Life threw curveballs at you at a young age and you feel as though you’ve been trying to play catch up ever since. It seems your life revolves around your scars and sometimes you may feel typecast as your trauma; because of that you struggle to feel a sense of belonging. You may not do well in crowded rooms or lively parties, but get you one on one and you’re a gem. Love comes naturally to you even if trust does not, and you show that love by fierce protection and loyalty. Sometimes, though, that’s your weakness, as you can be blind to others’ faults, put yourself in danger, and sacrifice too much in the name of love. Because of this tendency, your loved ones urge you to take better care of yourself. You have intense battles with your inner demons, but you appreciate the small comforts and victories, and strive to be the kind of person that makes everyone feel safe. This often means you are the glue of the group, bringing everyone together even if you still feel a little bit alone. You long to escape the monsters within and shut off the rest of the world, hiding safely and peacefully with your chosen family. At the end of the day, no matter what happens, you manage to survive with the hope that someday you’ll be truly living again.

Meet Arie in the first chapter of Surviving on a Whisper here!

As a born leader who is still trying to figure out your place in this world, you’re always reaching for a time ‘before’: when you were a happy child and everything made sense. That nostalgia makes you a bit bitter about your present circumstances. You daydream of a future in which you can escape and feel in control of your destiny, and you crave the delicacies of life that you feel are barred from you because of your current position. Your friends may be few, but you love them fiercely, and you tend to lean to over the top solutions to make them happy. This can cause some friction, as you can be single-minded and sometimes decide that what you want is what everyone wants. Settling isn’t an option for you. If you see an injustice or have an unanswered question, you’ll do whatever it takes to make it right, even at a high cost. This often means you leap before you look and jump into the fray without fully thinking it through or gathering all the information you need, and you struggle to ask for help. If you have an idea or make a plan, you act on it now and assume everyone else will catch up. You’re wary of new people and your reckless nature can make quick enemies, though if they can see past your prideful exterior, they’ll find someone deeply devoted with a big heart who is afraid to be hurt. Because of your independence, you’re not usually taken care of, so thoughtfulness can pierce through your shield when you least expect it. Be careful of your gaze toward the future and fight for truth, as you may be missing what’s right in front of you and end up losing what you took for granted.

Meet Stella in the first chapter of Pieces in the Cinders here!

As someone who often feels alone, rejected, and maybe looked down on, you’ve learned a conflicting hybrid of emotional independence and a deep desire to be accepted. Known to be a little odd for your unusual quirks and deep thinking, you don’t try to change who you are but you struggle with determining how to better fit in, as you’ve been burned by people who you once thought loved you unconditionally. Those experiences have left deep scars that you try to conceal. You’re drawn to those who have similar scars and are outcasts, and you feel an instant kinship with them that these strangers either gratefully accept or are a little confused by. You find an escape in books and stories, and have more fictional friends than real ones; when posed with a question or problem, you turn to research, and can be a bit obsessive about it. Learning is a passion of yours and you feel more knowledge is always a good thing. This means you’re both incredibly smart in the ways of books but sometimes naive in the ways of people. The spotlight doesn’t usually find you—and when it does, it’s often negative—but you don’t mind being on the sidelines and cheering others on. In your quest to be supportive and find acceptance, however, it can be easy for you to be walked over or dragged along. You struggle finding the confidence to stand up for yourself and are constantly underestimating what you can do. At the end of the day, kindness and love are your ultimate goals, as you’ve seen the nastiness the world can often turn to and you strive to be a small light in the darkness, even if it takes everything you have to give.

Meet Izzy in the first chapter of Pieces in the Cinders here.

Your life is harshly divided between two things: your outward persona and your inward self. While the core of you remains the same, you can be a vastly different person depending on the circumstances. This is due to your unrelenting desire to not just fit in but rise above and be admired. An incredible amount of pressure and responsibility was placed on your shoulders at a young age, and many of those closest to you believe that you’ve failed in holding up the long-held traditions of your family. Because of this, you are personable with everyone in an attempt to win them over, but personal with very few, and keep your secrets close. So much of your energy goes into maintaining a poise in front of others and saving face, no matter what. You have high expectations for your life and simply will not settle for less. This makes you an incredible ally, as you will go to the ends of the earth for someone who has shown you true loyalty, but it also makes you a formidable enemy, as you will chase your aspirations no matter the cost and become single-minded about your goals. People look to you for guidance and leadership, and you hide the fact that you don’t feel qualified to give it. You’re haunted by what could have been, and at your core you feel a deep sense of guilt and desire to escape with someone who sees and loves you for who you truly are instead of who you pretend to be. Be careful of your tendency to cater to your guilt by justifying everything you do—when you’ve finally reached the podium, something you’ve tried to bury is bound to come back to bite.

Meet Roman in Pieces in the Cinders! Read the first chapter here.

A solitary kind of creature, you tend to operate on the fringes of society. You prefer the fringes and outskirts, but a bitterness simmers underneath that it’s the only place you seem to belong. Past trauma has given you a severity that tends to repel people or make them nervous. In some ways, solitude suits you—you use your free time to grow your knowledge or refine your skills, and you are surprisingly well-versed in many subjects. People tend to overlook that, though, and judge you based on your outward appearance or personality. Buried deep beneath that harsh exterior is a desire to find a home. You tell yourself that you are fine being a loner, but the moment that someone shows you any warmth or affection, you become entirely devoted to them. This lends to you being typecast as the guard dog, a role that you are happy to fill. Despite having little to no social skills or tact, you are fiercely loyal and highly skilled, making you a formidable protector, and it’s in that position that you find any sort of fulfillment. This often leads you to have a single-minded nature and blinds you to your people’s faults or mistakes. No matter what they do, you will defend them to your last breath and make their enemies’ lives miserable. People may judge you quickly and harshly, but at the end of the day you are the one everyone wants on their team for your strength and ferocity—just once, though, you’d like to be chosen for something deeper. Beware of closing off your heart or losing all hope of that ever happening, as you may miss your chance when it knocks on your door.

Meet Griffin in Pieces in the Cinders! Read the first chapter here.

You have very high walls that cause a great division in your life between those who really know you and the rest of the world. Crowds make you jumpy and people make you nervous, so you prefer solitude as it’s some of the only time you can truly relax. Deep insecurities have taken root in your mind and heart, and you tend to be ruled by your fears, often believing that they can’t be overcome so it’s easier to let them be. This can be difficult for other people to understand. Despite these prickly and suffocating roots, you have a big, soft heart. It’s painful for you to be separated—whether physically or emotionally—from the few people you truly care for, and you do whatever you can to support them from afar in the ways that you are able. You feel an incredible amount of guilt for who you are and how you behave, and it means the most to you when people are accepting of that and make you feel at home. As a lover of stories, you enjoy reading about brave heroes and strong heroines, and they give you a sense of escape along with the small hope that maybe you could be the hero someday instead of the monster you believe yourself to be. Be careful not to succumb to the comfortable habit of shutting yourself in. Find the courage to answer the knock at your door, as it may be the key to facing your fears and finding the hero within yourself.

Meet Rosalind in the first chapter of Cracks in the Tower here!

You often feel invisible to the world around you, and you tell yourself that you prefer it that way—after all, there are perks to moving through society largely unseen, and you’ve used that to your advantage to pick up and hone your skills. You’re a bit of an apathetic dreamer in that you wish for a better, more lavish lifestyle so you have the freedom to do what you want, but your daydreaming is edged with the bitterness of seeing those around you have that while you are left and forgotten. This can make you suspicious of those who cross your path and you tend to judge them based on some kind of label or status. That attitude combined with past poor experiences makes genuine connection difficult and meaning in life hard to find. You hide these insecurities behind a stoic persona and a mantra that you are better off on your own and only take care of yourself, but inside you long for a home and you’re more loyal than you think. Others have not reciprocated the loyalty you are willing to give, however, and that just adds to your bitterness. While this bitterness can be used as a leverage to keep yourself working and ambitious toward your goals, be careful that it doesn’t become a permanent barrier—and a crutch—that you use as an excuse to hide from genuine connection. It may be preventing you from discovering that you’re looking for meaning and fulfillment in all the wrong places, and finding it may mean making yourself vulnerable and being brave enough to open up for the first time.

Meet Gothel in the first chapter of Cracks in the Tower here!

People have let you down your entire life and that has made you jaded, independent, and harsh with others, as you’re always assuming the worst in everyone. You have an incredibly difficult time trusting people and battle intense fears, so you feel the only way to truly protect yourself is to hide your weaknesses and spend all of your time working on becoming stronger. This includes honing your own talents as well as finding people of influence that could help protect you. Nothing is more important; you can’t relax until you know you’re safe. You’re chasing a high to fill the void within you, and are unwilling to fully admit your insecurities and faults even to yourself, as that could just make you look weaker to someone waiting to pounce. On the flip side, the few who have done the grueling work to prove themselves to you are absolutely golden in your eyes—you are incredibly devoted to them and will do whatever it takes to improve their lives. You’re confident that one day you will have built a steady and lavish life for yourself and your people, and you dream of the day they thank you with admiration in their eyes. Someday, you think, you’ll be something, and then everything will make sense. While your goals are admirable, be careful that in your brutal quest for that future you don’t leave several bleeding wounds behind.

Meet Ally in the first chapter of Lost in the Madness here!

Quiet and thoughtful, you have no desire for fame, leadership, or acclaim, and are content with the small delights in life. Too often you’ve seen people with power, fortitude, and influence use their strength to abuse others, and one of your deepest fears is falling into the same trap. To that end, you avoid those things and have cultivated a personality that leans toward the opposite of that persona. Your softness is often interpreted as weakness, and you struggle to find the backbone to stick up for yourself. Sometimes this is a problem; other times, you don’t care as long as you’re left alone in the end. You don’t ask for much: all you really want is to take care of the people you love. Your world revolves around them, and you don’t mind following in their shadow so long as they are happy. As their biggest cheerleader, you enjoy supporting them in any way you can, and when you can’t make it in person, you’re always checking in. While your people are a great source of strength and purpose, this can lead you to put their needs before your own too often, and you can easily lose yourself or believe that you don’t matter as much. Lean into your desire to learn from those you trust or admire, as their advice can help you determine who you want to be and the paths you want to take. However, don’t fall into the trap of believing others when they say your softness is weakness. In such a cruel world, your softness could be the thing that gives you the most strength after you’ve painstakingly built your confidence and found your footing.

Meet Jesper in the first chapter of Lost in the Madness here!