| 糖 的个人资料My Little Candy Fairy 照片日志网络 |  工具  帮助 |
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<The Spiderwick Chronicles> Tony Diterlizzi & Holly BlackTHE FIELD GUIDE
Book One Of Five
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Chapter Two
 IN WHICH Two Walls Are Explored by Vastly Different Methods
The leaks in the roof had made all but three of the upstairs bedroom floors dangerously rooted. Their mother got one, Mallory got another, and Jared and Simon were left to share the third.
By the time they were done unpacking, the dressers and nightstands of Simon's side of the room were covered in glass tanks. A few were filled with fish. The rest were crammed with mice, lizards, and other animals that Simon had confirned to mud-furnished cages. Their mother had told Simon he could bring everything but the mice. She thought they were disgusting because Simon had rescued them from a trap in Mrs. Levette's downstairs apartment. She pretended not to notice he'd brought them anyway.
Jared tossed and turned on the lumpy mattress, pressing the pillow down over his head like he was smothering himself, but he couldn't sleep. He didn't mind sharing a room with Simon, but sharing a room with cages of animals that rustled, squeaked, and scratched was eerier than sleeping alone would have been. It made him think of the thing in the walls. He'd shared a room with Simon and the critters in the city, but the animal noises had dimmed against the background of cars and sirens and people. Here, everything was unfamiliar.
The creak of hinges startled him into jerking upright. There was a figure in the doorway, with a shapeless white gown and long, dark hair. Jared slid off the bed so fast he didn't even remember doing it.
"It's just me," the figure whispered. It was Mallory in a nightgown. "I think I heard your squirrel."
Jared stood up from a crouch, trying to decide if moving so fast meant he was a chicken or if he just had good reflexes. Simon was snoring gently in the other bed.
Mallory put her hands on her hips. "Come on. It's not going to wait around for us to catch it."
Jared shook his twin's shoulder. "Simon. Wake up. New pet. New peeeeeeeeeet."
Simon twitched and groaned,trying to pull the covers over his head.
Mallory laughed.
"Simon." Jared leaned in close, making his voice deliberately urgent. "Squirrel! Squirrel!"
Simon opened his eyes and glared at them. "I was sleeping."
"Mom went out to the store for milk and cereal," Mallory said, pulling the covers off him. "She said I was supposed to keep an eye on you. We don't have much time before she gets back.
 The three siblings crept along the dark hallways of their new house. Mallory was in the lead, walking a few paces and then stopping to listen. Every now and then there would be a scratch or a sound like small footsteps inside the walls.
The scuttling grew louder as they neared the kitchen. In the kitchen sink, Jared could see a pan crusted with the remains of the macaroni and cheese they'd had for dinner.
"I think it's there. Listen," Mallory whispered.
The sound stopped completely.
Mallory picked up a broom and held the wooden end like a baseball bat. "I'm going to knock open the wall," She said.
"Mom is going to see the hole when she gets back," Jared said.
"In this house? She'll never notice."
"What if you hit the squirrel?" Simon asked. "You could hurt--"
"Shhhh, " Mallory said. She padded across the floor in her bare feet and swung the broom handle at the wall. The blow broke through the plaster, scattering dust like flour. It settled in Mallory's hair, making her look even more ghostly. She reached into the hole and broke off a chunk of the wall.
Jared stepped closer. He could feel the hair on his arms stand up.
Torn strips of cloth had been wadded up between the boards. As she snapped off more pieces, other things were revealed. The remains of curtains. Bits of tattered silk and lace. Straight pins poked into the wooden beams on either side, making a strange upward-snaking line. A doll's head lolled in one corner. Dead cockroaches were strung up like garlands. Tiny lead soldiers with melted hands and feet were scattered across the planks like a fallen army. Jagged pieces of mirror glittered from where they had been glued with ancient gum.
Mallory reached into the nest and took out a fencing medal. It was silver with a thick blue ribbon. "This is mine."
"The squirrel must have stolen it," said Simon.
"No--this is too weird," Jared said.
"Dianna Beckley had ferrets, and they used to steal her Barbie dolls," Simon replied. "And lots of animals like shiny things."
"But look." Jared pointed to the cockroaches. "What ferret makes his own gross knickknacks?"
"Let's pull this stuff out of here," Mallory said. "Maybe if it doesn't have a nest, it will be easier to keep out of the house."
Jared hesitated. He didn't want to put his hands inside the wall and feel around. What if it was still in there and bit him? Maybe he didn't know much, but he really didn't think squirrels were normally this creepy. "I don't think we should do that," he said.
Mallory wasn't listening. She was busy dragging over a trash can. Simon started pulling out wads of the musty cloth.
"There's no droppings, either. That's strange." Simon dumped what he was holding and pulled out another handful. At the army men, he stopped. "These are cool, aren't they, Jared?"
Jared had to nod. "They'd be better with hands,though."
Simon put several in the pocket of his pajamas.
"Simon?" Jared asked. "Have you ever heard of an animal like this? I mean, some of this stuff is really odd, you know? Like this squirrel must be as demented as Aunt Lucy."
"Yeah, it's real nutty," Simon said, and giggled.
Mallory groaned, then suddenly went quiet, "I hear it again."
"What?" Jared asked.
"The noise. Shhhh. It's over there." Mallory picked up the broom again.
"Quiet," Simon whispered.
"We're being quiet," Mallory hissed back.
"Shush," Jared said.
The three of them crept over to where the sound came from, just as the noise itself changed. Instead of hearing the clatter of little claws scrabbling on wood, they could clearly hear the scrape of nails on metal.
"Look." Simon bent down to touch a small sliding door set into the wall.
"It's a dumbwaiter," Mallory said. "Servants used it to send trays of breakfast and stuff upstairs. There must be another door like this in one of the bedrooms."
"That thing sounds like it's in the shaft," Jared said.
Mallory leaned her whole body into the metal box. "It's too small for me. One of you is going to have to go."
Simon looked at her skeptically. "I don't know. What if the ropes aren't that good anymore?"
"It would just be a short fall," Mallory said, and both the boys looked at her in astonishment.
"Oh, fine, i'll go." Jared was pleased to find something Mallory couldn't do. She looked a little bit put out. Simon just looked worried.
The inside was dirty and it smelled like old wood. Jared folded his legs in and bent his head forward. He fit, but only barely.
"Is the squirrel-thing even still in the dumbwaiter shaft?" Simon's voice sounded tinny and distant.
"I don't know," Jared said softly, listening to the echoes of his words. "I don't hear anything."
Mallory pulled the rope. With a little jolt and some shaking, the dumbwaiter began to move Jared up inside the wall. "Can you see anything?"
"No," Jared called. He could hear the scratching sound, but it was distant. "It's completely black."
Mallory winched the dumbwaiter back down. "There's got to be a light around here somewhere." She opened a few drawers until she found the stub of a white candle and a mason jar. Turning a knob on the stove, she lit the wick off one of the gas burners, dripped hot wax into the jar, and pressed the candle against it to hold it in place. "Here, Jared. Hold this."
"Mallory, I don't even hear the thing anymore," said Simon.
"Maybe it's hiding," side Mallory, and yanked on the rope.
Jared tried to tuck himself deeper into the dumbwaiter, but there was no room. He wanted to tell them that this was stupid and that he'd chickened out, but he said nothing. Instead, he let himself be raised into the darkness, holding the makeshift lantern.
The metal box went up a few feet inside the wall. The light from the candle was a small halo, reflecting things erratically. The squirrel-thing could have been right next to him, almost touching him, and he would not have noticed it.
"I don't see anything," he called down, but he wasn't sure if anyone heard him.
The ascent was slow. Jared felt like he couldn't breathe. His knees were pressing against his chest, and his feet were cramping from being bent so long. He wondered if the candle was sucking up all the available oxygen.
Then, with a jerk, the dumbwaiter stopped. Something scraped against the metal box.
"It won't go any farther," Mallory called up the chute. "Do you see anything?"
"No," said Jared. " I think it's stuck."
There was more scraping now, as though something was trying to claw through the top of the dumbwaiter. Jared yelped and tried to pound from the inside, hoping to frighten it off.
Just as suddenly, the dumbwaiter slid up an extra few feet and came to a halt again, this time in a room dimly lit by moonlight from a single, small window.
Jared scrambled out of the box. "I made it! I'm upstairs."
The room had a low ceiling, and the walls were covered in bookshelves. Looking around, he realized there was no door.
All of a sudden, Jared wasn't sure where he was. 引用通告引用此项的网络日志
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