Side Characters
TW for mentions of SA, drugs, etc
Spoiler
Kit Brian:
Kit wants to matter. He wants to be someone. He wants to outlive the shadow of his older brother's disappearance - since he believes Nico was the favourite child and that he was a mistake or a changeling - and build something for himself. However, he has little belief in his own talent, which is why he steals Nora's work. Deep down, he loves Nora, but is slowly becoming more socially conscious that she is seen as weird by school and peers, and wants to shake her off. He starts to become 'cooler' and more desirable to the girls in school. His grades start to slip, and he ends up buying drugs from KJ, Nora's stepbrother. He starts dressing differently, acting weirdly, and experiencing mental health problems that perhaps explain what happened to his brother. When he discovers Nora's mother's secret diary and letters in the attic, he realises that Nora's family was the reason for his own family's downfall, and also realises it is a ticket out of his relationship with Nora. But throughout all of this, he truly despises himself, and acts mean to keep Nora from getting too close, not wanting to hurt her but always ending up doing so. Leonora’s belief in him is the thing he needs most and trusts least, since he feels he has tricked her into it. He also envies Leonora’s belief, because he has never been able to believe in anything, despite claiming that he did. That makes him both the human boy of her play and the story’s tragic mirror: someone who can be adored and still be beyond reach. What Kit adds to the story is its engine and its heartbreak, because he’s the reason the music succeeds, the reason it’s poisoned, and the reason Leonora has to learn the difference between loving someone and being able to save them. In the end, all is too much for Kit, who feels he was doomed since birth.
Kenneth James (KJ)
KJ is Maria's older son from her first marriage. He grew up an only child and, within a few years is thrown into a family with 2 step-sisters and a younger half-brother. He is trouble, often drinking, smoking, and getting into trouble. He has an on-again, off-again girlfriend, Thalia. He sort of yearns to be a part of the 'picture-perfect family' and is somewhat thrilled to discover the family has secrets. He feels ignored and forgotten by his mother, despises his stepfather, and gets close to Kit in order to find our secrets about the Wilsons. This leads to him supplying Kit with drugs and alcohol, inviting him to parties, and even getting Thalia to give Kit a tattoo. Deep down, he just wants a connection with someone, and Kit becomes an unlikely anchor.
Clara:
Clara does not remember her mother and doesn't understand Nora's obsession. he’s grown up in a house where Leonora’s grief takes up all the available room. Her mockery of the fairies is partly resentment and partly fear: if Leonora’s beliefs are real, then their mother chose a magical world over them, and if they aren’t, Leonora is hiding in a fantasy while Clara has to deal with the family as it is. She wants an ordinary family, warms to Maria and becomes a real sister to Jack, even bonding with KJ whilst Nora refuses to. She is blunt, straightforward, cynical, and perhaps a little mature for her age. She straightens her curly hair to rid herself of any reminders of her mother. Clara’s fear is that she is the only one who sees how things really are and that no one will thank her for it. Her function in the story is to voice the rational, unwelcome perspective, and to be the sibling who, in the end, might offer Leonora the first real conversation about their mother that isn't a fairy tale. Her bluntness can turn out to be a kind of love. She is also a good device for the attic reveal: she may already know more than Leonora assumes, and has been quietly keeping the secret.
Lily, Arris and Misha:
These are Nora's friends in school, who all despise Kit and think he is bad for Nora. They are creative, weird, and unapologetically so. They have been helping Nora with The Column, and have plans to all attend the same university when Nora drops; she wants to go to the same one Kit has applied to. Mischa is queer, has brightly coloured hair, dresses gothic, is politically active, and is often the first to call out bullshit. Lily is quieter, softer, and often overlooked, but has a beautiful singing voice and does ballet, often providing the more emotional outlook. Arris is a humorous and cocky stage manager who fears he may be left behind in a year when everyone goes to university, as he secretly has been struggling with his grades and exams due to dyslexia, which he is ashamed of. He also admires Kit in secret and copies his hair, hoping it will get Nora to like him. Together they add warmth, comic relief and a counterweight to Kit’s dramatic pull. Their reconciliation with Leonora at the end shows what she has learned: that the people who told her the truth were loving her, too.
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