THE PHYSICAL:

Hair: Straight. Black. Short and thick. Bangs in the front, worn in a modified bowl cut.

Eyes: Average set. Average size. Dark brown. Heavy eyelids. Thick black eyebrows with a strange peak in the middles.

Nose: Thin and straight.

Mouth: Average lips, fairly straight but not perfect teeth, in good condition.

Skin: Olive-colored and a little uneven.

Face: Has a thin and fairly attractive face with a bit of boyish sweetness.

Age: By Book 5, 25 years old.

Height: About average—5’11”.

Weight: Average.

Body: Lithe build and careful hands with square nails. Narrow shoulders. Mainly pretty healthy, but he slouches a little.

Ethnicity: His family is mostly Greek.

Distinguishing features: He’s a rather nondescript person—his hair is probably the most unusual thing about him, as it’s in very good condition and very thick, tends to attract the eye.

Voice: Low speaking voice. Laughter is rare and usually quiet, as if to himself.

Gestures: Usually likes to be doing something with his hands while talking. Doesn’t care much for eye contact, so will usually give his full attention while looking elsewhere. Often shoves his hands in his pockets and looks down. Squints a lot (not due to nearsightedness, just a gesture).

Clothing and style: Generally goes for comfortable, sit-around-the-house-and-work clothes. Loose jeans and big shirts are favorites. Sometimes wears a loose button-down shirt over a tee shirt if he wants another layer. Always has to at least be wearing socks, hates going barefoot. Wears a wristwatch.

THE PERSONAL:

General mood: Fairly calm and usually just pleasantly alert, though sometimes he sulks or broods. When he’s caught in an invention and he’s not working on it at the time, he seems distracted.

Talents and abilities: Most impressive talent is his inventing skills. He can fix pretty much anything and can come up with resourceful ways to invent machines and gadgets that do common actions in different ways (such as a non-electric toaster). He knows how machines work and can make them work differently or build them out of unusual parts, and he is fabulous at research, experimentation, practical problem-solving, and small-time architecture (he built a treehouse once). Has excellent dexterity and a technical mind, and in the past he’s been very good with computers. Overall he’s extremely intelligent and practical, and is also a decent writer.

Weaknesses and shortcomings: His interpersonal skills can be lacking, and he takes abuse too much. Lets people take him for granted. In the past, has overlooked other people’s feelings if they throw monkey wrenches in his plans. Can be stubborn in a way that is beyond plain persistence.

Interests: Building things, inventing gadgets, studying interesting things, playing chess, playing with his video camera, creative writing, playing with electronic devices, and learning about survivalist techniques. In the past he had an interest in pursuing Ivy for a relationship.

Pet peeves: Being ignored, taunted, or patronized. Being used and then not thanked. Feeling like no one appreciates his intelligence. Being underestimated. Being thought a “nerd.” When an irrational feeling changes what he does despite logic.

Phobias: Heights. Also fears rejection, but not as strongly.

Eating habits: Likes frozen ice treats, chicken, fruit, salad, bean sprouts, brown rice, stir-fry, tofu, Chinese food, and nearly anything with spices or olives. Except for fruit, doesn’t often get to eat his favorites while staying at the house—most of his favorite dishes require preparation and no one else likes what he likes, so he eats out if he wants his favorites.

Education: Graduated high school and didn’t go to college because he was tired of school. Worked in independent study programs the last two years of high school because he had mastered everything in the curriculum early on. Decided he’d do better in his own independent study and stopped working with institutions in order to learn. Spends a lot of time in libraries or in his treehouse studying or reading.

Language abilities: Speaks English with no special inflection, common wording style. (Occasionally uses technical language if it’s in relation to something he’s working on to someone who will understand, but he doesn’t “talk smart.”) Can read Spanish fairly well and also to a lesser degree Italian and German—tried for some French but really didn’t get it for some reason. Cannot speak or understand any of these languages very well, but can read them.

Occupation: The house’s handyman and inventor. Doesn’t get paid for anything.

Political affiliation: Leans to the left of the two-party system, but mostly has a disinterest.

Religious beliefs: Adamantly atheist.

Sexual orientation: Likes women. Responds more to an “essence” rather than a body.

Marital status: Single.

Family information: He’s the only son of two parents who live in California. Has a large extended family, and maintains a relationship with his maternal grandparents.

Friend information: Basically keeps to himself in the house, often holing up in his treehouse once he’s built it at the end of Book 3. Likes talking to Ivy, considers her a very special friend. Has a friend he met at the library named Sharon, who has been made partial to the house’s secrets. They play chess together. Has an interesting relationship with Neptune, as he’s very interested in how her mind works.

Other information: Zeke approached the problem of getting Ivy to date him like a scientific experiment, hacking away at every hurdle with logic and words. Unfortunately for him, “I don’t want to” doesn’t have much to argue against. Is a die-hard skeptic about anything he hasn’t seen with his own eyes. Wears his hair with bangs because he doesn’t like his eyebrows. His measured IQ is 179.

THE STORY:

Zeke was recruited as the house’s second human tenant (right after Robin), and handed the huge task of inserting devices to make the house livable. After his life of doing busywork in school and always seeming to be forced to use his brain for useless things, Zeke was excited to be so needed for such practical things, but he was also daunted by how many resources the house lacked. He had to put in the plumbing and water systems and figure out refrigeration and the stove; he had Ivy to help him with the physical aspects of the work, but he had to come up with all the plans himself.

Ivy’s existence shocked Zeke and made him think. At first she scared him—he thought her looks and her powers were just too strange—but he quickly got over that and started finding her strangely alluring, especially when observing her carefree flying and dancing. He wished he could capture some of that for himself, and that concept extended to wishing to make her his in the usual way.

Zeke tried a number of strategies to “get” Ivy. In the first book he was still disturbed by her in general and by his own attraction to her—he couldn’t figure out why he was interested in her if so many things about her alienated him. He approached this by half-heartedly trying to flirt with her and eventually giving her an awkward confession, thinking her teasing might indicate that she liked him too. He received a confused sort of rejection—“Who, me? Why would you like me?”—and decided to approach his pursuit in a slightly different way: With mischief, so she’d understand it.

Book 2 had Zeke being rather rude to Ivy—he would insult her, aggravate her on purpose, help her and then tease her about being dependent on him. But eventually, he realized that didn’t help either, and in Book 3 he tried doing her favors, getting her alone, and attempting to logically talk her into trying things with him. He gave her her first kiss (she didn’t like it) and attempted several other behaviors, but nothing worked. He got her to agree to be his date to a Christmas party, but in trying to use the spirit of Christmas and a gold bracelet gift to charm Ivy into agreeing to dating, he ended up regretting it.

Because of a problem caused by Ivy drinking champagne at the party, Zeke got angry at her and accused her of messing everything up for him on purpose. She left the house for a long time after that and he did some thinking, and realized he’d accused her of some things she didn’t deserve. He also realized that he did want her to stay in his life regardless of whether they could date. It didn’t stop him from being jealous next time he thought she might be interested in a guy (her new friend Ruben), but boys will be boys.

In the series, Zeke continues to be important from time to time, providing a nice reality check, an opportunity for Ivy to meet his friend Sharon, and of course he is useful in keeping the house in good shape. At one point in Book 5 Zeke helps Ivy think through her feelings about her friend Todd and suggests she do an experiment with her food intake when she expresses annoyance at being unable to gain weight. He also videotapes her making a wind art piece, sparking an important conversation and some realizations for Ivy.

FAVORITE ZEKE QUOTES:

“Would you guys mind not talking about my personal life in front of everybody?” –Book 1, chapter 12

“I guess I would like you better if you were just human. I mean . . . I don’t know what I mean.” –Book 1, chapter 12

“You don’t really need a pinkie anyway.” . . . “If you want, you could borrow mine.” –Book 1, chapter 12

“I can’t believe I’m letting some ticked-off flying elf take me places.” –Book 1, chapter 16

“I know I said I kinda like you, but it’s cool if we just stay friends. I’m all right with that.” –Book 1, chapter 16

“People of the world, let it be known that Ivy is home from her basketball ventures. Parade footage follows.” –Book 2, chapter 1

“If you don’t belong with humans, where do you belong?” –Book 2, chapter 31

“If I’m not too busy later, maybe I can teach you about the basic principles of physics . . . we’ll start with the law of gravity. . . . ” –Book 2, chapter 31

“It’s not what you look like, it’s not what you do, it’s just the sum total of what you are that makes me like you. I don’t know what it is, exactly, but whatever it is, that is what makes a girl the kind of person I’d want to date. I can’t put my finger on it, but you’ve got it. You always have.” –Book 3, chapter 7

“I know you don’t really have a family, Ivy, and I invited you to this party for a lot of reasons . . . one of them is so that you can experience what it’s like to have Christmas with a family, even if it’s not your own. And I should know, it’s something you don’t want to miss.” –Book 3, chapter 15

“Dammit, why couldn’t you have just been a normal human girl . . . why do I even like you when there are so many plain old nice normal people around. . . . ” –Book 3, chapter 19

“I just decided we’re probably not right for each other. We’re too different.” . . . “You’re very . . . out there, you’re something else, ya know? And despite what I do like about you, I just realized that a lot of what I liked was the idea of you, not really the person behind the idea.” . . . “I thought about . . . how it would be, to really be with someone like you forever, or even long-term. How you would always be something else even if I got used to it. It would be almost like I was as different as you are, once I attached myself to you that way, I don’t know if I could handle it. And I thought about how I would have to try to assimilate you into my family, have you accepted on both sides, bring you into my life like we were a unit . . . and it just wouldn’t work. You don’t mesh with who I am enough to warrant the kind of trouble that would make. To be perfectly frank, you just weren’t worth it. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.” –Book 3, chapter 28