My Unfair Godmother by Janette Rallison Page B

necklaces into the pockets of his robe. None of them were expensive, but still. “Hey, stop that,” I said walking over to him.
    “You can’t take those.”
    He smiled a nearly toothless grin. “I’m simply admiring them.”
    “Well, admire them in my jewelry box, not in your pockets.” Another of the Merry Men had thrown open my closet and pulled out shirts. “Behold the finery,” he called to the others. “Her wardrobe puts the king’s to shame.” And then he looked at me accusingly, as though I had been hoarding shirts.
    “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.

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    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?”

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    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