Character Profiles

Runcible Jones

Runcible Jones, whom everyone calls Runcie, has big problems. He goes to a horrible school Grindgrim Academy, and is teased by the other kids about his father.

Runcie's father spent his whole life writing a book about illegal magic, and then died in a mysterious fire that destroyed his work. Runcie is absolutely fascinated by magic and desperate to find out about his father's great work.

Unfortunately Runcie's mum, Millie is in prison for having a copy of his father's banned book, and she's terrified that Runcie will get into the same trouble. She begs him to promise that he'll never have anything to do with magic, and reluctantly he agrees.

Mariam Orpiment

Mariam likes to make out that she's not afraid of anyone. She's recklessly brave and takes on all the school bullies at once to save Runcie from a beating, though she doesn't even know him. Her recklessness is always getting her into trouble and Runcie can't work out why she does it.

And Mariam has another secret. She's fey. She sometimes sees things before they've happened, or things that happened thousands of years ago, and this becomes very important once they go through the gate to nowhere.