43 pages • 1 hour read
Colin MeloyWildwood
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2011A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 17-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary: “Guests of the Dowager”
Now in Wildwood, a coyote guard marches Prue back to the warren. They lead her to Alexandra in the throne room. The Governess treats Prue kindly but denies any knowledge of what the crows have done with Mac. Alexandra also discredits the bandits and the avians: “A young girl as bright as you must understand the danger of becoming involved in affairs that are beyond your realm of experience. Things are rarely as simple as they appear” (302).
As Alexandra continues to explain the politics of the Wood to Prue, the girl becomes confused about who her allies really are. Meloy writes: Her whole world seemed to be spinning about her, flipping on its axis; up was down, right was left. It was as if everything, her entire worldview, had abruptly switched polarity” (307-08). Alexandra advises Prue to return home and promises to search for Mac and return him to his family. Confused and dispirited, Prue agrees to let a coyote guard escort her back to the border of the Impassable Wilderness.
In the warren prison, Curtis wakes to the sound of Septimus gnawing at the cable suspending his cage sixty feet above the ground. He orders the rat to stop immediately. At that moment, guards enter the prison with Brendan, and the other bandits are devastated that their leader has been captured.
Septimus scurries to Curtis to tell him that his friend has also been captured. Brendan confirms this but doesn’t believe Alexandra is going to hurt Prue. He says, “It’s strange, but I get the distinct feeling the Dowager is afraid of this girl” (305). Curtis tells Septimus to sneak back to the throne room to overhear whatever he can.
Septimus returns to report that the Governess lied about Mac’s whereabouts and is going to let Prue go. Curtis begins to call out to Prue, trying to warn her of Alexandra’s lies, but Prue is too far away to hear him. All the other prisoners begin shouting as well.
The guards try to quell the racket by shooting at the cages. Alexandra enters and orders the noise to stop. She tells Curtis that Prue is on her way home. He accuses her of planning to feed Mac to the ivy. Brendan is shocked, but Alexandra confirms the plan: “We’ve arrived at a deal, myself and the ivy. The plant requires infant blood. I require domination. One thing for another, quid pro quo. Seems like a decent partnership” (315). Brendan warns that the ivy won’t stop until it devours everything. Alexandra ignores the warning and orders Brendan be taken to the interrogation chamber.
Chapter 18 Summary: “On Returning; A Father’s Admission”
Alexandra has left all the prisoners to rot in their cages, but Curtis notices that Septimus is chewing on an old set of keys, which will unlock all the cells. Curtis eyes the distance between the farthest cage and the ladder leaning against the wall. He has an idea to free them all.
In another part of Wildwood, the coyotes have led Prue to a clearing where she can see the Railroad Bridge in the distance. When she reaches the trestle, she retrieves her damaged bike and Mac’s wagon and walks the rest of the way home. Prue’s distraught parents are relieved to have her back. She tells them the entire story of her adventure. Much to her amazement, they believe her. Unable to sleep that night, Prue goes downstairs at four in the morning to find her father at the kitchen table, studying a mysterious box with rune stones in it. He discloses that Mac’s disappearance isn’t Prue’s fault. In fact, her parents are to blame.
Years earlier, they bought a box of magical runes from an old woman in the marketplace. After casting the runes on a cliff overlooking the river, a ghost bridge appeared. In the middle was a brass bell which they had been instructed to ring in order to summon the Governess. They then made a deal with her that would enable them to conceive a child. Alexandra told them, “If you ever have a second child, that child belongs to me” (332). Now, Prue’s parents accept the consequences of their deal and are willing to let the Governess have Mac, but Prue isn’t. She announces that she’s going back to the Wood to rescue him.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Escape!”
Back in the warren prison, Curtis instructs Septimus to gnaw the suspension cable on the nearest cage to the ladder. Curtis opens his own cage door and swings his way over to the wall. From there, he is able to reach the ladder and free all the other bandits. They convince the lone coyote prisoner to join their group.
In Portland, Prue repairs her damaged bike, hitches Mac’s wagon to the back, and sets out on her journey back to the Wood. She reaches the cliff where her parents cast the rune stones and performs the ritual. A ghost bridge shrouded in mist opens up before her. In the middle of the bridge, Prue finds the brass bell her parents rang to summon the Governess. She rings the bell three times and thinks, “I’m coming, witch […] I’m coming for my brother” (350).
Chapter 20 Summary: “Three Bells”
Alexandra is communing with the ivy, reassuring the plants that they will be fed blood very soon when she hears the brass bell in the distance. “The bells,” she says, “That stupid, stupid girl” (354).
Prue crosses the ghost bridge and finds herself in an unfamiliar part of the Wood. She is apprehended by a rabbit who claims he is a constable; he says that Prue has entered the territory of North Wood. The rabbit then takes her to the fox sheriff. Once Prue explains everything that’s happened, the fox decides she should consult with the Mystics.
In the warren prison, the bandits lose no time in escaping. When they go in search of Brendan, they move stealthily until Septimus informs them that the entire warren has been evacuated. Alexandra and her troops are on the march.
Chapters 17-20 Analysis
The theme of outcast alliances once again dominates this segment as allies are lost and found with increasing rapidity. Prue’s conversation with Alexandra leaves her utterly confused about whom to trust. As she did earlier with Curtis, Alexandra represents herself as a kind and reliable ally. She drives a wedge into Prue’s conviction that the bandits and avians are trustworthy. Now utterly confused, Prue forms a temporary alliance with the Dowager, allowing Alexandra to take charge of the search for Mac while Prue goes back home.
Prue’s newfound trust in Alexandra is shattered as soon as her parents explain what happened on the ghost bridge. They, themselves, have made an unholy alliance with the Dowager in exchange for Mac’s life. Now that Prue truly understands who is trustworthy and who isn’t, she can return to the Wood and find her brother.
In the warren prison, Curtis is having his own problems with allies after Brendan joins the rest of the inmates. The Bandit King doesn’t trust Curtis because the boy fought on Alexandra’s side. It isn’t until Curtis explains that Alexandra is going to feed Mac to the ivy that Brendan begins to believe him. That budding alliance is short-lived because Alexandra immediately separates Brendan from his band and from Curtis when she sends him to the interrogation chamber. Although Curtis has temporarily lost the support of Brendan, he solidifies his bond with the rest of the bandits by finding a way to break them all out of jail.
This segment also reintroduces the symbol of Mac’s wagon. Prue abandoned it earlier in her quest, symbolically indicating that she didn’t believe in her own ability to save her brother. As she repairs her bike for the return journey, she redoubles hope that she can succeed. The surest evidence of this inner conviction comes when she hitches Mac’s wagon to the back of her bike and rides across the ghost bridge to retrieve him, no matter what.
