Shadows of Sherwood

Robyn stands at the edge of T.C. and announces free food is there for the taking while Laurel begins waking people up. Key drives up on the moped and scolds Robyn for once again deviating from the plan. Key saw Robyn in the truck and was about to open the gates when she rushed out to get the wires and alerted the guards. Robyn feels guilty but tells herself getting the wires was a necessity. Key and Robyn fight, with Key telling Robyn she is not being a team player.

Once the T.C. denizens have taken all the food, Robyn drives the truck to Nottingham Cathedral. Parking the truck on the road, she leads the others inside the church through Tucker’s secret plywood door.

From inside the church, Robyn, Tucker, and the others watch MPs converge on the truck. When Tucker says that Mallet will definitely pin the blame for the truck theft on someone, Robyn is once again flooded with guilt. She does not want others to pay for her actions. She asks Tucker for paper and pen, and he hands her green sticky notes. On a sticky note, she writes that it was she who confiscated the truck for its rightful owners, the people of Sherwood. Robyn signs the note with her initials, and “sincerely, Robyn” (249), and places the note inside the truck when the MPs are turned away. Very soon, a wanted poster describing her goes up all over the city, calling her as a “hoodlum” (250).

When Mallet gets news of the brazen note, she immediately realizes the thief is Robyn Loxley, whom Mallet let get away that night. Mallet is furious. Crown’s strict orders were to apprehend even the children of the traitors, and that is because moon or Crescent lore prophesized the coming of a leader from that group. Mallet decides not to report this to Crown and to apprehend Robyn on her own as soon as possible. She moves Robyn to the #1 WANTED slot, even ahead of Nessa Croft.

Key scouts the city for Robyn’s wanted posters and discovers that the MPs are “practically hunting” (253) for Robyn. He is still angry at Robyn for acting brashly, and Robyn yells at him and Laurel that they’ll never understand her desperation to discover the whereabouts of her mother and father, as they do not have parents. Stung, Key tells Robyn that he doesn’t want to be around someone so mean. Laurel, who is crying, agrees with Key, and they both leave the church.

Alone in the church, Robyn gravitates toward the moon shrine. She wishes her parents were there to guide her and touches the sun and moon diagrams. When she places her hand on the sun etchings, the warmth of the stone reminds her of her mother. She feels the presence of her parents in the shrine and lies down on the ground, willing herself to sleep. When she awakens in the middle of the night, she can see the full moon overhead. To her surprise, the curtains are glowing in the moonlight.

When Robyn looks closer, she can see the words “darkness” and “hope” (251) glowing on the curtains. However, she cannot see how the disjointed words are linked. Looking for clues, Robyn decides to climb the second stairway. It leads to a door with a keyhole that reminds her of her mother’s white stone pendant. Robyn wonders if her mother’s pendant is the key to the door. She suddenly recalls Tucker’s books on moon lore and wonders if the library book Eveline had suggested is among them. Robyn finds the book in Tucker’s stash and, leaving him a note that she has borrowed it, heads to the Tree House. On the way, she can see screens flashing with her wanted poster. When Robyn reaches the tree house, it is empty.

In the tree house, Robyn worries that Laurel and Key have left for good. Nessa Croft’s broadcast plays on the radio, congratulating Robyn Hoodlum for her act of bravery. Robyn digs into the library book she borrowed from Tucker, which retells the origins of the moon lore. According to lore, when the universe was young, the Light and Shadows were apart, as they were oppositional forces. Over time, Light and Shadows met and fell in love. They ran to a corner of the universe and gave birth to their daughter, Earth. When the universe discovered the breach, it cursed Light, Shadows, and Earth to remain separate. Light was balled up and thrown into the sky as the sun. The Earth twisted around the sun, yearning for her mother. When Earth saw the sun, Shadows disappeared. At night, the Shadows came, but the sun could not be seen. Thus, the family could never be together at one time.

In time, Earth’s own children, humans, forgot this ancient story. The children of Light and Shadows fought like the universe had predicted. The children of Light built great palaces, while the children of Shadows burned fires in the night, reuniting light and shade briefly. Shadows was happy and gave them the moon, which too combines the essence of light and dark. Yet, the dream of reunion remained incomplete since the children of Light craved only power and forgot the children of the Shadows. The enmity grew, and the Earth, troubled by greed and violence, began to come apart in storms, earthquakes, and fires.

Robyn stops reading the story, overwhelmed. She recalls her parents often referring to moon lore, calling rain “the tears of Earth’s mother” (269). Moon lore has always been a part of her heritage, but Robyn was not paying attention. Now she knows moon lore has an important part to play in her quest but still cannot see a clear path ahead. Just then, Laurel, wet from the rain outside, climbs into the tree house. Robyn is overjoyed to see her; the friends hug, and Robyn promises Laurel she won’t be mean in the future. Laurel tells Robyn that she does have parents, but she does not know where they are.

While Laurel sleeps, Robyn figures out how to use the TexTers for messaging. They will come in handy for staying in touch with Laurel during a mission; the chances of texts getting apprehended are minimal since no one pays attention to the old cell phone towers. In the morning, Key visits the tree house, still angry with Robyn. They argue, with Key telling Robyn that she does not believe in cooperation. For instance, she does not understand that the moon lore is not about one person, but about the Crescendo, or all the believers in Light and Shadows, coming together. Robyn is frustrated at Key for being enigmatic all the time. She and Key are interrupted by the sound of Laurel crying in pain. They hurry to her and see the telltale rash of stingbug infection on her abdomen.

Robyn and Key take Laurel to the cathedral to seek Tucker’s help. Robyn leaves Laurel with Key in the church, hands him a TexTer for updates, and rushes off to procure antibiotics and, hopefully, meet Scarlet at the library.

Scarlet takes Robyn into the library by hacking the door code to the staff entrance. She tells Robyn that they’ll be hacking into the city’s computer network with the modem; because modems are obsolete, wired technology, no one monitors them anymore. They can track people’s IDs through the Nott City database, but to get information about the prisoners, they will have to connect to the physical terminal that runs the system. Robyn asks Scarlet to hack into the BioNet system so they can break into Sherwood Clinic and procure medicine for Laurel. Scarlet tells her they will have to connect to the physical terminal at the clinic to do that.

Robyn and Scarlet head to the locked pharmacy section of the clinic, and Scarlet hacks the keypad. Inside the pharmacy, they find the antibiotics. Getting away with the medicine will be tough, as not just the bottles, but even the pills are tagged and will be read by the clinic’s InstaScan system. The only solution is for Scarlet to hook the modem to a computer and keep the sliding doors open so Robyn can rush out without being scanned. Robyn decides to trust Scarlet with the modem and agrees to the plan.

Just then, they hear footsteps. Robyn and Scarlet duck. Thankfully, one of the people is Merryann, who volunteers at the clinic. Merryann spots Robyn and diverts the others away. When she returns, she and Robyn discuss the stingbug epidemic. Though Merryann is loath to believe her uncle is evil, she does acknowledge keeping people away from bitterstalk leaves is bad. Robyn requests Merryann to keep her signature green post-it note, taking responsibility for the heist in the pharmacy. Scarlet works the doors open, and Robyn runs out.

Merryann joins Robyn and Scarlet on their way to the cathedral. As they discuss the crisis in Nott City, Robyn asks Merryann if she knows the location of Centurion Gate, where her parents may have been taken. Merryann turns pale and refuses to believe Robyn’s parents are in Centurion Gate. She knows the place but is reluctant to reveal the details. She denies that her uncle has ordered murders since everyone in Castle District thinks Crown is working for the betterment of Nott City. Robyn and Merryann argue, with Robyn calling Merryann deluded and entitled. Merryann walks away in anger. Robyn regrets having revealed their hideout in the church to Merryann.