Готовый перевод Тейлор Поттер и философский виал / Taylor Potter and the Philosophical Vial: Глава 5. Секреты прошлого

Chapter 5. Secrets of the Past
* * *

Taylor involuntarily took a step back. As if waiting for this, Mrs. Norris's half flared up especially loudly, emitting a cloud of black smoke and a shower of sparks.

"We didn't do it!" Taylor shouted and then realized the mistake.

The schoolchildren, as if wrenched from their stupor, began to chatter and murmur, a chorus of accusations and gossip. Victoria emerged from somewhere, flushed, and screamed.

"It couldn't have been Taylor!"

Before Potter could react, Victoria's aura struck the students with fear, causing the crowd to recoil. Taylor, with an effort, pushed aside her admiration for her younger sister Amy's radiant figure and realized that things were about to get a whole lot worse. The frightened students were turning to their superpowers, which meant a bacchanalia and a riot of energies was about to begin. Not to mention, the shock of fear clearly didn't help convince the students of Taylor's innocence; quite the opposite, in fact.

"Nobody move!" Hannah McGonagall's voice thundered.

"Anyone who uses superpowers will be expelled," Thomas Snape's voice echoed.

Following behind them, Professor Niceguy Lockhart simply smiled and waved, indicating that everything was fine, that he was there, and that the danger had passed. It must be said, it worked; the students calmed down.

"Very sloppy work," Flitwick shook his head, looking at Mrs. Norris.

Then he pulled out a tape measure and began taking measurements of the robotic cat and the hole in the wall, taking photographs first. Thomas Snape, thin and tall, loomed over Lisa as if he were about to force the answers out of her. Granger, pressed against the wall, groped along it with her hand, unconsciously hoping to find the button for the secret passage and escape from Snape.

"You'd better get busy checking the local systems, Thomas," Headmistress Fortuna Dumbledore stepped forward out of nothing.

She glanced back, looking up, her head tilted so high that the headmistress's signature fedora hat, seemingly a constant presence, nearly fell off. Then she approached Accord, who was measuring the gap.

"Listen, Headmistress, this is undoubtedly..."

"Silence!" the headmistress raised her voice, and Flitwick nodded, taking a step back.

"Well, that's no problem," Lockhart said airily.

Taylor sensed a tension, almost fear, creeping into the teachers' postures, signaling that they were facing a new mystery in Wormwarts.

"The recordings have been erased or distorted by interference, Headmistress," Snape approached.

“Then we need to question the witnesses,” Fortuna replied.

"It's you!" came the hoarse cry of Filch, who had come to his senses. "You!"

He pointed his hands at Taylor, Amy, and Lisa, wheezing something unintelligible, his face turning purple. The students began to whisper and hum again, but the headmistress intervened and ordered everyone to their rooms.

"My chambers are nearby; we can use them," Lockhart noted.

Lockhart's quarters were bright and cozy; the very walls seemed to emanate an atmosphere of friendliness and trust, but Taylor was still shaking with dread and fear. She felt like she was about to be expelled, after all, Filch was pointing at them! Fortuna and Tagg had locked themselves in Lockhart's office, and Taylor vaguely recalled Lisa's explanation last year that professors' quarters were specially protected, and that's why Snape, supposedly, was invulnerable to Potter's insects at his base. But they were inside now, weren't they? Fear, terror, and necessity gave her strength, and Taylor mentally strained as if she wanted to lift the entire Wormwarts with her bare hands.

"...ose!" Filch's voice reached her.

Taylor nearly collapsed with relief and had to grab onto Lisa, who looked at her friend with alarm. Thomas Snape's gaze immediately pierced them, as if he wanted to burn them right through.

Taylor nearly collapsed with relief and had to grab onto Lisa, who looked at her friend with alarm. Thomas Snape's gaze immediately pierced them, as if he wanted to burn them right through.

The words were distorted, the voices crackled and rasped, as if Taylor were listening to a radio with static, but need truly is the best teacher, and her brain completed, guessed, and filled in the gaps. Taylor's head grew warm, a pain began around her ears, and she suddenly understood what Lisa felt during sessions of overuse of her power. From exhaustion and fear, and a sudden wave of understanding, Taylor turned and gently hugged her friend, silently expressing her sympathy.

"Looking at your behavior, Miss Potter," McGonagall noted, carefully studying her friends standing against the wall, "I would have decided that you were still to blame."

At the same time, Taylor listened to the conversation in Lockhart's office, afraid to miss a word.

"You can go, Tagg, thank you very much," the headmistress's voice sounded in Taylor's head.

"But what about..."

"Go!"

"A remarkable silence," said Snape, "especially from Miss Granger."

The door swung open, and an angry Filch, no longer quite so crimson, stood there. Exaggeratedly puffing and stomping, he walked past Taylor and her friends and said out of the corner of his mouth.

"I know you are guilty!"

His words and hissing drowned out Accord's retort in Taylor's head.

"Yes," Fortuna replied, "that's all true, but that's still no proof that someone opened the Dimension of Secrets, and why would they? Surely not for Filch's robo-cat, even though he's convinced otherwise? And who could have done such a thing?"

"But what about... Potter? After all, she..."

“No,” the headmistress interrupted Accord.

"But potentially..."

Something thudded loudly next to Taylor, and she lost contact. It turned out the thud was caused by Victoria, who had rushed in to help, only to be shot down by a well-aimed shot. Pinned to the wall next to Taylor by a swelling ball of containment foam, Victoria struggled to break free.

"A remarkable frivolity, characteristic of the Weasley family," Snape remarked, without taking his eyes off the terminal.

His fingers fluttered wildly, and Taylor regretted not being able to see insects with her eyes. The terminal, of course, had its back to the students, its screen facing Snape, and one could only envy the professors' security clearance. Of course, there was Lisa, who was skilled at hacking systems, but only peripheral ones and surreptitiously, whereas the House Heads had direct access.

And no one called them violators.

"While I appreciate your desire to help, Miss Weasley," McGonagall sighed into her scarf, "I will nevertheless deduct ten points from my own House and assign you detention."

"Mmmffff, mymymyffff," Victoria moaned from under the mountain of foam.

"Free everyone," came the voice of Fortuna Dumbledore.

She stood in the threshold of Lockhart's office, smiling from behind her, as if he'd saved and helped everyone, defended and protected them. Taylor felt grateful to the professor, but right now she was more preoccupied with something else: that brief exchange between Flitwick and Dumbledore, which she'd half-heard and only a quarter-understood.

Therefore, it was urgent to talk to Granger.

“Let’s talk in the shower,” Lisa’s barely audible, understanding whisper reached us.

It wasn't until a day later, on November 2nd, that they managed to gather and talk privately. Everyone was convinced that "Taylor and company" had attacked Filch and cleverly dismembered Norris, and so they were followed everywhere by the other students' agonizing attention. Attention mingled with fear. It would seem easy enough to be alone under such circumstances, but no. They were being eavesdropped on and watched, trying to figure out who they would target next, now that Headmistress Dumbledore had let them off the hook. Their fellow students—the Herofindors, led by Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan—were especially zealous in this game of "watch and fear."

"Boys," Lisa grumbled as she led her friends into this discreet shower room not far from where Filch and Mrs. Norris had been attacked.

"It's terrible," Taylor grumbled back, undressing and checking the surroundings with insects again. "It seems like no one's around."

"Now, let's play it safe." Lisa quickly locked the doors, then also began to undress.

"If Filch catches you hacking again," Amy shook her head, carefully stacking her clothes.

"He won't catch me," Granger replied confidently, turning on the shower. "Well, what are you standing there for? Come on over to my stall, let's wash up and chat before they find us!"

“It all feels somehow… unnatural,” Amy muttered, finally squeezing into the shower stall.

"I don't care!" Taylor said firmly.

She quickly recounted what she had heard two days ago in Lockhart's office.

"The Dimension of Secrets," Lisa repeated thoughtfully, putting a finger to her lips. "I've never heard of it. You definitely didn't sense anything with your insects..."

"I'm telling you for the twentieth time – no!" Taylor flared, putting her hands on her hips and punching Amy in the stomach. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"You just have to blow gently, and it'll all go away," Lisa giggled. "Okay, okay, I remember too. I could barely stand back then, and my strength only showed that the professors definitely suspected something. Amy?"

"I don't know," she replied, frowning as she scratched the bruised area. "Filch was definitely hit by the cape, but since he didn't see anything, anyone could be suspected."

"But they're afraid of us," Taylor sighed. "Something needs to be done about that."

"We'll do it now," squeezing tightly past her friends, Lisa went to her clothes, bent down, and began rummaging around there.

"I have a feeling she's deliberately provoking us, if not mocking us," Taylor sighed.

"You're so tense, let me massage your back," Amy said at the same time.

Taylor pressed her back against the wall of the stall, looking her friend up and down. Freckles, red hair, a certain tension in her posture and voice.

"It's not what you think!" Amy exclaimed hastily.

“What was I thinking?” Taylor asked.

"Hey, look what I found!" Lisa exclaimed as she approached, raising her head and narrowing her eyes slyly, shifting her gaze from Taylor to Amy, as if feeling them out. "Having fun? Without me?"

"Nothing like that!" Amy and Taylor exclaimed in unison.

"We just need to wash up and then get down to business, or vice versa, but not together!" Weasley added angrily. "Hey, let's not do this nonsense!"

Lisa, about to unleash her superpower, took a step back. Amy advanced, holding out her hand.

"You'll fight naked yet!" Taylor grumbled after them. "Really, we should separate the two, then it'll be faster!"

"But it's more fun this way," Lisa grinned. "Okay, okay, don't look at me like that. I may be blonde, but I'm not a complete idiot!"

Inwardly, she sighed and tore her hair out. The plan was falling apart before her eyes, thanks to Amy, who had convinced herself that by influencing her friends, she would follow the path of the Villain, just as Quirrell had predicted. Weasley's fears related to the Dark Cape stood out, and given the information she'd discovered, Lisa couldn't blame her friend. All that remained was to figure out how Amy's fears connected to Taylor, and Granger had a couple of "guesses," but nothing more. The questions had to be approached with caution; one wrong word and she wouldn’t get any treatment for her head!

"Come on, Lisa," Taylor said, "don't drag it out, or they'll find us and make up stories about us plotting to kill everyone here."

"Yes," Amy agreed, "even my own siblings don't believe me! Carol scolded me for attacking the janitor, and Eric and Crystal praised me, but the way they praised me, it would have been better if they had scolded me! Shouting at everyone in Wormwarts about how great I was, and how I showed Filch his place... and the looks everyone gave me afterwards, it was terrible!"

"Calm down," Taylor placed her hand on her shoulder. "We're a team, and we'll get through this together."

There was a pause. Lisa grinned, looking at her friends.

"We're a team, right?" Taylor asked.

"Yes, we are a team," Amy answered.

"So, I figured that if the professors knew something, it must have happened before, so I used a couple of bookmarks I'd left on Professor Binns's tablet. What? My tablet had been thoroughly cleaned this week, everything deleted and erased, so I'd have to start over, and it would take months! It's much easier to use someone else's tablet, especially if it's the Cape History professor!"

Oh, sure, the professors' tablets were protected separately and strictly, but the point is, Lisa, wasn't actually hacking in this case. She borrowed Binns's tablet while she was distracted by a malfunctioning holoboard and installed a couple of apps using Binns's credentials.

"Tell," Taylor snapped.

"The term 'Dimension of Secrets' was first used in 1910, after the second expedition to the Tunguska meteorite. One of the Founders, Eidolon, who was on that expedition, wrote a report in which he noted that, quote, "Earth had escaped its greatest threat," and that he, quote, "had used the Dimension of Secrets to hide weapons." The essence of the term was revealed in Appendix A, which was subsequently classified."

"So you..."

"No," Lisa shook her head. "We need dean-level access, at a minimum."

And time, but Granger didn’t add that.

"Perhaps they know more on Eidolorin?" Amy suggested, brushing her hair.

"Not a fact, all of this happened before Wormwarts was founded," Lisa replied thoughtfully. "And the Dimension of Secrets isn't physically tied to Wormwarts, that's for sure. Why? Because there's another report that notes, and I quote, 'The heirs of Eidolon's power can open the Hidden Realm.'"

"Eidolon didn't have children, none of the Founders did, everyone knows that!" Amy exclaimed, looking up from her work.

"I know," Lisa said with a mirthless smile, "but here's another interesting fact: the Dark Cape, Eden de Wald, who was defeated by our Headmistress Dumbledore, opened the Dimension of Secrets. At the very end of World War II, in which, alongside the battles of ordinary armies, capes also fought, determining the future of a superpowered society.

"Isn't that classified information?" Taylor found herself chewing on her pinky and quickly stopped.

"Yes, but there are different levels of secrecy," Lisa explained. "You're lucky that Jess Binns's access comes with Thinker Granger's skills! Anyway, remember Dresden?"

Taylor and Amy looked at each other and shrugged.

"At the end of World War II, the city of Dresden in Germany was razed to the ground by bombing raids from the US and British air forces, and the apparent futility of this action was repeatedly noted. Dresden wasn't a military base, a stronghold, didn't have a ton of factories and plants, and so on."

Lisa paused meaningfully, looking at her friends, then continued.

"However, from a cape-historical perspective, everything was logical and justified. In Dresden, Fortuna Dumbledore and Eden de Wald battled, and Eden, sensing she was losing, opened the Dimension of Secrets and summoned something—or someone—from there."

"Dark Cape?" Amy whispered, biting her fist.

"The very weapon Eidolon wrote about, of course," Taylor nodded. "But what was it?"

"It's classified," Lisa grinned, "but to cover up the consequences, the Allied air force, at the instigation of the capes, of course, reduced Dresden to rubble. And right after these events, come to think of it, the cape community retreated to pocket dimensions to avoid destroying Earth with the fury of their powers. Well, that's what they told us, but what if it was precisely this weapon from the Dimension of Secrets that was the culprit?

"Wait, so the Dimension of Secrets isn't secret at all?" Taylor asked, surprised.

"Its essence is classified, there are rare mentions in rare sources, plus I had to resort to not entirely legal actions," Lisa explained.

Granger did not add that she could have been not only expelled, but also sent to prison.

"Aren't these things protected from the Thinkers?"

"They're protected. Therefore, to advance further and obtain more information, we'll need serious preparation. Pince's terminal or the bookmarks on Professor Cape History's tablet won't be enough."

"Or we could ask the headmistress," Taylor said.

"Yes, we could," Lisa nodded. "But if she didn't say so right away, then why would she answer this question? Are you ready to admit that you overheard her conversation with Flitwick?"

“Um… no, I guess not,” Taylor answered after thinking.

"No, we need a good plan, preparation, and Amy is right that on Eidolorin might know more. At least Professor Snape is working with information, so he's our priority target."

"Break into Snape's office?"

"A raid on Eidolorin House, in full compliance with school rules," Lisa grinned broadly and happily. "We'll need all three of our superpowers and a couple of months of preparation, and then we'll be able to get our hands on some classified documents and get back some lost points. Only the Headmistress has higher access, but I don't think hacking Fortuna Tower is a good idea. I'd even say it's a very, very bad idea."

"Is breaking into Snape's office a good idea?" Taylor asked.

"You want to get revenge for last year, right? Within the rules!"

This argument decided the outcome of the dispute, and they began to get ready.

“I’ll think about the details, and then we’ll discuss it again,” Lisa said, getting ready to open the doors.

“So what do we do now?” Taylor asked.

“So what do we do now?” Taylor asked.

“It's hard to forget,” Taylor muttered under her breath, embarrassed.

Carlos had been driving them like crazy during practice, but she'd actually forgotten about the match a bit in light of the events of the last two days. Especially in light of the other students' attitudes.

"You know what doesn't add up?" Amy said unexpectedly.

"What?"

"Let's leave aside the fact that the heirs to Eidolon's power are the Dark Capes, and Taylor..."

“What?” Taylor frowned.

"No, nothing, you're just being haunted by the faces on the screens," Amy said quickly.

Lisa and Taylor exchanged glances, clearly suggesting Amy wanted to say something else. Lisa noted that what she hadn't said was again connected to the Dark Capes, and decided to inquire about them, to learn more than she knew now. The face appearing on Taylor's tablet screen… Lisa had specific plans for tracking and capturing the "face-maker," but like so much else, voicing them was out of the question. But she had to warn her friends.

"By the way,” Lisa added, “this means that Wormwarts’ systems have been hacked after all."

"Well, you're not the only one who can do this," Taylor smiled.

"No, that's not the point. Okay," Lisa waved her hand dismissively. "So what doesn't add up?"

"The extent of the damage. If a weapon from the Dimension os Secrets is involved, then," Amy spread her arms, as if drawing a circle, "Mrs. Norris and Filch taking one hit is a bit… not enough, don't you think?"

“You’re right,” Lisa sighed.

"So what should we do then?"

"Nothing. We need more information, and we'll get it, or I won't be Lisa Granger!"

* * *

Внимание! Этот перевод, возможно, ещё не готов.
Его статус: идёт перевод

Переведено на Нотабеноиде
http://notabenoid.org/book/88456/594401

Переводчики: Camrad_RIP