Character Analysis
When we think of grandparents, we picture sugar and spice and everything nice, but from the very beginning of The Fallen Star, Gemma describes her grandparents as guardians who live in the same house with her but don't really take the time to get to know her beyond cursory interactions:
I mean, if you had a child that had been an emotionless zombie for most of her life, then suddenly she did a complete 180 in the emotional department, wouldn't you celebrate and talk about it instead of getting pissed off?
I know I would.
But since Marco and Sophia chose to say nothing about it, I opted to keep the prickly sensation to myself. (2.24-26)
See? Not exactly the warm and fuzzy types. When Gemma finds out the truth, though—which is that Sophia and Marco aren't her real grandparents—everything starts to make sense. Sophia and Marco aren't invested in Gemma emotionally; in fact, their goal as Keepers is to keep her as unemotional as possible. Their number one priority is to their jobs, so it's no wonder that they don't shower Gemma with love. In their defense, raising her emotionless just might save the world.