Lily Parker is the sixteen-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel. At the opening of the novel, Lily is a well-adjusted teen living her life in Sagamore, New York. All this changes when her parents announce that they have accepted research positions in Munich, Germany, and that they plan to send Lily to an elite boarding school in Chicago. At St. Sophia's school, Lily sticks out like a sore thumb: she doesn't come from money, which means she isn't nearly as well-dressed, snobby, or spoiled as the rest of the student body. She feels utterly alone until she meets Scout Green, a fellow misfit who quickly becomes Lily's new best friend. Lily is a somewhat meddling, nosy character. When Scout asks her to mind her own business and trust her about her late night excursions, Lily doesn't take "no" for an answer. She follows Scout, even though Scout expressly forbade her to, and winds up getting involved in the battle between good and evil in a world of magical teenagers. After being hit by a firespell, Lily develops the strange ability to control light brightness, and eventually, of conjuring powerful firespells of her own.
