“Everyone has a lot of clothes now,” I said, and went to take the hangers from his hand. “I’m not one of the rich, if that’s what you’re thinking. Far from it.”

Robin Hood still scanned the street. “Wench,” he called to me,

“how can I procure one of these cars?” Wench? “My name is Tansy,” I said. “And will you please tell your men to stop pawing through my stuff?” Robin Hood glanced lazily around the room. He let out a bird whistle and the men grudgingly turned their attention to him. I winced. If Dad and Sandra heard weird noises coming from my room, they would come in. How was I going to explain the presence of a dozen smelly men dressed in ratty clothes and wielding swords?

“Unhand the wench’s things,” Robin Hood said. “I want to go forth and discover what the world has become. Who is with me?” The men let out a shout of agreement, still clutching shirts, knickknacks, and scented candles.

“Shhh,” I called to them. “My dad and stepmother are down the hallway.”

“How many men at arms be at your castle?” Little John asked.

60/356

I vaguely remembered from my reading days that men at arms were soldiers.

“This is a small house,” I told him. “Only my family lives here.” Will Scarlet took hold of my doorknob and opened the door a few inches. I nearly threw myself against it. “You can’t go out there.

Someone will see you.”

Robin Hood gestured out the window to the neighbors’ homes.

“And the other buildings nearby, are they small houses as well?”

“Yes,” I said. “Mostly.”

Robin Hood and Little John exchanged a look and grinned. Robin Hood, unlike so many of his men, had straight, beautiful teeth. Still, his smile made me uneasy.

I stepped away from the door and held my hands out to Robin Hood, pleading. “Look, you need to stay put until I can get hold of my fairy godmother. She had a job interview to go to, which is probably why she’s not answering me, but that can’t take long. Then we’ll get this straightened out and she’ll send you back to your home. In the meantime, you need to be quiet.”

I had barely finished speaking when I heard Nick at the door. He knocked then said, “Dad says to turn off your iPod and go to sleep.” I didn’t have my iPod on. “Okay,” I called back.

I hoped he would go away, but he opened the door instead. “What are you listening to anyway? It sounds like—” He stared at the occupants of the room with wide-eyed surprise and then took in my long dress and hair. His voice dropped to an indignant grumble. “You’re having a costume party in your bedroom?

Aren’t you in enough trouble already?”

“It’s not what it looks like,” I said.

He rolled his eyes in disgust. “Whatever. It’s your life. Who am I to stop you from wrecking it?”

61/356

He shut the door harder than he needed to.

I turned back to Robin Hood. “That was my stepbrother, Nick.”

“He bore no weapons,” Robin Hood said.

“People around here don’t carry weapons. It’s illegal, and it’s not polite either. Which reminds me, could you ask the Merry Men to sheath their swords?”

“The who?” Robin Hood asked.

“Your Merry Men,” I repeated. “That’s what history calls them.” Robin Hood chuckled at his men. “Did you hear that? History knows us, and thinks we are merry.”

“We’ve been called a far sight worse,” Friar Tuck said. He was standing by my jewelry box again.

Another man snorted. “I’d be merrier if I had a spot to eat.”

“I can get you food,” I said, then wondered what to serve them. In the movies, the Merry Men always ate fire-roasted rabbits and stuff like that. I would find something. “It will take me a few minutes,” I told Robin Hood. “Can you control your men until I get back?”

“Of course,” he said, like it was a ridiculous question.

As I put my hand on the doorknob, Robin Hood took hold of my elbow. “One question before you go. What does history say of me?” With his blue eyes staring down at me, and his hand touching my elbow, I felt like a giddy fan again. “You’re a hero. You robbed from the rich to give to the poor.”

“Ahh.” He nodded, processing this. “History has been kind.”

“I’ve got a book about you. You can have it if you want.” I went to my shelf and took down The Adventures of Robin Hood. “My father read this to me when I was a little girl.” I put the novel in his hands and felt myself blush. “I’ve admired you for a long time.” One of the men laughed and in a low voice said, “As have many women.”

62/356

I hadn’t meant it like that, but there was no explaining that now.

Besides, Robin Hood had smiled when I said I admired him. He flipped open the book, first looking at the pictures, then the text.

“I’ll be back soon,” I said, then slipped out the door.

Down the hallway, Dad and Sandra’s door was shut. The TV

blared from their room. They had probably turned it up in an effort to drown out my “iPod.” Good. I hoped that meant they would stay put. I took hold of my skirt and lifted it so I could hurry down the hallway without tripping over it. If my parents saw me, they would wonder why I was wearing a long dress and my hair was in a bun.

But I didn’t have a choice about my wardrobe right now. It was better to keep the men busy with food until Chrissy came back.

I was microwaving chicken nuggets when I heard the crash. It was a familiar enough noise since I had already heard it twice that night—the sound of a window shattering. I left the kitchen and ran back to my room. When I opened the door, Little John pointed a sword at me and yelled, “Halt!”

I did, not because of the sword, but because of what the Merry Men were doing. They had not only broken my window; they’d laid my comforter across the remaining shards in the window frame and were proceeding to climb outside.

“What are you doing?” I walked over to them, hands in the air.

“Do you know how expensive windows are? You could have just opened it.”

Robin Hood sent me a half smile and bowed slightly. “Though we appreciate your hospitality, we must be on our way.” Friar Tuck heaved himself out of the window. I was so agitated I made little steps toward it, then toward Robin Hood, then back to the window. “You can’t leave. You have nowhere to go.” 63/356

Robin Hood remained unworried. “We shall live off the land. It is our way.”

“You’re in the middle of a neighborhood,” I protested. “There’s no land to live off of.” I motioned for the men outside to come in. Not only did they ignore me, but more climbed out. “You won’t find any deer,” I told them. “We don’t have wild animals roaming around unless you count stray cats.” The men kept going out the window without regarding me. As I watched them leave, frustration rose in my throat.

“Robin,” I said, “don’t go.”

He smiled and tucked one of my ringlets behind my ear. His voice took on a silky tone. “I regret I cannot stay and fulfill your wishes in that regard.”

His men chuckled, and a few made comments about my wishes.

I flushed in embarrassment.

“ ’Tis true your beau, Bo, has failed you,” Robin Hood said, stroking my cheek, “but I’m unready to stand up with any woman, even one as beautiful as yourself.”

“That wasn’t why I … I’m not …,” I sputtered. “Don’t you want to go back to Sherwood Forest?”

Robin Hood’s hand slid from my cheek to my shoulder. “You brought us to a new land—a fortuitous event, indeed. The sheriff’s men have death warrants on our heads, and they recently took to setting dogs on our trail. So, no, returning to Sherwood is not a pressing matter.” He took one of my hands in his, then lifted it to his lips and gave it a brief kiss. “And now I must bid you farewell.” After dropping my hand, he gestured to Little John. The big man left his place guarding my bedroom door and climbed out the window with more agility than I expected.