Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon Page A

enough to me.”
    Crown laughed. “I’m a colleague of your father’s.”
    â€œHow do you know who my father is?” Robyn asked him.
    She didn’t like the cold smile she received in return. “He stands out in a room like this, don’t you think?” Crown said.
    Dad stands out in every room
, Robyn thought. He’s handsome and smart, not to mention a well-liked member of Parliament. But she knew enough to know that Crown didn’t mean those things. He was referring to Dad’s dark skin.
    â€œYes, he’s very well-known,” Robyn answered, to avoid being impolite. She couldn’t help adding, “Which is why some people who are strangers to me think they are not.”
    Robyn especially remembered Crown’s incisive stare following that comment. “Very well,” Crown said. He ripped the candy wrapper off and bit into it himself, right in front of her. “See? Perfectly safe.”
    But Crown had not made Robyn feel perfectly safe. Then or now.
    â€œYes, he’s horrible,” she whispered. She tried to push his leering grin out of her mind. Tried to picture Dad, instead. His wide brown face and big smile that lit up the room. He would have loved Key’s tree house. Dad was always looking for an adventure—Robyn got her restless bug from him, Mom liked to say. Lately Parliament had been enough of an adventure, though, and Dad had been concerned about all manner of things.
    Dad had known something was brewing, Robyn now realized, but Dad acting weird hadn’t seemed like such a big deal a few days ago. Everything with Dad was either very serious or very silly. If Dad was laughing, everyone was laughing. His laugh was loud, bursting and deep.
    Mom, on the other hand, rarely laughed out loud, but she constantly smiled. She had a soft, strong way about her that made her good at caring for people and for plants. Mom loved working in the garden, which was good because in other ways she was very proper and prim. Gardening meant Mom didn’t mind dirt, and Robyn was almost always getting herself dirty. Somehow Mom could get elbow-deep in her garden and be able to just brush herself off afterward, whereas Robyn could take a simple walk through the lawnand come back looking like she’d been through a tornado. They used to smile about it together.
    Robyn’s heart welled up. Would she ever hear Mom say,
There’s my smudged-up kiddo
, again? Or hug her and feel the warmth of the white stone pendant she always wore around her neck? When Robyn was very small, sitting on Mom’s lap, she would play with the pendant. If you closed it in your hand, it would grow warm. When Robyn asked why, Mom always said,
Because it’s special
.
    It had been so easy to think that things would always just be fine. Robyn and Mom had always teased Dad for his paranoid ways. Now Robyn wished she’d paid more attention to Dad’s lessons and drills, even if they seemed a little overboard. A simple alarm system wasn’t enough for her dad; he put in the security cameras because he wanted to be able to see if anyone came in and out of the house. He was more afraid of spies than of burglars . . .
    Robyn sat bolt upright again.
    â€œWhat?” Key said, startled. “What is it?”
    Cameras! The security cameras in Loxley Manor must have captured Crown’s men breaking in. The video would show what happened to her parents, too. Robyn had to get back to the house and view them. Then she would know for sure—did they somehow get away, like she did?
    â€œNothing, sorry,” Robyn told Key. He didn’t need to know what she was thinking about. Robyn lay back down, though her heart threatened to pound its way out of her chest. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She felt herself driftingalmost immediately this time. It helped, knowing what she had to do tomorrow. No matter what, she was determined to make it back to Loxley Manor and