里。 玛蒂尔达紧紧地拥抱着她。 “幸运的是，那个人认为我是个变形人，”珀尔继续说。 “如果她意识到这只是一种魅力，她就会知道我不会真的伤害她。 我的虎牙可能看起来很锋利，但它们不会造成任何真正的伤害。” 这让你在追逐时更加勇敢

her away," said Matilda. "I'm really tired now," panted Pearl. "We need sky berries," said Freya. "They'll help Pearl get her energy back." "But we left them all by the tents," said Violet in dismay. "We left all the heavy stuff there with the rucksacks and tents– remember?" "It's OK, I've got some," said Ariana. She opened up the small knapsack she'd been carrying. "I brought an emergency supply with me just in case." She handed a pile of sky berries to Matilda who fed Pearl handfuls of them until her breathing slowed down and she started to look better. "Thank you," Matilda said gratefully, giving the empty bag back to Ariana. "I'm really glad you're always prepared for anything."

她走开了。”玛蒂尔达说。“我现在真的累了，”珠儿喘着气说。 “我们需要天空莓，”弗雷娅说。 “它们会帮助珠儿恢复精力。” “但是我们把他们都留在帐篷旁边了。”维奥莱特沮丧地说。 “我们把所有沉重的东西都留在那里了，还有背包和帐篷——记得吗？”“没关系，我有一些。”阿利安娜说。 她打开了随身携带的小背包。 “我带了应急用品，以防万一。” 她递给玛蒂尔达一堆天空莓，玛蒂尔达喂了珠儿一把浆果，直到她的呼吸慢了下来，看上去好多了。 “谢谢你。”玛蒂尔达感激地说，把空袋子还给阿利安娜。 “我真的很高兴你总是为任何事情做好准备。”

"That's OK, thank you for saving me," Ariana replied. They smiled at each other. "I'm sorry I said your drawings were scribbles earlier," Ariana went on quickly. "I didn't mean it at all, your drawings are brilliant. I was just cross about you forgetting your sleeping bag."

“没关系，谢谢你救了我。”阿利安娜回答。 他们相视一笑。 “对不起，我刚才说你的画是乱涂乱画的。”阿利安娜赶紧说下去。 “我不是故意的，你的画太棒了。 我只是因为你忘了带睡袋而生气。”

"I'm not surprised, it was stupid of me," Matilda admitted. "I should have read the list you gave me and made sure I had everything before we left." She looked round at her friends. "I promise I'll try and be more organised and less distracted by drawing from now on." She bit her bottom lip. "We're probably going to lose the competition because of me. If I hadn't stopped to sketch the Heart Tree we'd have been back by now." "But then we wouldn't have found out about the person harming the Heart Tree," said Rosa. "That's far more important than any competition. We need to get back and tell Ms Rivers straight away." "Even though we still haven't got everything for the scavenger hunt?" said Matilda. "You said we still needed an orange leaf, didn't you?" "The safety of Unicorn Island is far more important than winning a scavenger hunt!" said Rosa. "I know I like to win but the island comes

玛蒂尔达承认：“我并不感到惊讶，这是我的愚蠢。” “我应该看一看你给我的单子，确保在我们离开之前把东西都拿齐。” 她回头看看她的朋友们。 “我保证，从现在开始，我会努力更有条理，更少分心地画画。” 她咬着下嘴唇。“因为我，我们可能会输掉比赛。 要不是我停下来画那棵心树，我们现在早就回来了。” “那样我们就不会发现是谁伤害了心树。”罗莎说。 “这比任何竞争都重要得多。 我们得马上回去告诉里弗斯女士。” “即使我们还没有为寻宝游戏准备好所有的东西？”玛蒂尔达说。 “你说我们还需要一片橙叶，是吗？”“独角兽岛的安全远比赢得一场寻宝游戏重要！”罗莎说。 “我知道我喜欢赢，但小岛来了

first." "Definitely. It's more important than anything. I think we should find Ms Rivers as quickly as we can," said Freya, nodding. "OK." Matilda put her hand on Pearl's mane to vault on to her back. "Matilda, what's that orange thing in your hair?" Pearl said suddenly. "You mean the streak of hair that shows we've bonded?' said Matilda. "It's not orange, is it? Your mane is yellow and pink." "I know that, silly! No– I mean, what's this? Look!" Pearl pulled a small orange leaf from Matilda's hair with her teeth. "It must be from the bush when we were hiding behind it!" exclaimed Matilda. Rosa shrieked in delight. "Matilda! You must have hidden behind a flame bush! That's the last thing we need for the scavenger hunt!" "We can still win!" said Ariana. "If we get back before anyone else," said

第一。”“绝对。这比什么都重要。 我想我们应该尽快找到里弗斯女士，”弗雷娅点点头说。 “好吧。”玛蒂尔达把手放在珠儿的鬃毛上，跳到了她的背上。 “玛蒂尔达，你头发上那个橙色的东西是什么？”珠儿突然说。 “你是说那一缕头发表明我们很亲密吗？”玛蒂尔达说。 “不是橙色的吧？”你的鬃毛是黄粉相间的。” “我知道，傻瓜！不，我是说，这是什么？ 看!”珠儿用牙齿从玛蒂尔达的头发上扯下一片橙色的小叶子。 “一定是我们躲在后面的灌木丛里传来的！”玛蒂尔达叫道。 罗莎高兴得尖叫起来。“玛蒂尔达!你一定是躲在火焰丛后面了！这是我们寻宝游戏最不需要的东西！”“我们还能赢！”阿利安娜说。 “如果我们比别人先回来的话。