Jem Marsh

Short for Jemma, she is a fifteen-year-old orphan living with a foster mother when she's caught up in the situation that leads to her decision to run away. Jem is short and slender. She has never made friends with anyone because she sees numbers in the eyes of everyone she meets and has come to realize those numbers are the date, month, and year of that person's death. Because she knows the date of a person's death, Jem avoids looking people in the eye, a habit that prompts many to believe she has something to hide or is lying. Though she knows that a boy named Spider is going to die in a matter of days, Jem finds herself drawn to him and they become friends and then lovers. Jem struggles with the question of why she sees the numbers, whether they can be changed, and why...