Aaron Baylis came west from the Midwest in search of freedom, fresh air, and a new start. He traded the crowded streets of the city for the open skies of New Mexico, thinking the job of sheriff in a small, quiet town like Never would offer a slower pace and a chance to settle into his own skin. But Never is anything but ordinary.
Still new to the role, Aaron is adapting to the town’s oddities — Strange behavior, unusual disappearances, the occasional unexplainable event — with the kind of steady patience that makes him well-liked by locals. He doesn’t yet realize the town hides supernatural forces in plain sight, but he’s beginning to suspect there’s something off about Never. Oddly enough, it’s a feeling he doesn’t mind. Perhaps it’s because Aaron himself is no stranger to secrecy. Quietly gay in a time and place that offers little safety for it, he’s learned how to guard pieces of himself from the world.
As the mysteries around him grow deeper, Aaron begins to wonder if this strange, watchful town might be the one place where a man like him — One with secrets, heart, and hope — might actually belong.
Aaron Bayliss
Emmett Garrison
Emmett is a POLTERGEIST SPIRIT.
Emmett was born in Caledonia, or the northern portion of what we call Scotland, sometime in the first century. He couldn’t tell you exactly when he was born, or how old he was when he died — It’s been so long that his memory of being alive is hazy at best. He’s pretty sure he was killed by a Roman, but he’s also quick to add that it must not have been all that traumatic because he doesn’t remember it at all. Never is not the only place on Earth where the barrier between life and afterlife are thin, and Emmett has availed himself of all of them for varying periods of time and under many aliases. He is one of Never’s oldest residents, having been in the town since before it had a name. He is known for being gregarious and deeply loyal to his work for the Sheriff’s Department.
Boone Duning
Boone is a MEDICINE MAN WITCH.
Boone straddles Never’s two worlds with a quiet intensity. A sheriff’s deputy, he is known for his stoic demeanor, keen tracking skills, and an unsettling ability to “hear the dead wind” — a supernatural talent passed down through his mother’s bloodline. Though he keeps his craft hidden from most, whispers of Boone’s eerie intuition and uncanny luck haunt the town’s saloons and prayer circles alike. His most valuable possession is a charred silver pocket watch that once belonged to his late mentor. The watch ticks only in the presence of lies, and sometimes, when Boone holds it, it speaks with the voice of the dead man who gave it to him.
Alvin Lucas
Alvin Lucas serves as a steady, good-humored sheriff’s deputy, and is well-known for his easy charm and unshakable calm even in gunfire’s heat. Dependable and a loyal friend, he is also quietly but intensely dedicated to his true mission of gently coaxing restless spirits toward redemption before they can become something darker, something irreversible.
To aid him, Alvin carries a battered hymnal bound in faded leather — A relic that glows faintly under moonlight. The book doesn’t contain just hymns, but names. Names of the dead. Some are scratched out. Some still whisper. Each time Alvin helps a spirit find peace, a page turns on its own. But when a name appears in blood-red ink, it means the soul is tipping toward damnation and time is running out.