Tara Hutchins

****Tara Anne Hutchins**** is a town girl who is murdered in New Haven.

### Pre-Series

At some point, Claire Sandow, Elliot Sandow's wife, would buy weed from Tara Hutchins while she was undergoing chemotherapy. The Sandows invited Tara into their home, and Tara endeared herself to Elliot Sandow, acting sympathetic to his problems. He didn't bother being too discrete about Lethe business in front of Tara, likely leading to her learning more about the Ancient Eight societies and the existence of magic.

Two years before the events of *Ninth House*, Tara met graduate student Sveta Myers at the forestry school attending a plant sale. The pair got on well and Tara and her boyfriend Lance Gressang began sell weed to her for a while before partnering with Sveta to grow their product in a small greenhouse. Sveta would tell her colleagues that Tara was her cousin. Tara and Lance lived in an apartment on Woodland St., only a few minutes walk from the greenhouses.

### Ninth House

The trio sold their illicitly-grown weed to university students and people across New Haven. Tara dealt to students who were members of the Ancient Eight also, such as Tripp Helmuth of Skull and Bones, who she also slept with. Kate Masters of Manuscript approached them with a deal—monetary compensation in exchange for growing Merity in their greenhouse. She gave them specific rules about moisture levels and the conditions that would let Merity thrive, however, she would tell them that while Merity was medicinal, it was poisonous, in an attempt to warn them off from touching it. To aid them, Manuscript glamoured the small greenhouse they used, ensuring that it will be easier to not get caught. As a side effect, the greenhouse stunk of the uncanny. Tara, along with Sveta, worked on creating these optimal conditions, and though it took a while, Merity started thriving in the greenhouse. Tara and Lance would sell the Merity to Manuscript for a cheaper price than the original supplier, unaware of its power. Lance would sell Merity to Blake Keely, thinking that it was bad weed.

Figuring out the Merity Keely used had to be grown illicitly, Colin Khatri of Scroll & Key would approach Tara to grow psilocybin, a psychotropic made of mushrooms they would grow in the greenhouse. The resulting drug was meant to facilitate the opening of portals. Because the mushrooms need to be purified in a crucible, Colin gifted Tara a small golden crucible. She hid the crucible with her jewelry making equipment. Tara found success where Colin, a known chemistry prodigy, couldn't—distilling the mushrooms with other ingredients and creating working portal tabs.

Tara demanded to know what they were growing and what Colin wanted the tabs for. Tara knew something bigger was at play and she threatened to stop growing for him, despite Lance's urgings to just take the money and keep their head down. Colin, unable to recreate Tara's tabs, caved to her pressure and revealed the society's secrets to Tara and Lance. He and other Locksmiths frequently brought Lance and Tara to the Scroll & Key tomb, and bolstered by Tara's portal tabs, were able to successfully portal throughout the world. In exchange for making portal tabs, Tara and Lance got to visit the Amazon, Morocco, hot pools in Iceland, New Orleans for New Year’s, etc. They would quickly find out that while the tabs can work on their own within across New Haven, one still needs a nexus to portal further distances.

At some point, Tara found out what Merity could do and that Blake Keely was using it to drug and sexually assault women. She left an angry voicemail on Blake's phone, threatening to go to the police.

One Thursday night in winter, Tara got high with who she thought was her boyfriend, but was actually Sandow disguised as Lance using Lethe's mirrored compact. After getting Tara high, Sandow stabbed her repeatedly around her heart on an empty plot of land in front of the Payne Whitney gymnasium.

After her death, her soul disappeared, unable to be found by Bertram Boyce North in the afterlife.

## Personal Attributes

### Personality

Tara had a sharp intellect to navigate the world of magic with no innate magical ability or social connections. Tara was realistic and knew how to steer people's moods and perception of her. She used this perception to her advantage to gain access to the magic and power of the Ancient Eight.

### Physical Description

Tara has blonde hair and built similarly to Alex, "ropy but weak." Tara's tattoos include: a parrot on her hip with "Key West" written below, another on her right arm that was a realistic depiction of a young girl, a pirate flag and a ship on cresting waves, a Bettie Page zombie girl in heels and black lingerie. On Tara's inner arm was a newer tattoo in Gothic font: "Rather die than doubt" from the Tennyson poem "Idylls of the King."

## Relationships

**Lance Gressang**

Lance Gressang was Tara's boyfriend of at least two years as well as her partner in drug dealing. The pair lived together in their apartment. Tara would feel as though she sometimes loved him, although near the date of her death she felt her love strain.

**Sveta Myers**

Sveta Myers was Tara's friend and eventual partner in their drug dealing and later the magical plants they sold to Ancient Eight delegations.

**Tripp Helmuth**

Tara sold weed to Tripp Helmuth. They hooked up every once in a while. Tripp thought Tara was cool, but it is clear their relationship wasn't serious and that Tara might have viewed their hookup as another way to keep a customer interested.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Ninth House* Chapter 30 (Early Spring)
2. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 23 (Winter)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 *Ninth House* Chapter 24 (Winter)
4. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 22 (Winter)
5. ↑ *Ninth House* Chapter 27 (Winter)
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Ninth House* Chapter 8 (Winter)