“Oh — good,” Swordtail said. “Great. Um. Hello, Chrysalis.”

“What kind of secret organization just admits who they are to any idiot who walks in?” Sundew muttered. She flicked her tail, swiping Cricket with the billow of her cape. “They have no idea who he is or who he’s with!”

Cricket crouched to get a clearer view through the shelves, but she could still only see three dragons in the reading nook. Was that it? The whole Jewel Hive faction of the secret SilkWing rebellion was … three arguing dragons?

“Why were you looking for us?” demanded the dragon with bright blue wings. He was the owner of the first voice — Morpho, if Cricket remembered right. His torso was dappled with iridescent sea-green scales and little patches of white ran down his tail, but he had clearly been named for the color of his wings, which were nearly as vibrant as Blue’s.

“Maybe he wants to join us,” said the pale yellow dragon hopefully. “Do you dream of a better world, friend?”

“Do you agree that all Silk-Wings should refuse to serve any HiveWings in the Glitterbazaar?” the blue dragon demanded. “And that we should make lists of all the SilkWings who do so we can go yell at them?”

“Oh, honestly, Morpho,” said the third dragon, rolling her eyes.

Swordtail cleared his throat nervously. “Um … my name is Swordtail. I’m part of the Cicada Hive Chrysalis — I mean, sort of — I was about to be. Me and Luna. And now she’s missing. Have you heard anything about a dragon named Luna recently? Has she come to you for help, maybe?”

The three dragons blinked at him in confusion.

“I don’t know anyone named Luna,” said the yellow dragon. “I’m sorry,” she added as Swordtail’s wings drooped.

“She’s a flamesilk,” he said. “We rescued her, but she might have been recaptured by Wasp Hive. Have you heard anything like that? A SilkWing taken prisoner over Dragonfly Bay in the last five days?”

They all shook their heads, and Swordtail’s wings drooped even more. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Maybe she’s hiding with another wing of the Chrysalis?”

“Maybe,” the yellow dragon said gently. “We haven’t heard anything.”

Cricket reached over and squeezed one of Blue’s talons. He looked so worried and sad … she wished she had a tiny fraction of Clearsight’s power so she could have a vision of Luna and let Blue know his sister was all right.

“Is that why you’re here?” asked Morpho. “Just looking for another SilkWing?”

“Not just that. My friends and I were hoping you could help us,” Swordtail said.

Morpho squinted at the shelves behind Swordtail, while the other two dragons exchanged a worried glance. “Your friends? Who’s with you?”

Swordtail turned and beckoned. Sundew rolled her eyes at Cricket. “Very thorough introduction, Swordtail,” she whispered. “This is going to go great.”

Blue stepped out first, sliding up beside Swordtail. Before he could speak, the yellow SilkWing jumped forward with a gasp.

“You’re the one from the Wanted posters!” Her pale yellow antennae unfurled all the way and she stared at him as if he were a tree who’d just sprouted illegally in the middle of the library floor.

“Hey, I was on the posters, too,” Swordtail pointed out.

“Are you really a flamesilk?” the third dragon asked, reaching toward Blue’s talons and then catching herself and pulling back.

“Yes,” he said, turning his wrists upward so she could see the embers glowing under his scales.

“Oh, wow,” she said. “That was the rumor but no one will officially confirm it. How did you escape?”

“And wasn’t there a HiveWing on that poster with you?” Morpho asked suspiciously.

“That’s how,” Blue said to the dark orange dragon who was studying his wrists. “And that’s why she’s wanted by the queen, too. She helped me escape.” He turned and held out one talon toward Cricket. “Cricket?”

Cricket took a deep breath and stepped out to stand beside him. Morpho leaped back and hissed in alarm. The other two seized blankets off the floor and threw them over their heads with high-pitched yelps of terror.

“It’s too late!” Morpho snapped at them. “She’s already seen your faces. I told you this was a stupid meeting place!”

“No, you didn’t!” cried the small dark orange dragon from under her blanket. “You suggested it!”

“Cinnabar’s right,” agreed the muffled voice of the yellow dragon.

“It’s not important who’s right!” Morpho shouted. “Although it was me! But what’s important is that there’s a HiveWing right here and what are we going to do about it and also it was your fault we couldn’t meet at my better suggestions, so there!”

The yellow dragon winced, and Cricket noticed that one of her back wings, sticking out from under the blanket at an awkward angle, was smaller than all the others. She wondered if the SilkWing could fly at all.

“Wait, wait,” Cricket said as the yellow dragon started edging toward the nearest aisle with the blanket still over her head. “You don’t have to hide! I’m a friend, I promise.”

“Friends don’t let their brains get invaded and betray the revolution,” said Cinnabar, pulling her wings and tail under her blanket and huddling into a small boulder as if she hoped everyone would forget she’d been there.

“That won’t happen,” Cricket said. “The mind control doesn’t work on me.”

The SilkWings fell silent for a moment, even Morpho, with his mouth half open. Then the yellow dragon threw her blanket off and stared at Cricket. Her wings — well, three of them — were long and narrow and her scales were a mix of pale yellow and pale brown, like bananas and cashews mashed together. She had dark amber eyes and gold stripes painted on her claws.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Nope. Not possible,” Morpho declared. “HiveWing LIE.”

“But it is possible, because there’s me,” Cricket said. “I know, it’s weird and I can’t explain it. The queen can’t get into my head, I promise you. I wish I knew why! I’ve been trying to figure it out my whole life.”

And the closest I’ve gotten is the theory that I’m half SilkWing. But nothing about me is very SilkWing — I mean, I think I look like a HiveWing from horns to claw tips. I don’t have a natural weapon, but neither do a lot of HiveWings. I know I’m different somehow … but I still feel like a HiveWing.

She decided not to mention the SilkWing theory yet. She needed more evidence first.

“This seems like a trick,” Morpho muttered. He stalked toward her and peered into her eyes. His were the same emerald green as his antennae, which curled and waved as though he was trying to sense the presence of Queen Wasp inside her.

“It could be true,” said the yellow dragon. “She could be like the ones we heard about.”

Cricket felt her heart speed up. “Other dragons like me? Who?”

“We don’t know for sure. Cinnabar, come out and tell her about the story you heard.”

The blanket boulder sighed enormously, and then the small orange SilkWing poked her head out. “If you’re going to keep using my name in front of total strangers, you could at least introduce yourself, too, Tau.”

“Oh, sorry,” said the yellow dragon gently. “I’m Tau, that’s Cinnabar, and that’s Morpho.”

“And I never said I believed that story,” Cinnabar pointed out. Her scales were a burnt orange with glints of dark red under her wings and along her spine. With a few black scales, slightly different wings, and a much scarier expression, she could almost have passed for a HiveWing.

“What story?” Cricket asked.

Cinnabar flicked the blanket off with her wings and edged closer to Tau. “It’s just a rumor. I heard it from a SilkWing who heard it from his cousin who heard it from a traveling theater performer. The whisper is that there’s a home for old dragons in Tsetse Hive, where none of them are allowed to leave ever because the queen can’t mind-control them.”

“Fairy-tale nonsense,” Morpho spat. “She controls everyone.”

“No, Morpho, you know that’s not true,” Tau said. “She doesn’t Hive-mind her sisters, or Lady Jewel.”

“She doesn’t?” Cricket tilted her head. She’d never heard that before.

“But she could, if she wanted to,” Morpho insisted. “She just doesn’t because she likes to give them the illusion of control. As long as they think they have their own Hives to run, they’ll bow and scrape and let her be the one who’s really in charge of everything.”

“You’ve said that before,” Tau said, a tiny sliver of impatience slipping through her peaceful mask. “But I am sure it doesn’t work on Lady Jewel. I’ve been with her when the whole Hive is taken over, like when the entire tribe was sent to find these two.” She gestured at Blue and Cricket.

“Three!” Swordtail protested, finally looking up from his talons. “They’re hunting for me, too!”

“She finds it very irritating,” Tau went on. “Her whole day is disrupted and all Jewel Hive business has to be put on hold and she has to sit for hours waiting for her subjects to come back. She can’t even hide how annoyed she is from the SilkWings who work for her.”

“That’s true,” Cinnabar agreed. “Even in the kitchen we can tell; it’s nonstop sugar orders all day.”

“That doesn’t prove anything,” Morpho argued. “Wasp probably enjoys knowing how annoyed Jewel is. I don’t believe there’s a single HiveWing she can’t control if she wants to.”

“Listen,” Cricket said reasonably. “If Queen Wasp could control me, would I be on a Wanted poster? Wouldn’t she just march me into her Hive from inside my brain? And use me to catch these two?”

Morpho opened and closed his mouth a few times.

“Oh, wow,” Cinnabar said. “You actually shut Morpho up for a moment. You can definitely be in my Chrysalis.”

“This is a trap!” Morpho exploded. “HiveWings can’t be trusted! None of them!”

“You’re just mad because this proves what Tau and I have been saying,” Cinnabar snapped back. “We could get HiveWings on our side if they were allowed to think for themselves!”

“I don’t know about that,” Swordtail said. “Cricket might be the only one.”

Cricket’s scarves felt too tight around her neck. He had to be wrong. The other HiveWings couldn’t be lost forever. She just had to find a way to set them free.

“I think you’re right,” she said to Cinnabar. “I mean, I hope so. Do you know anything else about Queen Wasp’s mind control? Like, how it works, or whether anyone’s ever managed to break free from it?”

Tau blinked and shook her head sadly. “Oh, I see,” she said. “You’re trying to free someone, too. I’m sorry; I’ve never heard of anyone escaping the mind control.”

“And even if they did,” Morpho growled, “all the HiveWings have had Queen Wasp in their heads for so long, they can’t think for themselves anyway. They’ll keep believing her lies, no matter how free you think they are.”

Cricket shivered, remembering her conversation with Katydid. I will get through to her. If I keep telling her the truth, she’ll have to hear me — she’ll have to believe me.

Something flashed outside the window, like silver catching the moonlight, but when Cricket turned to look, it was gone. The night beyond the glass was empty; only savanna grasses waved in the midnight breeze.

“I am not interested in wasting time on HiveWings,” Morpho said firmly. “I want to save SilkWings. There are enough of us to win if we join together and rise up!”

Tau was shaking her head. “There aren’t,” she said. “It’s too dangerous. Too many SilkWings would die. I’m sorry, Morpho, but we have no weapons, and they have the queen’s Hive mind.”

“Also stingers,” said Swordtail helpfully. “And venom. And toxic paralysis stabber bits.”

“Sounds like you need an army,” Sundew said, timing her dramatic entrance perfectly. She emerged from behind the bookshelves and threw off her cape. Her leaf-shaped wings gleamed gold and green in the lamplight.

The Chrysalis SilkWings all gasped. Tau sat back and pressed her front talons to her heart. Cinnabar crouched as though she didn’t know whether to fly or fight or scream. Morpho’s eyeballs looked like they were full of sunbeams.

“Luckily for you,” said Sundew, “we’ve got one.”

“Wait, but you’re not going to use it,” Blue interjected. “Right, Sundew? That’s why we’re here, because we’re looking for a better solution. We’re going to find an answer for your parents so they don’t restart the Tree Wars.”

“You heard these dragons — there isn’t one,” she said, tossing her head. “There’s no way to break the Hive mind. So, backup plan. I’m here to make contact with the Chrysalis. If the SilkWings are ready to join the LeafWings this time, maybe the new Tree Wars will turn out the right way.”

“But, Sundew —” Cricket started, horrified.

The LeafWing brushed past her and held out one talon to Cinnabar. “What do you say? Care to destroy the HiveWings together?”