Sedge Vanissen

**Sedge Vanissen** is one of Aster's many cousins whom he lives with. He is a shifter, but chose to stop being one after being mutated into a monster by Makasi. He is now attending Sterling Middle School with Charlie.

## Appearance

Sedge is a boy with red hair, a small gap in his teeth, and has heterochromia eyes with one eye being black and the other being blue.

In *The Witch Boy*, Sedge's hair was messy and a bit wavy. But as of the beginning of *The Hidden Witch* after he cured of the corrupted magic that turned him into a monster, it was cut short and his ears are still a bit pointed.

In his fox form, Sedge appears as just a regular red fox with a black tip on his tail, yet his eyes remain the same colors.

During his mutation, Sedge was turned into a monster with pointed ears, sharp teeth, red fur on the upper half of his body while his lower half bare, he almost resembled a dog. His eyes still remained the same colors.

## Personality

At the start of *The Witch Boy*, Sedge was a cheerful and happy-go-lucky boy who considered himself "charming". But after he was taken by Makasi and mutated into a monster, he became savage and wild until he recovered.

In *The Hidden Witch*, he revealed that the experience traumatized him and made him too scared to shapeshift again out of fear of losing control of himself. Since then, Sedge became more serious and distant. But after facing his fear to help Aster and Charlie find Ariel, he started to become a bit cheerful again, thought is still serious and times.

## Story

### *The Witch Boy*

At the beginning of the book, Sedge, his brother Tupelo, and their male cousins were playing capture the flag and invited Aster to play with them, despite the protests of their cousin, Linden, but still managed to get him to play. Later on, Sedge and the other boys went into the woods at night to find animals spirits to help them shapeshift. Sedge finds a mysterious red spirit to the boundary surrounding the Vanissen household. Aster, sensing something wrong with it, warned him to stay away from it, but Sedge did not listen and the spirit takes him. During his capture, the spirit (actually Makasi), began to corrupt Sedge's magic which partially mutated him into a monster. Somehow, Sedge returned home where he encountered Aster, but due to his corrupted magic, Sedge went feral and tried to attack him only to be stopped by Holly who sealed him in a shed until they could get the others. Later, Sedge is partially cured of the mutation and tried to explain to his family what happened to him, but the event was too traumatic for him that he cowered in fear. At the end of the book, it is most likely that he was mostly cured.

### *The Hidden Witch*

After being cured of his mutation, Sedge started skipping his shifter lessons with his brother and cousins. When Charlie fled to the Vanissen house after she was attacked by a Fetch (sent by Ariel), Aster asked Sedge to look after her while he told Grandmother. During their brief time together, Sedge asked Charlie what it is like to attend normal school. She told him about Sterling Middle School which fascinated him. Later on when Aster left to attend a basketball game which Charlie was playing in, Sedge went with him. On their way there, Sedge revealed to Aster that he wanted to attack normal school which Aster agreed with. After the game, Sedge went with Aster, Charlie, Charlie's dads, and Ariel to get ice-cream to celebrate the team's victory. At the parlor, Sedge told one of Charlie's dads, who is the vice principal of Sterling, that he wants to attend the school. Later that night, Sedge told Aster about his fear of losing control if he shapeshifts, his desire to attend normal school, and apologized to Aster for teasing him. Aster forgave him and encourages him to go to school. Then, Charlie arrives at their home and tell them that Ariel had sent the Fetch after her. Sedge temporarily faces his fear and changes into a fox to track Ariel. At first, he was worried, but Aster assured him that he and Charlie are with him. They find Ariel and Charlie manages to reaffirm their friendship until the Fetch turned on Ariel. They take Ariel to Makasi. When Makasi saw Sedge, he changes into his monster form and accuses Sedge of being a coward and weak for trusting witches and offered to teach him how to shapeshift into powerful creatures. But Sedge refused. After that, Makasi heals Ariel, but dies in the prosses. He attends Makasi's funeral with the rest of his family. Sometime later after Aster offered to let Ariel be taught witchery from Grandmother, Sedge proposes that while she does that, he would go to Sterling in her place. Everyone agrees with the idea.

## Relationships

### Vervain and Samuel Vanissen

It is shown that Sedge has a close relationship with his parent after he manages to return home after being taken by Makasi. After Aster encourages Sedge to go to school, Sedge worried how to explain it to his father. But it is possible that he supported Sedge's desire to go. His mother calls him "Sweetness" as a nickname.

### Aster Vanissen

Aster is Sedge's cousin. Like most of the other male cousins, Sedge did not like Aster wanting to learn witchery instead of shapeshifting, though unlike them, he never openly made fun of him. After being rescued from Makasi, Sedge (who was recovering from being mutated by Makasi) became too scared of shifting out of fear of losing control. After meeting Charlie, he decided that he wanted to go to normal school and the first person he told this to is Aster who encouraged him to do so. When Sedge had to changed into a fox to find Ariel, Aster stood by his side. He continued to support Sedge's decision to attend Sterling Middle School.

### Charlie Martin-West

In the events of *The Hidden Witch*, Sedge and Charlie came to know each other. Sedge asked Charlie what it is like to go to normal school. After a basketball game, Sedge told Charlie and her dads that he wanted to attend Sterling in which they agreed. Since then, Charlie and Sedge became friends and helped him in his new school life.

### Ariel Torres

Sedge and Ariel are shown to be good friends. After Ariel deiced to learn witchery from Grandmother, Sedge starting going to Sterling Middle School in her place.

### Makasi Vanissen

Makasi is Sedge's maternal great uncle. In *The Witch Boy*, Makasi tempted Sedge out of the protection of his home and took him away. During their time together, Makasi corrupted Sedge's magic which turned him into a monster. This traumatic event made Sedge scared to shift again believing he would lost control of himself. When they met again in *The Hidden Witch*, Makasi called Sedge a coward and weak for trusting witches and offered him power which Sedge refused, standing up to him.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Shapeshifting:** Sedge is a Shifter who can take on an animal appearance and gain their traits and abilities. However, as of *The Hidden Witch*, he stopped using his powers out of fear of losing control of himself.
	+ **Fox Form:** Sedge can change into a fox which makes his faster and heighten his senses. He especially used his tracking to find Ariel in *The Hidden Witch*.
	+ **Monster Form (formally):** During his time with Makasi, Sedge's magic was corrupted which mutated him into a monster with high strength and agility. He was later cured of this.

* **Strategist:** Sedge claimed to be good with strategies.

## Trivia

* In *The Hidden Witch*, Sedge is scared of shapeshifting and losing control of himself due to his magic being corrupted by Makasi. It is possible he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But thanks to Aster, he managed to overcome this, thought he still wishes to live a life outside of magic.
* Sedge has heterochromia. One of his eyes is black while the other is blue.
	+ This makes Sedge one of the few characters with eyes, or in this case eye, in the series that are different color. All the other characters appear to only have black eyes.
* Like many of the other members of his family, Sedge is named after a plant, flower, or herb.
	+ Sedges (also known as *Carex*) is a grass-like plant found in most parts of the world.