Greenwild

The hydra plant freezes, ostensibly at the examiner’s command, but not in time to prevent the Prof from being bitten. (Daisy will later learn that she is the one who actually freezes the plant.) Daisy lunges forward and drags her friend to safety, and the examiner scolds the girls for their recklessness and gives them a demerit. The Prof notes that this second demerit will almost certainly doom her chances of entering Bloomquist.

Daisy waits impatiently for news from Artemis’s messengers. She and the other children note that the Heart Oak has begun to look “sickly,” which the Prof explains is a sign that “there are traitors at Mallowmarsh” (240). During a moonlight planting session to plant magical seeds that grow from “lunarsynthesis,” the Prof tells Daisy about the “Moonmarket,” an “in-between place” (243) that appears only on the full moon and allows Botanists to travel between the different areas of the Greenwild.

The next morning, Daisy reads a botany handbook to distract herself from her worry over Leila. She finds an entry on a “wishogg” or “wishing pomegranate” (246), a rare plant that grants almost any wish (although it cannot bring someone back from the dead). When Daisy visits Hal, he observers that she seems happier, and she credits her gardening work in Mallowmarsh. Despite this, she still does not consider Mallowmarsh to be her home, and she also feels conflicted about sometimes being happy with her life even though her mother is still missing.

Hal and Daisy observe that their work has led the garden to bloom. Daisy comments that she had always considered her mother’s stories about magical plants to be fantastical, but Hal states that the boundary between nature magic and nature itself is blurry.

Artemis complains about the irresponsibility of a Botanist named Cuthbert Quirk, who delivers a marmoset through the parakeet-powered Greenwild mail system. As time goes on, the children look forward to taking classes in the Seed Bank. Several of the plants in the bank have also been supplied by Cuthbert Quirk. Brightly Marigold, the librarian of the Seed Bank, is cagey about her son’s return from Bloomquist for the holidays. She stealthily warns Daisy to “watch out for Sheldrake” (257).

While musing over Brightly’s cryptic warning, Daisy overhears Ivy’s father cruelly criticizing Ivy. However, she doesn’t reveal what she has overheard, fearing that doing so would wound Ivy’s pride.

Suddenly, Daisy remembers Craven’s map of Peru and realizes that the map must be a crucial key to finding the lost Botanists. She suggests to her friends that they all go to the Grayside by “parapost,” the parakeet-powered mail system.

Daisy’s friends are shocked at her suggestion, but she explains that they can use the shrinking plants in the Seed Library to make themselves small enough to travel by parakeet. The Prof refuses, fearing the possibility of losing her chance to join Bloomquist, but Indigo and Acorn agree. That night, they steal the “minum moss,” which will shrink them for three hours. Daisy, Indigo, and Acorn shrink themselves and mount their parakeets, then hurry away even as the Prof tries to stop them. They fly into Grayside, all the way to the High Herald offices, but they are dismayed to find the window of Craven’s office shut tight.

Daisy uses a lightning seed to burn open the lock on the window. They sneak inside the office and find the map, which has a place marked “G.R. Secure Facility.” Another paper is headed with the phrase “G.R. Fac—Inmates” (272) and a list of names that includes Leila and the Prof’s grandfather. The three children take the papers, but before they can leave, Craven enters the office, kills one of the parakeets, and closes the open window. Daisy uses the lightning seeds to distract Craven and break open the glass window. She then pulls Acorn up onto her parakeet so that they can both escape, but she also cuts her leg on the broken glass in the process. They manage to return to Mallowmarsh mere moments before they return to their regular size. Captain Malarky and the Prof come running toward them.

Daisy recognizes Artemis’s terror as Artemis scolds the children for their reckless endeavor. Daisy, wracked with guilt for urging her friends into danger, sobs as Miss Tufton soothes her. She cries herself to sleep, only to be awakened later when Indigo bangs at her door. Daisy learns that Sheldrake is now arguing against a rescue mission; if the children do not reveal what they found in Craven’s office, their journey will have been for nothing. Daisy and Indigo race to where the adults are meeting and present the map and the list of “inmates.” Artemis calls for a vote, and the adults rule in favor of mounting a search-and-rescue mission for the lost Botanists.

The next day, as Daisy and Artemis head to Acorn’s birthday party, Artemis apologizes for her harsh words to Daisy, though she also reiterates that Daisy’s journey was reckless. Daisy finds the Prof having a panic attack over her failure to protect Acorn from taking the trip to the Grayside; the Prof thinks of Acorn as a younger sister. The girls apologize to one another and plan to undertake any future adventures together. They speculate that “G.R.” must stand for Grim Reaper. The Prof indicates that although she once considered her nickname to be an insult, she now considers it “a sort of honorary title” (289) that she has earned through her intellectual prowess.

The party grows boisterous as the Mallowmarsh residents celebrate both Acorn’s birthday and the planned rescue mission. However, the revelry is disrupted by the news that Bill Sparkler, Acorn’s father, has disappeared in the Amazon. Daisy notes that the Heart Oak has deteriorated further, and she and her friends realize that this development confirms the presence of  a spy in Mallowmarsh. They conclude that they cannot risk a rescue mission until the spy is discovered; if the spy were to report on the group’s movements, Craven would be able to attack them as soon as they leave the Greenwild.

Daisy, who is certain that Sheldrake is the spy, proposes that the Five O’Clock Club tail him. They surveil him for days but find nothing suspicious, so they decide to intercept his mail instead.

Daisy and Hal discuss the Moonmarket in the secret garden; Hal admits that he has snuck out to the market in the past. He also confides that he hopes that to one day meet one of his father’s family members at the Moonmarket, which is run by the Moon Travelers, his father’s community of origin. Daisy likens Hal’s desire to her own longing to speak to her father again. Hal plans to go to the Darkmarket, a black-market side of the Moonmarket, in order to investigate the theft of rare plants and animals. (The Darkmarket is run by the Grim Reapers.) Hal derides the Reapers’ practice of engaging in environmental destruction for capitalistic gain, and he announces his plans to fight against the Grim Reapers when he grows up. Daisy wishes that she could warn him of the truth about his future.

Indigo and the Prof delight in what they learn from the mail, especially the many messages that Brightly Marigold sends to her son, Max. Sheldrake’s mail reveals that he plans to meet “M.D.” at the Moonmarket that evening. Daisy tells her friends about the connection between the Darkmarket and the Reapers, but because she is physically and magically prohibited from revealing her interactions with Hal, she cannot tell them how she knows this information.

The children are called to fight a large invasion of giant slugs that quickly destroy the centuries-old rose garden. The Botanists spend hours corralling the slugs. After they’re done, Ivy approaches Daisy to announce that she no longer thinks that Daisy is the spy because she knows that Daisy would never hurt Acorn’s father. Ivy explains that “slugnip,” a plant that attracts slugs and is normally used to lure them away from plants, has gone missing. This fact suggest that someone let the slugs loose on purpose.

Daisy runs back to Artemis’s treehouse, worried that the slugs were a distraction to steal the dandelight. She finds Miss Tufton unconscious and the dandelight’s hiding place empty. When Miss Tufton awakens, she cannot identify her attacker. Daisy is certain that Sheldrake was the culprit, but Artemis is equally certain that he was not. Daisy, Indigo, and the Prof plan to go to the Moonmarket, certain that Sheldrake intends to give the dandelight to “M.D.” (The Prof is determined to go, even she will get a third demerit, which will keep her from attending Bloomquist.) That night, the children follow the moonlight river’s magic to the Moonmarket, which leaves them unable to return to Mallowmarsh until the moon sets.

The Moonmarket bustles with Botanists, as every pocket of the Greenwild has the ability to access the market. The children follow Sheldrake, noting that they must return to their boat before 5:00 am, lest they end up stranded in another part of the world. They weave through many vendors, all of whom are selling mysterious and magical plants. They then follow Sheldrake to a pub called the Dancing Salamander, where he meets with Matron Daggler.

Daisy wonders whether Matron Daggler could be a corrupt Botanist. She watches as Sheldrake passes something to Matron, then disappears. Suddenly, the “moon police” appear to apprehend Matron. Matron, who was fully aware of Daisy’s hidden presence, grabs the girl and threatens her with a knife to prevent the moon police from approaching. Daisy stomps on Matron’s foot to escape, but Matron grabs Acorn and dives into the icy river. Daisy follows them but cannot find Matron and Acorn. When she returns to the Moonmarket, she cannot find Indigo or the Prof, either. She searches for them and realizes too late that she has found her way into the dangerous Darkmarket. She turns and finds herself cornered by ominous-looking men.

Daisy spots Brightly Marigold, who is astonished to see her in the rough part of the market. The men retreat, and Daisy mentally castigates herself for believing that she and her friends could “fix everything themselves” (595). Daisy explains the events of the evening, and Marigold reassures her. As moonset approaches, Daisy worries that they are going the wrong way, but Marigold disregards her concerns. Suddenly, someone uses a drugged handkerchief to render Daisy unconscious.

Later, Daisy awakens in the cabin of a ship. Acorn is there, too. The two fear that they will never escape, but feel more optimistic when they hear Napoleon outside.

Daisy and Acorn scrape mud from their boots and bury rose hips from their pockets beneath the dirt, then scream to lure in the guards. Daisy digs deep emotionally, recalling all the times she has seen plants behave magically around her, and she spontaneously causes vines to sprout. When the guards open the door, they are distracted by the vines. The girls almost escape, but Marigold seizes Acorn and threatens her with a knife. Daisy realizes that Marigold is the spy. When Napoleon distracts the children’s attackers, Daisy uses the vines to knock them down. Acorn quickly binds the dazed adults.

Marigold confesses that she is working for Craven because he has kidnapped her son, Max. She admits to stealing the dandelight so that she could trade it for her son; she also stole the ghost orchid to help Max survive, even though each seed that he uses takes a year from her own life. She is content to sacrifice her life for her son. Marigold reveals that she has already delivered the dandelight to Matron, who will in turn deliver it to Craven. Craven plans to attack Mallowmarsh that very night.

Daisy and Acorn lock up the adults, then steer the ship back to London. They hurry to Kew Gardens and return to Mallowmarsh. With Daisy’s magic powers now active, she can sense the plants along the dark path to Mallowmarsh. They race toward the town but find it already in flames. Mallowmarsh residents frantically try to put out the fire, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Craven gleefully spreads gasoline throughout the area and lights matches as Artemis tries to restrain him with magic vines.

Daisy watches in horror as a group led by Matron Daggler chops down the Heart Oak. Artemis, whose magic is bound to the oak, dies at the very moment that the tree is felled. Sheldrake surges forward to guard Artemis’s body, and Napoleon licks her face, magically resurrecting her. Meanwhile, Daisy approaches Craven.

Daisy quickly picks Craven’s pocket, stealing the dandelight before he can react. She then climbs the Great Glasshouse as Craven follows her. He threatens her with a knife that is charged with a lightning seed and tries to take the girl’s daisy necklace, which he reports having stolen from Leila after killing her. He reveals his plan to “hand over Mallowmarsh to the Reaper King” (352) so that he will be “rewarded.” Daisy tosses the dandelight, and when Craven drops the lightning knife to grab at it, the Great Glasshouse shatters. Daisy summons vines from below to rescue her and catch the dandelight while Craven falls to his death.

Daisy’s magic vines fling her far from the battle, which rages on. She races to Hal’s secret garden and finds that a sapling has grown in the place where she dropped her coat during her first visit. She realizes that the sapling must have grown from Leila’s seed, which she had believed to be lost. The sapling has produced a wishogg, a wishing pomegranate. Daisy recalls that when she was at Wykhurst, she wished for aid while holding the seed, and it let her travel in time to meet Hal; she then realizes that Hal is her father. Daisy also realizes that taking the wishogg will mean that she can never return to the secret garden. She and Hal bid tearful farewells, and she urges him to visit Iran (where he will meet Leila in his future).

Daisy returns to the battle and wishes for the Heart Oak to be restored. As it regrows, she watches as the Botanists, including Marigold and Sheldrake, fight against Craven’s men and chase them into the Sighing Forests, condemning them to become trees of regret. Overwhelmed by the events of the evening, Daisy loses consciousness.

Daisy wakes to the sounds of Indigo and the Prof playfully bickering. Her friends, as well as a healed Artemis, report that Craven has died and that Daisy has slept for days, recovering from her debut display of green magic. Daisy sleeps again; when she wakes, she peruses Hal’s journal, which features beautiful botanical illustrations and labored writing. Daisy also speaks to Artemis, who is fully aware that she is Daisy’s grandmother. Artemis explains that Hal had undiagnosed dyslexia; his own father treated him cruelly because of his challenges with reading and writing. Artemis explains that she had assumed that Hal’s “imaginary friend” Daisy was a response to this cruelty; she was therefore astonished when, decades later, she met a girl named Daisy who so closely resembled her son.

Daisy explains about the secret garden, and Artemis reveals that Hal did indeed go to live with his father’s Traveler relatives. He began saving plant specimens from the Darkmarket, then joined forces with Cardew, going undercover on a mission to bring down the Darkmarket entirely. However, when Hal found the ghost orchid, Cardew betrayed him and sold it to the Grim Reapers, who are motivated to destroy nature for their own capitalistic gain.

Artemis reports that Marigold died in battle, fighting on Mallowmarsh’s behalf. Max, her son, escaped Cardew’s clutches, and the Botanists continue to search for him. Artemis says that she “can’t answer” Daisy’s questions about Sheldrake, nor does she know why the Grim Reapers are abducting Botanists. Artemis grimly stresses the importance of continuing to fight against the Reapers.

Artemis explains that the dandelight, which she gave Hal years ago, helped her to recognize Daisy, as did Brutus the dog’s happiness upon seeing the girl. She reveals that Sheldrake is Hal’s father; he and Artemis separated years ago after Sheldrake’s cruelty drove Hal away. Daisy explains that her real name is Diana, after her grandmother. (Diana is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis.)

Daisy hurries after the Prof, Indigo, and Acorn, who are in high spirits because their demerits have been rescinded; they are once again eligible for Bloomquist. Upon checking their test results, the Prof, Indigo, and Daisy learn that they have all passed, as Daisy, not their teacher, was the one who paralyzed the hydra plant.

The children later attend a community celebration that shows the beauty and restored glory of Mallowmarsh and the Heart Oak. Indigo is overjoyed when his fathers return from their trip, and even more so when they report that they have been seeking a teacher for their son who focuses on animal magic, not plant magic. At this show of parental support, Daisy is reminded of her grief over her mother. She is delighted when Cuthbert Quirk delivers her a letter in Leila’s handwriting, which proclaims that Leila is alive.