James Smith

**James Smith** is a character in the InCryptid Series by Seanan McGuire. He is a young sorcerer with ice powers who Antimony and her friends meet in New Gravesend, Maine.

## About

### Appearance

James is dark haired and pale skinned. He wears button down shirts, dark jeans, and a light windbreaker. He tends to blend into crowds.

### Abilities

James has cryokinetic abilities, allowing him to create ice and drastically lower the temperature of an area. While also having resistance to cold thanks to his elemental alignment.

### Professional Life

James was a barista in New Gravesend. He always wanted to go away to college, but his father and the family deal with the crossroads kept him in his hometown. Now he is at loose ends, living with the Prices and figuring out his next steps in life.

This did not keep him from developing the skills to become an occult researcher of respectable reading and concomitant knowledge base.

## Biography

James was born in New Gravesend, Maine, the latest in a long line of sorcerers dating back centuries. James's ancestor had made a deal with the Crossroads that his descendants' sorcery would always breed true (instead of skipping generations like with Thomas and Antimony), "that there may always be a sorcerer to protect New Gravesend". The Crossroads kept their word, but the deal had the side effect of preventing James from ever leaving the town limits, and caused his mother (also a sorcerer) to die before James was preteen as the wording only specified one sorcerer.

His best friend Sally made his life bearable and she eventually sold herself to the crossroads to give him a better life. All it did was cause his powers to manifest early.

## In the Series

### That Ain't Witchcraft

James was intending to use his cousin Norbert's house to study for his long-term project of killing the crossroads only for his cous to rent it out to a group of total strangers. He found this out when Antimony accidentally accosted him in the woods. After a home invasion to get the needed books got him properly acquainted with Annie, Sam, Fern, and Cylia. It turns out the Crossroads were awere of his project ordered annie to kill James, but instead the group came to gather (with Mary and Leonard Cunningham) to destroy them once and for all instead.

### Follow the Lady

James, Antimony, Sam, Fern, and Cylia stop in Buckley Township, and meet Alice Price-Healy.

### Imaginary Numbers

James is still settling into being a member of the Healy-Price Family, but suffers some drawbacks of not being a blood relative or growing up with them, like a weakness to Cuckoo telepathy and Lilu pheromones. He, Antimony, Artie, and Sam go to rescue Sarah from the Johrlac hive with the help of Mark, a cuckoo turncoat.

### Calculated Risks

James is trapped in another dimension with Sarah, Antimony, Artie, Mark, and the campus of Iowa State University, as well as several hundred mindless cuckoos. He uses his ice powers to fight off giant insects and spiders, and to stabilize Sarah's injury after she's stabbed by a giant praying mantis.

### The Mysteries of the Stolen God and Where His Waffles Went

James is now mostly settled into life at the Price compound in Oregon. He is shocked to learn that Sally stopped by with Alice and Thomas the night before.

## Relationships

### Chief Smith

James's father is the chief of police in New Gravesend, and blames James for his wife's death. He is emotionally distant and strict, but his neglect allows James some freedom to research the Crossroads.

### Sally Henderson

James's childhood best friend, who made a deal with the Crossroads to break his curse. After the Crossroads took her life in payment, James made it his mission to find some way to destroy them (and hopefully get her back).

### Antimony Price

After Antimony and her friends rented his cousin Norbert's house, he met them when they caught him breaking in to read the books on magic in the library. He allied with them to destroy the Crossroads, though the Crossroads tried to force Antimony to find out what he knew about them and then kill him. Antimony revealed their demands to James, and he helped her defeat the Crossroads. Afterwards, Antimony offered (more like decided) to adopt James as a brother, since his father was emotionally distant and he had nothing tying him to New Gravesend anymore.

## Trivia

* James is attracted to guys. He was affected by Artie's pheromones, which only work on people already attracted to men. In a library-hosted Zoom meeting, Seanan confirmed that he is gay and has known for quite some time. Part of his father's treatment of him is due to homophobia.
* He does not like being called Jimmy, at least by people he dislikes.

## References

1. ↑ Follow the Lady
2. ↑ Imaginary Numbers Ch. 6
3. ↑ Imaginary Numbers, Ch. 23
4. ↑ Imaginary Numbers
5. ↑ Imaginary Numbers Ch. 14