Eleven-year-old Dan is one of the two main viewpoint protagonists. Orphaned at a young age, Dan and his older sister, Amy, were left in the care of Aunt Beatrice, who parked them in an apartment with a revolving door of au pairs. Dan is easygoing, playful, and distractible, yet incredibly intelligent and mathematically-minded. He has a collector’s instinct and pours it into a succession of passions, from baseball cards to Civil War weapons to gravestone rubbings. When Grace leaves a family-wide challenge in her will, adventurous Dan is up to the task.

While Dan keeps up a playful façade, he struggles with feelings of loneliness and loss due to the trauma of losing his parents in a fire. He cherishes the one photo he has of them and resents the fact that Amy can remember more of life with their parents. When Dan’s backpack falls onto the train tracks, sweeping away his photo, his façade falls away and he cries, finally Reckoning with Past Trauma—the primary conflict that has driven his character arc.

Dan is extremely close to his sister Amy. As he and Amy fend off attacks from murderous relatives, Dan always protects and stands up for his sister.