Page 9 of Kings of Sherwood

Zayn. Our only ally on the other side, who’d finally told us he’d had enough.

Or toldthemhe’d had enough. He had savedmylife, after all.

But he’s gone. Or close enough to.

“Not now,” Rob says, answering the unfinished question, though his tone suggestsnot ever.“Better just to catch whatever scuttlebutt we can.”

“Scuttlebutt?” Will says, incredulous.

LJ chuckles. “What is this, a damn pirate ship?”

“Y’all know what I mean,” Rob says, nodding at me. “Like Maren was saying. Gossip. Word on the street. Just gotta figure out what the party line is about...all that went down.”

Sipping my coffee, I rack my brain for what story evenapproachingplausible you could tell about four shapeshifters smashing and burning down a greenhouse to kill another one.

I can’t think of anything.

And that puts me on edge.

Therewerewitnesses, after all. The sheriff, at the very least, and the other party guests—maybe even Uncle John, if he hadn’t left.

What were they saying?

What did peopleknow?

Suddenly, the possibility of staying holed up here and waiting it out seems downright laughable.

“I could check the internet,” Tuck says. “Run some keywords through all the various social APIs to pull trends and—”

“No,” I say. “Sorry to interrupt, Tuck. But no. We’ve gotta hear it from people.”

“What, just go out there and start interviewing people?” Will says. “Thatwouldn’t seem suspicious.”

“I thought youwantedus to get out of our hidey-hole,” Rob says, eyes gleaming and a smile playing at his lips. “Maybe now my idea doesn’t look so bad, does it?”

“Notinterviews,” I say. “Just...I don’t know. Walk around a bit, take in the vibes. See what’s going on on the ground.”

“It’d have to be somewhere safe,” Tuck says, then frowns. “Well, relatively speaking, anyway.”

“The kind of place they don’t call law enforcement for every little thing,” Rob agrees. “Kind of place with plenty of shady corners and shady characters.” His smile starts to grow.

Will scowls at him. “I don’t like where you’re going with this.”

“You never do,” Rob says, and slaps his knees. “You know what? I’ve come around on this plan. I say we go into town.”

“You do?” Will gapes.

“Sure,” Rob says. “Why the hell not? We’ve never really taken Maren out on a proper date, anyway.”

I blink at him. “A date?”

“Yeah, you know—drinking, dancing, getting your ass kicked at pool?” Rob winks at me. “Surely you’re familiar with the concept.”

Now it’s my turn to scowl. “I am,” I say hotly. “In theory, anyway.”

Tuck’s mouth falls open. “You’ve never been on a date?”

I fold my arms. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything!”

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