59 Some Worrying News

59 Some Worrying News B-b-but... you don't understand, Peanut," said Leo. it... a door... just... out of thin air. "I know," she replied. "There are a lot of things that need explaining, and I promise I will do exactly that." She swallowed hard. "But first, tell me, is Mum home or did she go to the ballet?" "She's not here," replied the boy. "She's... she's gone away." Peanut felt the blood drain from her face. "Gone away?" she said. "Y-yes. "Gone away where?" "Er...l... erm... Italy. I think. Yes. That's right. Milan." "ITALY?" shouted Peanut. "WHY ON EARTH HAS SHE

59 一则令人不安的消息 “可、可……你根本不明白，皮纳特，”利奥说。 那……有一扇门…… 就……凭空冒出来了。 “我知道，”她答道。 “确实有好多事需要解释，我保证一定会把一切说清楚。” 她用力咽了咽口水。 不过先告诉我，妈妈在家吗？还是去跳芭蕾了？” “她不在这儿，”男孩回答。 “她…… 她走了。” 皮纳特顿时脸色煞白。 “走了？” 她说道。 “是、是的。 “走哪儿去了？” “呃……意……意大利， 我觉得， 对， 没错， 是米兰。” “意大利？”皮纳特大喊， “她到底为什么要

GONE TO—?" She suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and everything started to turn white. She sat down on the bed. Rockwell cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Hi, Leo. Er, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm Rockwell. We met at the National Portrait Gallery. I'm Peanut's friend." He put his hand on Peanut's shoulder, which made her feel slightly better. "I think what she's wondering is, erm... who has she gone to Italy with?" Leo looked at Rockwell. Then he looked at the drawing of the door. Then back at Rockwell. Abruptly, he walked over to the sketch and grabbed the handle. As soon as he touched it, it started to crumble. A few seconds later, it had turned into a pile of silvery grey powder on the floor. "I think I need to sit down too," he said. Five minutes later, Rockwell walked back into the room with a tray holding four steaming mugs of sweet tea. "Right then, are we feeling any better?" he said. "A bit," said Peanut, taking her tea. "Thank you."

去——？” 她忽然一阵头晕，眼前一切都开始发白发花。 她坐到了床上。 罗克韦尔清了清嗓子，走上前来。 “嗨，利奥。 呃，我不知道你还记不记得我，我是罗克韦尔。 我们在国家肖像美术馆见过面。 我是皮纳特的朋友。” 他把手搭在皮纳特的肩膀上，这让皮纳特稍微舒服了一点。 “我想她想问的是，呃……妈妈是跟谁一起去意大利的？” 利奥看着罗克韦尔。 接着他看向那幅门的画。 接着又看向罗克韦尔。 他突然走到速写旁，抓住了门上的把手。 他刚一碰，把手就开始碎裂了。 几秒之后，它就变成了地上一堆银灰色的粉末。 “我觉得我也得坐下了，”他说。 五分钟后，罗克韦尔端着托盘走进房间，托盘上放着四杯冒着热气的甜茶。 “好了，现在感觉好点了吗？”他说。 “好点了，”皮纳特一边拿茶一边说。 “谢谢你。”

"Yes. Er, thanks," said Leo. "No probs," said Rockwell. "OK, Leo, why don't you tell us what happened." "Well," began the boy, "I left the National Portrait Gallery just after I saw you guys, and came straight back here. When I got home, Mum was in a right state. She was running around, grabbing clothes left, right and centre, chucking them into that little overnight suitcase, and asking me if I'd seen her passport. So, naturally, I asked her what was going on." And what was going on?" asked Peanut. "I thought she was just going to the ballet." "She was, er... She is. But she said that there had been a last-minute change of plan." A change of plan?" "Yes. Apparently, just after you and LB had left, her assistant from work turned up at the front door and presented her with two tickets." "Yes, that's right. Nerys was just arriving as we left." "Well, one of the tickets was for a flight to Milan, and the other one was for a performance of Swan Lake at La Scala tomorrow night." "What's La Scala?" said Little-Bit. "One of the most famous ballet theatres in the world, apparently. She said that Mr Stone had managed to get his hands on some tickets at the last minute, and that they must have cost

“嗯，好多了。 呃，谢谢，”利奥说。 “不客气，”罗克韦尔说。 “好了，利奥，跟我们说说到底发生了什么吧。” “好吧，”男孩开口道，“我看到你们之后就离开国家肖像美术馆，直接回这儿来了。 我到家的时候，妈妈正慌得团团转。 她跑东跑西，到处抓衣服，往那个小过夜旅行包里扔，还问我见没见过她的护照。” 所以我自然就问她出什么事了。” “那到底出什么事了？”皮纳特问。 “我本来以为她只是去芭蕾演出而已。” “她之前是要去，呃…… 现在也是。 但她说计划临时变了。” “计划变了？” “没错。 据说，你和小彼刚走，她工作室的助理就来到前门，给了她两张票。” “对，没错， 我们出门的时候，内里斯刚好到。” “喏，一张是飞去米兰的机票，另一张是明晚斯卡拉剧院《天鹅湖》演出的门票。” “斯卡拉是什么地方呀？”小比特问道。 “听说那是全世界最有名的芭蕾舞剧院之一， 她说斯通先生最后一刻才拿到票，这些票肯定花了

a fortune. He got one for Nerys too, apparently. So she was going to chaperone them, which Mum seemed happy about." Peanut started to feel dizzy again. She had a fortifying sip of her tea. "Did you not think it was a bit weird? Her suddenly heading off to Italy with her boss and her PA?" "Well, yes. I did say that it seemed a bit extreme to go all that way to watch a bit of dancing. But she insisted that she wanted to go, and she seemed really excited. She said that you two were away on a sleepover anyway, and that she'd ask Leighann to come and babysit tomorrow, when you were back. She said she'd see us on Monday." "Peanut, I think we need to stop her getting on that plane," said Rockwell. "Too late," said Leo. "It took off half an hour ago." "Oh no," said Peanut, standing up. "I've got a terrible feeling that this was Mr White's plan all along. This must be what Alan was talking about. "What do you mean?" said Rockwell. All that stuff about magic tricks and sleight of hand. While we were in Chroma concentrating on winning the battle for the Spire, Mr White was back here persuading Mum to go with him to Italy." "The magician will draw your attention and make you concentrate on one hand, while subtly stealing your watch with the

一大笔钱。 据说他还给内里斯也弄了一张。 所以内里斯会跟着去陪着她们，妈妈也挺乐意的。” 皮纳特又开始感到头晕了。 她喝了一口茶提提神。 “你不觉得这有点奇怪吗？ 她突然就跟老板和助理去意大利？” “唔，确实挺奇怪。 我也说了，跑这么远看一场跳舞，好像有点太夸张了。 可妈妈坚持说她想去，而且她看起来真的特别兴奋。 她说你俩反正出去过夜了，等你们回来，她会请丽安娜明天过来陪你们， 她说我们周一就能见到她了。” “皮纳特，我们得阻止她上飞机，”罗克韦尔说。 “太晚了，”利奥说。 “飞机半小时前就起飞了。” “哦天，”皮纳特站起来说道， 我有种不好的预感，这从一开始就是怀特先生的计划。 这肯定就是艾伦说的那件事。 “你是什么意思？”罗克韦尔问。 就是那些魔法戏法和手法花招啊。 我们在克罗马忙着争夺尖塔的时候，怀特先生就在这儿说服妈妈跟他去意大利了。” “魔术师会引开你的注意力，让你只盯着他的一只手，暗地里却用另一

other one," said Little-Bit, reminding them what Mr White's henchman had said. "So Mum is the watch?" "I think she might be," said Peanut. "I don't know what to think! At first, I just thought he wanted to steal her from Dad. But now he knows we've got the pencil, and he'll do anything to get it back. Maybe he's going to hold her hostage and use her as leverage? He knows we'd do anything to make sure she doesn't come to any harm. What are we going to do?" "Er, sorry to interrupt," said Leo, "but would someone mind telling me (a) who Alan is, (b) what the Spire is, (c) who Mr White is, and (d) why you are describing my mother as a watch?" Peanut looked over at her brother. It suddenly dawned on her just how much she needed to tell him. She made a mental note to do it as soon as she could, but right now there were more important things to think about. As I said, I promise I'll tell you everything," she said. "But first, we need to rescue Mum." And that's when she noticed it again.

“还有一件事，”小不点说，提醒大家怀特先生的手下之前说过这番话。 “所以妈妈就是那块表？” “我觉得可能就是她，”花生说。 “我现在完全不知道该怎么想了！ 一开始，我只以为他想把妈妈从爸爸身边抢走。 可现在他知道铅笔在我们手上，会不择手段把它抢回去。 说不定他会扣妈妈当人质，拿她当筹码呢？ 他知道，为了不让妈妈受伤害，我们什么都愿意做。 我们现在该怎么办呀？” “呃，抱歉打断一下，”里奥说，“能不能麻烦有人告诉我：(一)艾伦是谁，(二)尖塔是什么，(三)怀特先生是谁，还有(四)你们为什么把我妈妈说成一块表？” 花生转头看向她的哥哥。 她这才突然反应过来，自己还有好多事要告诉他。 她悄悄记下要尽快告诉他，可眼下还有更重要的事要考虑。 “我说过了，我保证会把一切都告诉你的，”她说。 “但现在，我们得先去救妈妈。” 就在这时，她又一次注意到了它。