“I thought they’d be asleep,” Cricket said in a small voice. “I thought the toxin knocked them out, like putting them in a temporary coma.” She glanced up at the next frozen dragon and flinched away. “But these dragons — are they awake in there? So they can see everyone watching them? Do you think it hurts?”
“It does,” Blue said. “Swordtail says getting stabbed feels like fire burning every nerve in your body. Eventually the pain fades, but you’re still paralyzed, so all you want to do is run or fly or even blink, but you can’t move a single muscle until the toxin wears off.” Everything about Misbehaver’s Way featured in his recurring nightmares.
“I didn’t know,” she said. “I can’t believe this was right here and I had no idea. I’m a terrible dragon.”
“I don’t think so,” Blue said. He inhaled sharply as they rounded a bend in the path. “There! That’s Swordtail!” He darted forward, skidding to a stop at the base of Swordtail’s column.
Swordtail’s paralyzed wings were spread wide, his tail frozen as it lashed back and forth. One of his front talons was outstretched, the claws curved as though he was about to slash someone’s face. It was a little scary, honestly, seeing his friend on the attack like that. Swordtail’s expression was determined and desperate, as though this was his very last chance to save the world.
“Hey,” Blue said softly up at him. Swordtail couldn’t react, but Blue knew he could still hear. “It’s me, Blue. This is Cricket. We’re going to — what are we going to do?” he asked Cricket. “Pick him up and carry him out of here?”
She wrinkled her snout at him, a glimmer of her cheerful side sneaking through for the first time since they’d stepped onto Misbehaver’s Way. “I’m sure that would be very inconspicuous.” She crouched on the cobblestones, took off her bag, and unrolled the pouch of vials. They gleamed like raindrops on flower petals in the light shining from above.
“I don’t know if this will work,” she said, pushing her glasses higher on her snout. “I thought we needed to wake him up … but maybe this one would be better … ” Cricket selected a liquid the color of grass and gave Blue a wry, nervous look. “At least, we use this to save plants that have been poisoned.”
“On plants?” he said. “Is it safe for dragons?”
“I think so?” she said. “Have I ever tried it on a dragon? Not exactly. But it shouldn’t make things worse, anyway.”
This was not the most comforting answer. Blue looked up at Swordtail, wishing his friend could give him some sort of sign. Was Swordtail willing to risk a mysterious, unproven possible antidote from a strange HiveWing? Or would he rather be left alone?
Who am I kidding? Swordtail would risk anything to save Luna. I’m the one who would find it too scary.
“Do you want me to try it on him?” Cricket said. “I understand if you don’t.”
“I do,” Blue said. “I think we have to.” He glanced back along the deserted path. He had a feeling that everyone in the Hive was at home recovering from the queen’s mind control earlier, and that was why they’d seen so few dragons out. But he was also afraid that Wasp might seize control of them again at any moment. He couldn’t imagine trying to fight his way out of the Hive alongside Cricket — but with Swordtail, they might stand a chance.
And Swordtail would be able to rescue Luna. He was strong and brave and not afraid of HiveWing soldiers.
“All right,” Cricket said. “How am I going to do this? Let’s think.” She poked through the vials and drew out the tweezers she’d used on the flamesilk in the library. Blue hadn’t even noticed that she’d brought them along. “Find me a big rock,” she said to Blue.
That wasn’t too hard here. Blue found a loose cobblestone and kicked it until he could wobble it free. He brought it to Cricket and she beat her wings once, twice, three times, just enough to lift her up to the light over Swordtail’s head. Here she hesitated, glancing down.
“Can you cover his eyes for me?” she asked Blue. “And keep yours closed, too.”
Blue climbed up to balance awkwardly on the corner of the pedestal, where he could lean sideways and put his talons over Swordtail’s eyes. Obediently, he closed his own as well.
There was a smashing sound from above him, and tiny bits of glass pattered down all over him and Swordtail. He shook his head and squinted open his eyes into the new brightness.
“Sorry about that,” Cricket said. “Are you all right?”
He nodded. She was using the tweezers to work the flamesilk thread out. He couldn’t look straight at her or the thread without getting a headache.
A moment later, she had it free. He hopped down to the ground and she took his place on the pedestal. With a few careful strokes, she burned through Swordtail’s wrist cuff in the same way she’d burned off Blue’s. Blue met Swordtail’s eyes as the heavy band clunked to the ground. He didn’t think he was imagining the spark of jubilation in them.
“All right, moment of truth,” Cricket said. “Would you mind passing me the vial? Very very carefully?”
He uncorked it and held it high, keeping his claws as steady as he could while she reached down for it.
“Now you might want to hold your breath,” she said. “Clearsight only knows what this could do to us. Eep, this is such a cool experiment! I feel like a real scientist, don’t you?” She took a deep breath herself and dropped the flamesilk into the vial.
The liquid started bubbling furiously. Cricket clamped the tweezers around the vial and held it out under Swordtail’s snout. Green smoke boiled up from the top of it, enveloping Swordtail’s face in a thick emerald cloud.
Blue stared up at them, his heart pounding.
Please work, Blue prayed. Please, please be all right, Swordtail. Clearsight, if you’re listening, please set him free.
They waited several long, agonizing moments, all three dragons frozen in place.
And then Swordtail twitched suddenly, violently, knocking Cricket off the pedestal with one flailing wing. Blue jumped to break her fall. The vial shattered on the stone path, spilling what was left of the hissing green chemical. Cricket scrambled over to pick up the flamesilk in her tweezers again, tucking the thread into a small stone jar with a tight lid that she’d also had hidden in her bag.
Swordtail let out a gasp. His jaw clenched. His eyelids closed. And slowly, he lowered his reaching talon, shaking it hard as though it had been asleep.
“Swordtail?” Blue said.
“Blue,” Swordtail croaked. He opened his eyes and gingerly inched his head around to look down at them. The poison seemed to be wearing off gradually, from his face through his wings and back and at last to his tail.
“Do you feel all right?” Cricket asked him. “Anything weird? How’s your nose? Did that hurt? I hope it didn’t hurt, but it might have, I don’t know, the plants can’t exactly tell us if it does. Are you dizzy? How are your lungs?”
Swordtail raised one talon to feel the trickle of dried blood on his neck. “All right,” he said thickly.
“Cricket,” Blue whispered. “Are his eyes supposed to be turning green?”
The whites of Swordtail’s eyes, around his normally dark blue irises, were turning a shade of emerald green only slightly paler than the liquid from the vial.
“Oh, fascinating,” Cricket said. “Why would that happen? Is it affecting your vision? Can you see all right?” she asked Swordtail.
He blinked a few times. “Bit greenish,” he offered. “No, wait. Uh-oh. Definitely bad. Blue is all the wrong colors.”
“Oh, no,” Blue said. “That’s just paint, don’t worry.”
“Huh,” Swordtail said. “Sure. Sounds normal.”
Swordtail crouched, then arched his back into a stretch like a jungle cat. He flared his wings and leaped down from the pedestal, landing in a wobbly sprawl.
“Ooop,” he said. “Legs. Disagreeing with me.” He sat down heavily and frowned at his feet. “Whoa. Very demanding legs.”
“Cricket, you’r
e a genius!” Blue said. “I can’t believe that worked!”
“Neither can I,” she said. “I should write a paper about this! No, a book! I mean, it’s a real scientific breakthrough, right? We could —” She stopped, realizing what she was saying. “Oh … no, I guess I can’t do that.”
“The queen probably wouldn’t appreciate it,” Blue agreed.
Swordtail looked at them, a gleam in his newly green eyes. “But I know some dragons who would be very interested,” he said. His voice was only a little bit slurred now. “Very very very ever so very interested.”
Does he mean the Chrysalis? Blue wondered. He glanced back along the path, at the other frozen figures. Would they set all these prisoners free, if they knew how Cricket did it?
And if they did … what would happen then? He imagined all the prisoners staggering off their pedestals, green-eyed like Swordtail, all of them angry and free at the same time. Would they attack HiveWing soldiers? Or would they all run away? What does the Chrysalis want, exactly?
Swordtail shook his wings out again. “Blue! Wow. I can’t believe it’s you! I mean, it’s amazing that it’s you. You here, all kinds of amazing.” He opened and closed his mouth a few times as if trying to make all his muscles work again. “That is, I mean, of all the dragons I might have expected to come rescue me,” he said, “you and a strange little HiveWing are probably the last on the list. But thank you. Did I say thank you? I’ve been thinking thank you very loudly, probably should say it a few times.” He touched Blue’s shoulder with one of his talons, then let go and gave an odd hop sideways. Swordtail’s whole body seemed to be vibrating just a little bit.
“Io tried to get me away,” Blue said, “but we had to split up. Cricket saved me.”
“Are you all right?” Cricket asked Swordtail. “What are you feeling right now?”
“What happened to Luna?” Swordtail asked, all his manic energy suddenly focused on the question.
Blue shook his head. “I’m not sure — but we think they’ve taken her to where the queen keeps all her flamesilks. We think it might be in or near Wasp Hive.”
“So that’s where we’re going next,” Cricket interjected.
Blue blinked at her. That sure sounds like she’s coming, too. He didn’t want to ask; he was afraid to jinx it. But he smiled at her when she looked his way, and she smiled back.
“I should get help,” Swordtail said. His tail had started lashing back and forth, like a whip, but he didn’t seem to notice. His claws extended and closed; his ears flicked up and down. Even his antennae were fully unfurled and waving around. “Help is a useful thing! There are dragons I can reach out to —”
“The Chrysalis?” Cricket asked. “How will you find them? What can they do?”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “How do you know about the Chrysalis?”
“She doesn’t,” Blue said quickly. “She knows as much as I do, which is pretty much nothing.”
“Then it should stay that way,” Swordtail growled. His shoulders twitched, making his wings flutter up and back. “Let’s see. It would take a while. Leave a message, wait for a response. We’d have to find a safe place to hide.”
“Blue doesn’t have time to wait for other dragons,” Cricket said. “He needs to get as far away from this Hive as possible before dawn. That’s when the queen is going to take over everyone again and send them out looking for him.”
“You can stay and contact the Chrysalis if you want,” Blue said.
“But we’re leaving right now,” Cricket finished.
We are, Blue thought with a little glow of happiness. Cricket and me.
“To find Luna?” Swordtail asked.
Blue nodded.
“Then I’m coming with you,” he said. “Yes. To save her! That is the most me thing to do. I am most definitely coming with you.” He flexed his claws and bounced in place for a moment. And then Swordtail suddenly ran at the stone pedestal and smashed his shoulder into it.
“Swordtail!” Blue yelped.
Swordtail looked at him, grinning. Large cracks had appeared all along the stone. “Look what I did!” he said. “I feel like I could knock over everything! All the columns! Any building! The whole Hive!”
“Shhh,” Blue said with alarm. “Cricket? Is this normal?”
“I have no idea,” she said, wide-eyed. “What I gave him is sort of a stimulant — and it does make the plants grow bigger and faster.”
“I feel bigger!” Swordtail declared at a horrifying volume. “I feel FASTER!” He turned and sprinted away down the path.
“Uh-oh,” Cricket said. “Um. Any chance he’s always like this?”
“No!” Blue cried. “This is definitely weird!”
“Hmmm,” she said. “How long do you think it’ll last?”
“How would I know?!”
CRASH! went something up ahead of them. THUD! SMASH!
“Ha HA!” Swordtail shouted.
Blue bolted after his friend, Cricket close behind him.
They found Swordtail merrily lifting enormous rocks and throwing them at the wall of the Hive. Even paralyzed, the two nearest prisoners somehow managed to look alarmed.
“What are you doing?” Blue yelped, catching Swordtail’s arm.
“Making us a door!” Swordtail answered. “I’m in construction, you know! This is totally my job!” He lifted another boulder, which looked much heavier than anything Blue could have picked up, and hurled it at the wall. The treestuff was already splintered and cracked, with several small holes in it. “Hey, GRASSHOPPER!” Swordtail shouted, making Blue jump. “Look how hard I’m working! Are you happy NOW?”
“Swordtail, please be quiet,” Blue begged.
“It’s probably too late for that,” Cricket said, glancing back along Misbehaver’s Way.
“Take THAT!” Swordtail yelled. He heaved an entire stone tablet out of the ground and threw it as hard as he could. It smashed right through the side of the Hive and plummeted out of sight.
Blue stared at the gaping hole that was left. Fragments of treestuff feathered out on all sides of it and wood-smelling dust hazed the air. This is vandalism! he thought. And destruction of Hive property! There are definitely rules about this! Possibly on that tablet Swordtail just hurled through the wall!
On the other side of the hole he could see clouds rimmed with moonlight and the far-off lights of another Hive. Where other dragons are having a perfectly normal evening that doesn’t involve getting painted, hiding from soldiers, or watching their friends lose their minds.
“Let’s go!” Swordtail cried, charging toward the opening.
“I can’t,” Blue said. “We’re too high. I don’t have wings, remember?”
“I’ll carry you,” Swordtail said enthusiastically. “I can do it! I’m as strong as ten dragons! I can carry BOTH of you! At the same time!”
“Absolutely not, thank you,” Cricket said. “My own two wings work perfectly fine.” She turned toward Blue. “I think we have to go out this way, don’t you? We can’t go back. There must be guards coming to investigate the noise.”
“Are you sure you want to come?” Blue said. “You could go home now. You could be safe and stay out of this whole mess.”
“And never find out what happens?” She adjusted her glasses and smiled at him. “Are you kidding me?”
Swordtail flapped his wings at Blue. “Time to fly, short stuff!” he shouted.
“By all the Hive, Swordtail, what is happening to you?” Blue asked.
Instead of answering, Swordtail shot a long strand of silk at him and snared Blue’s shoulders. He tugged Blue closer and wove several more strands into a quick harness to bind them together. Blue noticed that Swordtail’s silk had also turned a strange new shade of pale green.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Blue said nervously as Swordtail clasped his front talons around Blue’s chest. This close to the hole, he could see the rippling grass far, far below him. “I’m not that light and i
t’s a long way dow —”
“TO THE MOONS!” Swordtail hollered, leaping out into the air. Blue felt a terrifying plummeting feeling in his stomach as they lurched awkwardly for a moment, down and down again toward the savanna, and then suddenly up, sideways, and up, and finally away, beating forward at a steady pace.
The wind whipped in Blue’s face. It was cold out here in the dark, after the close warmth of the Hive. He peeked backward and saw Cricket soaring alongside them.
“Get it?” Swordtail said conversationally. “Because Luna is like lunar, which means moons, so ‘to the moons’ is like ‘to Luna’ but in code, so, awesome. I thought that was clever.” He kept chattering as he flew, as though he couldn’t stop the flow of words coming out of him.
Blue looked back again, this time at the vast shape of Cicada Hive and the silvery tangles of the webs far overhead. He thought of Burnet and Silverspot, sleeping alone in their cell for the first time since Luna had hatched. Could they sleep? Or were they lying awake, wishing they’d been wrong about Admiral, worrying about Luna and Blue?
Will I ever see them again?
His home was disappearing behind him. He didn’t know what was ahead.
He only knew he couldn’t turn back, and so he looked out toward the dark savanna and let his friends carry him forward into the night.
They flew all the rest of that night, swooping low to the savanna whenever the moons breached the clouds, just in case anyone was watching for them.
Swordtail charted a course straight across the circle toward Wasp Hive, which made sense, but quickly brought them to a part of the savanna where dragons rarely ventured. The grass was long and wild, and shapes prowled below them. Growls and shrieks and curling hoots rose from the darkness, slicing through the constant hum of the insects.