Though she may look like a regular housekeeper (which she technically is... only she has to take care of Earth, not just a house!) this is one lady you do not want to cross... Carmela Emeda Rodriguez Carmela is a key character in this book, though not a wizard. Ignoring Kit's reluctance to allow her on the trip, she travels with Nita and S'ree and manages to decode an ancient prophecy using her strange gift with languages. She shows no further sign of becoming a wizard, and claims that she's simply training to be a "galactic personal shopper". She also shows interest in Ronan, which he does not reciprocate. She has been amply repaid for the service she did in "Wizards At War", by being allowed on a nearly endless shopping spree at the Crossings on Rirhath B. She lives for annoying her little brother, and now that Helena is back, it is so much easier! She also loves to tease Nita by calling her "Juanita LOUISE," since Nita hates her middle name. Carmela's own middle name, now, has an interesting history. Her aunts and uncles fought so much over what her middle name would be that Carmela's mother decided to take their first initials and make a new name out of them. Helena Rodriguez We are newly introduced to Helena in this book. She has seemingly gotten over the stage of thinking Kit has had a deal with the devil, but has some odd theories of her own now. Hint: Mutants! She says also near the end of the book, "Wouldn't it be great if there really was this interplanetary brotherhood with all kinds of creatures, you know, banding together and using their powers to fight evil..." Not knowing, of course, how right she was! Ronan Nolan Ronan, in this book, along with Darryl, travels with Kit and experiences his own bizarre version of Mars in his imagination. He offers a kind of support for Kit, along with being comic relief. There is no tension at all between him and Nita at this point, though there is also little contact between them in the book. Darryl Darryl travels along with Ronan and Kit and has his turn experiencing the Mars of his mind, a strange and silly remake of a movie he watched as a child. He offers comic relief and there are several references to how much he eats. Him being an abdal makes Nita nervous about him being off-planet, but everything works out.