BEN

Ben is a seventeen-year-old high school student from Malibu, California. In spite of his geeky choice of fashion--a top hat, striped shirts, and polka dot pants, he has a heart of gold. He's always loyal and considerate of his friends. Both he and Stephanie wear a special bracelet that is shaped like the sun that opens up the doors to the buildings of the seven Cities of Gold. Although his goofy clothes initially turn Stephanie, whom he is trying to pursue, off, when he rescues her during a terrible storm one day proving his bravery, she is immediately drawn to him and kisses him. Chemistry soon happens between the two. Ben has another chance to save Stephanie when a jealous Amazon princess named Waki wants to sacrifice her so she can have Ben. Ben and Stephanie declare their love for one another.

After the group's ship got stolen, Ben began to pilot an airplane they found at an airport in Chile. He is skilled in aviation because his dad, also a pilot, taught him everything he knew. After his high school graduation Ben decides to pursue a pilot career. When Stephanie finishes college at Stanford and receives her teaching credential, two years after graduation she moves to Malibu to be closer to him, and soon after they are married.

STEPHANIE

Stephanie is a seventeen-year-old pretty blonde from Los Angeles, California. Enthusiastic about seeing the Cities of Gold, she agrees to go on the trip. Immediately Ben takes a liking to her in spite of her belief that he is too geeky for her because of his choice of fashion. But after Ben saves her life in a nasty storm, Stephanie sees beyond the unconventional wardrobe and becomes his girlfriend. Later he saves her from becoming a sacrifice to Waki. She and Ben wear the exact same kind of bracelet.

Stephanie has a younger sister named Elizabeth, whom she is close to. They instant-message each other at the beginning of Stephanie's trip, and later Stephanie is delighted when she sees Elizabeth in the Andes mountains and invites her to come with the group to search for the Cities of Gold.

Compassionate, kind-hearted, intelligent, and loyal, Stephanie always looks out for Elizabeth, Ben, and their friends. She receives an A+ on her report on the Cities of Gold and, because of her steady 4.0 grade point average, she receives a full scholarship for Stanford, where she gets her credential to be a kindergarten teacher. Two years later she finds out from Ben about a teaching position at an elementary school in Los Angeles, and she moves to Malibu to be closer to him. Soon after she is Mrs. Ben Garrison.

MATTHEW

Matthew is a seventeen-year-old resident of Burbank, California. He is Ben's best friend and the two of them often kid around with each other's love lives (some of his first words to Ben on the day the kids meet are teasing with him about how Stephanie initially resisted Ben's amorous advances and Ben kidded Matthew when he tried to impress Rosita in Mexico--when Matthew told Rosita he loved to study, Ben joked that that could never be proven by Matthew's report card). Matthew also doesn't seem to have much luck in his love life at first. Rosita is already engaged, and when Stephanie's younger sister, Elizabeth, had a crush on him and dresses up in Stephanie's clothes, he doesn't even take notice of her. But when they are in New York City, Matthew meets supermodel Gertrude, and is immediately attracted to her. Soon Gertrude returns Ben's attraction, and the two proceed to have a romantic relationship and eventually a marriage.

Matthew is also an intelligent young man who serves as Ben's navigator. He also proves to be a loyal person who is eager to help his friends when they are in need.

ELIZABETH

Elizabeth is Stephanie's fourteen-year-old sister who is at first only mentioned when Stephanie is instant-messaging her. Later, however, she joins the group in their quest for the cities of gold when they see her while she is staying in the Andes as a foreign exchange student. She immediately takes a liking to Matthew. Matthew doesn't even know she exists, though, and when he assumes she is playing dress-up when she wears Stephanie's clothes to impress him, she is devastated and runs away, flying Ben's plane to prove to Matthew she is not a little girl. But her actions send her big sister, her big sister's boyfriend, and their friends into a tailspin as they search for her and finally find her...sleeping on one of the steps of one of the buildings of the cities of gold!

Elizabeth opens up her heart to Stephanie all the time and always receives encouragement from Stephanie. She also doesn't completely overcome her feelings for Matthew for a while (she is initially jealous of Matthew's relationship with Gertrude), but when they return to the Andes to defend the first city of gold from Philippe DeCoup and his cohorts, she meets and falls for Caleb Franklin, a Marine from Chicago. After graduating from high school, she moves back East to go to college and study nursing so she can be closer to Caleb. Caleb goes to fight off in another war for three years after Elizabeth graduates from college and becomes a registered nurse, and soon after he returns they are married.