Sophie is a PURITAN WITCH with ILLUSION common powers.
Sophie Grey is the daughter of Never’s polished and calculating mayor, Samuel Grey — A young woman of poise, beauty, and a mind sharper than any silver-plated revolver. Nearing adulthood, she moves through the town like a specter of her father’s influence, knowing exactly when to charm, when to disarm, and when to simply watch. She has always understood that power isn’t just about control, but rather perception. And lately, perception has become her playground.
Unaware of her father’s true demon nature but taught secretly at her witch mother’s side from an early age, she is finally coming into her full powers. The illusions she weaves — Innocuous at first, little shifts in light and shadow, whispers mistaken for the wind — are growing stronger. Now, she can make people see things that aren’t there, or worse, fail to see things that are. Faces blur when she wishes them to. Locks seem to open of their own accord. And sometimes, when she looks in the mirror, her reflection does not move quite in time with her.
Iina Deschene
Iina Deschene is the cheerful heart of Never’s telegraph office, a young woman with bright eyes, a warm laugh, and a knack for turning even the most mundane message into a moment of connection. Clad in modest skirts and ink-stained fingers, she’s known for her speed at the keys and the uncanny way she always seems to know when a message is coming before it does.
Of course, Iina is an Angel, in Never to guide lost spirits toward the light. Her approach is gentle and open. Her innocent demeanor and radiant presence are disarming to even the most hardened souls, and her mere touch seems to carry with it a trace of good luck: Sick children recover faster, stubborn cattle calm, and broken hearts begin to mend. Even some demons, drawn to Never for darker purposes, can’t help but feel fondness for her. There’s something irresistible about Iina’s presence — A quiet light that soothes without preaching, a kindness that seems boundless but never naïve.
Sally Ducker, aka Allie
Sally Ducker — Though at the Silk Rose, everyone knows her as Allie — is a young woman with sharp eyes, a sharper tongue, and a knack for making men believe she’s exactly what they want her to be. She came west from New England chasing excitement, adventure, maybe even a little notoriety. What she found was Never, a town that hums with secrets beneath the shuffle of boots and the clink of whiskey glasses.
Allie plays the game well enough to keep herself safe: Smiling when needed, teasing when useful, disappearing when it’s best. But she didn’t come all this way just to scrape by in the Silk Rose. Her sights are set on the Pearl, the town’s high-class gambling hall and brothel, where the women wear silk instead of threadbare lace and the clients leave real gold on the nightstand. If she plays her cards right, she’ll get there.
Inez Garcia, aka Flora
Inez Garcia, known as Flora at the Pearl, is a woman who knows exactly what she wants and how to get it. She’s vivacious, charming, and always the center of attention, whether she’s laughing louder than the rest or dazzling men with a smile that could make them forget their names. With a sharp mind for money and numbers, Inez keeps a careful count of every transaction and every tip, turning small sums into bigger ones with effortless grace.
But behind the facade of a beautiful, ambitious young woman lies a past shrouded in darkness. Inez grew up in a remote village in Mexico, where her family ran a small but thriving herbal remedy business. What most people didn’t know was that her mother — Once a renowned healer — had dabbled in dark magic, performing rituals that drew unwanted attention from both the living and the dead. When Inez was just seventeen, a botched ritual led to the accidental death of a local man. In the chaos that followed, her mother disappeared without a trace, leaving Inez to take the fall for a crime she didn’t commit. Fearing for her life, Inez fled north, leaving behind everything she knew, determined to outrun the dark legacy of her family. Now, in Never, she’s built a new life for herself full of ambition and charm, but the shadows of her past still haunt her, and sometimes, when the wind howls just right, she swears she hears her mother’s voice calling from the darkness.
Rosa Grey
Rosa Grey is the enigmatic and graceful wife of Never’s mayor, Samuel Grey — A woman of quiet strength, deliberate words, and a gaze that lingers just a little too long. To the townsfolk, she is the perfect image of a mayor’s wife: poised, elegant, and ever watchful. But beneath the silk and lace lies something far older, far sharper. Rosa is no ordinary woman, but rather a witch of illusions, a master of veils both seen and unseen.
She was not always Rosa Grey. Once, long ago, she was a frightened girl with no name worth keeping, trapped in a house where love was a myth and cruelty was law. Desperation led her to a crossroads, where she met a man who was not a man at all. Samuel Grey offered her a bargain: Safety, power, and a new name in exchange for something she did not yet understand. She accepted without hesitation.
Decades later, her illusions have shaped more than just fleeting tricks of the eye — They have shaped a town, a family, and a legacy that walks the line between salvation and damnation. She has woven her children in shadows of protection, hiding the truth from them as long as she can. But illusions are fragile things, and Rosa knows better than anyone that sooner or later, all veils must fall.