司氏姐妹 第17章 – 走进黑暗

地下隧道显得比实际更窄，两边的洞壁似乎挤压着姐妹们的肩膀。摩根，米娜和玛丽排成一列——通道的宽度只能容纳一个人通过——跟着前面的黑影向前走去。

玛丽向后伸出手来抓住米娜的手，她的手上渗出一个层薄薄的汗水。在门被关闭，她们发现自己被锁在房间里后，亨特市长的眼睛里闪过一层奇怪的光泽。他身后的书架开始在墙壁里轻轻抖动，然后随着其中轴旋转，露出一个黑暗的通道。

亨特市长没有说一个字。相反，他走向墙上的洞口，转身面对姐妹们。他示意她们向前。他的姿态很自然，显得毫不经意，似乎是真诚的邀请，就像那扇门没有奇怪的把她们锁在里面，就像灯光没有突然变暗，就像隐蔽的书架门是预知的，就像他曾经答应给姑娘们看的一些有趣的东西就在这暗门的门槛后面。

米娜拉着玛丽和摩根的衣服。就象她所猜测的，她们在静静地相互用感应交谈着。

嗯，我们还能做什么呢？摩根对玛丽想道。

你疯了吗？玛丽想回来。

什么，你要等到他变得恐怖和疯狂，拔出剑或什么的，让我们服从？现在我们没有任何防御能力。还不如好好听他的伺机麻痹他。

应该还有另一条路！玛丽想着。她看了一圈整个房间，没有回头就毫无声响地从米娜的头发里拔出一个发夹（米娜站在她身后），在门的把手上搅弄着。市长再次示意着。锁仍无法打开。

没有窗户，玛丽想着， 附近没有任何可以当作武器的东西， 摩根补充道。

或许你是对的，玛丽终于屈服了。她用微笑克服着她的恐惧。“您想让我们跟着您，亨特先生，对吗？” 她问道，她的声音象糖一样甜甜的，但仍不能掩饰在心中慢慢积起的恐慌。市长点点头。

好，玛丽对摩根感应道，就这样干吧。让米娜走在我们中间。时刻注意可能的逃生路线。摩根向前走了几步，玛丽拉着米娜的手，领着她跟在后面。市长走进了暗门，它直接通向另一个楼梯。摩根走在他的身后，后面跟着米娜和玛丽。当玛丽走过暗门门槛后，书架转回到了它原来的位置。

你认为他会把我们带到哪里去？在她们的头脑内外都沉默了很长一段时间后，摩根感应道。他们已经到达楼梯底部，这个楼梯至少有5层楼深，从地面螺旋形的通向地底，并且在地底的长长的隧道里至少走了10分钟。

我也一直在想这个问题，玛丽感应回来。

可你没有让我就进来，摩根有点愤愤不平。

对不起，有时侯我一个人能想得更好。不管怎么说，我一直在考虑各种可能性。目前有一点似乎很清楚，这里肯定有一些猫腻，很有可能涉及到格雷厄姆的谋杀案。因此，或者亨特市长是凶手， 或者。。。

那还用你说，摩根插进来。

这就是为什么我喜欢一个人思考。没有人打搅。现在让我把话想完。因此，亨特市长或者是凶手， 或者是帮凶，或者他知道谋杀案的一些内幕，并希望我们得以卷入。我的意思是，也许他知道凶手是谁，想得到我们的帮助。

在如此猫腻的事态下，你还真的认为他可能仍然站在我们这一边？

对，我只是不希望排除任何可能性。因此，如果他是凶手或帮凶，他要我们去干什么？这可能是因为。。。

你已经点到点子上了。那么，你认为他要带我们到哪儿去呢？

玛拉。玛丽叹了口气，声音在隧道的洞壁中回荡。

真的吗？我没有想到这点。。。我只是猜想他会试图杀死我们或什么的。

但是他可以在任何地方杀死我们，如果他真的杀了格雷厄姆，他显然对消尸非常在行。而且，他为什么要保留玛拉作为人质，却杀了我们？这样做没有如何意义。我的猜测是，在现阶段，他只希望从我们这儿得到信息，而不是血。

那么，如果他只想从我们这儿得到信息， 是什么让你认为他会带我们去玛拉那儿呢 ？

如果你能让我把话想完…...如果他在凶手的那一边，他可能已经知道我们正在试图找到真正的凶手，他希望了解我们究竟知道多少。他也有可能会要想办法让妈妈投降，因此，把她所有的女儿一起作为俘虏将是一个很好的对她施压的办法。然而，如果他在凶手的对立面，他仍然可能会尝试从我们这儿获得尽可能多的信息，甚至试图帮助我们。他会想到和我们在一起会更有用--有我们在一起，他可以得到玛拉更多的信任....再说，即使我们是在地下， 我也一直在追踪我们的方向。这个地下通道通向东方，朝着沼泽地的方向。我们肯定已走了至少一英里，已经到了城市的边缘。除了玛拉，还有什么在那儿呢？

正当玛丽把她的结论想法传到摩根脑子里时，隧道里的光似乎也渐渐变亮。前方，玛丽认为她在黑暗中已看到了另一个楼梯的轮廓。

而摩根是一反常态的沉静，她还在想着玛丽的逻辑，试图判断它们是否有道理。最后，她对玛丽感应道，我猜你是对的，把我们骗到某个地方来伤害我们没有任何意义，很有可能他是冲着我们的信息来的，那么......我们该怎么办？我们有什么可以告诉他的呢？

我们有什么他所不知道的东西可以告诉他的吗？我们认为玛拉是无辜的，我们不知道谁是有罪的凶犯。

但是有关我们的魔力的事怎么办，如果他问我们是否是巫婆怎么办？

我们要告诉他真相，我们并没有比其他任何人有更多的法力。玛丽指着戴在她手腕上的翡翠手镯，知道摩根也在想这个问题。还记得吗？

他们走到了楼梯口，跟着市长爬上了楼梯。整个过程市长一直保持着沉默。

Chapter 17-Into the Dark

The tunnel felt narrower than it was. The walls seemed to squeeze against the sisters’ shoulders. Morgan, Mina and Marie walked forward in a single file line–the passage was only wide enough to fit one of them at a time–following the dark shadow ahead.

Marie reached back and gripped Mina’s hand, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat. After the door had closed and they had discovered it to be locked, a strange glaze had passed over Mayor Hunter’s eyes. The bookshelf behind him shivered lightly in the wall, and then it turned on its center axis, revealing a dark passageway.

Mayor Hunter didn’t say a word. Instead, he walked towards the hole in the wall and turned around to face the sisters. He motioned for them to approach, a gesture so casual that it seemed inviting. It was as if the door hadn’t strangely locked behind them, as if the lights had not suddenly dimmed, as if the hidden bookshelf door was to be expected, as if there was something interesting that he had promised to show the girls that was just behind the threshold of the hidden door.

Mina tugged on Marie and Morgan’s dresses. They were, as she guessed, conversing silently to each other.

Well, what else can we do? Morgan thought to Marie.

Are you crazy? Marie thought back.

What, are you going to wait for him to turn creepy and crazy on us, pull out a sword or something, and then obey? It’s not like we have any defense mechanism. Might as well play nice to throw him off.

There’s gotta be another way, Marie thought. She looked around the room, and without making a sound or looking back pulled a bobby pin from Mina’s hair–Mina was standing behind her) and tinkered in the doorknob. The mayor motioned again. The lock would not click open.

No windows, Marie thought. No possible weapon objects nearby either, added Morgan.

You may be right, Marie finally gave in. She smiled against her fear. “Would you like us to follow you, Mr. Hunter?” she asked, her voice sugar sweet and not betraying the panic that was slowly bubbling inside. The mayor nodded.

Alright, Marie thought to Morgan, Let’s go. Mina stays in between us. Keep your eyes open for possible routes of escape. Morgan stepped forward, Marie held Mina’s hand and led her after. The mayor stepped into the hole, which turned out to be another stairwell. Morgan stepped in behind him, followed by Mina and Marie. After Marie passed the threshold, the bookshelf slid back to it’s original position.

Where do you think he’s taking us? Morgan thought after a long stretch of silence both inside and outside their heads. They had reached the bottom of the stairwell, which was at least equivalent to five flights of stairs and spiraled deeper into the ground, and had been walking down the long tunnel at the bottom of it for at least ten minutes now.

I’ve been thinking about it, Marie thought.

And you haven’t been letting me in? Morgan shot back indignantly.

Sorry, sometimes I can think better alone. Anyways. I’ve been considering the options. It seems pretty clear by now that this is some fishy business, and most likely relates to Graham’s murder. So, either Mayor Hunter is the murderer–

Well DUH, Morgan interjected.

This is why I like to think alone. Fewer interruptions. Just let me finish. So, either Mayor Hunter is the murderer, or he’s accomplice to the murderer, or he knows something about the murder and wants us to get involved. What I mean is, maybe he knows who the murderer is and wants our help.

You seriously think he might still be on our side after all this fishy business?

Well, I just don’t want to rule out any options. So, if he is the murderer or accomplice to the murderer, why would he want to get us? It’s probably because–

Just get to the point already. Where do you think he’s taking us?

To Mara. Marie sighed, and the sound echoed off the damp walls of the tunnel.

Really? I hadn’t thought of that…I guess I just assumed he was going to try to kill us or something.

But he could have just done that anywhere. If he did kill Graham, he’s obviously very good at getting rid of bodies. And plus, why would he want to keep Mara hostage but kill us? It doesn’t make sense. My guess is that at this stage he wants information from us, not blood.

So what makes you think he’s going to take us to Mara if he just wants information from us?

If you’d only let me finish…If he’s on the side of the murderer, he has probably figured out that we’re trying to find the real murderer, and wants to see how much we know. He also probably then would want to figure out some way to get Ma to eventually give in, and so having all her daughters together as captives would be a good way to pressure her. Then, if he’s against the murderer, he’s probably still going to try to get as much information out of us as possible, maybe even try to help us. He then figures that we’ll be more useful together–that he can get Mara to trust him if we’re there…And besides, I was keeping track of where we’re going, even though we’re underground. This passageway leads East, towards the swamp. We’ve definitely walked at least a mile now, so that’s already leading us to the edge of the town. What else is out there but Mara?

Just as Marie passed her concluding thought to Morgan, the light in the tunnel seemed to glow brighter. Ahead, Marie thought she saw the outline of another stairwell form in the dark.

Morgan was uncharacteristically silent, still thinking on Marie’s logic, trying to decide if it made sense. Finally, she thought to Marie, I guess you are right that it makes no sense to take us away somewhere to hurt us, that more likely it’s just information he’s after. So…what do we do? What do we tell him?

What can we tell him that he doesn’t already know? We think Mara’s innocent, we don’t know who the guilty party is.

But about our powers. What if he asks us if we’re witches?

We’ll tell him the truth. That we have no more powers than anyone else. Marie fingered the jade bracelet around her wrist and knew that Morgan was thinking about it too. Remember?

They reached the stairwell and climbed up after the mayor, who remained silent as ever.