Marella Redek

Marella Redek is an elf who attends Foxfire. She is a Level Four in Foxfire, like Sophie, and was one of Sophie's first friends alongside Jensi and Dex. However, their friendship became weak after Sophie got kidnapped and started hanging out with Fitz and Keefe. Sophie and Marella become friends because of their mutual hatred for Stina. Like many other girls, she had a crush on Fitz Vacker, but later seemed to be considering Tam Song. In Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities, she also described Dex as cute, despite his family being unconventional or a ‘bad match’. She loves collecting Prattles Pins and is always on top of the latest gossip. She hated Stina until Book 3 when Sophie started to neglect her. She became friends with Stina and showed her dislike of Sophie. But, in Lodestar, their friendship begins to heal, as she realized how crazy and absurd Sophie's life was at that time. Her special ability was also triggered by Mr. Forkle in Lodestar, but it remains unknown by the end of the book. The name "Marella" means "shining sea." Ironically, it was revealed in Nightfall that Marella is a Pyrokinetic. Some people believe this was on purpose because Marella is not an evil Pyrokinetic. She uses her ability to assist the main Keeper crew at various points of the book. She has kept this ability secret from everyone, except Mr. Forkle, the Keeper crew, and, of course, her parents. However, Marella's parents seem to be accepting of the ability because it was mentioned that they comforted her when she first manifested. At the end of Flashback, during the battle between the Neverseen and Sophie's friends, Marella uses her abilities. The Council allows her to train with Fintan to hone her abilities, so she can control them better.

Ability
In Nightfall, it was revealed that Marella is a Pyrokinetic, which is a rare and misunderstood ability to control and create a fire that comes with a strong desire for the flames. It also attracts heat, as shown when the chosen group for exploring the first Nightfall, marched up a snowy slope, and Marella was the only one not shivering. She said the reason she wasn't cold was because the heat was attracted to her. Marella's newfound Pyrokinesis was triggered by Mr. Forkle when she told him and the Keeper crew that she wanted to manifest as an Empath to help identify and control her mother's unstable emotions. A few nights after Mr. Forkle triggered her ability, she thought she had a fever, and woke up that night covered in flames. Her mother stepped up and took the blame for setting the fire; everyone believed that story, as Marella's mother was seemingly "eccentric", due to a vaguely described accident and incurable head trauma that resulted in her emotional instability.

Personality
Marella was nice enough to sit with Sophie—the new girl— on her first day of school and stop her from "committing social suicide" by sitting with the Drooly Boys. Marella is also shown to be bitter—specifically about people's view of her mother's condition. She notably clenched her fists when she told Sophie how everyone completely believed that "crazy Caprise Redek" set the fire, when actually Marella's unexpected manifestation of pyrokinesis sparked the flames. Marella isn't one to back down from a challenge. Throughout the first few books, she defends Sophie from Stina and says she enjoys doing it. She also isn't afraid to say what she means and clearly isn't one to sugarcoat things. Marella seems to have a dry sense of humor, occasionally making sarcastic remarks. Marella doesn’t exactly filter everything that comes out of her mouth, so some of her remarks may be insensitive. In the first book, she talks about Grady and Edaline isolating themselves from everyone and becoming loners when Jolie died, without seeming to care, and Sophie thinks of it as rude. She speaks her mind though, which is one of her strongest qualities.
 * Kind
 * Bitter
 * Feisty
 * Sarcastic
 * Blunt

Physical Appearance
Marella is described as a short, pixie-like elf with shoulder length blonde hair that "twists in and out of tiny braids." She is also said to have large, icy-blue eyes—very much like Keefe's were described.

''Photo 1: Marella by Shannon Messenger Photo 2: Marella by Courtney Godbey Photo 3: Marella by Laura Hollingsworth''

Relationships
Marella sat with Sophie at lunch in Sophie's the first year, despite also having to sit with the Drooly Boys. Later, Sophie started hanging out with Biana, and Marella felt unwanted. Marella was also angry that all of Sophie's good friends dropped out of school and joined the Black Swan without telling her. She and Sophie made up, and now Marella is also a member of the Black Swan.
 * SOPHIE (friend)

When introducing herself to Sophie, she mentioned that she thought Dex was cute - although many people believed he wouldn't manifest.
 * DEX (friend/possible love interest) 

Sophie sat with Jensi and his friends, of whom Marella calls the Drooly Boys ( Jensi, Valin, etc.) and Marella took it upon herself to save her from "committing social suicide". Later on in the book, Jensi, Marella, and Dex all sit with Sophie, Keefe, and the Vackers. Marella admitted to having a crush on Fitz in Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities to Sophie. However, in the later books, she seemed to have moved on.
 * JENSI (friend/possible love interest)
 * FITZ (friend/previous crush)

In Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities, Marella and Keefe loved talking about Sophie's alchemy failures. Caprise Redek received a head injury that even Elwin couldn't fix, causing her emotions to be out of control at times. Marella hoped to manifest as an empath so she could help her mother deal with her precarious emotions. Marella is shown to be bitter towards elves who judge her mother because of her condition. Lord Redek was mentioned in Keepers books 1 and 6. In the first book, he was mentioned to be a Guster.
 * KEEFE (friend/possible love interest)
 * CAPRISE (mother)
 * LORD REDEK (father)
 * TAM (friend/possible love interest)

In Lodestar, Marella was caught staring at Tam. In addition, they seemed to be teasing each other in Nightfall. Marella also shot Tam "her flirtiest smile." Linh and Marella train in their abilities together and consider each other friends. Since the beginning of the series, Marella has shown a disliking towards Stina, although after Sophie began neglecting her, she began to befriend Stina. After she manifested as an Empath, however, Marella became jealous of her ability. Fintan was chosen to mentor Marella in pyrokinesis in Book 7: Flashback.
 * LINH (friend)
 * STINA (enemy/former friend)
 * FINTAN (teacher/enemy)

Trivia

 * Marella is an Irish name, meaning "shining sea".

Marella Redek