Amari Peters is the first-person protagonist of the novel. She is a 12-year-old Black girl who lives with her single mother (Mama) in the low-income housing projects. In the first chapters, Amari is finishing her last day of school at Jefferson Academy, a prestigious private school to which she has won a scholarship and where she experiences racism and classism. These struggles persist in the supernatural world once Amari discovers she is an illegal magician.

Amari doesn’t have many friends at school, nor in the supernatural world. She is constantly considering her family; her love for her brother Quinton motivates her to enter the supernatural world, and Amari is persistent in overcoming all odds to find him. This demonstrates her deep loyalty and determination. Along the way, Amari struggles with deep feelings of inadequacy because she compares herself to Quinton. She often dismisses her own capabilities and sees herself as less intelligent and less competent than him. She admires the effect her brother has had, and is distressed by suggestions that she could also be a hero because she feels she isn’t worthy (73). It soon becomes apparent that Amari is not the most accurate evaluator of herself.