Shadows of Sherwood by Kekla Magoon

shelves above him. The snacks and provisions in the cabin might last another day or two, but no longer. Robyn hoped they wouldn’t need to.
    Late into the night, like clockwork, the screen corners lit up from time to time, and Crown’s stern voice shared another bulletin with the citizens of Nott City. Each time he revisited the new strange horrors, it all felt a little deeper. More real.
    Concrete walls were being built between the districts, with monitored checkpoints for crossing in between.
    The Notting Wood, once public land, had been declared private government property. Citizens from most counties—all but the Castle District, it seemed—were not to enter the woods anymore without permission.
    Crown’s desire to crush all rebellion was taking a hard toll on Sherwood.
    Everything—
everything
—was going to change.
    Robyn was too numb to feel any additional fear. She couldn’t even comprehend what all of these changes meant for Nott City.
    Robyn stared at the shelves. She stared at the annoying screen space. Her mind clicked around the problems at hand. Her parents had not come for her, despite her deepest hope. She now knew they might never come, though she still didn’t want to believe it.
    Across the room, Key sat wakeful, gazing through the small window at the leaves, the sky, the moon. She could tell by the soft, studious expression on his face that he was trying to read the moon. Her father used to get that very same look on his face, late in the night, from the moon porch on the roof of Loxley Manor.
    â€œWhat does it say?” she whispered.
    Key’s attention shifted to her. “Nothing,” he answered. “At least, I don’t know.”
    â€œOh.” Key was older, and seemed to know about things. Robyn had hoped he might understand more than she did.
    â€œIt’s okay to fall asleep,” he says.
    Robyn sat up in the darkness. “I can’t.”
    â€œI was kidding before,” Key admitted. “You can trust me.”
    â€œHow do we know you won’t sneak out the second we’re asleep and turn us in?”
    â€œThe woods are off-limits to everyone,” he says. “In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m an outlaw, too.”
    Robyn had noticed. She’d wondered, in fact, how Key could seem so calm in the face of everything. He moved around the tree house with familiarity. Whatever had sent him running to live in the woods must not have happened recently. “I—”
    The screen snapped on again. Key groaned and covered his ears. Laurel’s tiny frame twitched under the blanket, but she didn’t wake.
    â€œIf we put on a movie or a show, would it block these messages?” Robyn asked.
    Key shook his head. “No, I’ve tried. Crown’s signal overrides whatever you’re watching.”
    â€œWhy is he doing this?” Robyn asked. The segments now played on a loop, repeating themselves. The same information, hour after hour. Though it had all seemed new at first, apparently there were only six original reports. Now everything was a rerun.
    â€œIntimidation. He wants to remind everyone that he’s in charge. Everything happens on his terms now.” Key sounded sure, and it made enough sense that Robyn believed him.
    â€œHe must be a horrible person,” she said.
    â€œUnderstatement,” Key agreed.
    Robyn remembered Crown a bit better now. He had offered her candy once, at a party a long time ago, before he was elected governor. A chewy caramel-nut bar that didn’t happen to be among Robyn’s favorites. If she had liked the candy, things might have gone differently. As it was, Robyn remembered, she merely glanced at the slender bar in his hand, then looked him square in the eye and said, “I don’t take candy from strangers.”
    â€œI’m not a stranger,” he answered.
    â€œHow can I be sure of that?” she told him. “You seem strange