Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses suicide and kidnapping.

Gemma is the 16-year-old protagonist and first-person narrator of the novel. Physically, Gemma is described as having brown hair and green eyes. Gemma’s last name, “Toombs,” mirrors the tomb-like claustrophobic captivity throughout the story.

Before her abduction, Gemma lived a comfortable life in London. Her parents are wealthy and involved in the community. She got in tiffs with her parents over her clothes and behavior and hung out with her friends in the park, drinking and getting up to no good. Ty perceives and latches onto Gemma’s creative otherness. As a child, she wandered through the park, inventing little families of fairies that lived in every flower. She retains some of that creative spirit, sprinkling metaphor and poetic description into her narration.

When Gemma first meets Ty in the airport, she behaves like a normal teenager. She’s disgruntled at her parents, longing for independence, and susceptible to any validation. She flirts with Ty, wanting to feel desired and older than she is. Once she wakes up in captivity, she becomes vulnerable and scared. Her nascent desires at the beginning feel humiliating and tawdry.