by Kekla Magoon
“Wonderful. When they get here, we can all go home,” Lucille Loxley said.
Robyn’s ears perked to that. “Home?” she echoed. “What do you mean? Aren’t we here?” For some reason she’d thought they’d be staying with Nessa for a while.
Her parents both looked at her. “We’ll be going back to Loxley Manor shortly, of course,” her mother said.
“But—no,” Robyn cried. “We can’t.” Her throat choked up and her eyes overflowed. Returning to Castle District meant things would go back to how they used to be. The thought caused her to burst into tears.
Merryan hugged Robyn harder. She was crying, too. “It’ll be okay,” she said.
“How? How will it?” Robyn cried. Scarlet paused her typing and looked up. She moved her foot, nudging Robyn’s toes with hers.
Key sat down on the sofa next to her. “Hey,” he said. “We won, remember?”
A very bouncy Laurel scampered closer, perching on the back of the sofa, close to Robyn. “Yeah, we won,” she echoed.
Robyn struggled to hold back her sobs. It didn’t make sense to cry now, when everything was fine. The worst was over.
But the idea of heading back to Castle District struck her hard. Loxley Manor was forever tainted by the things that had happened there. Her memory of the Night of Shadows was strong. Would she ever be able to walk into that kitchen and not remember seeing her father’s blood on the floor? And, that whole past life was tainted by the knowledge that living there had separated Robyn and her father from the community that was rightfully theirs. Sherwood.
“You know, everything isn’t magically fixed because Crown is removed,” Robert said. “There’s a lot more work to be done to put Nott City back together the way it should be.”
“I know.” Robyn sniffled. “But can’t we do it from here, in Sherwood?”
Robert looked thoughtful. “I don’t know. Our work is with Parliament, and that’s in Castle District.”
“You want to stay in Sherwood?” her mother asked, with surprise.
“I fit here,” Robyn told them. “I found friends here.” They clustered around her now, all in their own way trying to attend to her sudden sadness.
“We’ll think about it,” her father said.
Robyn threw her arms around Key and Laurel, smashing Merryan close in the process. She nudged Scarlet’s foot back with her own. “It’s just that—I’m not the only one who needs a good place to live.”
Mrs. Loxley looked at her husband. “Well, they did save our lives.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “We always intended to have a bigger family.”
Robyn held her breath. Her parents studied the faces of her daughter’s friends. Laurel. Key. Scarlet. Merryan. The thought of turning them out into the cold … no. They could never.
“We can’t abandon Loxley Manor,” Mrs. Loxley said. “It’s a family legacy.”
Robert shrugged. “We wouldn’t be abandoning it. We’d be embracing a different family legacy.”
“In Sherwood!” Robyn exclaimed.
“We can get you a good deal on a brownstone,” Key suggested. “We have the technology.”
Scarlet grinned impishly. “Sure. You are the great hero of Sherwood, after all. I can peek into the For Sale listings and find you something great.”
Robyn shook her head. “Not ‘you,’ ” she corrected them. “Us.”
Robyn and her friends grabbed warm chocolate chip cookies off straight off the cooling rack. Mrs. Loxley and Nessa had been busy cooking meals and treats for everyone all afternoon.
“We’re going out,” Robyn reported. “It’s way too crowded in here.” Now that the freed people had arrived, the house was a jubilant mess of recuperation and celebration, and they were all feeling underfoot.
“Be back by sunset,” Mrs. Loxley said. “I know you kids are used to running around unsupervised, but I’m here now. Dinner’s at seven.” She gave them a stern look, which slowly faded into a smile.
“Sure, Mom.” Robyn ran across the kitchen and hugged her. “We’ll be hungry. We promise.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Loxley,” Merryan said politely, raising her cookie.
“Let’s go,” Laurel said. “First things first. Toothbrush sheets!”
Key rolled his eyes. “That is not even remotely our first stop.”
“Why not?” Laurel protested as she slid on her shoes in the front hallway.
“Too mundane,” Scarlet agreed.
Laurel was indignant. “There is nothing mundane about toothbrushes,” she declared.
“Oh, for—” Scarlet giggled as she bumped Laurel’s shoulder. “There’s so much better trouble we can cause. You need to have a greater vision. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do.”
Robyn and her friends ran out the door, laughing. “Sherwood hasn’t seen the last of Robyn Hoodlum!”
Acknowledgments
I remain deeply grateful to my family and the many friends who support, uplift, comfort, and inspire me as I work. Special thanks to Will, Alice, Liam, and Iris for keeping me well fed when the deadlines were looming. Also, thanks to Nicole Valentine, Emily Kokie, Sarah Badavas, Cynthia Leitich Smith, Kerry Land, and Michelle Humphrey for their support, as well as all of my colleagues at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Finally, thanks to my agent, Ginger Knowlton, my editor, Mary Kate Castellani, and the entire team at Bloomsbury, who combine their creative talents to transform each book from an idea to a reality.
Copyright © 2017 by Kekla Magoon
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Magoon, Kekla, author.
Title: Reign of outlaws / by Kekla Magoon.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury, 2017.
Summary: Twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley has seventy-two hours to decide between sacrificing herself to save her parents and friends, or continuing to lead the rebellion to rid Nott City of Ignomus Crown once and for all.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016402 (print) • LCCN 2017035048 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-61963-657-6 (hardcover) • ISBN 978-1-61963-658-3 (e-book)
Subjects: | CYAC: Robbers and outlaws—Fiction. | Adventure and adventurers—Fiction. | Government, Resistance to—Fiction. | Rescues—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.M2739 Rei 2017 | (print) LCC PZ7.M2739 (e-book)
DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016402