Page 19 of Kings of Sherwood

“Not untrue,” Tuck cuts in.

“—or cult member,” Rob finishes.

“Arguably also true,” Tuck mumbles.

“Guy at the bar asked if I wanted to help him with a hit job,” LJ interjects. “Fucked up.”

Rob flowers. “And bastards like the guys last night think they can just—think they can just...”

“I’ll check on the Jag,” I interrupt, “soon as I’m, you know...” I wave a hand in front of my face, “back together a little.”

“It’s not about the damn car!” Rob roars. His words ring throughout the tiled surfaces of the kitchen, leaving only birdsong in the silence that follows, and the distant spring of the toaster popping up another round.

I don’t say anything.

“It’s aboutyou, Maren,” Rob finishes. “And hell, anyone else—your new girlfriends at the bar, the people down in town.” He shakes his head. “I don’t like this. I don’t want people to see Sherwood as some kind of fucking free-for-all for criminal activity.”

“Well, look who’s discovered a moral code all of a sudden,” Will says, eyeing Rob. “What is this? Crimes for me and not for thee?”

“It’s different,” Rob says shortly. “It’s all different, and you know it is.”

“Is it?” Will says delicately, casting a sideways glance at Rob.

“It is.”

“Oh yeah? Then how?”

“I don’tknowyet,” Rob says. “Okay? I. Don’t. Know. I’m trying to—” He runs a hand through his hair. “I’m figuring this all out on the fly, okay? Give me a fuckin’ break.” He stands up from the table. “Be in my room. See if I can get some of those old scanners going.”

“Let me,” Will says. “I’m the one who—”

“No,” Rob says, and Will sits back down in his seat, chastened. “I’m doing it.”

He strides off.

“Well,” Will says after Rob’s footsteps fade. “How the turn tables.”

“I’ll say.” Tuck glances nervously around the table, then grabs a piece of toast for himself and eats half of it in one bite, chewing rapidly. Inspired by him, I take a bite of my own toast, and for dry toast, it’s pretty damn good. I take another bite.

“I hate to press the issue or...put us in a different direction right now,” Tuck says when he’s done chewing, “but does anyone else feel like we’re only looking at half of the situation here?”

“I think we’re looking at too much of the situation,” LJ says. “I would have left this backwater three weeks ago.”

“Okay, yes,” Tuck says, “but besides that...”

“I think I know what you mean,” I say, polishing off my piece of toast. “All the stuff Guy was talking about, right?”

“Yeah.” Tuck chews his lip. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. If things are getting—I don’t know—violent or something around here, then I don’t think we should just sit idly by just because we don’t know the bigger, um, mystical forces at play. But at the same time...” He grimaces. “I mean, shouldn’t we figure out what the potential of this place is, if there even is any? Although...” He second-guesses himself. “I suppose Guy could have been lying. He certainly lied plenty to Maren, but—”

“No.” I interrupt him before either of the other two can speak. “I think you’re right.”

“I say look if you want to, but don’t expect to find much,” Will puts in. “Humans really aren’t that complicated.” He sticks out his thumb, ticking off options. “Sex. Money. Power. That’s all that matters. Beyond that, very few motivators.”

Tuck slumps a little. “I just think maybe we could find something. If we searched again. Before, I was only looking up, you know, general mythology, theories of shifting and how it works. Nothing to do with this place. I mean, I’m not even fromaround here.” He glances out the window like there might be an answer written on the leaves of the trees. “I don’t know...what I don’t know,” he finishes.

And you don’t like not knowing stuff, I think.

“It’s a good idea,” I say on a yawn. With one piece of toast down, gravity seems to have been turned up on my body, and I fold my arms on the table to make a pillow for my head.

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