Lucy Salisbury

**Lucy Winifred Salisbury** was a powerful mage and Simon Snow's mother. She was born sometime in the early 80s and attended Watford with Davy, Mitali Bunce, Ebb Petty, Nicodemus Petty, and Fiona Pitch.

## History

She became friends with and later dated the Mage, who she knew as Davy. At Watford, she was the only person to listen to Davy's rants about the issues of the World of Mages. She agreed with many of his points, especially about the elitism involved in Watford acceptance (due to Watford's rejection of her less powerful brother), and the prejudice towards pixies and centaurs.

After Watford, Lucy moved into a cottage with Davy. She lied to her parents because they didn't like Davy. During the time they spent living in the cottage, Davy became increasingly obsessed with finding or creating "The Greatest Mage", a figure spoken about in legends and prophecies in the World of Mages. Lucy, though concerned, desperately wanted to win back his love, and so agreed to help him create the Greatest Mage: by bearing his child. Davy performed a ritual on Lucy and she became pregnant with Simon. While pregnant, Lucy gradually became weaker and weaker, eventually losing her ability to cast spells. Shortly after Simon was born, she died. Her parents told people that she ran off to America. They may not even know that she died, since she seemed to break off contact with the outside world once she moved in with Davy.

At the time *Carry On* takes place, she is attempting to contact Simon from beyond the grave. Much about the Mage and her own backstory is revealed in her chapters. However, Simon doesn't find out that she is his mother, or that the Mage is his father, until *Any Way The Wind Blows*. Agatha and Penny learn more about her from Penny's mother, Mitali Bunce, who was good friends with her at Watford. However, none of them were ever aware that Simon was her child. Agatha is inspired to leave the magic world for a normal life in America by the story of her leaving, not knowing she never went to America. Agatha also names her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel after her.

In *Carry On*, she first appears in short, cryptic chapters in which she seems to be speaking to Simon. Due to being drained of magic, she is unable to be heard through the Veil. Simon hears her say "*My son, my son. My rosebud boy. I never would have left you. He told me we were stars*." when he is Visited, but he thinks it is coming from Baz's mother, Natasha Grimm-Pitch (who had Visited him earlier), instead.

## Physical Appearance

Mitali Bunce describes her as "a country girl, with broad shoulders and yellow hair, and .... the bluest eyes". Agatha describes her as "lovely" when she sees her in Mitali's photograph, with shoulder length, yellow-blonde, curly and thick hair, rosy cheeks, and large blue eyes. Later, Agatha describes her as looking like "Baby Spice but with big shoulders". She also says she had a "boho nouveau look".

## Trivia

* Lucy played rugby with the boys at Watford.
* She knows nothing about Christianity.
* She has a brother who was rejected from Watford for not being powerful enough.
* Her parents almost got a divorce because of their son's rejection.
* Agatha's mother knows Lucy's mother, Lady Salisbury, who "tells bawdy jokes and always encourages everyone to eat more cake".
* She calls the Mage "Davy" and Mitali Bunce "Mit".
* Mitali Bunce calls her her best friend.
* Lucy's mother told Mitali that Lucy moved away to America, so no one in Carry On but the Mage knows that Lucy is dead. Most people from Agatha's mother's social circles think that she ran away from magic, but don't know much of the details, only that there was some kind of scandal with an illegitimate child.