Ellie
The protagonist of the novel, Elatsoe “Ellie” is a 17-year-old asexual Lipan Apache teen living in southern Texas with her parents, Dad and Vivian. Like the women in her maternal line, Ellie has the…
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Trevor
Trevor is Ellie’s cousin. At the beginning of the novel, Dr. Allerton murders him by transferring his own injuries from a drunk-driving car crash to Trevor and abandoning Trevor’s body and car. Though Trevor…
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Mom/Vivian
Ellie’s mom, Vivian, is a high-school math teacher. Since she has summers off of school, she immediately flies to Allerton to be with Lenore and Gregory in the wake of Trevor’s murder. Like…
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Dad
Ellie’s dad and Vivian’s husband is a small-animal vet. He cares deeply for his family, his patients, and for Lipan Apache traditions. He’s often the one to encourage Ellie to be cautious or…
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Kirby
Kirby is Ellie’s ghost dog. A springer spaniel, Kirby spent 12 years as Ellie’s living companion and, since his death when she was in sixth grade, has been by her side as a ghost…
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Get the entire Elatsoe LitChart as a printable PDF.
Jay
Jay is Ellie’s best friend. As a cheerleader, Jay is enthusiastic and dramatic. As a descendent of Lord Oberon (the king of fairies), he has pointed ears and can summon a small ball of…
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Dr. Abe Allerton
The antagonist of the novel, Dr. Allerton is a doctor who lives in Willowbee, Texas and operates a clinic known for its miraculous results. He murders Trevor, and his status as a murderer…
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Six-Great
Six-Great is Ellie’s most storied ancestor, a powerful Lipan Apache woman who protected her tribe with the help of a pack of dogs, both living and ghostly. She took on foes ranging from various…
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Six-Great’s Husband
Six-Great’s husband was a loyal and loving spouse. He insisted on accompanying her on some of her dangerous missions, and he was an avid horse lover. He was murdered by white men. Though Six-Great…
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Lenore
Lenore is Trevor’s widow and Gregory’s mother. She’s a beautiful Spanish woman who, prior to Trevor’s death, was always put together. So, it’s extremely disturbing for Ellie to encounter Lenore, mired in grief…
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Gregory
Baby Gregory is Lenore and Trevor’s seven-month-old son. He’s a happy and precocious baby who, Ellie believes, has a natural predisposition to supernatural things. While this is sometimes positive—he plays with Kirby, for…
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Al
The vampire Al is Ronnie’s boyfriend and then fiancé. He’s kind, caring, and protective of his loved ones; he takes on the role of a big brother to Jay and even Ellie, long…
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Ronnie
Ronnie is Jay’s older sister. She’s a pre-med student at Herotonic University, where she met her boyfriend, the vampire Al. She and Al get engaged, though Jay and Ellie believe the couple are…
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Chloe Alamor
Chloe Alamor is a celebrity psychic who does a reading at the site where Trevor’s body was found. Though Ellie and her family hope that a celebrity psychic like Chloe is good at what…
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Nathaniel Grace
Nathaniel Grace founded Willowbee in Massachusetts 1702 after arriving in North America seeking religious freedom like other Pilgrims. He was the original Willowbee doctor with the power to transfer injuries and illnesses from one person…
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Glorian
Glorian is an extremely old vampire who’s still alive and functional thanks to Dr. Allerton’s treatments. Though Ellie tries to protect herself from Glorian by banishing him from Lipan lands, Glorian was born Lipan…
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The Coyote Woman
The coyote woman is extremely old—she appears in a story about Six-Great, and Ellie and her parents meet her in the novel’s present. It’s implied that in between, the coyote woman and other beings…
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Minor Characters
Grandmother
Ellie’s grandmother, Vivian’s mom, never appears in person in the novel, but she’s still alive and has trained a woolly mammoth to be her primary ghostly companion.
Woolly Mammoth
Grandma trained the ghost of a woolly mammoth to be her primary ghostly companion. Grandma, Vivian, and Ellie can all call the mammoth and command her. When Vivian was a teenager, the mammoth saved her from abduction and murder by stomping on a man who threatened Vivian.
Aunt Bell
Jay’s Aunt Bell is a psychic. She comes to Allerton to do a reading at the site where Trevor’s body was found, and she discovers he didn’t die there—his body was moved there.
Dan
Dan is the tribal elder whom Ellie speaks to about her trip to the underworld. She also spoke to him years before the novel begins, when Kirby gave her entire class nosebleeds because Ellie commanded him to howl, not realizing what would happen.
Brett Allerton
Brett is Dr. Allerton’s son; he was in Trevor’s third-grade class two years before the novel begins.
Jess
Jess is one of Ronnie’s bridesmaids and basketball teammates.
Martia
Martia is one of Ronnie’s bridesmaids and basketball teammates.
Alice
Alice is one of Ronnie’s bridesmaids and basketball teammates.
Lily
Lily is a young vampire whom Jay and Ellie free when they rescue Al from the Allerton mansion.
Snickers
Snickers is the eight-year-old Labradoodle that Dad adopts for Ellie in the months after the family’s trip to Allerton.
