Character Reading: Miss Percy Parker

Today I am thrilled to share a character reading from a soon-to-be-released release by the very fun and always well-dressed, Leanna Renee Heiber. I first met Leanna on a mutual RWA chapter loop. She has a Prism-winning story already out–Dark Nest. Her penchant for the gothic world garnered her a great deal of interest including a sale to Dorchester. The heroine of that sale is today’s reading client. The book releases August 25 so mark your calendars. Now on to the strangely beautiful reading of Miss Percy Parker.

BLURB: What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death….

Character Reading
• FOR: Miss Percy Parker
• DOB: October 16, 1869
• AUTHOR: Leanna Renee Hieber
• GENRE: Historical Fantasy (Gothic Paranormal Romance)
• DECK USED: World Spirit Tarot

1. How do you see the people around you?/

Hmm, Miss Parker, you seem to be of the mind that people around you are more lackadaisical about their lives than they should be. This is the Knight (Seeker) of Wands. He represents that part of people that makes them spontaneous and hard to control.

I have to wonder if you like things neat and proper and in their place. This vision of those around you makes me think you have quite the managing streak.

You see people around you as simply in need of direction and purpose.

Response from Miss Parker:
Oh, goodness. Well, I’d never tell anyone how to live their life when I’m just trying to seek out my own purpose, but I suppose I am passionate about everyone having a purpose. Why shouldn’t we all court destiny? Yet it’s so frustrating to wonder why I was made so different, why I was granted supernatural gifts of visions and communication with the dead. I do wish I were a normal girl, neat and proper with a place in the world, who didn’t look a ghost. I wish I knew why.

2. How are you seen by the people around you?

This is a hard card to be seen as and I’m sorry to have to tell you. Justice is the card that comes up here. This means people see you as something that has to be dealt with but only in dire times. You are useful to them when they need to know what you see.

However, they would rather you were blind to what they do unless they call your attention to it. Still you can’t avoid knowing what is right and what is wrong, can you, Miss Parker?

As I said, this is a card that tells me you may be a bit lonely because I think people do not want to be told what they are doing wrong with their lives.

Response from Miss Parker:
Indeed. I am something that is only dealt with in dire times. Growing up in a convent I kept to myself and was left to myself. Everyone is afraid of me and I cannot blame them. I look like the ghosts I see and speak languages I was never taught. I am sure Reverend Mother wishes I were blind to visions and spirits. While I’ve been told to hide my gifts, out of fear, I cannot help but think they will be of use in a time of trial. Loneliness? I know it all too painfully well. If only my dear Professor Rychman could abate it… *blush* I am too bold. Yet he speaks so mysteriously, of prophecy, of a group of six made into seven, of old vendettas made right, of a woman who is destined to come and set supernatural scales even. Justice, indeed. If this should be me, I will accept his call. I fear I would do anything for him. No matter if the dire times at hand, with The Ripper on the loose, worsen before Justice is served.

3. What is your most important goal?

Very interesting. This is the card that is also known as Mastery. It is about mastering yourself more than others. I have to wonder if that first card wasn’t an avoidance of what you have to do for yourself really.

Control is the issue here. You need to know that you are in control of yourself and all that you are. You do not like being told what to do but you know that you must follow guidance so you can learn all that you can.

The Chariot is about an almost urgent need to control your life. There is something you need to get to and you can’t do that without this exquisitely refined control, is there?

Response from Miss Parker:
*sigh*
I cannot control the visions I see, and they’ve increased since I began attending Athens Academy. I cannot control the strange force wakening within me, as if there is another presence, another being almost, struggling to make herself known. Just when I am so very sure my Professor will think me mad, he surprises me and seems to draw sense and meaning from the gathering forces of power, magic and evil in the air. I shudder to think it centers around me. How can I help either of us if such forces seem wholly outside of my grasp?

4. Where do you get your strength from?

Miss Parker! Percy Parker, what are you thinking? This is the Devil here. He represents temptation and bodily pleasures. Here is someone who relishes being seen as different. In a way, you feed off of those who fear you.

Not that that is a bad thing, per se, Percy, but your strength frightens people a great deal. They may see you as too dependent on someone who scares them. Who tempts them to do things they say they wouldn’t normally do.

Is your strength in the fact that you can face the Devil himself down or is it that the Devil in you is stronger?

Remember that the Devil is about temptation so this is about having the strength to resist temptation or give into it only when you can control it.

Response from Miss Parker:
*gasp*
I shudder in fear. I dare not think what this can portend. You must understand that Percy is only a nickname. My name is ancient. My name is that of a creature kidnapped by what some might call The Devil, long ago, the stuff of myths. I hadn’t thought a mere name could portend such realities. I see the dead, face them, and somehow I have a sense that in the coming months I will have to face down the very mouth of purgatory itself, and the leader therein… And only then will I be truly set free.

5. Why do you want to be remembered?

The 7 of Wands is a card of standing one’s ground. This character in the card has created a defense and is sticking to it. She will hold off all comers if she has too.

You want to be remembered for finishing what you started. For not backing down. For not forcing yourself to fit in where you could not possible fit in.

You have amazing strength of character, Miss Parker. You want to leave a mark on the world that will make people understand what you did for them. Even when it scares you the most, you do not back down on what you truly believe in.

Response from Miss Parker:
Seven again! It is true that while I may be outwardly timid, I am a resolute woman, and this card fills me with pride. And Seven! Indeed! How very odd. My dear Professor keeps talking about the number Seven. How there must be a Seventh member to his ranks, a Seventh addition to his strange coterie- he’s so maddening with his mysteries and yet I’d deal with them all if it meant I could be by his side… While I am not a normal girl, I do want to make this world better for my having been in it. I will face down fear to find meaning. And I would fight to the death for those I love.

Read some excerpts.

Don’t miss Leanna’s Renee Heiber’s upcoming contest! Mark your calendars for the Strangely Beautiful Haunted London Blog tour beginning 8/22 and running through September! Join Leanna for a different Ghost story each Tour Stop and a chance to win a signed book! On release day, 8/25, I launch my Contest for two lovely prizes, all details at www.leannareneehieber.com.