Abigail Kamara

Abigail Kamara
Artist's rendition of Abigail and two urban foxes.
Name	Abigail Kamara
Born	February 2000
Nationality	United Kingdom
Biographical Details
Father	Alfred Kamara
Mother	Mrs Kamara
Siblings	Paul Kamara
Career
Occupation	Student
Institutions	The Folly
Notable Associates	Peter Grant, Thomas Nightingale

Abigail Kamara, daughter of Alfred Kamara, is a cousin of Peter Grant's, and a nosy neighbour of his parents. By her own account she was born in February 2000. Abigail is mixed-race, her father being Sierra Leonean and her mother white. She has a brother, Paul, who has a chronic illness.

She began learning about magic during weekly meetings at the Folly to learn about magic--not learn magic--or report on supernatural phenomenon she's seen or heard about. Lesley May joking referred to these meetings as 'Junior Apprentice'. As of Lies Sleeping she has begun to learn formal magic from both Nightingale and Varvara Sidorovna.

Abigail is currently preparing for a Latin language GCSE and has demonstrated a high aptitude with technology and computer systems.

Junior Apprentice

Abigail first became aware of magic sometime in 2011 or 2012, after hearing Rose Grant describing Peter's work at The Folly. Her interest piqued, she later extracted a promise from Peter Grant that should she receive a GCSE in Latin he would teach her Newtonian magic.

After Abigail discovered a ghost in an active train tunnel near the Peckwater Estate, Peter began 'Junior Apprentice' with the purpose of keeping tabs on Abigail's personal magic investigations. He also admits that one of the major goals is ensuring Abigail does not try to teach herself magic due to the high risk of injury via Hyperthaumaturgical degradation. Somewhat unwisely, Peter promises Abigail that she must first learn Latin, which she does with great success (to Peter’s chagrin) and is formally sworn in as a Junior Apprentice.

Magical Education

While Abigail's education in Newtonian magic has yet to start, she has learned a significant amount about magic from working at The Folly and in the process of her own investigations.

• During the summer of 2013 she worked on a case concerning missing teenagers, and came to the attention of a senior Home Office civil servant.
• During the summer of 2014 she acted as an unpaid intern at the Folly organizing and cataloguing their practitioner records.
• As of 2015, Abigail is starting to be taught to recognize magic though still tends to rely on her wits and skills. Towards the end of a situation in which Abigail was herself a kidnapping victim, Nightingale reprimands her for striking a suspect by telling her "Abigail! That is not how we treat our prisoners!" The use of the words, "we" and "our" would seem to imply that in Nightingale's mind at least, Abigail is a full member of The Folly.
  • In The Furthest Station Abigail assists Peter during his investigation of the Metropolitan Line train cars and several suspect interviews. After looking through The Folly library she discovers the purpose of Rose jars which greatly advances the search for Brené McClaren. At the end of the story she writes a report of the case, in Latin, sufficiently advanced to make Peter complain he can’t read it, and Dr Postmartin to observe: “if only half the current crop of Oxford undergraduates conjugated half as well”. Peter realises this means he must now keep his promise, and teach her magic. To his dismay Nightingale agrees and immediately claims the privilege of contacting her parents.
  • In Lies Sleeping Abigail has been formally sworn in as a junior apprentice to Nightingale, and is assisting the Folly in a number of capacities, e.g. searching through historical reports in the Folly library, acting as liaison to the talking foxes, etc. She appears not only to be taught Newtonian magic by Nightingale but also at least Russian military magic notation by Varvara Sidorovna.
  • In October Man we learn that the German Embassy in London reports to the KDA that Nightingale has taken an “absolutely terrifying” new junior apprentice.