Alexandra is the younger sister of Mara's Mother, which makes her Mara's aunt. When Mara was abandoned, 19-year old Alexandra took her in. She seems more like a big sister to Mara than a mother. Like Mara, Alexandra is very beautiful in appearance, wit and charm. She has reddish-blonde colored hair and also like Mara has Egyptian heritage. However, Alex, as Mara calls her, is 1/2 Egyptian and 1/2 American. You couldn't tell by looking at her that she has such strong Egyptian heritage, because she looks like a regular American woman... except perhaps for her tan skin. Alex is 36 years old, but she has no husband or boyfriend. She would rather have adventure and flirt now and then instead of settling down. Alexandra loves to make things wild and exciting! However, there is also a gentle side to Alex. Whenever Mara has problems in her life, Alex is always there to help. Alex loves her job as an archeologist. In her free time she likes to make gadgets (like the time clip in Mara's bedroom).
Anubis is owned by a 17 year old girl whose name is Mara Herion (Her-I-on). Mara lives with her Aunt Alex and has ever since she was a baby. Her mother died when she was born and her saddened father left because he blamed the baby for the loss of his wife. Mara was left with her mother's 19-year old sister. Mara has black hair and blue eyes and is ¼ Egyptian and ¾ American. She looks like a regular American kid in the way she dresses, but you can tell she has Egyptian blood in her lineage. Mara has moved around a lot in her life because of her aunt's job (she is an archeologist). They have lived in Salisbury, England, Villahermosa, Mexico and Luxor, Egypt. It was during her stay in Egypt when Mara found Anubis. Although Mara loves to play soccer with Anubis, his sharp teeth usually puncture the ball. But her most favorite pastime is learning more about Ancient Egypt. Her dream is to find the lost tomb of Cleopatra VII. Mara is very stubborn, but only when she needs to be! She is also independent. She really likes the unusual life she has with her aunt and Anubis.
Anubis lives during the present time with his owner and friend.
They live in a home that is located in the village of Normandigul. Normandigul is a small village located on the island of Ibiza. Ibiza is a tiny island off the eastern coast of Spain in the Mediterranean Sea. She lives with her aunt, who is an archeologist who is currently working on an excavation site on Ibiza. The village of Normandigul is tiny with a small number of residents and no real stores or businesses. It looks like an average small, quiet village, had it not been for Anubis.
Anubis lives in his owner/friend's bedroom. Her bedroom is fairly normal for a 17 year-old girl. It has off-white colored painted walls and a bunch of Egyptian artifacts hung onto the walls. Those artifacts were gifts from her aunt that were collected on previous expeditions and make Anubis feel at home.
Almost everything about the room looks normal except the strange looking machine sitting against the wall near her bed. It is called a Time-Clip and enables her and/or Anubis to travel both forward and backward through time. The Time-Clip is a silver metal cylinder that has a portal-like entrance on one end. It reminds me of a huge soda can that is tipped on its side. The portal opening is not solid metal door, but instead is a swirling bluish-green mist. On the side of the Time-Clip are a number of buttons with the letters of our alphabet on them. Beside the letters are two more buttons that are larger than the first row of lettered buttons. One button is labeled "Future" and the other "Past". Although the Time-Clip is not all that large, a full-grown person could crawl inside without a problem. However, once inside, the Time-Clip mysteriously becomes enormous with plenty of room to walk around in. This cool machine allows its occupants to travel comfortably to the past or the future!
With his sleek, black fur and his strong muscled body, Anubis looks like any other adult jackal. However, can a regular jackal talk and do most jackals have a strange tear-shaped birthmark? Although Anubis is kind, he is quick to defend his master and he has an independent and sometimes stubborn mind. A native son of Egypt, Anubis shows his love for his country by wearing an Egyptian charm on his collar.
One night as Mara fell asleep in her bedroom, she glanced across the room as she fell asleep and saw the curves of the Time Clip with Anubis's black nose sticking out of the door. He was making the whistling noise he always makes when he's sleeping.
When she opened her eyes (still dreaming), she was shocked to find a huge two-headed cobra warming itself by the heater in her room. Her new "pet" snake was almost as long as she was tall! He looked evil and Mara was felt as if it was going to strike her at any second. She tried to scream and run, but found she could not speak and the door was stuck. The snake moved closer and closer. It's tongue's flicking in and out until it brushed the side of her cheek.
She forced her eyes open and found to her relief that it was Anubis's tongue licking her cheek and not the snake.