Ghost Squad

Syd Faires is Lucely’s best friend and fellow protagonist of the story. With a lifelong fascination for the occult, Syd is the perfect teammate to help protect Lucely’s ghostly firefly relatives. She’s organized and tough-minded, if sometimes impatient. Her parents are musicians, but Syd loves anything to do with magic powers, and she’s something of an expert in the subject.

Syd discovers that her grandmother, Babette, is a real witch and a member of the famous Blue Coven. Syd believes she, too, must be a witch, but Babette won’t train her until she displays such abilities. In the meantime, Syd does her best to help Lucely save her spirit relatives and the city from supernatural dangers. In the process, she manifests the powers of a witch, proves herself a capable student of the magical realms, and builds a close connection with ghost-seer Lucely. Syd’s last name evokes the faeries and other creatures who possess the unusual gifts of the occult world.

A large group of fireflies, or cocuyos, live in the willow tree outside Lucely’s house. Each cocuyo is the ghost of one of the girl’s ancestors, back from the dead, to support the Luna family’s ongoing efforts to protect St. Augustine from evil spirits. They can take human form but are visible only to Lucely and witches. Simon knows about them and once could see them himself, but he lost the ability and only recognizes their firefly form. Father and daughter love their departed relatives, who love them back equally. The ghosts make themselves at home at the Luna house, attend family meals, chatter endlessly, and keep Lucely and Simon company.

Most senior and the most respected of the group is Lucely’s grandmother, Mamá Teresa, whose great power and gentle counsel offer reassurance and a sense of belonging to Lucely. Mamá explains to Lucely, “Our family is one of just two ancient orders charged with keeping this city and its inhabitants safe” (55). Mamá falls under a curse and becomes inert, and Lucely and the other fireflies work together to defeat the evil spirits who have harmed Mamá and threaten them all.

Next in authority is Lucely’s aunt, Tía Milagros, who died in her sleep and must always appear in the pajamas, hair curlers, and mask she wore when she passed. She tends to be grumpy and bossy, and she browbeats the fireflies and Lucely into participating in her favorite project, cleaning the Luna house. She also likes to gossip about the neighbors. Her tough exterior hides a warm heart that loves her living niece.

Manny, 15 when he died 10 years earlier, is a hip teen whose warnings about a coming evil alert Lucely to the new ghostly danger. Cousin Macarena “was like an older sister” to Lucely (12). She’s youthful and strong, especially in spirit powers, which she uses to evaporate a squad of evil ghost soldiers who try to kill Lucely and Syd. Macarena joins the girls in their quest to defeat the malicious spirits that attack them and their city. Also strong in a battle are Cousin Frankie, an ex-boxer who won all her fights and punches out some bad ghosts, and Cousin Benny, another young, athletic spirit. Tía Rosario, who always appears in a pink dress, and distant cousin Yesenia play minor roles.

Syd’s grandmother, Babette Faires, is a witch. She lives with many cats in a strangely magical house attached to an occult shop, Babette’s Baubles, tucked away behind a stand of trees. Babette, “tall and elegant, with high cheekbones and warm, dark skin the same color as Syd’s” (38), descends from a long line of witches, the Purple Coven. She’s powerful and wise: When Syd insists on learning what she knows of magic, Babette replies, “If I sat there telling you all the things I know and you don’t, we’d never get up” (176). Babette confronts the ghost of Eliza Briggs, a witch-hating colonial who drove the Purple Coven from St. Augustine centuries earlier. Babette’s vast supernatural powers, combined with those of the Coven members she calls up, help Lucely, Syd, and the fireflies defeat the ghost army and save St. Augustine. Babette is a caring, if no-nonsense, mentor to the girls; her advice and protection help Lucely and Syd find their destiny as guardians of St. Augustine.

Lucely’s father, Simon Luna, operates the Luna Ghost Tour of historic spots in St. Augustine where ghostly happenings have occurred. A loving father, “history geek,” and excellent chef, Simon mourns the departure of his wife, Lucely’s mother, and this sadness prevents him from seeing the family ghosts except as fireflies. Simon’s tour faces tough competition, and he has trouble paying his bills, so the bank threatens to foreclose on his house, which has been in the Luna family for generations.

Simon loves and supports his daughter, but he’s unaware of her late-night excursions with Syd in pursuit of the magic that can save the fireflies and St. Augustine from the ghost army. When he learns of the girls’ deeds, he realizes they have taken on the mantle of their respective families as protectors of the city. Proudly he supports them during the climactic encounter with the ghost forces. The supernatural battle brings attention to the city, and Simon’s ghost tour gets heavy bookings. This enables him to keep the ancestral Luna house, and he learns that his sad heart can heal when he rededicates himself to his daughter and his family.

Eliza Braggs, a colonist in early St. Augustine who became angry when the witch Pilar became engaged to her son, arranged to have Pilar executed, her coven’s meeting place burned to the ground, and the group exiled from the city. Eliza’s wrath is outsized and irrational. Even in death, she returns to St. Augustine to aim at the witches. She assumes the shape of Mayor Anderson until Babette reveals her presence, but it’s not until the final battle that Eliza and her evil forces are finally banished from the living realm. Eliza thus serves as the story’s chief antagonist. 

Las Brujas Moradas—“The Purple Witches” or the Purple Coven—is a group of witches that traces its lineage back to Colonial St. Augustine, where they used their powers, and the signature purple energy they can emit, to protect the city. The Coven was despised by colonist Eliza Braggs, who arranged for a member’s execution, the burning of their meeting house, and their exile from the city. A notebook composed by the Coven and filled with knowledge and spells, El Libro de Lobos, “The Book of Wolves,” is found by Lucely and Syd. They use it with the intent to help the ailing Mamá Teresa but instead accidentally summon Eliza and her army of wicked ghosts. Babette calls on the dispersed members of the Blue Coven to help Lucely and Syd defeat the ghost army. In doing so, the Coven returns to its rightful ancestral place as protectors of the city.

The mayor of St. Augustine, Mr. Anderson, is very tall and sports a thick mustache. He also visits cemeteries at night, and Lucely and Syd overhear him plotting to take over the city with an army of evil spirits. When he is in graveyards, he assumes the shape of a mist monster. He thus appears at first to be Lucely and Syd’s main antagonist. Babette later reveals him to be in the control of Eliza Braggs, who has kidnapped him and assumed his form. The mayor, thus, is a minor player whose main job is to be a disguise for the antagonist.