Shadows of Sherwood

Mallet is in her office on a phone call with Crown. Crown heard about the medicine heist from Sherwood Clinic, and fearing a rebellion, he warns Mallet to get her house in order. After the call ends, MPs bring in a suspect they have apprehended while they were stealing bitterstalk from the forest. The suspect was found carrying Robyn Hoodlum’s green post-it notes.

Mallet can see that the suspect is not Robyn, but a teenage boy. This turns out to be Key.

When Robyn comes out of the shower, she hears a woman’s voice in the church basement. This is Nessa Croft, who often uses the church for her secret broadcasts. Robyn is delighted to see Nessa, a young woman with dark hair in ringlets. Robyn asks Nessa about her frequent sign-off message, which is also inscribed under dad’s hologram: “breath and blood and bone” (307). Nessa tells Robyn these are the elements: earth being flesh and bone, air breath, and water, blood. Additionally, every human being has a characteristic element, according to moon lore. Nessa asks Robyn to follow her heart, as the fire is alive in her. Fire is not one of the elements, it is the spirit or the soul that animates them. Those who have a strong fire are blessed. Nessa kisses Robyn’s head and leaves.

Laurel wakes up, looking much better from the medicine. After Laurel has showered, Robyn shows her the glowing curtain at the shrine. They wonder why the curtain is segmented in six sections; it occurs to Robyn that her father’s braiding technique involves six strands. Robyn braids the six curtains together and its disjointed words come together to create a message.

Robyn copies the cryptic message on her sticky notes, but she still cannot understand its meaning. It addresses the offspring of Shadows and Light who will discover her place. With the help of all the elements, she will inspire the people’s fight. Sun will find its place in the ancient rune, the crescent moon’s cradle.

Mallet is awake in her office, plotting how to lure Robyn out. She decides to begin the destruction of T.C. as part of her plan. Mallet orders her MPs to move at first light and take Key along with them: Robyn may want to surrender herself if she sees her friend in trouble.

Merryann surprises Robyn when she runs into the cathedral, calling her name. Merryann has a package for Robyn; it turns out to be the white stone pendant Robyn’s mother wears around her neck. After Robyn mentioned Centurion Gate the previous day, Merryann went home and checked whether Robyn’s information was true. Centurion Gate is the private dungeon in the governor’s mansion. Merryann found prisoners there, and Robyn’s mother handed her the pendant as a message for Robyn. Robyn is overjoyed that her mother is alive. Tucker bursts in to tell everyone the MPs are tearing down T.C.

T.C. is a scene of chaos, with MPs tearing down cardboard houses and makeshift tents. Mallet stands in the bed of a truck, shouting for Robyn to surrender herself if she wants to save the people of T.C. When Robyn doesn’t appear, MPs begin stuffing people in trucks and taking them away.

Mallet tells the crowd that Robyn does not care for them. When the crowd murmurs in response, Robyn springs into action. Scarlet, who has joined Robyn and the others, tells her they need a decoy Robyn. Robyn brings out her father’s broken hologram so they can project a life-sized image of Robyn to distract Mallet. Even though Robyn has changed its wires, the sphere is still not working. Scarlet tells her that what the sphere needs to work is not wires but Robyn’s “breath, blood, bone” (323), as its inscription clearly spells out. Robyn nicks her finger, drags the bloodied finger across the sphere and blows on it. The sphere comes to life. Scarlet begins to record Robyn through the hologram. Meanwhile, Mallet brings out Key, much to Robyn’s horror.

Robyn runs toward Mallet’s truck, as Scarlet projects her hologram over her pillar. Mallet and the MPs think Robyn is standing atop the pillar, and they move toward her. Robyn’s hologram asks Sherwood to unite and fight against the oppressors. Meanwhile, Robyn cuts the bound Key loose. Much to Robyn’s surprise, Key still seems angry at her. He says Robyn has made a mistake by coming to T.C. Everyone was willing to go to prison for her. Robyn and Key race out of T.C., and as she runs, Robyn’s black moonstone pendant and white sun pendant knock against each other and lock, their shapes matching perfectly. Robyn feels this represents Light and Shadows united and feels exhilarated, but just then Mallet catches her.

Overjoyed at catching the real Robyn Hoodlum, Mallet ignores Key, who is struggling against the MPs. Mallet spots Robyn’s pedant, recognizes its significance in the moon lore, and reaches for it. She is interrupted by Laurel, who dives on top of the MP holding Robyn and pushes Robyn into the crowd. They catch Robyn and take her to the edge of T.C., away from Mallet. Mallet knows she has lost this round. In vengeance, she asks the MPs to burn down T.C. and leaves.

Watching the flames, Robyn desperately thinks of Eveline’s question: “How do you put out a fire” (333)? Eveline had said her friends would help her answer the question, but everyone Robyn has asked has given a different answer. Key has said with water while Laurel with air, and so on. Robyn realizes that what she needs to put out the fire is her friends. However, Chazz appears beside her and tells her to let T.C. burn. He and the others will rebuild it and come back stronger.

As the fire rages, Robyn realizes that she has lost most of her possessions, including the hologram and the note containing the curtain verse. It feels like she has nothing, but she is buoyed by the newfound knowledge that she does have what she needs in the form of her friends. Merryann, Key, and Tucker attend to the injured at T.C. Meanwhile, Laurel tells Robyn she gave Scarlet the TexTer since she couldn’t figure out how to text. Robyn promises Laurel that she will teach her how to read. Scarlet texts Robyn, asking her to come to the cathedral. Robyn asks Laurel to come along, but first they have to make a detour to Eveline for answers. Laurel tells her she managed to retrieve some of Robyn’s stuff: the green sticky notes and the canvas map.

Robyn tells Eveline about the moon shrine and the curtain verse. Eveline believes the verse refers to Robyn. The verse is not a prophecy, but an explanation of Robyn’s powers. Robyn is not the first moon child to come along; such blessed leaders are born often to inspire the people. The special feature of such a leader is that they are born of the union between Light and Shadows: Robyn’s mother is a child of Light, and her father of Shadows. Eveline further confirms what Nessa said: The elements are people, every person having an affinity for a different element. Eveline can see Laurel is air, for instance, and blessed by Light. Eveline also tells Robyn that the arrow symbol of her father’s map represents the unity between the elements.

Robyn and Laurel find Key, Tucker, Merryann, and Scarlet at the cathedral. Key and Robyn make up, and Key reveals that he has a family though they are not related by blood. Key’s mother strongly believes in the moon lore. Robyn asks all her friends to gather around the moon shrine and tells them that she thinks they are all the elements, blessed by either Light or Shadows. Tucker confirms that this is in accordance with moon lore. According to Tucker, Robyn herself is fire, the spirit that unites elements.

Robyn leads the others to the second door and keys in the sun pendant. The door leads to a ladder that opens into the bell tower on top of the church. Inside the tower is written “Breath Blood Bone” and “Earth Air Water” (348), and on its floor are scattered broken arrows with feathered tails, much like the arrow symbol on the map. All of Nott City is visible from the crumbling tower. Robyn looks at the city and finally understands her purpose, which is to play her part in the rebellion.

At the government forensics lab, the techs examine the hologram sphere, hoping to repair it and retrieve information. Once they derive Robyn’s DNA code from the sphere, they will be able to track her anywhere.

A week after the T.C. fire, the six friends are working as a team to commit a massive food heist. Robyn leaves behind her characteristic green note, no longer feeling afraid. She steals from Crown and Mallet to feed the hungry people of Sherwood. Robyn will find her parents and help everyone she can, being an “Offspring of Shadows, Daughter of Light” (355).