Shadows of Sherwood

Weighed down by Bridger’s backpack, Robyn and Laurel decide to check if some of its contents can be offloaded. Among other things, they find Bridger’s journals, a piece of silver cloth, a small jewelry box, a large plastic bag, and a rope. Laurel stuffs the backpack and its contents inside the plastic bag and uses the rope to suspend it from the cover of a sewer hole. With the bag secured, the girls enter the forest. Following the arrow-like markings carved in trees, reminiscent of the arrows on Robyn’s father’s maps, they spot an elegant wooden spiral staircase hidden behind greenery. Robyn realizes this is the DNA-like image from her father’s canvas map. Robyn and Laurel decide to climb the stairway.

The stairs lead to a tiny but well-equipped cabin high in the trees. It has no furniture, but has screens, a radio, and shelves lined with tins of food. Hungry, Robyn grabs a can of peaches, and Laurel helps herself to beans. Robyn works the old-fashioned radio but doesn’t get a signal. Meanwhile, the screens light up, with Governor Crown announcing the Parliament has been restructured, and the army and police have been merged into a single force. Notting Wood—the commons— has been closed to the public and will be heavily patrolled. As Robyn and Laurel reflect on the ominous turn of events, the radio starts up. Nessa Croft, working for a rebel radio broadcast, announces that despite the new draconian measures, the rebel faction will never give up. Robyn hears footsteps on the stairway.

A blond boy, older than Robyn by a year, enters the cabin. Though he is initially surprised to see Robyn and Laurel, he warms up to them, offering them more food. The boy’s name is Key, and he tells Robyn that he too discovered the cabin via a map. Though Robyn does not fully trust Key, she decides to shelter in the cabin with him for a while.

Laurel falls asleep next to Robyn, but both Robyn and Key stay awake, disturbed by the constant bulletins that flash on the screens through the night. Key tells Robyn he has tried playing a movie on the screen to block Crown’s broadcasts, but the governor’s signal overrides everything. Robyn recalls her only meeting with Crown. She had met him at a party, where he’d offered her candy. When Robyn had told him she didn’t take candy from strangers, Crown had pretended to be amused, but Robyn had sensed he was angry. Crown had also made an off-putting remark about Robyn’s father standing out in every room, a reference to his dark skin. As Robyn’s thoughts turn to her father, she is overwhelmed with longing for her parents. She wishes she could hold her mother and feel the warmth of the white stone pendant her mother always wore. Just then, she has an epiphany: She is sure the surveillance cameras at Loxley Manor recorded the people who took away her parents last night.

In the morning, Robyn and Laurel leave the sleeping Key to head to Loxley Manor. They climb a wall to sneak into Robyn’s bedroom and discover that the bedroom has been transformed into a dorm with eight bunk beds: Robyn’s house is being used as a barracks for the MPs. Robyn wants to throw up in disgust, but Laurel cautions her against making noise. Robyn understands that although she used to pride herself on her stealth, it is Laurel who has been forced to be stealthy in real-world dangerous circumstances all her life. Robyn and Laurel head to the second-floor security room to check the surveillance tapes. At midnight two nights ago, an armed truck rolled into Robyn’s house. MPs breached the compound and climbed in through the first floor. Robyn sees her dad on the monitor, running toward the kitchen door to lock it against the invaders.

Before Dad can reach the door, the MPs burst in and grab him, a knife pointed at Dad’s throat. As the MPs grapple with Robyn’s father, they disappear partially from view. Robyn can see her father’s feet thrashing in pain, and then his hand writing something on the kitchen floor in blood. Robyn can make out: “Live” (118) and a word like “cog” (118) before a boot steps on the message and blurs it out. The MPs come into view again, carrying out Robyn’s unconscious, blood-soaked father. Another MP carries out her mother over his shoulder. She is barely conscious as well. Robyn feels sick at the sight, but just then the live feed shows MPs entering her house.

Robyn and Laurel decide to immediately run out, but not before Robyn grabs a circuit board and a couple of MP uniforms from her bedroom. Then the girls jump out of the window. Robyn realizes the words her father drew in blood were “live oak” (123), so she and Laurel head to the large oak tree at the edge of the Loxley property. In a secret knothole, Robyn finds another note from her father, a heavy crescent-shaped black stone on a chain, and a pair of keys. The note tells Robyn to be strong, use the items, and follow her head, heart, and the moon. Robyn recognizes one of the keys: It opens the garden shed at the back of their house. Robyn must return to the house to open the shed, a prospect she dreads.

Robyn and Laurel flatten themselves against the peripheral wall of the house to get to the shed unnoticed. The shed contains Dad’s work tools and tables and has a secret shallow room at the back. In this space is a fully charged green and black moped, two old-fashioned cellphones—TexTers—and a pocket knife. Robyn stashes the knife, phones, uniforms, and circuit board in the cavity under the moped’s seat. Robyn decides to take the moped, which Dad has clearly left for her.

Before heading out, Robyn and Laurel consider Robyn’s father’s canvas map. Some markings shine differently from others, suggesting secret clues. The girls decide to follow a trail on the map that leads to Sherwood. They roll the bike out quietly to the edge of the woods, and then Robyn turns on the ignition. The bike speeds off. The trail ends in the Sherwood fairgrounds, which are now filled with makeshift shelters and cardboard homes. Laurel recognizes the lot and refers to it as “T.C.” (137), short for Tent City. She bumps into Chazz, a man she knows. Chazz asks Robyn to take off her beret and get comfortable, a request that strikes Robyn as odd. She feels suspicious of Chazz, who asks the girls to leave the T.C. for their safety. He also asks Robyn to watch her back.

Laurel seems to trust Chazz and asks Robyn to drive away. They get to Nottingham Cathedral, now boarded up and abandoned. Robyn wonders if this is the church in Dad’s map. However, it is impossible to get inside the sealed church. Robyn wonders what “Gather your Elements” (141), the words next to the cathedral on the map, mean. Laurel recognizes them as words from an old song that refers to moon lore. The song suggests one must gather air, water, fire, and earth for courage. Unable to decode the clue, they ride back into the forest, hide the bike under leaves and vines, and go up to the tree house. Inside, Key tells them food is running out. It has been announced that the MPs are shutting down the street markets from tomorrow. Food will now have to be procured only through tag-monitored groceries or through government depots.

Key explains that controlling the food supply is Crown’s way of not just tightening his iron control over the city, but also of making money. Since the woods are closed to the public, people cannot forage in them for food. Crown will buy food from suppliers at low prices, stock it in large compounds, and sell them to desperate people for a profit. Robyn wants to take a look at the depots, so she, Laurel, and Key head out. At the market, they can see MPs seizing the produce from street-vendor stalls. Robyn feels guilty, knowing she filched food from the vendors. She decides the best way to pay back the vendors is to steal from the depots that have taken away their livelihood.

The food depot is a large warehouse with tin walls, a black tar roof, and sliding glass doors. Workers offload crates of food from a truck and then roll off the crates in batches to the warehouse. Robyn immediately notices that there are several points where the crates are briefly unmonitored. When Laurel begins to ramble from hunger, Robyn decides they need to steal some food. They slip out of their hiding place and grab produce from an unattended crate. Key is astonished at their bravado. They run back with the food, Key grumbling that the plan was only to scout the depot, not steal from it. On the way, Robyn spots a hungry-looking family and hands them fruits and cabbage. The mother is immensely grateful. Later, Key reminds Robyn that they are now a team and should plan things together, such as stealing dried fruits and canned goods, rather than items that require cooking. Robyn agrees, and Laurel declares the three of them are indeed a team now.

After the three friends finish eating apples, Laurel takes the bag of rice they grabbed from the depot so she can cook it in a secret place. After Laurel leaves, Key and Robyn try to get to know each other better, but both are too guarded. Robyn only gets to know Key grew up in Sherwood, which surprises her, as he acts more like a Castle District kid. Key teases Robyn about her tight braid, wondering how she manages the hairstyle. Robyn gets upset at the reference and tells Key that the hairdo is her legacy from the women on her father’s side. Key apologizes. Robyn realizes that she is not really upset at Key’s innocent remark; she has connected her hairdo with her father’s exhortation to “follow her head” (158). Her braid is a major clue in her quest.

Robyn asks Key to return with her to the market, so she can seek clues from the elderly lady she’d seen the previous day, the one with a braid like hers. Robyn and Key go to the salon in the alley, where Robyn spotted the woman. Key waits outside while Robyn goes in to seek her. The elderly woman appears at the reception, spots Robyn’s hair, and takes her outside the shop to a narrow stairway that leads to an apartment. When they are alone, the woman, whose name is Eveline, asks Robyn if she did her hair herself. She seems astonished when Robyn says yes. The woman mutters that Robyn is too young to have this kind of knowledge, but the lady supposes this is what destiny intended. Robyn finds Eveline’s statements confusing and is further confused when Eveline asks Robyn to show her the pendant she wears. It is the black crescent stone Robyn’s father left her; no one but Laurel knows Robyn wears the pendant. Robyn gives Eveline the stone with reluctance. Examining the stone, Eveline tells Robyn it is precious Black moonstone, blessed by the ancients. Further, Eveline and Robyn are connected, “each of us nothing, but blood, breath, and bone” (162).

Eveline’s words make little sense to Robyn, but Eveline goes on urgently. Signs suggest Robyn is an important figure from Eveline’s visions. Robyn must trust Eveline and remember four bits of advice: One, the moonstone is a key to a very important door, but the door no longer exists. Two, Robyn must go to the storeroom directly below the apartment and take whatever she finds helpful. Three, she must let the lessons of the moon lore guide her, and four, in her journey Robyn, must learn to trust others. Robyn tells Eveline she does not know moon lore; Evie writes something on a piece of paper and hands it to Robyn and tells her the hope of the ancients is still alive.