Gregor the Overlander

They fly into the realm of the cockroaches, which is very low to the ground and difficult for the bats to navigate. Gregor understands that being this low to the ground is a way of giving the crawlers an advantage: “A delegation of roaches appeared and bowed low. The humans got to their knees and bowed back, so Gregor did the same” (149). Boots is overjoyed by all the bugs and calls to them with great happiness. One roach asks the other: 

‘Be she the princess, be she? Be she the one, Temp, be she?’ Boots single[s] out one roach in particular and patted it between the antennas […] ‘Knows me, the princess knows me?’ Said the roach in awe, and all the other roaches gave gasps (150). 

Boots asks for a ride from Temp, and Gregor realizes it’s the same roach that gave her the ride yesterday. All 20 of the roaches gathered look exactly the same to him, and he can’t imagine how Boots is able to tell them apart. Nor can Vikus, who looks at Gregor as if wanting an explanation. When he can give none, Vikus asks the crawlers to see their King and Queen. 

Gregor spends some time checking out the life left in all the batteries, while Boots gets rides from Temp and his friend, Tick. Vikus returns to say there was a problem with the meeting and that they should have dinner. Boots runs over to eat, but the roaches don’t follow—she calls them to join: “‘Temp! Ticka! Din - uh!’ An awkward social moment, no one else had thought to invite the roaches. […] Fortunately, they shook their heads. ‘No, Princess, we eat not now’” (155). They start to scurry away, but Boots commands them to stay. Gregor tells them they don’t have to, but they choose to sit and listen to Boots. Vikus then tells everyone that the Crawlers have refused to join the quest: “They do not wish to invite the anger of King Gorger […] they have peace with both humans and rats now. They do not want to unseat it” (155). 

Henry insults the crawlers by saying they are the stupidest creatures in the Underland. Gregor defends them by telling him that cockroaches have been around three hundred and fifty million years and people haven’t even been around for six. Gregor says they are pretty amazing, and Henry says he does not believe in Gregor’s science: “The crawlers are weak, they cannot fight, they will not last, that is how nature intended it” (158). Gregor turns the conversation over to Luxa and asks her if that’s what she believes too—if a creature deserves to die if it’s not strong. She doesn’t have an answer, but the question hangs in the air for all of them to ponder. 

Boots continues to play with the roaches and puts their name in a song. The roaches don’t understand what she’s doing, but Gregor tells them she only puts someone’s name in a song if she really likes them and it’s a big honor. The questers go to sleep. As he’s drifting off, Gregor hears one of the crawlers talking about Boots: “Honors us, the princess honors us” (160). When he wakes up, he sees an incredibly strange sight: Boots in a circle with hundreds of cockroaches all dancing around her in unison.

Gregor shoots up from sleep, terrified that the cockroaches are going to eat Boots, but Solovet stops him by saying: “No, Gregor, they honor her. They honor Boots in a manner most sacred and rare” (161). He watches the bugs sway in unison and realizes they are actually worshipping his sister. Vikus explains to Gregor that they’re witnessing what’s known as a Ring Dance: “The Crawlers perform it only in the greatest secrecy for ones they believe to be chosen […] in our history, they have only performed it for one other human and that was Sandwich” (162). Vikus says Boots has been chosen to give the roaches time, which translates to life. 

The roaches finish the dance and announce that Temp and Tick will be joining the quest. Everyone knows the only reason they’ve agreed to come is because of their deep connection to Boots. They depart with Gregor, Boots, Temp and Tick all riding together on Henry’s bat, Ares, while Henry rides with Luxa: “He wished he could have any bat but Ares, Henry’s bat probably disliked him as much as Henry did” (174). This moment is significant because it’s the beginning of Gregor’s relationship with Ares.  

The group rests for a moment at an underground river, and Vikus makes a point of inviting Temp and Tick to join them for food. “It is time,’ he said in response to Henry’s frown. ‘It is time those of the prophecy became of one journey, of one purpose, of one mind, all equal here” (168). This marks a shift in the energy of the companions as they share equality with roaches in a way they have only done before with bats.

At the end of their meal, six rats run into the river. Vikus orders Gregor to run away with Boots as the others are expendable, and he is not. Their leader “a gnarled, gray rat with a diagonal scar across his face, pointed at Gregor and hissed ‘kill him’” (169). Gregor runs as fast as he can down a tunnel, as hundreds of roaches use their bodies as a shield to protect him and Boots from the rats. He runs and runs until he comes headlong into a giant spider web.

Gregor tries to peel off the web, but it’s like adhesive tape. He yells that he comes in peace, but then he sees a spider below his feet, wrapping him in her silken web. He screams that he’s the warrior, but the silk climbs higher and higher up his body. At last, he says that Vikus sent him, and the spider stops. Gregor flashes his light and sees: “Six beady black eyes, bristly legs and massive jaws that ended in curved, pointed fangs” (172). The spider snaps a thread: Gregor and Boot shoot into the sky and are stuck fifty feet in the air, hanging by the thread of the web. He waves his light and sees spiders everywhere, but all are indifferent to his arrival. He screams and screams to gather their attention. 

He watches a spider kill an insect nearby and wonders why he and Boots aren’t dead yet. Just as Gregor is losing all hope, he sees Henry on the ground. He tells the others that Gregor is still alive, and they lower him and Boots to the ground. Gregor asks about the rats, and Vikus informs him all are dead—meaning the rats, even though they can smell Gregor, do not know that he is “the son of a sun” from the prophecy. All rats that would have noticed Gregor’s resemblance to his father are dead. The companions suddenly realize they have company: “One magnificent creature with beautifully striped legs swung down in front of Vikus” (178). Vikus introduces her as Queen Wevox, the Spider Queen. 

She asks why they’re here, and Vikus explains everything in ten sentences in a very soft voice: “So apparently you spoke to spiders quickly and quietly. Screaming at them endlessly had been counterproductive” (178), Gregor thinks. The Queen says she won’t kill them but commands the other spiders to “web them,” and it becomes all too clear that they are her prisoners.