Oh, Evan. My pure, precious, baby boy. My child. I love you so very much.

Even though the entire plot of the book centers around your ongoing pain.

Evan is both the main character... and one of the most impractical choices for the main character. He has the least amount of power involved, and powerless main characters are a bad idea. And yet he still has the most pivotal role, just by being himself. Ever since he took over the role of main character from Iri, I've just known that this story has to be his.

(These details are going to be all over the place as I write whatever comes to mind as I go along so be prepared.)

Evan Morales is sixteen and a sophomore in high school. He lives in New Mexico and wears long sleeves way too often for the climate, which may be related to his mutations and may not be.

I don't actually know what species Evan technically is. He used to be crossed with a plant and be able to photosynthesize and all that jazz, but that doesn't feel right anymore, so I'm back to the drawing bored. All I know is he's crossed with another species (possibly multiple other species), he has some sort of physical disorder (possibly a thyroid issue, like being unable to regulate his own body temperature, or some kind of fine motor movement issue like Restless Leg Syndrome), he possibly has some sort of mental disorder (besides ADHD, which he is not officially diagnosed with but has some symptoms for), and he's so unique and important to the research of the people who kidnapped him that they had to get their hands on him. Maybe he's crossed with some sort of reptile? I'm not sure.

But honestly it wouldn't even matter to the plot exactly what species he is, so moving on.

The main characteristic of Evan that people notice is his constant fidgeting. Swinging his keys around his fingers, drumming on his practice pad, running his fingers through his hair, playing with other people's hair (there's a high probability that he's secretly very good at braiding hair), bouncing his leg, bouncing balls against the wall. If I knew him in real life, he'd drive me bonkers. And he drives multiple other characters bonkers, especially when he's constantly forced into close quarters with them.

He's an ESFP, the absolute worse personality type to be forced into what he's forced into. I actually did the calculations for this. But he was an ESFP before I did the calculations, so it just happened to work out that way. He's generally happy, but also gets angry easily and doesn't really know how to hold his tongue or, when he's fired up, control his impulses. This causes lots and lots of problems for him as the story goes on. 

Pre-Spock, Evan lives with his little sister Gabi and a foster mom/family. The story starts recently (a couple months maybe) after they had to move in with the foster family because their grandmother, who was their legal guardian before, was determined too unwell to take care of them and medically forced into a retirement home. At school, Evan plays either snare or tenor drum in the marching band (I can't decide...), has a B-average grade with some honors classes, and has a nice group of friends to eat lunch with, including his girlfriend, Ximena. The story either takes place near the beginning or the end of the school year. Either way, he ends up missing the end of sophomore year and the beginning of junior year because of the events of the story.

Evan's Hispanic and a citizen of the USA (I believe his grandparents immigrated to the US, but it's possible his parents were born outside the US as well). His skin is on the lighter side of the South American spectrum, like hot cocoa with cream in it. His hair is chocolate-brown and has a little bit of natural wave/curl to it with some sort of short-on-the-sides-long-on-the-top style that's easy to run his fingers through and play with. His eyes are a dark hazel-green. You can usually see him wearing a jeans, a sweatshirt or t-shirt (or a t-shirt on top of a sweatshirt), and sneakers. His tees are mostly rock band and other music stuff, like a shirt from last year's marching band show or a Hard Rock Cafe shirt. Idk what his favorite bands are yet, but I know his rock tolerance levels are far higher than mine (Imagine Dragons would be low for him and high for me). Usually you can see him smiling to himself and nodding his head along to the music in his earbuds as he ambles along to class with his lanyard in his hand spinning around and around his fingers. Or sharing an earbud with Ximena with his arm around her as he tries to get her to sing along with him.

Once he's taken by Kingdom Labs (that's the company, by the way, that's illegally experimenting on children), he's given only a simple, thin white shirt, white pants, and white socks to wear (they bURN HIS HARD ROCK CAFE SHIRT DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE PAID FOR THAT). He also eventually is given a brand (like, with an actual branding iron) on his right shoulder, which is partly hidden by the sleeves of his white shirt and other short-sleeve shirts, but not hidden entirely (I feel like he'd probably get tattoos on his arms later to draw attention away from it, much to my and his grandmother's disapproval). His hair grows out and gets in his eyes, he has little scars all over his body. And his disposition gets a lot less happy.

He. . . he goes through a lot.

He's kidnapped, told not-so-gently that he's not actually human, doesn't have any rights, and is the property of Kingdom for them to do whatever they wish, shoved into a cage that's barely tall enough to sit up in much less comfortably sleep in, told that if he doesn't comply they'll torture his little sister (whom has also been kidnapped but whom he's not allowed to see), and subject to painful medical research procedures.

All that happens very fast, and a lot of book is him trying to adjust. But he doesn't adjust. And that's why he's the main character. Kingdom doesn't account for his sheer determination to keep his identity and shout to anyone who will listen about who he is, why this isn't okay, and what the real world is like.

And that's how he eventually leads the other mutants into rebellion against Kingdom Labs.

It's pretty glorious.

Relationships with other characters:

Gabi: Evan's little sister. They were never too close, but then the death of their mother brought them together on a deep level that can't be changed by occasional squabbles. Once she's used as the main leverage point to force him to comply, and once he's refused access to see her, he misses her deeply and, once they're finally reunited, develops an even deeper and more loving bond with her. The thought of her is sometimes the only thing that keeps him going.

Ximena: His girlfriend at the start of the series. Doesn't see her for about a year. Then one day she turns up leading a fully armed FBI raiding squad coming to rescue him. She finds him, sweeps him into her arms, and kisses him deeply. This doesn't rekindle their relationship, which fell apart over time because Evan was more focused on keeping Gabi safe, and they're never romantic again, but Ximena did tirelessly work for a year to find out what happened to her former boyfriend and get him back. They stay best friends forever. Also Ximena is just awesome.

Iri: His next-door neighbor at Kingdom (AKA the cage next to his). She finds him very obnoxious, possibly to the point where his nervous fiddling causes her to have anxiety attacks. But she's basically Mutant Mom, and if he's gonna form a rebellion, he needs her on his side...

Tosigo: His other next-door neighbor. He's terrified of him. And resentful of him. And resentful that he's terrified of him. Tosigo, for his part, finds Evan very whiny and wishes he would just give up and stop fighting everything so blatantly. He helps with the rebellion, if only so Evan doesn't screw it up completely.

Rosario: His across-the-street neighbor. He doesn't talk to her too much, but she and Tosigo teach him some ASL when he's bored out of his mind.

Daniel: It's... complicated. Daniel is the scientist personally in charge of Evan and research surrounding Evan. Meaning he's the one poking with needles and all that fun, painful stuff. But he's also a nice guy under it all, and tries to be kind to Evan, and Evan picks up on that and eventually becomes friends with him. It's pretty rocky along the way, though, because Evan never really can get over the resentment that Daniel would do this to him even if he has reasons.

Abuela: Evan loves his grandmother, and finds it very depressing to watch her slowly growing old and losing physical and mental abilities. Once he's kidnapped, he harbors some resentment towards her for not telling him about Kingdom and his mutations. When they're finally reunited, however, he forgives her.

Ryann: His mortal enemy. Ryann is the one who forces him to comply, who emotionally manipulates him, who threatens him with harm to himself and to his sister if he dares defy her. He does everything he can to bring her down, to fight her. And he never, ever forgives her.

Esteban: His father, who died when he was a baby/toddler. He mainly resents him for experimenting on his own son, though later Abuela is able to help him find some closure.

Raquelita: His mother, who died four or five years prior to the story. He never stops loving her, especially when he finds out everything she did for him to keep him safe from Kingdom.

That's basically all that comes to mind right now. Any questions about Evan? (If the question is, "Can I adopt him as my son?" or "Can I give him a hug?" the answers are yes, definitely, absolutely. Hug him. He needs all the hugs.) 

I'll post more chapters about the other characters with lots more info. Next up is Gabi!