10 Things You Didn't Know About Jason

by P.T. McHugh

Below are ten tidbits about Jason Evans, the teenage hero of the "Stone Ends" series of YA science fantasy books (Book 1: Keeper of the Black Stones, Book 2: A Rebel's Stone - to be released in 2014)

1. Favorite Movie(s): The Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course. He’s read the books, but the movies were better.He loves the fantastical world and the fact that there are elves and dwarves. He loves the fact that the hero wins, and gets the girl. He loves the hobbits, who are the best kind of buddies – people who travel anywhere together, and never fail to take care of their friends. Most of all, though, he loves the history of the world, and wonders if it might have actually happened. If so, could he use the stones to get there? Would he survive the trip? Could he take his friends? 
2. Favorite Book: Catcher in the Rye, though he’d be hard pressed to tell you exactly why. There’s just something about it that feels familiar.
3. He was given an IQ test when he turned eleven, and his score was 143, which he’s heard is pretty high. He doesn’t take that too seriously, though, because he doesn’t think it means much. Certainly nothing to do with the real world, which now consists of jumping through time and outsmarting bad guys while surviving random medieval torture devices.
4. Jason’s never kissed a girl. Not that he really wants to. He thinks girls are fine, really, but he can think of a lot of things he’d rather be doing than trying to get one to like him. Movies, golf, finding out where Dresden is hiding … the only girls he’s met that he’s even slightly interested in (other than for looking at) are Tatiana and Katherine. He finds them both incredibly confusing and a LOT smarter than him, which doesn’t happen often. He also knows that Tatiana could kick his butt, and though his male ego finds this shocking, he also finds it somehow fascinating. (He does, of course, let Paul think that he’s interested in Cristina, from school. It gives Paul something to tease him about.)
5. Jason was diagnosed with insomnia after his parents died. He doesn’t know if there’s any connection, but he does know that he has to do certain things to get to sleep: have his pillow lined up exactly with the top right corner of his bed, have his slippers where his feet can reach them, have either the lamp on his desk OR the light in the bathroom turned on, and be wearing one of two sets of pajamas. If he goes to sleep without these things, he’s prone to terrible dreams about things he doesn’t want to remember.
6. He carries a picture in his wallet that shows him at six years old, on a bike path with his dad. They used to ride their bikes for hours, making up stories to tell each other, and then race home to tell his mother. She was the judge, and whoever had the best story won one of her famous chocolate chip cookies.
7. He’s allergic to cats, despite his affection for Milo.
8. He fell off his bike when he was ten, and got his foot caught in the tracks. Then he heard the train coming, and realized he was going to be one of those kids – like the one in Fried Green Tomatoes, which Paul made him watch – who died by getting stuck in the train tracks. He’d seen the train coming, and thought he was a goner, but Doc had appeared at the last moment to save him. He still doesn’t know where Doc came from or how he knew Jason’s life was in danger, but he has nightmares about that day, and the scars to prove it.
9. He didn’t take his first steps until he was two and a half. His mother was afraid he’d never walk. But once he did, she couldn’t keep him still. 
10. His favorite hobby is fishing with Paul on a Saturday afternoon. His dad taught him, and he still uses the fishing pole his dad gave him for his tenth birthday. He likes to think that his dad is connected to the pole, which makes him feel like Mr. Evans is there fishing too. Which brings him to his fondest wish – somehow seeing his dad one more time.