J.J. Mowbry

****J******ulian Mowbry**, or **J.J.**, is a member of the Thief Knot. He is skilled in magic tricks.

## Biography

### Early life

Julian went to school with Nialla Giddis, his neighbor and best friend. Nialla then transferred to another school, Marymead, and Julian did not keep up with her.

### *The Thief Knot*

Marzana mentioned how Nialla's best friend had not kept up with her when she'd moved schools. After hearing about the kidnapping of Peony Hyde and recruiting Emilia to their group, Nialla suggested that they add J.J. to the team, and Marzana realized that she meant Julian (who apparently went by J.J. now), the boy friend who'd ditched Nialla. Nialla explained that J.J. was into magic, and admitted that she'd already told him about the kidnapping. Marzana, though quite angry, agreed to come meet him, and Emilia went with them to Surroyal Books.

Nialla introduced J.J. to Marzana (who was still quite angry) and Emilia, and J.J. in turn introduced Ciro, his friend who he thought they would also want on the team. J.J. gave an example magic trick (he snapped his fingers and the light turned off), then explained how he'd done it (attached thread to the switch and pulled it after distracting them). He could, he said, walk into a space and figure out how to use it, which was more impressive than magic-magic. Ciro then explained who he was. Marzana, Nialla, and Emilia agreed to let the boys join. Marzana told them more about the kidnapping, but as she did, an adult came in, and J.J. covered their sudden silence by a speech about pencils.

J.J. definitely wanted to join, since nothing ever happened in the Liberty of Gammerbund. Marzana told about what they had done already, and they discussed what they planned to do next. Someone else then entered the room, and J.J. began to talk about pencils again. J.J. then complained that he did not have a job, then talked about pencils some more when others came in. J.J. eventually agreed to miss cartoons to come to a meeting.

J.J. arrived to the group's next meeting. Meddy (a ghost) introduced herself to him, then disappeared on him, shocking J.J. immensely. Marzana introduced Meddy to the group, and suggested a name for them: the Thief Knot, named after a trap knot. Marzana, Nialla, Emilia, and Meddy told what they'd learned about Mr. Otterwill (he knew about the kidnapping), Mrs. Agravin (she was missing), and the Snakebird (he was Victor Cormorant). J.J. decided to go to Mrs. Agravin's house, since he did not have a job. They discussed the Belowground Transit System stations, and J.J. tried to comfort Emilia when she was upset (one of the stations was in the cemetery where her father was buried), then speculated about the various stations. Nialla shared her theory about the ransom note, and J.J. listened and expressed skepticism.

Marzana, Meddy, and J.J. left for Mrs. Agravin's house, taking a bus to a nearby street. On the way, J.J. did card tricks and Meddy tried to best him. Meddy told Marzana about Alexander Cabot, Emilia's father the carrier. They exited the bus and J.J. navigated to Mrs. Agravin's house, which was, they found, built over an old Belowground station. J.J. seemed nervous, agreeing to let Meddy go first. Meddy let them in, then went up, and found Peony Hyde upstairs tied to a chair. Someone came up the stairs behind them, and as Marzana and J.J. scrambled up, J.J. threw playing cards down at their pursuers, and then entered the apartment and Meddy shut the door. Marzana passed the phone (she had called the police) to J.J., then went over to Peony. J.J. then spoke to the people on the other side of the door, who it turned out were Marzana's parents.

J.J. handed the phone over to Mr. Hakelbarend. J.J. then went to show Peony magic to cheer her up, hiding a pea under walnuts. Meddy then moved the shells herself, and they appeared to be moving on their own to Peony. The police took Peony, then J.J. gathered his things and went outside, and introduced himself to Mrs. Hakelbarend. He returned the rope Peony had been tied up with, which he had taken to do rope tricks with.
J.J. attended the next meeting of the Thief Knot (even though they'd found Peony), doing tricks while Meddy tried to figure them out. J.J. explained that it was not a game but a hustle, and there was no way for her to win because even if she guessed right, he'd have vanished the pea. J.J. then did cups and balls with her. Marzana all of a sudden realized that the girl they had rescued had not been Peony. J.J. understood, though he had some questions about how a fake would fool Peony's parents, but Marzana explained how this was possible. Emilia wanted them to come to Marymead, because she thought the Belowground station was connected to the kidnapping, so the Knot set off, Marzana and Nialla leading the group through Boneash and Sodalime's, to Ciro and J.J.'s amazement. The Knot then entered Marymead, and they found a photograph of Tasha Cormorant, the Snakebird's granddaughter, and Ciro explained how they could tell that she was Fake Peony.

The Thief Knot entered Cotgrave Wall Station. There was a map of the Belowground, and J.J. helped tape up the map of the city atop it. J.J. suggested that the kidnapping was to make Winston Hyde quit his campaign, but Emilia revealed that it was so the Hydes would leave their house, which was built over the old hub of the Belowground, and because of the iron could only be accessed from above. Nialla and Ciro then figured out and revealed the message in the ransom note, what was on the back of the ransom-note words, which was indeed a message from Peony, but they could not figure out what it meant. A train then came (called by Emilia by accident), and Brandon Levi, the conductor, decided to take them to the station via some service tunnels he knew of. Nialla and Ciro stayed behind to track down the adults. On the way, they decided that J.J. and Meddy would need to do a lot of tricks, and laid out what supplies they had.

Brandon led them into the station. The old iron was everywhere, and the place was dark, but Brandon turned on emergency lights. Meddy scouted ahead and reported that two people were indeed trying to break in from above. They expressed wonder at the station's various oddities. J.J. and Meddy took the information desk and began to plan distractions as the kidnappers came through the ceiling. J.J. used flash paper to blind the kidnappers, then took their backpack and had it move around seemingly on its own with a punching balloon of his. The two kidnappers then caught Marzana, and she realized that they were Moth and Kit Fletchwood. J.J. made the balloon move, a simulation of the ghost of Moth and Kit's father, then signaled to Marzana that if she distracted the kidnappers, he could do something with his magic supplies.

J.J. burned a message into two of his cards, which read, *You took a child*, and *Where is she?* The two kidnappers collapsed, and Brandon caught them, sending the four up to call the police. Marzana praised J.J.'s tricks. Marzana's parents, Emmett, and Thad then arrived, and Emilia and J.J. followed even though they were not supposed to. The kidnappers were taken away. J.J. helped Marzana with the locker scavenger hunt she discovered.
The Thief Knot's members returned to the train. J.J. admitted that he had not controlled the balloon at the end, and neither had Meddy, causing the group to wonder if it had been an actual ghost. The train arrived back at Marymead, and the Knot greeted Nialla and Ciro, who were waiting. They then all went to Marzana's house for a celebratory dinner, as the girl had been found (thanks to the note) and the kidnappers stopped.

## Personality and traits

J.J. is very confident. He also likes to show off his tricks and explain his knowledge of magic. J.J. is very skilled at magic tricks. He can walk into a room and figure out how to use it, he says. J.J. is also skilled at 'patter', making random conversation when needed.

## Trivia

* The name Julian means "young".
* J.J. likes to do faro shuffles, which annoys Meddy because she doesn't think they're really a trick.

## Gallery

**Take a look at our **gallery for J.J. Mowbry****.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.thebump.com/b/julian-baby-name
2. ↑ *The Thief Knot*