Haley

Haley appears to be the person who inadvertently saves Ross Pfeiffer's life. The truth is the opposite: she is on a mission. Haley is one of Orion's agents, and the crash through the woods is the visible end of an operation he assigned her — to secure a candidate approaching the Ascension ritual so Orion can hijack it from his prison. The portal she is fleeing toward was prearranged with Athena. She bursts through branches and dead trees before being knocked unconscious — never seeing the color of the portal. Ross pulls her from the wreck and carries her limp body through. After she makes it to the other world, she reports back to Orion that the mission failed. The reader is not told this. In Book III, Haley crash-lands back on Ail, and Tayzh — anticipating her arrival — has to break the news that Ross is dead. By the climax, the long arc of her loyalty to Orion comes due: she is one of the people he has gathered into the observation cavern, and when his methods turn ruthless he pins her to the floor with gravity alongside Clone Sunny.