Erica Snow

"Whatever it is, we should keep going. Whether we have to face it or not, we need to get to that castle."

-Erica Snow

Erica Snow is one of the two main protagonists of A.R. Shanks's second novel, A Child Named Loveless.

She is a Wizard of Sleep. Rose Summer, the other protagonist of the story, is her girlfriend.

Profile
Erica Snow is a wizard whose powers come from the Realm of Sleep. She is the reincarnation of the hero, Chioni and has the ability to put anyone and anything to sleep. She sometimes doesn't think things through all the way and often charges into things head first.

Appearance
Erica is a fourteen-year-old girl with dyed silver hair cut short. Whenever she's thinking deeply about something, she'll run her hands through her hair. She often keeps her hair up in a ponytail.

One of her most striking features as noted by her girlfriend, Rose, is her grey eyes

.She's described as being a little bit tall.

Personality
Erica is often described as charging forward without thinking about the situation first. She often keeps her features very neutral during a fight, showing very little emotion, even when angered.

Despite this, Erica has a very outgoing and flirty personality most of the time. At the very beginning of A Child Named Loveless Erica flirts with Rose upon their first meeting. She also seems to like to tease Rose a lot throughout the story.

Despite this, Erica has her own insecurities and is deeply hurt over her parents abandoning her. In the first chapter, she tells Rose that she's a lesbian and says that she's telling her this now because she doesn't want to be rejected after growing too attached to her.

After Rose accepts her and the two start to fall in love, Erica begins to open up a bit more and share a side of herself to Rose that she'd previously been keeping to herself.

Erica is also a very noble character and seems to try her best to do what's right.

She's very close to her grandmother and seems to lose control a bit when she winds up hurt by the storm.

Early Life
Erica was raised by her mother and father, Mr. And Mrs. Williams. It seems that her parents were homophobic. At some point, Erica realized she was a lesbian. She tried to deny her own sexuality for a while, but eventually came out and told her parents. She was disowned, but her maternal grandmother, Granny Snow took her in.

Erica changed her last name after that from Williams to Snow.

It's been hinted that the name change was Erica's idea.

A Child Named Loveless
During the events of A Child Named Loveless, Erica meets Rose during Erica's transfers into Rose's class. Their meeting causes the Tower to come into existence which in turn causes an enormous and chaotic storm to hit the small town in which they reside.

Rose goes to Erica's grandmother after her aunt winds up missing and the three of them stay at Erica's house where they try to wait out the storm.

Erica's grandmother ends up being injured when a window shatters prompting Erica to rush out into the storm, only for Rose to hold her back and pack up some supplies first.

The two of them start making their way to the tower, battling the storm. Once they arrive at the tower, Erica kisses Rose.

Rose is surprised by the kiss and Erica regrets it almost immediately.

But Rose doesn't seem upset and actually starts showing an interest in having something more with Erica.

Erica slowly starts to open up to Rose and slowly begins developing feelings for her. Erica appears to be a bit uncertain of Rose, thinking that maybe she might have something to do with the tower, but her uncertainties don't stick around and she quickly begins trusting Rose.

They start climbing up the tower and realize that each level is much like a different world.

The level up the stairs is a large forest that seems to go on forever. There the two girls meet a talking fox who tells them that whoever reaches the top of the Tower will be granted one wish. He then gives them a riddle.

Rose thinks the riddle is like another riddle she's heard before, but since there are slight alterations to the original, she has to solve it all over again from the beginning.

Erica heavily relies on Rose to figure out the answer to the riddle at this point and it becomes apparent that Rose has a talent for word puzzles.

After solving the riddle, the two girls continue on their way towards a door which opens up to the next level.

This level consists of a maze full of monsters and another riddle engraved on the wall.

This riddle is a bit more abstract than the first one and seems to take the girls a while longer to figure out. It seems that the key is to head towards the monsters rather than running away from them.

Rose figures out, after winding back at the door they had come through several times that the monsters are actually herding back towards the entrance.

After realizing the monsters are not going to kill them, Rose starts to hear their roars as words.

The monsters tell them that in order to pass all they need to do is ask.

The girls continue on their way to the next level. This level consists of a glamorous mansion full of people who appear to be attending a ball.

The two of them are greeted by one of the guests, Adam who offers them food and a place to sleep for the night.

Rose and Erica decide to share a room that night as both are worried that something bad might happen while they sleep.

Rose reveals that she has started to develop feelings for Erica after being asked by the other girl how she feels and if she'd be willing to go on a date with her.

Rose tells Erica that she's willing to be her girlfriend but only after their whole adventure has been resolved since she's worried about how a relationship might affect their journey. But if Erica is willing to wait until it's over, she will go on a date with her.

The next morning, the two girls end up walking down the hall together, observing bookshelves that are empty. Along the way to the room full of guests, Rose and Erica discover a body, brutally murdered and a man standing in front of it.

Thinking this man is the murderer, the two run away, only for the man to notice and chase after them.

The man turns out to be Trinket Deadlock, a wizard who came to the Realm of Words to investigate something. It's hinted that Elliot Crow might have something to do with his presence there.

Trinket then causes everyone in the room save for a few people to disappear, proving that most of the guests were actually illusions cast by a wizard.

Trinket also believes that the same wizard that cast the illusion is also the murderer of Eriol, The King of Words, and one of Those with Responsibilities.

Rose and Erica are introduced to Kendra, a Wizard of Sound. Adam, one of the guests from earlier is also still around.

They all split up into groups in order to search for evidence and find the Wizard of Illusion that is hiding amongst them. Rose and Erica are paired together, since they slept in the same room the night before and thus, have alibies.

The two discover a magic mirror, upon entering it, Rose and Erica uncover where all the books from the empty bookshelves had wound up.

They also find Eriol in the reflected version of the library where he informs them that he allowed the man who tried to kill him think he was dead and that the wizard of illusions is a member of an organization called Dark Moon. The killer is actually Adam who is after the wish available at the top of the Tower in order to gain control of Those with Responsibilities.

Eriol is convinced to open the gateway to the next level of the tower by Rose and Erica, but they only have a few minutes to reach the door.

They find themselves trapped in the mirror, only to be saved by Trinket who helps them reach the library where the next door is.

The three are attacked by Adam who turns out to be a formidable opponent.

Rose then ends up canceling an illusion Adam cast, showing her magic for the first time.

Erica and Rose make it through the door just in time and start falling upwards towards the moon.

After they land on the moon, they start walking. The two of them are approached by a pegasus who offers them a lift the castle in the distance. The Castle is where the Moon Lady resides and will grant them any one wish.

Erica and Rose argue about who will go as the Pegasus will only take one of them. Eventually, they decide they'll continue on by foot as they work best together. Adam arrives and tries to use the Pegasus for himself and kill Rose and Erica.

Erica uses the sword she took from Adam earlier and duels him. At this time, Erica discovers that she's able to use a sword as though she had been wielding one her entire life.

This is, of course, due to her past life as Chioni who was an expert swordswoman.

The battle ultimately ends when Rose uses her magic once again and reflects Adam's sword back towards him, causing his own sword to kill him.

They continue on their way towards the castle, coming across a town part way there where a festival is taking place.

The two of them are allowed to have some food and Erica asks Rose if she'll dance with her. Rose agrees and the two of them both dance.

Erica steals some dumplings during supper and they have them the next morning for breakfast.

Erica and Rose continue on their journey to the moon castle. Once they arrive, the moon lady reveals herself. She's possessing Rose's aunt, Violet.

Rose is upset and pleads for the moon lady to release her aunt, but the moon refuses, telling them that a wish needs to be granted first.

Erica goes over to the moon lady and whispers her wish into her ear.

She wishes for a miracle, just as she had in her past life when she was Chioni.

After A Child Named Loveless Edit
Rose and Erica are dating at the end of the story. On their birthday (which they share), Erica tells Rose what she wished for. It then starts to snow.

Abilities
Expert Sword Skills Due to her past incarnation, Erica is adept at wielding a blade, although she doesn't actually know that her skills come from her past life (it's possible that she suspects it though).

Sleep Magic While dueling Adam, Erica put the magic he was using on his sword 'to sleep.'

Spell Casting Although Erica hasn't shown her ability to cast spells in her current life, she does still have the ability, and she showed that she was proficient at it when she was Chioni.

Volleyball At the end of A Child Named Loveless, Erica says she's good at Volleyball. Although it's possible she was just saying this to impress Rose.

Trivia

 * Erica, like Rose, has a flower name.
 * Erica is named after ericas, flowers so resilient that they bloom underneath the snow.
 * Erica is very similar to Elliot. Like Elliot, she wields a sword. Both of them go on a journey to help save a relative. Erica also has a connection to Elliot's sword, The Sword of the Worthy.
 * Erica's name means 'Eternal ruler' or 'forever powerful.' This might be a reference to her nearly becoming king in her past life or even her eternal love for Rose.

Quotes
"Whatever it is, we should keep going. Whether we have to face it or not, we need to get to that castle."