Alexander Healy

**Alexander Christopher Healy** is a character in the InCryptid series by Seanan McGuire. He is legendary within the family for leaving the Covenant with his wife Enid and fleeing to America. Alexander features prominently in the prequel series Jonathan and Frances Shorts and Alice and Thomas Shorts.

Not to be confused with Alexander Jonathan Price, his great-great-grandson and herpetologist.

 **Spoiler warning!**
Ahead are significant plot details from the Patreon stories. Read at your own peril!

## About

### Appearance

Alexander is not a tall man, but he keeps fit and strong.

By the time of his first appearance in No Place Like Home, Alexander's hair is grey. It may have been auburn earlier in his life, as his great-granddaughter Margaret Healy and great-great-granddaughter Antimony Price shared the same colouring.

### Personality

Alexander is the town librarian. He is very research-oriented, although his martial arts skills are also excellent.

When their son Jonathan is a young man, Alexander and Enid are very invested in him finding someone nice to settle down with. Years later, he is quite indulgent with his granddaughter Alice.

Like Jonathan, Alexander does not recover easily from loss. Enid reflects that he has never quite moved on from having to leave their two older children behind in England, and he blames himself for their first grandchild Daniel's death at the hands of a bogeyman assassin. It does not, however, affect him as deeply as Jonathan.

### Abilities

Alexander is famed within the Covenant for his knife-fighting skills, to the extent that Thomas doubts being able to take him even in his relative retirement. He typically tag-teams with Enid, having her play sniper support while he fights in close.

### Professional Life

Alexander was called to the pen and paper within the Covenant, focusing on research rather than field work. In America, he becomes the town librarian of Buckley and holds the position for many years. When Alexander retires, he begins volunteering twice a week at the elementary school library.

## Biography

It is not clear what part of the United Kingdom Alexander comes from. Alice at one point thinks of him as being from the west of England, but later remembers his "Scots-border accent". Taken together, this may mean that he was from Cumbria; however, his wife Enid is also described as having had two different accents (Welsh and Cornish), so it may be a simple continuity error.

Alexander was betrothed to Enid Carew per the Covenant breeding system when Enid was still a teenager; Alexander's age at the time is unknown. He was delighted by the match, notably because Carews are known for their slight build and he is a relatively smaller man. They first met in the field, with Enid wiping the blood off her cheeks.

He and Enid had two children together, Ada and Charles, before they became disillusioned with the teachings of the Covenant. They left their children in the Covenant's care and fled to America, where they settled in Buckley Township. They took a sect of Aeslin mice with them.

They had another son, Jonathan, who they rose fearing and hating the Covenant but without the organization's pathological hatred of cryptids.

As Jonathan builds a family of his own, all three generations remain in Alexander and Enid's farmhouse stronghold.

## In the Series

### Jonathan and Frances Shorts

Alexander and Enid are highly invested in Jonathan finding love and happiness. They fully embrace Fran as their daughter-in-law.

### Alice and Thomas Shorts

Alexander and Enid are indulgent of their granddaughter, letting her sneak out of groundings and letting her explore the woods because they think Jonathan's rules are unreasonable.

## Relationships

### Enid Healy

They were originally matched in an arranged marriage through the Covenant breeding program, but developed an equal partnership of love and trust. Between the two of them, it is Alexander's job to do household chores like washing and mending. They are an excellent fighting team, with Alexander covering close combat with his knives and Enid backing him up as a sniper.

### Jonathan Healy

Jonathan is Alexander's only child from whom he is not estranged. They generally have a good relationship, though it begins to deteriorate after Fran's death and Jonathan's increasingly controlling behavior towards Alice.

### Alice Healy

Alexander dotes on his granddaughter, acting as a quiet moral compass to even out some of her wild ways. He rarely tries to restrict her, but does insist that she know how to protect and defend herself from cryptids and other nasties in the woods.

### Thomas Price

Alexander and Thomas bond over both having grown up in the Covenant, and then deciding to leave. Alexander is friendly with Thomas, but still cautious around him at first.

## Quotes

### General

* Conversation between Alexander and Thomas:
	+ "Well, now you're doomed. The mice remember everything. Which means the mice will commemorate you in their history as a source of food. I hope you enjoy sharing. You're going to be doing a lot of it." -Alexander
	+ "Only when in your home." -Thomas
	+ "Mm-hmm." -Alexander

### Epigraphs

**Half-Off Ragnarok**

* "If you find something you truly love, stick with it. There's nothing else in this world that will make you half as happy. There's nothing that will make you half as miserable, either, but you can't have one without the other." (Ch. 1)
* "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It's much easier to be brave when you don't believe that the monster under your bed is real." (Ch. 5)
* "Shoot first, but aim for the foot, hand, or other non-threatening extremity. That way you'll still be able to ask questions later." (Ch. 11)
* "Try your best. That's always been enough for most people." (Ch. 17)

**Pocket Apocalypse**

* "Adventure is a tricky beast that will sneak up on you when you least expect it, laying ambushes and forcing you down avenues that you would never have chosen to walk on your own. After a certain point, it's better just to go along with it. You do see the most interesting things that way." (Ch. 1)
* We can plan and plan, we can scheme and scheme, but in the end, every single second has the power to change everything." (Ch. 7)
* "Little pitchers have big ears, and sometimes that also means they have big guns. Be careful what you say, when you say it, and know who might be listening." (Ch. 12)
* "Empathy is a beautiful thing. It's also a luxury. When your back is against the wall, remember that survival comes before sympathy, and if you can only save one person, you have to save yourself." (Ch. 17)

**Imaginary Numbers**

* I thought I'd seen the worst of what this world had to offer when I saw the Covenant. Then I saw my first cuckoo, and I knew I'd been wrong." (Ch. 15)
* "When it's a choice between saving your family and saving the world, I can't tell you what to decide. I an only tell you that, no matter what you choose, part of you will always know that you were wrong." (Ch. 22)

## References

1. ↑ And Sweep Up The Wood
2. ↑ Married in Green
3. ↑ Oh Pretty Bird
4. ↑ Halfway Through the Wood
5. ↑ Halfway Through the Wood
6. ↑ Oh Pretty Bird
7. ↑ Halfway Through the Wood
8. ↑ Spelunking Through Hell, Ch 10
9. ↑ Backpacking Through Bedlam, Chapter 10
10. ↑ No Place Like Home
11. ↑ By Any Other Name