Andrew Wheatley

"'You summoned witches! There are witches and you summoned them from a stone circle and now there are two moons!'"Andrew Wheatley is a new arrival in the town of Valewood and one of the protagonists of Valewood Tales, who lives in Pines Close. He is something of a cynic but has an interest in the strange happenings his grandfather Douglas Wheatley reportedly investigated.

As the owner and founder of the Agency, Andrew is technically responsible for his employees and the company, although he is taking some time to realise this. Nobody really buys into it anyway.

History
According to Andrew's Twitter, he was born on the 18th of October some time in the 90s. As a child, he relied on his sister Ruby to deal with unexplained happenings in the night, which often turned out to be their neighbours' cat.

Andrew lived in Stratford-upon-Avon before moving to Valewood. He had friends in primary school named Clive, Bryony, Natalie and Steph. At some point, he fell down a set of stairs and escaped uninjured. This was described by his friend Clive as the greatest thing he'd ever done. Aged 12, he went through a period where he pretended to be a tortured soul and wore a lot of black. He then spent five years trying to be an actor, which also did not work out.

He once nearly got married due to an accident at his cousin Steven's wedding, claiming that the priest was drunk and the bride had got lost. On another occasion, Andrew was involved in some indeterminate event known only as "the Bargain Bin Incident" at a retail job, which may have been responsible for his anxious personality. It is possible that this was in fact a viral video of him falling down the stairs set to the Gunion theme.

The Mystery of Darkstone Manor
Andrew worked in retail for several years until his grandfather Douglas Wheatley died in mysterious circumstances. Andrew's side of the family found themselves in possession of his house but with no real use for it, they passed it onto Andrew. Upon arriving in Valewood, Andrew discovered that he had misplaced his keys and attempted to break into his house, attracting the attention of locals May Winter and Elizabeth Glass. After he ventured into the basement and discovered the legacy of some of his grandfather's research in the form of a strange book, Andrew was confronted by May and Elizabeth, who he asked about Darkstone Manor - one of the locations mentioned in the book.

They accompanied him there, where they met Moe Frankfort, and Elizabeth discovered a strange chamber inhabited by the mysterious and alien Darwin Archimedes. A confrontation with the chamber's security system ensued, which resulted in the destruction of both Douglas' book and the chamber itself. Andrew happily invited Darwin to move in with him as a result of the destruction of his home, which Darwin begrudgingly accepted.

The Root of All Evil
On their first night in the new house, Andrew and Darwin discovered a malfunctioning device in the basement called a Dimension Root and were forced to try and fix it before it put the structural integrity of their home in danger.

The Self-Made Men
The two of them spent the next week looking for jobs which would support their living arrangement, a search which ended with little success. Afterwards, they settled on the idea of a paranormal detective agency, which they attempted to establish with the help of Elizabeth, and the funding of Moe. May later joined, and so the Agency was formed.

The Reingard Runes
A few days later, the mysterious appearance of runes all over town prompted Andrew to head into Valewood Town Square with Moe and Darwin to investigate, where they encountered Jen Holders; a museum curator who hired them to solve the mystery of the runes. Later that day, he and Moe set out to search for Jean Reingard. Inviting the strange old man into the Agency, they learned the truth about the runes and were subsequently cast into a pocket dimension known as Reingard's Realm, as Reingard incapacitated them, bringing them both to the Valewood Museum of Art and History, where he and his partner Jen Holders began to drain May Winter of her latent magical abilities. May retaliated, freeing Andrew and Moe from Reingard's control. A battle ensued in which Reingard was defeated and he fled the scene. Jen was arrested, and later that night Andrew and Elizabeth agreed that the Agency needed a new name - feeling that "Wheatley's Detective Agency" was no longer really representative.

Darwintervention
Andrew and Darwin are first seen being utterly uninterested in the developing case as they attempt to book tickets for Necronomicomicon, a convention May claims they are both interested in. The next day he joins Elizabeth and May in attempting to figure out why Moe refused to pay for Darwin's ticket, revealing that he is a huge fan of the actor Kurt Stander and is increasingly frustrated by Moe's strange behaviour. Eventually, Elizabeth and May convince him to go ask Moe what his problem with Kurt Stander is, but this backfires as Moe quickly loses his temper and an argument ensues. After they are distracted by witnessing Darwin and Nate rush into Burns Realty, Andrew and Moe put aside their argument and join Elizabeth and May in venturing into the building's basement, where they rescue Darwin from being killed by a possessed Nate. However, Monothiel Blackwill reacts strangely to Andrew's presence and angrily compares him to his grandfather Douglas. Elizabeth defends Andrew by throwing a book at the old man, but Nate attacks them. Darwin is able to subdue him by commandeering a book of occult belonging to Monothiel and performing an impromptu exorcism. Andrew demands answers from Monothiel, who threatens him with a shotgun and delivers a warning about the hour of "Omen Res." The old man escapes before he can be confronted again by Nate.

The Wrong Ghost
Spending the evening at Glass Cottage playing video games with May and Elizabeth, Andrew is forced to go and help Darwin with a black magic experiment at a stone circle. This backfires as Darwin ends up accidentally summoning a family of witch sisters, the Standing Daughters who sealed themselves inside, and after being pushed down the hill the two detectives discover a second moon curse which is making them sick. They are given an ultimatum by the witches after noticing that the townsfolk have all disappeared, and despite their attempts to find answers at the library are captured anyway. Andrew is able to convince the witches not to drain Darwin of his limited magical skill and they instead work together to dispel the second moon curse.

Appearance
Andrew is the shortest and most physically unassuming member of the Agency and has floppy blonde hair, along with round eyes and greyish-green pupils. He wears a variety of outfits, usually in earthy colours as befitting his more grounded personality. On his first day in Valewood and several more, he wears a stripy green jumper with large, baggy blue jeans and light blue converse trainers. In combination with this outfit, he often wears a large orange aviator jacket with the sleeves rolled up which may have belonged to his grandfather, Douglas Wheatley.

He has also worn a sleeveless orange v-neck over the white shirt he often wears, and will sometimes attempt to look formal by wearing a thin brown cardigan with a dark blue tie - this is what he calls his "business outfit." On one occasion he has worn the brown cardigan with the orange v-neck jumper. Sometimes he carries an umbrella for defence.

Personality
Andrew is something of a cynical individual, though he seems to be improving at least a little. He has quite a dry sense of humour and a sharp wit, which can sometimes make him seem rude or short-tempered. Despite this, he is a huge paranormal enthusiast with a strong interest in the supernatural, which is only encouraged by the mysterious disappearance of his grandfather Douglas Wheatley, and the strange contents of the Agency's basement that he left behind.However, Andrew is not great at handling danger. He is prone to bluster and panic, and falls apart quite quickly in the face of anything threatening - such as the attacking Securobot or the battle with Jean Reingard in the Valewood Museum of Art and History. To be fair, though, the last time he attempted to defend himself (with an umbrella, no less) he and Moe were temporarily cast into another dimension and hunted down by a wizard.

Despite this, Andrew closely values his friends and the company he keeps in Valewood, though he would probably never admit it on account of him being stubborn and sarcastic. As it happens, there are few greater bonding experiences than solving mysteries and investigating the paranormal together. Andrew also feels very strongly about right and wrong and is quick to point out the unjust or unreasonable, such as Moe's strange behaviour in refusing to pay for Darwin's convention ticket.

Trivia

 * Aged 19, Andrew got drunk for the only time in his life. He climbed onto a windowsill, shouted "Gentlemen, you will forever remember this as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow" and leapt out, falling two stories and breaking both his ankles.
 * Andrew secretly believes that anime is one of Earth's greatest inventions.
 * Andrew can play the trumpet, the only instrument he is remotely skilled at playing. He took a lengthy after-school lessons course in secondary school after breaking his arm for reasons he refuses to explain.
 * According to his Twitter, Andrew enjoys the 1998 science-fiction first-person shooter game Half-Life.
 * On Alex Donald's Twitter, he claims that Andrew is "distantly related to the guy from corpse bride."