Jack
Jack's full name is Jackaran Kresimir Shield. He has his father's brown eyes, black hair and brown skin. Though he is not as strong as his twin sister Jade, he can run much faster. He's also more of a night creature than his sister and impulsive, which tends to attract trouble.
Kleopatra ("Kleo")
Kleo is a Russian Blue nominally owned by the town's sole bookseller but who spends much of her time with Grandma X. She is very smart indeed and widely read, but wary of strangers, and is slow to trust, even Grandma X's relatives.
Jaide
Jaidith Fennena Shield (otherwise known as Jaide) is half an inch taller than her twin Jack, and much stronger. She has green eyes, red hair and the fair skin of her mother but she never burns in the sun. She's smart and possesses a rather curious nature. She can never resist a challenge.
Aristotle ("Ari")
Ari is a typical ginger cat, hiding a good heart behind sharp-talking, voracious appetite, and his love of a vicious midnight battle. He insists that a string of kittens constantly turning up at Grandma X's has nothing to do with him.
Grandma X
Grandma X has an unpronounceable last name. While ordinary people just think it is something obscure in a rare language, it is more than that - it literally cannot be said by anyone but the bearer of the name, as it is a word of extreme power that has horrendous consequences. One Warden in every generation bears the name, to be used only as a last resort, when all else is lost.
Susan Shield
Susan is the twins' mother. She is not a Warden and she is unaware of The Evil or the Wardens' mission. She works as an emergency paramedic specializing in helicopter rescue services. As she often works shifts and is on call for emergencies, she needs someone else to look after the twins, one of the reasons they have come to live with Grandma X. Her new job is with a coastal rescue helicopter service based near but not in Portland.
Hector Shield
Hector is the twins' father. He is a Warden by birth but by day he works as an art specialist for an auction house, so he often has to travel far from home to look at estates and artworks for forthcoming auctions. As a Border Warden, he is a roving troubleshooter who assists local Wardens whose portals are under threat from The Evil.
Tara
Tara is the new girl at Stormhaven Innovative School of Portland. Her dad is an ambitious property developer which means she often has to move schools a lot. She was the person who first sighted The Monster and she’s eager to be friends with Jack and Jaide as she senses the two of them are connected to exciting adventures that she wants to be a part of.
Martin McAndrew
Martin is Tara's dad, the property developer who has just moved to Portland around the time of the Monster’s appearance. Martin has bought the old house next door to Grandma X's and he has his sights set on Grandma X's house too. Although Grandma X thinks he's harmless, the twins have a bad feeling about him.
Custer
Custer is a Warden who can shape-shift into a saber-toothed tiger. He’s a trusted friend of Jack and Jaide's father, Hector. Grandma X has awarded him the task of spending time with the twins to give them lessons in controlling their Gifts.
Professor Jasper Fredrik Olafsson
A dead warden who speaks to Jack and Jaide through a death mask and aids them on their task to find the Card of Translocation - the golden card. A talkative sort but he's full of useful information at the most critical of times.
Rodeo Dave
One of several people contracted to help the Portland City Council evaluate the heirless Young Master Rourke's estate. But he has a secret past and is looking for the lost card for reasons of his own.
Cornelia
An escapee from Young Master Rourke's menagerie - an ancient Hyacinth Macaw who was present the night her former owner died. She's traumatized, old, speaks mainly in nautical lingo and doesn't trust people easily. But she could have details that will give Grandma X the answers she seeks.
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