Zachary Novak

## Education

**Zachary Novak**, sometimes called **Zach**, is a secondary protagonist in *Titan's Run*.

Death: a figure of wax, his clothing singed, dipped into the sea.

## Biography

Zachary was born in New England to parents who were both over the age of 35. He is fluent in English and Italian.

### Childhood

He and his brother spent much of their childhood challenging each other to puzzles. He also witnessed said brother's near-death experience.

### Adulthood

His first tattoo was an abstract image of a bird on his left shoulder. Since then, he has paid for numerous more tattoos that have gradually become a half-sleeve down his left arm.

#### Relationship with Isaac

Following his parents' deaths, Zachary and Isaac remained close as brothers. They became even closer after news that Isaac and his wife Tess would have a son, Peter. Though Zachary lived in a separate city, he regularly spent holidays with Isaac and his growing family, and he became a father figure to Peter before leaving for training. The only part of the family whom Zachary did not particularly get along with was the family dog, Caspian, simply because he doesn't like getting jumped on by large, drooling animals.

## Titan's Run

Born of trains/earthquakes/murder. Zachary has had 4 former bodies, 1 of which was female.

### *Beyonders*

At the Ecliptus gala, Zachary wears a tux. He spends a lot of the night getting to know his fellow biologists but also runs into Samira Tarhan, with whom he has an interesting conversation.

He dances with Neve for a short time (which Sam notes with fascination).

### *Angry Orbit*

Zachary isn't quite sure how to respond to the questionable actions of his crew.

### *Starfuneral*

In the chaos that ensues, Zachary acts as a last-minute co-pilot. He damages and temporarily loses his sense of hearing in his left ear.

## Character

### Personality

He is not used to being made the center of attention, for all his life he's disappeared into the background. Being in the foreground is exciting but scary for him.

A fan of mazes and puzzles, Zachary completes Rubik's Cubes, Sudoku, word puzzles, and mazes at record speed. He also easily draws mazes for others. He is very good with children; he wants two sons. He has a phobia of snakes. He's a coffee extraordinaire.

### Relationships

#### Samira Tarhan

Zachary and Samira considered becoming romantically involved. They're close. Furthermore, they survived a car crash together. Later, Samira was honest with Zachary in that she didn't have faith in the extent of his skills.

#### John Kelowna

They are always challenging one another to puzzles.

## Themes

### Daedalus & Icarus

Zachary carries within him the spirit of the *Labyrinthian*.

From a journal entry:

> *Spirit of the Labyrinthian. Yesterday he was Nathan. I considered Alex/Alejandro as well. But now we're using Dom. Back to basics! I think Dom is an amalgamation of 2 base characters: Dom Carter Leouis and Zachary Tessen. Sometimes, it feels like it's much more than just those 2. But he definitely, 100% has been created from both DCL and Zachary. Keep in mind: the friend who was in a traumatic car crash with Gloria; the short-term and long-term boyfriend of Gloria; the nerd working at his desk for an obscene amount of time; the mysterious friend of a friend who really had bad intentions all along, but played it cool and looked cool while doing it; not to mention, he came back to make up for what he had done; he's one of three brothers, whom he loved very much.*
>
>

> *You know what? Add Abbott Harlow into that equation. He was lovely. Also loving, and lovable. The dude just loved plants!!!! That was his shtick!!!! The boy of Daedalus, Dionysus, and Odysseus. What a dude. Left over - redeem himself in the eyes of Sam, Jack, Neve, and himself - well, everyone, really.*
>
>