Cricket

TLC Special Edition

**Cricket** is a young female HiveWing and the main protagonist of *The Hive Queen*. She is interested in several fields of science, such as invention and botany, and is one of the only known HiveWings who is immune to Queen Wasp's mind-controlling ability. She is currently on the run in Pantala with Blue, Bumblebee, Sundew, and Swordtail.

## Description

Cricket has gold-orange scales speckled here and there with black scales that are described by Blue to look like inkblots, although on the *The Hive Queen* cover it looks like she has more dusty-looking black spots. She was described to have golden yellow talons in the book, but in all depictions of her she has black or dark brown talons. She has warm, dark brown eyes. She is smaller than Blue and has small, sharp claws like a leopard’s, as well as an open and curious face. She wears gold-rimmed, hexagonal spectacles like her father, Malacite, and a bag tied sideways across her chest. She is said to smell like books, apples, and cinnamon by Blue.

## Personality

Cricket is highly curious and inquisitive, and, much to Sundew, her parents, and her teacher's annoyance, is constantly asking questions about anything and everything, due to her fascination of science and eagerness to learn new things. She is slightly rebellious and often frustrated by the strict laws of HiveWing society, and she isn't as haughty or snug as most HiveWings are. Instead, she is empathetic, polite, and compassionate, as shown in several instances throughout the books. She also is kind yet firm, and is not pushed around easily. Cricket is also very open-minded as shown in *The Lost Continent* when Blue observed that she stopped to listen and think about what he said and weighed it against her ideas and beliefs. Cricket dislikes violence and conflict and wants the best for most dragons. Cricket is also extremely intelligent. This is proven on multiple occasions, a significant one being that in *The Hive Queen* when she found a library key hidden upon a statue of Clearsight with nothing more than a few very vague directions, 'Midnight. Library. Five,' when finding the Jewel Hive Chrysalis.

## Biography

### *The Lost Continent*

Cricket made her first appearance when she helped Blue, a young SilkWing, by pulling him into a shed that was hidden from the eyes of the pursuing HiveWings. After being asked by a rather confused and scared Blue, Cricket admitted that, for an unknown reason, she could not be mind-controlled by Queen Wasp like the rest of her tribe was. After escaping through tunnels located under the HiveWing school, Cricket brought Blue to an empty low-level library, where he began to feel dizzy. Cricket speculated that the HiveWings had probably injected him with a barb covered in sleeping toxin within his arm band, most likely implemented to make him easier to capture. After Cricket burned off Blue's arm band with a strand of flamesilk belonging to one of the library's lamps, he fell into a woozy sleep.

He woke up to Cricket's talons shaking him awake and voices echoing nearby. Cricket and Blue hid in the tunnels once again while three mind-controlled HiveWings searched the area; one of them was Cricket's own sister, Katydid, and another was an arrogant dragon named Bombardier, who believed that Cricket was madly in love with him. After the HiveWing trio had cleared the library, Cricket and Blue emerged into the light once more, where Cricket pulled a book off of a high shelf. From the book, they learned that if a SilkWing had one flamesilk parent, then they had a fifty percent chance of becoming a flamesilk as well. Leaving the library, Cricket led Blue through the school - she showed him her terrarium, where a little tree was growing in the middle. She explained that she had found its seed on one of her school gathering trips and that she hadn't known what it was until it started growing. Cricket told Blue that Professor Earthworm, a teacher at the school, wanted her to uproot it. Next, Cricket took Blue into an art room, where she began to paint him in a mix of dull browns, reds, and blues to hide his vibrant scales. They became closer in a moment in which Cricket told Blue about how Principal Lubber scolded her for her chaotic yet beautiful art. "Cricket, why can't you just draw a normal blue blueberry like all the other dragonets?" Blue imitated Principal Lubber, making Cricket laugh, saying: "That's exactly what she sounds like!"

Once they were out of the school, Cricket agreed to help rescue Blue's friend Swordtail from Misbehaver's Way. They found him frozen to his pedestal in an angry position, like he was trying to fight his way out of being paralyzed, but in obvious vain. Cricket held a bubbling green vial under Swordtail's nose to combat the HiveWing paralysis toxin, but the mixture also gave Swordtail green eyes and silk, extra strength and made him a little loopy. After Swordtail smashed one of the rule tablets straight through the Hive's treestuff, Cricket decided that it was time to go. Wrapping Blue's shoulders in a few strands of silk, Swordtail grabbed him and lifted off. They flew for most of the night, and by dawn, they were near to Wasp Hive's border. Eventually, they hid in a massive divot in the ground, flying to the bottom and down a tunnel once there, where they encountered a small pool of cold water. At the other end of the pool, they discovered a small campfire and a small creature reading a book that resembled a monkey, presumably similar to Pyrrhia's scavengers. After the monkey creature was scared away by Cricket's voice, Swordtail passed out near the fire, and Blue took first watch while Cricket slept as well. When night falls once again, Swordtail tries and fails to lift Blue - the stimulant had worn off, and Cricket had used all of it the first time; Cricket eventually came up with the idea for Blue to climb, with Swordtail's silk wrapped around him in case he slipped and fell. Near the top of the divot, Cricket and Blue found a small cave, where they curled up together and Blue got some much-needed rest while Swordtail returned to the bottom of the divot. After the HiveWing parties had stopped coming to search near the hole, Swordtail flew ahead while Cricket and Blue snuck through the savannah's tall grass.

When they finally are able to sneak into Wasp Hive, they hide in one of the queen's greenhouses. Unexpectedly, they are captured by three strange dragons - and, terrifyingly, they turn out to be LeafWings, the supposedly deadly and cruel mortal enemies of the HiveWings. They introduce themselves as Sundew, Belladonna, and Hemlock. They explained that if Cricket, Blue, and Swordtail wanted to live, then they would steal the Book of Clearsight and return it to them. Cricket's initial plan was to leave once the LeafWings had let them go, but Belladonna sent Sundew with them to ensure that they got the job done. Disguising Sundew as a SilkWing, Hemlock rubbed flower juice on her scales to add more color. Belladonna also tied two makeshift wings made of leaves to Sundew's back, instructing her to keep her real ones folded to make them appear more realistic. While Swordtail stayed with Belladona and Hemlock, Cricket, Blue, and Sundew went out into the Hive to finish their task. Sundew gave Cricket a large flower, instructing her not to crush any part of it; Cricket held it under the noses of the two HiveWings guarding the entrance to the to Wasp Hive, knocking them out but leaving them alive. Pushing aside two heavy wooden doors, they walked through a series of hallways until they were standing at the foot of the Temple.

Once they were inside, Blue and Sundew acted as Cricket's servants until Sundew got close enough to the guards to paralyze them. In the final room, Sundew was confronted by a dark voice, which turned out to The Librarian. After she ripped off her dark veil, Cricket realized that her eyes were fully white - the unmistakable symbol of the queen's mind control. Sundew attacked the Librarian from her side, and the two continued to fight while Blue picked up the bookcase key - dropped during the fight - and stole the Book. After Sundew had broken the Librarian's arm, she speculated that enough pain would make the queen exit her mind for a while; while the queen was mind-controlling someone, she felt everything that said dragon felt. Cricket opened a jar and shook a pair of bullet ants onto the Librarian's scales; after they bit her, the queen disappeared, and the Librarian's mind was her own for the first time in years. However, hundreds of brainwashed HiveWings were now surrounding the Temple with the intent to kill Cricket and Sundew and to imprison Blue. The Librarian tried to help them escape, but Wasp had invaded her mind again, causing her to turn against her new companions. Cricket and Sundew were unable to help Blue as he fell into the waiting talons of the HiveWings; as Blue threw the Book of Clearsight into Cricket's talons, they fled.

After a few days trapped in the flamesilk factory, Blue felt talons brush his through a hole in the building's wall; they were Cricket's talons, and she was accompanied by Sundew and Swordtail. After telling Luna - who had emerged out of her cocoon - and trying to convince his father, Admiral, to go with them, Admiral had refused and had tried to alert the watching HiveWing guards. However, Danaid, another of the imprisoned flamesilks, helped them by starting an argument that covered the noise of Admiral's warning. Knocking down the loose stones around the hole, they all escaped down a series of tunnels. Cricket, along with the rest of the gang, escape through the LeafWing tunnel. When it ends at the sea, she is ecstatic and begins to express hope at finding the Distant Kingdoms (the Pantalan name for Pyrrhia). Afterward, she shows the others what is written in the Book of Clearsight, and that the last vision recorded took place over a thousand years before.

Luna and Swordtail decide to go for a flight, and Cricket stays with Blue, discussing his metamorphosis, and assuring him that it will be fine. Luna and Swordtail are discovered by some HiveWing soldiers, and a fight starts. As Sundew rushes to help, Cricket is left with Blue, about to start his metamorphosis. She guides him to a cave she found for him to hide in while he changes, and stays with him while he begins to spin his cocoon, promising him that she will be right there "the whole time", and will be next to him when he wakes up. As he weaves his cocoon, Blue reflects that he is in love with her, even though he had been dropping hints about it all through the book.

### *The Hive Queen*

Cricket stood in the cave next to Blue (who was still experiencing his Metamorphosis), thinking about books and what her life was like before she met Blue. Sundew then entered the cave, dragging Swordtail with her. Cricket recalled Sundew's bravery and ferocity, along with the fact that she had insisted that they rescued Blue and Luna. She wondered if this was a form of kindness Sundew had hidden deep in her soul.

Cricket revived Swordtail with a plant Sundew gave her, and Swordtail immediately asked where Luna was. Both Cricket and Sundew had no idea, and they all seemed to wish she was there with them. When Swordtail noticed that Blue was a flamesilk, Sundew noted that Blue would be useful to burn down the Hives. Swordtail seemed to like the idea. Cricket was firmly against this, and she knew Blue would be as well. Cricket argued that even HiveWings could be on their side, but none of them seemed to like this idea.

Cricket insisted on finding information before jumping into action, so they flew toward Jewel Hive with the intention of finding out more about Queen Wasp's Hive Mind. First, however, they visited the Glitterbazaar to disguise themselves, making it easier to get into the Hive. They met up with some members of the Chrysalis, but they didn't seem to know much about taking down Queen Wasp quite like Sundew, Cricket, and Swordtail had hoped.

However, Cricket met up with her sister, Katydid, who questioned her about her theft of the Book of Clearsight. Katydid didn't seem to follow what she was saying, though she did reveal that she was indeed *not* Cricket's sister, and Scarab later said that her father was a HiveWing named Malachite, who, according to Lady Scarab, was "brilliant, talented, made excellent coffee, full of exciting ideas". Queen Wasp found out that Scarab was fond of him, so she had him "promoted" to work at her Hive, and he was probably forever condemned to her mind control. After Malachite's disappearance, Katydid placed Cricket's egg into the hatchery with a forged identity as Cricket's sister.

Cricket, Sundew and Swordtail borrowed one of Lady Scarab's paintbrushes to create posters about Wasp and how she was lying to everyone. A lot of dragons seemed intrigued, and some of them seemed to believe the posters, but in the middle of her attempt, Cricket got caught by HiveWing guards. She was paralyzed, unable to say another word against the queen. The guards put her into a prison cell, where Lady Scarab and Lady Jewel found her. Cricket negotiated an escape for information she collected about how Queen Wasp can mind control dragons, as she had a theory in mind. She heard that Queen Wasp was going into the hatchery that night, giving her a chance to prove or deny her theory.

Cricket escaped from the cell by utilizing the flamesilk and burning a hole in the ceiling. After that, she snuck into the hatchery and noticed an orphaned egg she sympathized, and took it with her as she hid in the rafters. She watched as Queen Wasp entered and proceeded to stab each egg with her tail stinger, marking each egg afterwards. When Queen Wasp left, Cricket took the egg with her and rendezvoused with Blue, Swordtail, and Sundew. She camped with them outside Jewel Hive, and in the morning, the egg hatched. On the shell of the egg was an odorous green substance that Sundew said belonged to a plant in the greenhouse where she and Cricket first met - Queen Wasp's private greenhouse. They decided to go burn the greenhouse down, but as they did, they noticed Bloodworm Hive burning as well. Cricket convinced the others that the HiveWings were too busy with the destruction to worry about the greenhouse, so Blue used his flamesilk to burn it down. Once the greenhouse was burning, Blue, Swordtail, and Cricket left with Sundew to go to the Poison Jungle, home of the LeafWings.