As she travels, Poppy fantasizes about her secret desire: being a ballroom dancer like the pictures she saw in a human magazine once. She pulls herself out of her daydream by reminding herself that “a live mouse is an alert mouse” (66).

Meanwhile, Mr. Ocax circles above, paranoid and questioning the mice’s true intention behind their request to move—do they know what Mr. Ocax knows about New House? He reminds himself that “an alert owl is a well-fed owl” (68) and continues to search for Poppy. Poppy reaches a river crossing and hesitates, wondering how she will return home; she thinks of Ragweed and is fortified. She nearly drowns in the river but saves herself just in time. Mr. Ocax gives up his hunt when he thinks she has drowned. He flies to New House and is horrified to discover that “it” is still there, on top of the barn. Poppy climbs out of the river to find herself at the foot of Mr. Ocax’s tree.

Poppy enters Dimwood Forest. She finds it an imposing place, dark with tall trees and full of unfamiliar scents. The unfamiliarity and the darkness frighten her, but she thinks of her family and finds her courage.