Skye Rogers, nicknamed Blue, was a student of the Monmouth School who became a member of the Secret Runners of New York.
She is the main protagonist of The Secret Runners of New York.
History[]
Early History[]
Skye Rogers was born around mid-2001 to Dwight and Deidre Rogers in Memphis, Tennessee, and was two minutes younger than her fraternal twin, Alfred. Because her father came from a high-standing family, Skye and Alfred (nicknamed Blue and Red respectively by Dwight) grew up well-off in high society.
Growing up, Skye was far closer with her bookish nuclear-medicine specialist father than her vain mother, enjoying the holidays that Dwight took her and Red on, especially to places of either modest or cultural significance, like the lighthouse and cottage at Race Rock Light. Around the time she entered her teens, Skye's father was robbed of his wealth by the company managing his trust, and Deidre quickly filed for divorce. This caused Dwight to have a nervous breakdown, and even after he voluntarily submitted himself to a mental asylum, Skye continued to support him and visited regularly.
At age 14, while attending a private all-girls school, Skye helped her best friend Savannah in her running for class president during their freshman year, becoming the vice-president. Skye enjoyed being part of the popular crowd, and because of this she usually overlooked the hurtful comments Savannah would hurl at others. One day, however, after seeing Savannah being particularly ruthless towards the disabled Tilly Green, Skye felt compelled to defend her, suggesting Savannah leave her alone. Savannah didn't care for Skye's opinion and suggested she leave, though Skye stood her ground. This noble act, however, ended up costing Skye dearly; Savannah went on to exclude Skye from any further gatherings and parties, make their mutual friends ignore her, and even had Skye's vice-presidency revoked. Though disturbed by Deidre's urging her to beg Savannah's forgiveness simply because of how influential her family was while Tilly was unimportant, Skye did attempt to apologise to Savannah, though she was still ignored.
Isolated and despairing, Skye began eating badly and holing up in her room whenever she wasn't being ostracised at school, and started to become overweight. Things reached a head when Deidre casually taunted Skye about her weight, and so - in a moment of weakness - cut her left wrist in an attempt at suicide. Skye immediately regretted this upon making the cut, and had to have her mother take her to the emergency room. As she recovered, Skye endured months of therapy as she tried to prove she was no longer at risk of self-harm, though school remained difficult for her.
While still living in Memphis, Skye heard the public claims of Dr Harold Finkelstein that a cloud of gamma radiation would envelop the Earth on March 17th of 2018 and wipe out human life. Though hoping it would turn out all right, Skye did bring the topic up with her father during one of her visits. Having reviewed Finkelstein's findings and believed it to be correct, Dwight suggested that, as a precaution, Skye and Red consume calcium and phosphorus rich foods and take anti-psychotic medicines to increase their brains' capacity to resist being affected by the cloud.
Around mid-2017, Deidre remarried Todd Allen, a wealthy Wall Street titan, and she took Skye and Red with her as they moved to New York City, taking up residence at the San Remo. As the twins began preparing to attend the Monmouth School during the new semester, Skye and Red heard how three girls who had been attending the elite school had all vanished without a trace in the last year.
The Secret Runners of New York[]
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Skye discovers the psychotic nature of Misty Collins, and was stranded in 2040 with her friend Jenny Johnson. After surviving the dystopian future, reuniting with her now-older brother Red, reclaiming the remaining gem and killing Misty, Skye returned to 2018 in time for the Gamma Cloud event.
After reuniting with her father, Skye waited out the Gamma Cloud and was one of the 0.5% of the population who survived, after which Dwight convinced Skye and Jenny to travel back to 2040 to avoid the worst of humanity. Upon making the final trip through the portal, Skye and Jenny emerged from the well and were reunited with the future versions of Red and Dwight.
Personality[]
Though once a popular and outgoing girl up until her early teens, Skye became a shy and demure young woman when a series of incidents caused her to withdraw into herself, growing depressed enough to have eventually cut her wrist in a moment of weakness. Immediately regretting this, Skye set out to rebuild her self-esteem after recovering, though she would forevermore be cautious about standing out or assisting those she saw in similar situations to her own.
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Skills[]
- Gifted Writer: Skye has been noted to be a gifted writer, managing to create an impressive original and frightening ghost story as part of a creative writing assignment, despite never having done any writing workshops. This work impressed Skye's English teacher, though Mrs Hoynes was disappointed that Skye wasn't interested in sharing her story on the school's website and yearbook despite her talent.
Equipment[]
- Portal Gems: A pair of mysterious amber-coloured gems that belongs to Misty and Chastity, which is used with the portal mechanism beneath Central Park to enable travel from the present day to the future and back. Skye first used the sisters' gem with Bo in both of their private excursions through the portal, then later sought out and retrieved the gem belonging to Starley in order to return to the present day upon being stranded by Misty. She later used the gem again after the gamma cloud event to journey through to the future and avoid the chaotic years immediately afterward with Jenny.
- Pistol: A handgun loaned to Skye by the future Red so that she could defend herself from any potential hostiles, though she lost it during her final confrontation with Griff.
Trivia[]
- Skye is the third female main protagonist to be featured in Reilly's novels.
- Unlike most of the other leading characters of Reilly's novels, Skye lacks a defining physical feature.
- She does, however, possess a scar on her left wrist from her suicide attempt.