Elatsoe

Trevor is Ellie’s older cousin and the man murdered by Abe Allerton at the beginning of the novel. Although Trevor dies at the end of chapter 2, his presence is felt throughout the novel as his family grieves him and tries to uncover the truth of his death.

Ellie admits that she and Trevor aren’t as close as they used to be. After all, “Trevor’s life became hectic after he married a teacher named Lenore Moore, moved to the Rio Grande Valley, and had a baby” (26). Trevor is an adult with a life of his own, and the distance between North Texas and South Texas is very wide. Still, despite the time and distance between them, Trevor seeks Ellie out when he is on the brink of death by walking into her dreams. He chooses Ellie to watch out for his family because he has seen the depth of her powers. He “call[s] Ellie a hero” (98), just like one of the heroes in his beloved comic books, and when he dies, Trevor leaves Ellie his old knife from their fight with the Leech: a symbol of his belief in her power.

Ellie spends much of the novel trying to understand how someone like gentle, loving Trevor could ever come back as an evil ghost. When Trevor dies, her father tells her that he “peacefully walked to the underworld” (42), and when Trevor first appears to Ellie in her dream in chapter 2, he “never asked for vengeance. He wanted his family to be safe” (221). When Ellie and her mother attempt to stake out the Allerton mansion, Ellie realizes that the Trevor she knew would be “extremely disappointed to learn that Ellie, Vivian, and his infant son were idling outside a murderer’s house” (221). The Trevor of Ellie’s memory never wanted violence or confrontation but was the type of man who would stop on a lonely country road to help somebody in need.

This image does not match the bloodthirsty persona of Trevor’s ghost, and during the dramatic showdown at the Allerton mansion, Ellie’s suspicions are confirmed: The emissary is not Trevor, but the faintest whisper of a vengeful spirit that latched onto her cousin. The real Trevor wants only peace for his family, and although what happened to him was evil and wrong, Trevor’s true spirit is one of selflessness, love, and peace. In the end, even Lenore understands that the destructive emissary was not a true reflection of her husband’s character, and as the novel concludes, she remembers that “he was a good dad” and “a good man” (500) who tried to make the world a better place.

Jay Ross is Ellie’s best friend and her partner in crime-solving throughout Elatsoe. Ellie explains that she has known Jay her entire life because “their mothers attended the same Lamaze program” (20), and they “lived on the same block,” “went to the same school,” and “celebrated their birthdays together” (20) throughout their lives. Jay is on the school’s cheerleading team, and he has an air of optimism that matches Ellie’s energy. Even though they are from different cultures—Jay is white, while Ellie is Lipan—Ellie thinks of Jay as a member of her own family.

Jay is a consummate “good kid” who never gets into trouble. When Ellie sees him on the Herotonic Bridge on the night of Trevor’s murder with a can of spray paint, she is thoroughly confused because “he’d never done graffiti more permanent than chalk on the sidewalk” (20). Jay is a hopeless romantic, and as he tries to spray-paint a broken heart to represent his recent breakup with his girlfriend, he reveals his sensitive side and his questionable judgment. Like Ellie, Jay is close to his family, and when his sister gets engaged to a vampire, Jay panics and worries about the delicate equilibrium of his family being upset. He also isn’t sure if Al is genuinely a good guy, so he is wary of him until Al proves himself by joining the hunt to take down Abe.

Ellie admits that her friendship with Jay has always been simple and full of childlike innocence. Before Trevor’s death, “they’d never had to deal with heavy stuff like murder before,” but “life’s problems used to be graffiti mistakes and dogs afraid of googly-eyed skulls” (53). When Jay volunteers to help Ellie investigate Trevor’s death, she is overwhelmed with gratitude. Thanks to Jay’s research, they uncover the truth about who Dr. Allerton is and how his reputation is a facade to cover up the dark secrets of the Willowbee doctors.