Jack Wolcott

Jacqueline "Jack" Wolcott is a character in the Wayward Children series; she appears as a protagonist in Every Heart a Doorway, Down Among the Sticks and Bones and Come Tumbling Down.

Appearance
Jack has freckles and long blonde hair, which she keeps tied back. She has narrow shoulders, and is quite tall, being an inch or two shorter than Nancy. When she is first introduced, she's wearing jeans and a white shirt with a black vest, and a bow tie with tiny bio-hazard symbols and wire-framed glasses. In other parts of the book, she wears a tweed vest, a tie, and a cravat. Her dapper style has been described as both old-fashioned and fashion-forward and is modeled after what Dr. Bleak wore in the moors.

Personality
Jack is a straightforward type of person and has some problems with social cues, due to the difference between the moors and our world. She can also be sarcastic and self aware. Because of how she was raised, Jack tries to keep cleanliness at all times. She has OCD, which leads her to wear gloves whenever possible.

Every Heart a Doorway
Jack is first mentioned by Eleanor, who thinks she and Jill will be excited to meet Nancy.

She is first seen at dinner when Nancy sits by her, Jill and Sumi. Jack tells Nancy that Sumi had told her that she was boring and sad, and thinks she's her kind of person and introduces herself. Jill explains that they'd gone to the Moors, and Sumi says that they'll probably never return, as High Logic, High Wicked worlds don't want people they can't spoil anymore. Upon seeing Nancy's confusion, Jack explains the World Compass to her. Jill says that the two were there for a year and a half, but didn't lose hope of returning; at this, Jack gets up and leaves.

Jack appears at that night's therapy session, focused on Wicked Worlds, and mumbles something about burning windmills, and the importance of fire safety in laboratory settings. She later reminds everyone that labels like "Wicked" and "Virtuous" don't really mean much, as to them, it didn't matter what their worlds were like, as it was home to them. Lundy announces that the next night would be focused on Logical Worlds, and Jack quips about "being in the hot seat two nights running."

However, after therapy that night, Jack hears a commotion and goes upstairs from her bedroom in the basement to find that Sumi was murdered in the hallway, her hands missing. Loriel blames Jack, citing as evidence a time when she dissected Angela's guinea pig. Jack defends herself, saying it was a cultural misunderstanding, as the guinea pig had been in the common area and, for her, free for anyone who'd wanted it, and she had also offered to put it back together. Kade appears and has Nancy take Jack to her room until everyone calms down. Jack explains both her backstory and her OCD to Nancy. She also adds that she and her sister were sent to the school within a month of returning home, so they didn't affect their brother with stories about fantasy worlds.

Kade arrives and asks Jack if she'd killed Sumi, and she replies that if she had, she wouldn't have left a body. She helps Kade and Nancy pack up Sumi's stuff, putting on gloves and disposing of all the biologically questionable material.

The next day, while eating lunch, Loriel comes up behind Jack and dumps her soup on her head. Jack freezes in place, as Loriel and her friend continue to accuse her of murder, and she's told that Loriel sneezed into the soup before dumping it on her. Jack bolts from the room, followed by Jill, to clean herself.

She appears again at the night's therapy, announcing that Sumi was killed from her injuries; her hands had been cut off first, and she'd died of bloodloss, and again asks the students if they think she would have left a body behind.

The next day, Loriel is found dead, with her eyes missing, and Jack seems interested in what it was that cut out her eyes. Jack asks if Eleanor could lie and say Loriel ran away to avoid repercussions with the dead girl's parents, and she is supported by Christopher but opposed by Angela, who says that she doesn't want to be in a place where dead bodies are hidden. Jack snaps that people fell off of the rainbows in Angela's world, and their bodies were probably also hidden. She adds that should they call Loriel's parents and tell them what happened, the school would be shut down, and the students sent home; half of them would be put on antipsychotic drugs, and the rest of them on the streets. Eleanor then arrives and agrees with Jack, asking her and Kade to dispose of the body. Angela stands up and blames Jack again, and Jack again reminds her that she would not have left a body, and had no use for her eyes. Nancy and Christopher agree to help with the body, and the four students take it to the basement, so Jack can disintegrate her flesh and turn her into a skeleton to hide. Jack mentions that she doesn't have many friends, as most of the children went to happy worlds, while her and Jill went to a darker one.

They make it to the basement, and Jack studies Loriel's body, deducing that she had been knocked from behind and her eyes had been cut out while she was still alive and awake, and was killed by the shock. She then puts the body in acid, and the children go upstairs to find Jill, as Jack is worried that if she's cornered by the other students, she'll hurt them to defend herself. She also says that she and her twin aren't really friends, but stuck together out of self-defense. She sends Kade and Nancy to search for her at the tree grove, while she and Christopher search the dining hall. After they do this, they also search the library and classrooms, but don't find Jill, so she and Christopher go to the attic to regroup with the others, where she makes them all personalized hot chocolate. She gets Nancy and Kade up to the attic with them.

While there, they talk about how they don't fit in with the other students, and Jack mentions that she'd given up trying to befriend the students, as all they did was talk about how the Moors must have been inferior to their worlds. Nancy points out that the two murdered students had their most valuable body parts taken from them. Jack agrees, wondering if someone might be using them to make the Perfect Person, before Jill arrives in the attic, and Jack and Christopher leave to take care of Loriel's bones. Christopher plays his flute, and Loriel's skeleton rises and follows him to a burial spot, and Jack asks her who killed her. In response, the skeleton points slightly to the left of her, and Jack sighs and allows her skeleton to be buried.

The next night, Jill kills Lundy and steals her brain. She is spotted by Jack, who tries to stop her, and Jill stabs her. Jack manages to stumble to Christopher, Kade and Nancy, before passing out. The former two take her to the kitchen with Eleanor, where she awakes just as Nancy comes in and confirms that Jill is the murderer. Jack explains that Jill had become a Monster in the Moors, and that was the reason they were kicked out, and she is now trying to build herself a Skeleton Key. She joins the children as they all run to the attic, where Jill has Seraphina strapped to a table, to attach to her Sumi's hands, Loriel's eyes and Lundy's brain. As she explains to the others what's happening, Jack sneaks up behind her and stabs her with scissors, killing her. She announces that she plans to revive her on the Moors, and opens up a door using the scissors and her sister's blood. She takes her sister's body and enters the Moors, leaving Reality behind.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones
Jacqueline and her sister Jillian are born at the beginning of the book, and Jacqueline is named after her maternal grandmother. When her and her sister refuse to stop crying, her parents Serena and Chester call Chester's mother, Louise, to raise them; they stop crying once she holds them. She essentially raises them, and eventually Serena and Chester recognize that Jacqueline is the less brave of the two, so decide she is the "pretty one", and dress her up very fancy. Jacqueline dislikes her new clothes and cries to her sister about it.

On their first day of preschool, Jacqueline does not cry like her sister, because she wants to learn about outside the house. She hangs around the other little girls in fancy dresses, and later kicks her own dress under the bed when she gets home. On their fifth birthday party, Jacqueline hangs out exclusively with her Grandmother, which makes her mother jealous. That night, Louise is made to leave, and the twins are told she forgot how to love them, which causes them to lose their trust in adults. It is also around this time that Jacqueline begins to develop her OCD, in trying to keep dirt and stains off of her dress so her mother won't be upset at her.

As Jacqueline grows older, she learns that most people won't trust her, she's not expected to be smart if she's pretty, and how to compliment people to get them to like her. She also begins to hate her sister, for being dorky and making things harder for her, though she secretly wants to run and play like her. By the time she turned twelve, she became very popular and short-tempered, but was incredibly terrified of getting dirty. One rainy day, Jillian convinces Jacqueline to go play in the attic with her; it was Louise's former room, and the girls would hide from their parents there. Jacqueline runs to open the costume chest, only to find that the outfits are gone, and there's a staircase instead. Jacqueline wants to go down, since her parents don't know about it, and convinces Jillian to go with her. They find a door at the bottom that only says "Be Sure," and Jacqueline opens it to find the two of them on The Moors.

The girls run into the Moors, finally free; Jacqueline is excited to not be told what to do or not to get messy, and so runs as fast as she can. When she finally slows down, Jillian points out that the Moon is red, and Jacqueline notices that it shouldn't be that big, as it would mess up the tides and gravity. They realize the door is gone and decide to find it, and Jacqueline lets Jillian pick the direction, which is Left. They walk on the Moors until they fall asleep, and upon awaking, continue until they fall down the hill and reach a wall. Jacqueline, exhausted and just about done, knocks on the gate, which opens for her. There, she and Jillian meet The Master, and Jacqueline explains that they'd gone through a Door that had told them to "Be Sure." He asks if they were sure, and when they reply that they were not, he thanks them for not lying and asks them to follow him; he is the first to call them Jack and Jill.

The girls go through the village, and Jack notices that people seem to be hiding from them. Once they reach the Master's house, he informs them that he can give them hospitality for three days, after which they are subject to the land's laws; during the three days, nobody could harm or hex them, nor draw upon their blood. The latter seems to scare Jack, as she asks who would want their blood. They enter the house, and the Master impresses Jack by telling her that he owns the village. Once they reach the dining room, and he sends Mary to get the girls food, he has the girls sit on opposite sides of the table. They receive their conjured food, and Jack gets half a rabbit, roasted and served over vegetables, with bread and cheese. She doesn't eat at first, waiting to see if he's trying to drug them, and asks the Master's name. The Master replies that only those who have earned the right to know his name could know it. Dr. Bleak soon arrives, and believes that the Master has already chosen Jill to keep, as she has the same food as him. Jack is offended that the men are fighting over them like lost puppies, as she says once they find their door, they're going home. Dr. Bleak informs them that their door could be gone a very long time, which upsets Jack, who informs him that her Mother would be angry with her if she found out that she went outside. Bleak offers to take both the girls, and says that though he can't offer them luxury, he can keep them safe and teach them about the world. Jack likes him a lot.

When the girls are brought to their room for the night, Jack tries to convince her sister to leave, as she is concerned about the Master. She tells Jill that she wants to go with Dr. Bleak, and Jill retorts that she wants to stay, and she doesn't see why they always had to do what Jack wants. Jack is stung, wondering how her sister could think that, as she'd had just as little choice in life as her sister. She finally tells Jill that they don't have to stay together. The next morning, Mary and two servants bring them breakfast, and Jack realizes how dirty she is and asks for a bath; her request is denied, and she decides she doesn't want to eat and get even more dirty. Jack decides to leave, knowing that if the two of them stayed, they would not be a "matching set", and she would upstage Jill, which the Master would not like, and she doesn't want to see what his wrath is like. She asks Mary what would happen if she didn't choose him, and Mary tells him to run, and go with Dr. Bleak, so she would have time to find her Door home. Jack is then lead to the Dining Room, where she goes to Bleak and tells him that she wants to come. He seems confused, as she's wearing a lacy dress and doesn't like dirt, and reminds her that the work under him will be hard, and Jack affirms that she wants to go with him. Bleak allows her to follow him, and Jack is worried when the Master boredly asks what would stop him from killing her for forsaking him. Bleak reminds him that if something should happen to Jill, Jack could be drawn upon to help her sister survive. The Master then tells Jack if she wants to return, he would take her back, but Jack knows she does not want to return.

Jack follows Bleak to his home, having trouble following him but determined to keep up anyway. They go to his windmill, and Bleak tells Jack not to touch anything without knowing what it was, but he will answer her questions. She asks about him mentioning that she could be drawn upon should something happen to Jill, and what "drawn upon" meant, and he replies that it meant Blood, before letting her into the windmill. After taking a second to take in her surroundings, Jack asks for a different outfit, as her dress would get snagged on things. Bleak is surprised that this is her only question, and she replies that she expects him to answer all the others. He gives her a chest of children's clothing, and she picks out a white cotton shirt and knee-length black skirt with white shorts. She then asks if she can have a bath, and Bleak provides her with a tub, tells her where the water is and that she will have to fetch it herself, before leaving.

While he is gone, Jack takes six trips to the well and finally makes herself a bath, washing herself with soap she'd found and using sponges that were once alive. She dresses herself and braids back her hair, and waits until Bleak returns. He asks her if she made dinner, and she replies that she can't cook, but is willing to learn.

The years pass, and Jack remains Bleak's assistant. She works hard, though the villagers are startled by her resemblance to the Master's daughter. Two years after the twins arrived, Jack begins her period, and Jack makes a chemical to disguise the smell of the blood. This earns her the love of the people. A year later, Bleak brings in the corpse of a village girl- Alexis Chopper- and the two of them resurrect her. Jack is startled by her beauty, and later starts dating her after kissing her behind the windmill. This is when she realizes that she never wants to return to Reality.

One day, when she's sixteen, Jack goes to the village with Alexis to pick up some items for Bleak. As they walk, Jack offers to one day build the two of them a child out of body parts, and the two of them discuss Jack's OCD. They reach the village and enter after announcing themselves, going to Alexis's family's inn. As they eat, Jill enters, upset that Jack visited them and not her. Jack begins to provoke her, until Alexis begs her to stop, not wanting to be killed by the Master. Jack relents and backtracks, apologizing for her behavior, and offering to buy Jill a ribbon. Jill is excited and goes with her; the Villagers are terrified of Jill, and Jack realizes that it will take her years to rebuild her reputation after this. Jill also refuses to let her pay for things. When they reach the ribbon stand, Jill offers to take Jack back to the Master's Castle and teach her to be a lady, to which Jack politely declines. Jill leaves with a handful of ribbons, and Jack tries to pay for them, only for the stallholder to inform her that the Master pays for what Jill takes, and that Jack made her act better. Jack runs back to the windmill and cries to Dr. Bleak. After that, Jack does not go to the village, and simply does chores around the Windmill.

One day, Jack is waiting for Alexis to arrive and grows worried, as she is late, which Alexis does not do. She goes to find her, and finds her mutilated corpse. She falls to the ground and howls, in shock. Bleak arrives and sends her to follow the blood and see if her killer has more of her flesh, so he can try to resurrect her. Jack does, and enters the village to find an angry mob surrounding Alexis's killer- Jill. When even the Master abandons Jill, Jack considers abandoning her, but remembers how she loved her once, and grabs her and runs back to the windmill.

Once they arrive, Bleak knocks out Jill and explains to Jack that the Mob will kill them both, which will result in the Master burning the village. He opens up a door for them, and tells her she must wait a year, than she can re-open a door with either the blood of her or her sister. Jack takes Jill through the door, and promises to return.

Jack walks up the stairs, carrying Jill, who later awakes and tries to throw herself down the stairs. Jack forces her up and out of the trunk, into the attic. When Jill tries in vain to go back, Jack realizes that she's the only one who learned to think for herself, and is sorry that she left her sister behind. They go downstairs, where their parents are dining with their son. They jump up and scream, until Chester recognizes them, and calls them Jacqueline and Jillian. The girls then cling to each other and cry.

Relationships
To be added

Trivia

 * Jack was named after her maternal grandmother.
 * Jack was the firstborn.
 * Her birthday is 15th September.
 * Jacqueline is a French name, probably meaning "holder of the heel", "supplanter" or "may God protect."
 * She is confirmed to be pansexual; she is also sex-repulsed, which is tied to her OCD.
 * Jack claims that she once removed a man's lungs from his chest while he was still awake.
 * While Jack was at Eleanor's Home, she applied to several colleges and was accepted to all of them.
 * Seanan McGuire has said that Jack is her most autobiographical charcter because she also has OCD, though Seanan's disorder doesn't manifest as germophobia like Jack's does.
 * Jack is referred to by Kade as an Addams, in reference to the Addams family.