- Narrator: Marco
The Animorphs see a news clip revealing that there are other Andalites living on Earth.
Tropes:
- Caring Gardener: When he's off the clock, Gafinilan spends his time in a greenhouse taking care of plants. Ax claims it's an artistic hobby for Andalites.
- Distressed Dude: Mertil is captured by the Yeerks as bait to lure Gafinilan out. They consider him worthless as a host thanks to his disability, so they only use him as a hostage.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Gafinilan and Mertil are a pair of male Andalites who are extremely devoted to each other. One is dying of an incurable disease, the other is visibly ostracized from Andalite society.
Word of Gay later confirms it was deliberate. - Drama-Preserving Handicap: Gafinilan is dying of an incurable genetic disease, which means he can't help the Animorphs for long. Mertil is allergic to the morphing technology and lost his tail when his fighter crashed, meaning he can no longer fight the Yeerks at all. As a result, the Animorphs can't get new allies out of them, though the Yeerks can't make useful hosts out of them either.
- Flies Equals Evil: Marco runs afoul of a robber fly while in honeybee morph. He's saved by Rachel in bald eagle morph tearing it in half.
- Headbutting Heroes: Marco and Ax get in verbal spats about Mertil, with Ax being annoyed that the team is risking their lives for a cripple and Marco being astounded that Ax can talk about Mertil like he's worthless.
- Large and in Charge: Gafinilan was an Andalite Commander, and Marco compares his humanoid torso to a middle weight champion, and his centaur half as the size of a Clydesdale horse, larger than any other Andalite he's seen.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Marco tells Rachel in elephant morph that he'll watch her... he stops short of saying back because she's in elephant morph at the time, but Rachel warns him about drawing attention to her hindquarters.
- Left Hanging: Gafinilan and Mertil are never seen again after this book, even though Marco ends it by offering an olive branch to Mertil for when the war is over and Gafinilan dies of his disease.
- Mistaken Identity: Gafinilan mistakes Ax for Visser Three when they first encounter each other, leading to a scuffle in which Gafinilan dominates.
- My Instincts Are Showing: Marco starts gathering pollen when he first morphs into a honeybee, until Rachel snaps him ot of it.
- Mysterious Animal Senses: Insect eyes can see force fields invisible to human and Andalite eyes. Marco uses the bee morph to find his way into Gafinilan's greenhouse.
- Politically Incorrect Hero: Ax had previously had many moments that implied this, but he reacts with obvious disgust at the sight of a disabled Andalite like Mertil.
- Spotting the Thread: When searching Gafinilan's house in bee morph, Marco realizes that Mertil hasn't been there in a while.
- Virtuous Bees: The bees treated as much less creepy than the other insect morphs the Animorphs have. Marco even notices that contrary to the ants and termites, the bees have minds of their own.
