Alexandra Quick

Alexandra Octavia Quick
Biographical information
Born	22 March 1996
Blood status	Pure-blood
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Hair colour	Black
Eye colour	Green
Skin colour	White
Family information
Parents	Hecate Grimm Abraham Thorn
Siblings	Claudia Quick Livia Pruett Lucilla White Drucilla White Valeria White Maximilian King Julia King
Magical characteristics
Wand	Hickory, 10 and a half inches, Chimaera hair
Affiliation
Loyalty	Charmbridge Academy Thorn Family Mors Mortis Society Alexandra Committee
Enemies	Mors Mortis Society Dark Convention

Alexandra "Alex" Octavia Quick (b. 22 March 1996) is the daughter of Abraham Thorn and Hecate Grimm, and also a resident of Larkin Mills. Her favorite color is yellow.

Biography

Early life

Alex was born in Chicago, Illinois on 22 March 1996, and moved with her mother and Green to 207 Sweetmaple Avenue in Larkin Mills from in 2001, at which point she met Brian Seabury, and his younger sister Bonnie, and began attending Larkin Mills Elementary School. In 2003, she jumped from the roof of her house on a dare, landing lightly without injury; when she attempted the same feat again with Brian, they both wound up in the hospital, she with a sprained ankle and he with a broken elbow and concussion. Her first fight with Billy Boggleston occurred when "he tried to cut in line for the swings".

During the summer of 2004, Alex became "obsessed with going to the moon," and attempted to build a rocket in her backyard with Brian's help. By the summer of 2005, her interest in space travel had waned, and "she wanted to be a neurosurgeon instead." By the end of 2005, she could magically unlock doors, and had discovered that she could perform magic more consistently by using short rhyming couplets. At some point between October 2005 and June 2007, "she read Twilight, and she thought that Edward Cullen was creepy, and she wished the bad-guy vampires would just eat Bella".

Sixth grade

The Naiad

During the summer of 2007, she became convinced that a naiad lived in Old Larkin Pond, and attempted to spot one along with Brian and Bonnie. After the Seabury's left her at the Pond alone, Alex was attacked by redcaps, fending them off with a tree branch that she inadvertantly used as a wand and dropping a gold bracelet that she had taken from her mother's closet before rushing home.

She was grounded for coming home after dark, and discovered a locket in her mother's closet with a moving photograph of a man she believed to be her father. On the second day of her grounding, she snuck out and visited Brian, recruiting the Seabury's to return to Old Larkin Pond and help her search for the bracelet. Waiting for Brian and Bonnie at a nearby park, she was confronted by Billy Boggleston and his friends, one of whom demanded that Alex hand over her cookies to him. She did, but when the boy put the cookie in his mouth, it turned into a pile of worms; when the boy tried to accost Alex, she kicked him in both knees, and threatened the boys off.

After meeting the Seabury's, the three headed back to Old Larkin Pond, where Bonnie spotted the bracelet at the edge of the Pond before a kappa tried to pull her into the water. Alex and Brian incapacitated the kappa, pulled Bonnie to safety, and retrieved Alex's bracelet, but the Seabury's furiously returned home without speaking to Alex. When Alex reached her own home, she spotted a silver car with a license plate reading LILITH in her driveway.

Scholarship

Alex was visited by Lilith Grimm who offered Alex a full scholarship to Charmbridge Academy. After her mother and stepfather agreed, having been confounded, and Grimm took Alex on a day-trip to the Goblin Market in Chicago, where she met seventh-grader Angus MacAvoy, to explain a bit about the Academy and the laws of the Wizarding World. The next day, Alex promptly broke the rule against underage magic outside of school when she used an Unlocking Charm to open her mother's locket again; she received a letter of warning from Alcina Kennedy of the Central Territory Tracing Office, and a howler from Grimm.

She then proceeded to violate her grounding as well by going outside to confront Brian and explain her magical nature, but he was unreceptive and denied the existence of magic despite his own experiences with Alex.

The Goblin Market

Two days later, Alex was picked up by Tabitha Speaks in the Charmbridge Academy Bus and taken back to the Goblin Market to shop for school supplies. She was introduced to her fellow sixth-graders Angelique Devereaux, Darla Dearborn, Anna Chu, Constance and Forbearance Pritchard, and David Washington by twelfth-grade chaperone Gwendolyn Adams. Once at the Goblin Market, the group stopped at Hoargrim's Wands and Alchemical Supplies, where Alex was outfitted with a hickory/chimaera hair wand by Mr. Finsterholz.

They next visited Boxley's Books to purchase textbooks, after which they went to Grundy's for classroom robes, hats, school clothes, gloves, boots, and goggles. While browsing the Wizard Appliances and Clockworks section of the department store, Alex saw a Tockmagi Household Clockwork Golem, which she thought looked like a robot. In the cafeteria of Grundy's, Alex and David got into a fight with Benjamin and Mordecai Rash, a pair of Ozarkers, when the boys demanded tht Constance and Forbearance sit with "their own kind" instead of "mudbloods." Alex, David and the Rashes were Barred from Grundy's, and the sixth-graders were taken to The Familiar Corner to chose companions. Alex chose a large black raven, naming it Charlie, then boarded the Charmbridge Bus and returned to Old Larkin.

Plots of Death

When Alexandra and David crossed the Invisible Bridge, it somehow disappeared, making them both drop into the valley below. However, Alex used doggerel verse to engorge Charlie in order to make him catch them both.

Ben Journey tried to kill Quick again when he jinxed some Clockworks to burn her on a raked leaf fire. Alex quickly and agily escaped.

Journey's death

Alexandra and Journey confronted after he hostaged Anna Chu. Dean Lilith Grimm showed up and encountered Ben too, Journey used a gun and accidently killed himself during the ambush.

Seventh Grade

Summer of 2008

Alexandra returned to the town of Larkin Mills for the summer of 2018. Since her childhood home had been burned down during the events of the previous winter, Claudia Quick and Archie Green had moved into an apartment in downtown Larkin Mills while waiting for an insurance investigation to finish on their previous home and shopping for a new house.

On the first night after her return home, Alexandra received a letter from her Father delivered by his raven, Hagar. In the letter, Thorn introduced himself to his daughter, asked her forgiveness for the lack of contact until that point, and praised her 'courage, wit and skill' in surviving the trials of her first year at Charmbridge. Alexandra's only response to the raven was "You can tell my father that he obviously knows where to find me." She then ripped the letter to pieces. It was later implied that the WJD had retrieved this letter and reconstructed it using the 'Recolligo' spell. This was the first time that Alexandra communicated with Abraham Thorn.

Alexandra spent part of the Summer attending Vacation Bible School at Larkin Mills Baptist Church. Although she was initially unusually well-behaved, she lost control of her magic later in the Summer after a lesson in the class on the 'Evils of Witchcraft', transforming the food of her classmates into worms. After this incident Alexandra returned home and refused to go back to the Bible camp for the remainder of the summer, causing her mother to ground her.

Appearance

Alexandra is Caucasian with fair skin, straight black hair that she generally wears short and loose, and green eyes. She is physically fit, especially after joining JROC at age 12, and is described as being tall for her age and sex.

Alexandra's appearance is implied to closely resemble that of her aunts, Lilith and Diana Grimm. The only clear resemblance she has to her father, Abraham Thorn, is in her straight black hair (which she also shares with her mother).

Alexandra has several notable scars. She has scars on her lower abdomen, wrist, and neck inflicted by the Nemesis Spirit she fought in Dinetah in 2011. She is also missing a cuspid tooth that was knocked out by John Manuelito later the same year. However she was able to heal this injury in August of 2011 and now has all of her teeth again.

Powers and Abilities

In her time at Larkin Mills and over the course of her years at Charmbridge, Alexandra gained and learned to use many varieties of magic both conventional and otherwise.

Innate Magic

Alexandra's innate magic is far more powerful than normal for an untrained witch.

In her first encounter with Redcaps in Larkin Mills, Alexandra was able to conjure fireballs from a non-magical stick without using any spell or doggerel verse.

Alexandra has transformed food into worms several times without using any formal spell or Doggerel verse. At some point prior to 2007 she transformed Billy Boggleston's food into worms and in 2007 prior to going to Charmbridge she repeated the trick against Billy's friend Tom Gavin. In the Summer of 2008 she unintentionally transformed all the food at the Larkin Mills Vacation Bible School cafeteria into worms as well. In her first Magical Defense SPAWN she attempted to conjure worms in Mary Shirtliffe's mouth non-verbally with the aid of a wand although Shirtliffe was able to deflect it.

Alexandra has several time demonstrated the ability to generate intense heat when she is under threat, repelling those who try to lay hands on her. In a meeting of the Mors Mortis Society, John Manuelito was forced to withdraw after grabbing Alexandra's throat, acting as though his hand had been burned. In the summer of 2010 Alexandra got in a fight with Billy Boggleston, and after she was pinned to the ground the grass in the area around her withered as if it had been burned. Later in the same year when Alexandra was attacked by Martha the hag, Alexandra burned the Hag's face by striking it with her palm.

Doggerel Verse

Alexandra is unusually skilled at improvising spells through Doggerel verse and has been doing so since before she went to Charmbridge. Although she has been able to accomplish powerful effects this way the spells she creates do not work reliably.

Lock-picking

Alexandra was able to reliably open locked doors with doggerel verse prior to going to Charmbridge. Over the course of her first year she learned the Unlocking Charm and practiced with it to the point that she believed herself the best magical lockpick in her grade. She was able to break the lock on the registrar's office at the end of first year with an unlocking charm.

In the Summer of 2012 after her original wand was destroyed, Alexandra learned to cast unlocking charms wandlessly without resorting to Doggerel verse, although this was still much more time-consuming than using a wand.

Clockworks

During her first year at Charmbridge, Alexandra spent time studying Clockworks. Although she wasn't nearly skilled enough to create one herself, she learned enough about their basic enchantments to be able to repurpose them for a prank against Larry Albo, Benjamin Rash, and Mordecai Rash.

Dark Magic

During her time in the Mors Mortis Society Alexandra learned several dark or illegal spells. These included the Freeze-Frame Spell, the Wound Relocating Charm and the Snapping Hex.

Alexandra is also able to cast the Cruciatus Curse. She seems to have picked this up from observation of others casting it as she has never been formally taught how to cast the spell.

Dueling

During her second year, Alexandra started to learn Wizard Dueling from her brother Maximilian. The following year she began attending the Charmbridge Dueling Club and learned more dueling magic.

Prior to training with Maximillian the spells Alexandra knew included the Stunning Spell and the Disarming Charm.

Spells that Alexandra is known to have learned from Maximillian include the Deadweight Spell, the levitating jinx, Barak and the Porcupine Curse.

Spells that Alexandra learned at the dueling club include Caedarus.

Deadweight Spell

Maximilian King taught Alexandra the Deadweight Spell and its counter-charm in her second year at Charmbridge, after John Manuelito had used it to trap her.

Banishment

Alexandra learned the Banishing Spell from Ms. Shirtliffe as part of her JROC training during her third year. She has been shown to use the spell against Ghosts and Chindi.

Possessions

Non-magical Possessions

Alexandra owns a smartphone, which was purchased for her by David Washington for Christmas of 2008.

Alexandra received two muggle non-fiction books from David Washington for Christmas in 2007. One of these was about football and the other on the Civil Rights movement.

Clothing and Jewelry

In 2007 Alexandra wore a gold bracelet which she 'found' in her mother's closet. The bracelet originally belonged to her father, though it is unclear whether it actually had any mystical properties. She lost this bracelet in the Summer of 2007 while fleeing from Redcaps at Old Larkin Pond though she was able to recover it the next day. The bracelet was stolen by Benedict Journey during the fire at Alexandra's House in Winter of 2007, and Journey later destroyed it.

Alexandra also found a locket containing a moving cameo image of Abraham Thorn in her mother's closet. The locket required an unlocking charm to open and the image inside did not respond to Alexandra's questions, except by facial expressions until Alexandra asked it the question 'Abraham Everard Thorn, are you my father?' at which point the image of Thorn walked out of the cameo and did not return. This locket was also lost in the fire at Alexandra's home in Winter 2007.

Alexandra wears a golden charm bracelet given to her by Anna Chu for Christmas in 2007. The bracelet contains charms bearing the Chinese characters for 'Raven' and 'Snake' (the Raven Charm was given with the original bracelet, the Snake charm was given for Christmas in 2008).

Alexandra received a knitted hand muffler enchanted with a Warming Charm from Constance and Forbearance Pritchard for Christmas in 2007. This was destroyed when Alexandra's house burned down that winter.

Alexandra owns a pair of Lucky Socks knitted for her by Constance and Forbearance Pritchard as a gift for Christmas of 2008. The socks were knitted from the hair of a White Hound and are stated to be 'specially lucky against dark forces'. What, if any, special properties these socks actually possess has not been demonstrated.

Alexandra owned a uniform dress cape hand-made for her by Constance and Forbearance Pritchard for her birthday in 2009. It is unlikely that she still wears this by 2011.

Alexandra owns a pair of Seven-League Boots which she extorted from Martha the hag in Winter of 2010.

Wands

Alexandra's original wand was 10.5 inches long, made from Hickory (Carya illinoiensis) with a Chimaera hair core. She purchased the wand from Hoargrim's Wands and Alchemical Supplies in the Chicago Goblin Market in Summer of 2007. This wand was destroyed by John Manuelito during his attack on Charmbridge in the spring of 2011.

As of Summer of 2011 Alexandra does not own a wand.

Brooms

Alexandra owned a 2009 Valkyrie broomstick given to her by Maximilian King for her birthday in 2009. This broom was destroyed by Diana Grimm in the Summer of 2009.

Alexandra was given another broom in Christmas of 2009 by Thalia and Julia King. This broom was a Twister. Alexandra currently still owns this broom.

Spellbooks and Lore

Alexandra purchased an unnamed book on Magical Beasts and another on Hexes and Jinxes at the Goblin Market in the Summer of 2008.

Alexandra was given a book entitled 'Beginning Chinese Charms for Foreign Devils' by Anna Chu for her birthday in 2009.

Alexandra was given several 'Great Works' of magical lore by her father for her birthday in 2011. These included 'Banishments' by Levy and Dee, 'Bestiary Diabolic' by Giles Harrow, and a refactoring of Ptolemaic astrology as arithmantic equations by Fausta Sterntochter.

Miscellaneous Magic Items

Alexandra has a Skyhook and Lost Traveler's Compass compass from the backpack that she and Maximilian carried to the Lands Below in Spring of 2009. She also has the same backpack, which is enchanted with a Wizard's space to carry much greater mass and volume than the pack could normally contain.

Alexandra's Skyhook was lost during her Quest in the Ozarks in August 2011. She also briefly lost the Lost Traveler's compass but was able to retrieve it.

Alexandra possessed a Bone flute that was gifted to Maximilian in the Lands Below. This was lost when Darla Dearborn carried it with her to the Lands Beyond in spring of 2010.

Alexandra owns a Wizard's Wireless set purchased for her by David Washington for her birthday in 2009.

Allusions

• Quick's given name, which she shares with a mythological Greek prophetess, is the feminine version of a Macedonian king; she shares her middle name with the wife of Mark Antony.
• Alexandra Octavia Quick's first and middle name may also be a reference to the historical figures Alexander the Great of Macedon (Alexandra is the feminine form of Alexander) and Gaius Octavius (better known by his regnal name, Caesar Augustus, Octavia is the feminine form of Octavius). What these two figures have in common is that both were the designated heirs of great leaders who were assassinated when Alexander and Octavius were themselves in their teens (Alexander's father Phillip II of Macedon was murdered when Alexander was 16, Octavius's great uncle Gaius Julius Caesar was murdered when Octavius was 19 and named Octavius as his heir in his will) and that shortly after the demise of their predecessor each man used the power he inherited to embark on a rise to power that would lead to each of them conquering the majority of what was then the known world. Given Alexandra's relation within the story to Abraham Thorn this may be foreshadowing for events later in the story.
• Quick was at one time nearly named Lila Zill.

Appearances

• "Don' Like Peas!"
• Alexandra Quick and the Thorn Circle (First appearance)
• Alexandra Quick and the Lands Below
• Alexandra Quick and the Deathly Regiment
• Alexandra Quick and the Stars Above
• Alexandra Quick and the World Away