Vladimir Cheng: Vladimir, or Vlad, as he likes to be called, is a quiet, reserved teenager with a love for children’s literature and a hatred of French plays. Growing up with distant, sophisticated parents and two hyper successful older siblings resulted in a very lonely childhood, but, after moving into Tarra’s fifth grade class five years ago, Vlad’s life has been anything but quiet. Vlad can be idealistic, gullible, and indecisive, and while he is pretty hard to anger, once he’s mad, everyone runs for cover.

Tarragon Lee: Tarragon grew up with an English professor mother and a chef father, and her life has always been filled with books and food. Quirky and fun, Tarra is the sort of person who enjoys board games, treasure maps, and yelling at Jeopardy with her parents. Despite Tarra’s love of make believe and fantasy, she is a realist at heart, and has a bit of a hard time accepting things that she cannot explain.

The Librarian: A worker at the mysterious library Tarra and Vlad discover.