The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker

by Leanna Renee Hieber

  “Your apprehensions are valid, Lucille. I will share them with the others,” Rebecca promised, and with that they returned to the group.

  “You do realize, my friends,” she addressed them bitterly, “that this will not be easy news for Alexi. He is sure he’s found Prophecy in that student of his. He—”

  As if on cue, Alexi Rychman burst through the door in an explosion of black fabric, clutching a book, his eyes bright. “Good morning, dear friends!” he began, filling the room with his presence. “I felt you were in trouble so I came running, but the storm seems to have subsided. Good work, then! And I have…such news!” After taking a good look at his companions. “You all look dreadful. What in the hell has happened to your clothes?”

  “We haven’t slept,” Elijah countered bitterly. “And we’re in tatters because we were nearly ripped.”

  “Sit, Alexi,” Michael commanded.

  “I’d rather stand, thank you,” Alexi replied.

  Rebecca whirled upon him. With unease, Alexi noted that the beautiful Miss Linden stood behind her.

  “What in the name of our Grand Work did you think you were doing,” his friend hissed, “abandoning us on an evening when the Balance was at its most precarious? We were crippled by your unexplained absence. How could you do such a thing?” Recovering herself, she glanced at Miss Linden and the rest of The Guard. Alexi did the same.

  Lucille was picking up the black book he had set down, and she began to look it over. Michael recognized the need for privacy and kindly waved, gesturing Miss Linden upstairs, giving an apologetic smile. Nodding, Miss Linden politely and unobtrusively put down the book and glided away.

  Once she was out of sight, Alexi felt he had sufficient leave to retort, “You question me as if I were suspect? I acted for the very sake of Prophecy! Did you think I’d go on sudden holiday for the fun of it?”

  “And since when does an illicit escape with your lover—oh, forgive me, your student—constitute aid to Prophecy?” Elijah demanded, his pale face flushed.

  Alexi’s jaw dropped. “Slanderous fools, what right have you to say this? That hellhound came to my office, came for Miss Parker. I could not fight it alone, so I moved her to safety.”

  “It came for us,” Jane said. “Since when has the fate of a student come before us?”

  “Because Miss Parker is Prophecy!” Alexi cried. “Not that I should have to explain myself. I intended to share my findings at the proper time.”

  “It is well past the proper time, Alexi, seeing as we almost perished tonight,” Elijah spoke up. “The prophecy wasn’t just given to you; it’s not your toy or alchemical formula to keep and meddle with. It’s ours. We are all in this together. You’ve given us nothing, and yet we have something incredible in our midst.”

  Alexi’s gaze pierced him. “I know you think Prophecy points to Miss Linden. I realize that she is indeed incredible, with a presence unlike any other, with a beauty unmatched, and with the power to see spirits and know the unknowable. But Persephone Parker, named for my goddess, also sees spirits. She can speak with them in any language. Did Rebecca not declare our need for just such a translator when we worked in Fleet Street? She has transporting visions, too. She was even granted a vision of our liturgy, the sacred text known only to us, which came to her in a dream!”

  “Is that all?” Jane asked.

  “No, it isn’t, but what an impressive vitae on its own! She has worn a phoenix pendant around her neck since she was a child. She was scalded by that very pendant the night we demanded Prophecy be shown!”

  “Alexi, none of that matters now. Prophecy has shown herself—to us,” Josephine countered. “We would have died tonight, Alexi. Do you understand that? We would have died if Miss Linden had not lent us aid. Tonight, we lived, without you. We owe Miss Linden our lives, and Prophecy was fulfilled. She opened a door.”

  Alexi stilled. “What?”

  “A portal,” Rebecca explained quietly. “As was foretold.”

  There was a long and tense silence. Alexi shook his head, his body visibly taut. “No. This must be a trap. It isn’t her.”

  Rebecca threw her hands in the air. “Oh, yes, it must be a trap! Of course, how foolish the rest of us are for believing we might have a part in this! You, who sacrificed everything to your fate, unlike we five…It could only be you to whom Prophecy would be revealed.”

  Alexi kept shaking his head. “No, my friends, I…simply know. I know it isn’t her.”

  Elijah’s nostrils flared. “And that’s your answer, Professor? You deny the one hard fact of Prophecy just because you ‘know’ things to be otherwise? Is the one scientist here listening to himself?”

  “You do not trust my instincts or my proof.”

  Rebecca held up a hand and attempted to explain. “Alexi, I’ve never seen you like this. You’re trying to pin Prophecy on this young girl when it’s supposed to be a peer. You’re tearing around in a whirlwind over her, fashioning facts so that it can be her—not that it is. You’re changed by her, as if by some spell. Where is our stoic, unfaltering cornerstone, willing to see only hard facts? There was a door to the spirit world, Alexi, through which the hellhound vanished. How much more plainly do we need the prophecy fulfilled?”

  Alexi shook his head. “A trap. I…I don’t trust her.”

  “Tell me, Alexi.” Elijah leaned in. “Has your dear little Miss Parker opened a door for you?”

  He ignored any double entendre his rakish compatriot might intend. “She sees them in visions, she draws them. And that painting, Josephine—it was like a door that she went through, as if she were from that very age and time.”

  Jane made a face. “Her visions and mythical past won’t help us when we’re being attacked, as we were tonight. I don’t suppose Miss Parker had a vision of saving our lives, did she? Alexi, what’re we supposed to make of this? Ye may think this girl of yours is Prophecy all ye like—we’ve yet to get a glimpse of her.”

  “I’ve seen her,” chorused Elijah, Josephine and Rebecca.

  Jane and Michael exchanged surprised glances. “And?” Michael pressed.

  The three shrugged.

  Josephine said, noncommittally, “I met her briefly. She’s deathly pale and clearly enamoured of Alexi. There’s something about her, certainly—but nothing like what we’ve experienced in the presence of Miss Linden.”

  Elijah nodded in agreement.

  “But Elijah,” Alexi protested. “You came to my house having just met her, having seen a burning image when you touched her—an image that matched how the goddess spoke of the phoenix! And Josie, that painting. She was your inspiration! And that painting sent her into a vision—”

  “Alexi, none of those details connect to what we do or what we fight,” Elijah interrupted. “I touch and see many terrible sights. Josephine is inspired by many things, not just our work. Tonight, our work included Miss Linden, and the one particular of our prophecy revealed itself just as we were running out of time! Can that really mean nothing?”

  Alexi shook his head, unwilling to be convinced. “But Persephone Parker is the one. A phoenix charm burning her flesh just as we demand a sign? How could that be, if she’s not linked to us? How could she know our invocation?” He brandished the diary he’d reclaimed from his sister. “And…I have an entry on the day she was born. I awoke knowing there was a great alteration in the Balance—and it was two years to the day from when our lives changed to this fate! We never saw my goddess again because she was born as Miss Parker!”

  “Alexi, calm yourself, you’re raving,” Josephine said.

  “And her pallor!” Alexi continued. “She appears as if she could be a spirit—and she can communicate with them! Does this not make her useful to us? She is not possessed as we are; she is truly reborn.” He whirled to face his friend. “Josie, we’ve never dared ask…but please tell me when those white streaks first appeared in your hair.”

  Josephine faltered. “Since the moment of my possession,” she
replied quietly.

  “As I thought. And I believe that something has been with Percy all her life—within her, from the womb—to make her whole body white. It is the shock of an outside power—a divine possession itself!”

  Everyone stared at him sadly, as if he were to be pitied. This riled him further. “I will bring her to you,” he vowed. “You will know. By spending time with her, you will know. But damn it all, there’s no reason why you should fight—you should simply trust me!”

  “Alexi, facing death without you revoked your privilege of unconditional trust,” Elijah snapped. “Oh, and did we mention there was a goddamned door?”

  Alexi’s fists rose, and sparkles of blue fire trickled out.

  Rebecca flew forward. “Haven’t you considered that there may be more than one kind of trap, Alexi? You must consider them all. How many times have I prepared you for this moment? We were warned of betrayals and false prophets, of ‘the mistakes of mortal hearts.’ Prophecy warned of this very fight! Just because you”—she choked—“care for Miss Parker does not make her our seventh. However innocent and guileless she may appear, she may in fact be sent from the ungodly realm, possessed by something harmful who looks to betray us. Appearing as no ordinary mortal, as you mention, with the ability to communicate with spirits—these very facts you present might be used to damn as easily as elevate.”

  Alexi shook his head. “Nonsense!”

  “Alexi, she may not even be human.”

  “She’s human, I assure you.”

  “Why, what sort of experiments did you conduct upon her to reach that confident conclusion?” Elijah asked, giving an unnecessary, lecherous smirk.

  Alexi’s expression was fearsome. He pounded his fist violently upon a nearby table. The gas lamps on the walls roared suddenly out of control, threatened to burn the place down.

  “Alexi, please!” Josephine squealed. “Do you mean to kill us all?”

  He raised one finger and the lamps dimmed; then he pointed it at Elijah, who turned pale.

  “Never impugn her honour, Withersby,” he warned, his voice deceptively calmed. “And who are you to criticize me—you, who nearly caused a riot ten years ago by running off on a whim?”

  “I was wrong, Alexi. I was very wrong,” Elijah murmured, truly contrite. “And I’ve spent years repaying that debt. Don’t you make my same mistake.”

  Alexi held Elijah in a vicious stare for another unbearable moment, the lamp flames again burning high, the walls beginning to smolder. Finally, he tossed a hand aside in a casual gesture and the danger vanished—though the group coughed from the resulting smoke, waving their hands before their eyes. Elijah loosened his collar, sweat beading on his forehead.

  “Alexi,” Rebecca said. She moved slowly toward him. “Alexi, look what this is doing to you. Don’t become a stranger to us, as you seem to have done since you met Miss Parker. You must consider the danger. And, Alexi, however innocent the girl may seem…something may be working within her she does not even understand. Working to undo you. To undo all of us. Prophecy told us to listen to our instincts and stay together!”

  Alexi’s hands clenched and unclenched. “It is my life! Am I to disobey my heart, my instincts—?”

  “Mortal hearts make mistakes, Alexi.” Rebecca was shaking her head. “For the thousandth time, love has nothing to do with Prophecy; it’s only confused and endangered us. You’d risk the whole of our work for this wisp of a girl, this timid curiosity—”

  “Don’t you dare speak of her so,” he hissed.

  Josephine and Elijah looked at each other in surprise, then at Alexi. “Love? Love isn’t a factor here, is it?”

  “Alexi, listen to yourself,” Rebecca continued, ignoring all else. “We were warned of this. She is a trick, a pawn meant to test you. Clear your mind, stop and think of duty! You’ve never been so swayed by passion. What on earth is this mad light in your eyes? You have always been our anchor of reason.”

  Alexi smoldered. “How dare you. Reason and duty? I’ve sacrificed everything. I denied myself every possible scrap of companionship, pleasure and comfort in my life, and now that Prophecy has come, my duty is to protect her. And you five, turned against me by Miss Linden—”

  “We’re not turning against you, Alexi,” Rebecca insisted, tears in her eyes. “You’re biased. Evidently, you must see the door yourself to be convinced. You can’t find it in your heart to trust us. I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

  Alexi approached, stood nose to nose with her. She remained strong beneath his withering stare and added, “This isn’t easy for any of us, Alexi. Hearts may be broken. I know all about that.”

  “You want Prophecy to be Miss Linden because it’s obvious that I don’t care about her, beautiful as she may be. Your jealousy is such that you’d rather push me toward someone I care nothing for, hoping that once the number is out of the way I might at last choose you—”

  Rebecca slapped him across the face, rage in her eyes. “How dare you say such a thing, Alexi Rychman? You’ve fabricated Prophecy to be your lover when that was never so! How dare you blame me for trying to save you from yourself?”

  Alexi’s hand rose to his cheek. Tears spilled down Rebecca’s flushed, defiant face. Everyone else stared on in horror, waiting for the walls to ignite.

  “Has it come to this?” he growled. “You, of all people, Headmistress? Years of friendship and trust turned to petty violence?”

  “Alexi,” Jane interrupted, moving to place an arm around her friend. “Don’t blame Rebecca. We were all in agreement before you waltzed in.”

  His knuckles, in tight fists, were white. The word “waltz” was a great and painful irony. “All my years of leading you fools, and in the end they mean nothing. Fate has turned you against me. Well, I damn this fate!” Alexi fumed, turning to exit. “I shall make my own.”

  Michael jumped up suddenly and blocked him. In their years together, no one had ever seen the vicar angry. Until now. “You dare to alter Prophecy to suit your whim? You ignore the signs we are all given? Let the Balance fall to pieces, and all the goblins of hell can have a holiday on your lawn with this talk of yours!”

  “No.” Alexi shook his head, trying to press past, but Michael would not budge.

  “Alexi, don’t think this isn’t hard for us as well,” the vicar stated.

  “No, I see. Kiss me on both cheeks, my friends, and send me to the cross.”

  Elijah scoffed. “Oh, don’t be dramatic—”

  “Don’t be cruel, Elijah,” Alexi countered.

  Rebecca stood weeping across the room. “Don’t be utterly stupid and blind. Listen to us, for once. You’re not omnipotent.”

  Alexi stared at each of his friends, searching for any ally, any hint of understanding, but there was none. Lucille Linden crept down the stairs and stood silently in the corner. Weariness broke through Alexi’s anger. If there truly was a door, could he deny it? Could he walk away from the group he led? He would fail everyone and everything if he did.

  “I hate this,” he stated sadly, and felt something begin to die inside him.

  He turned to gaze upon the beautiful woman in the corner of the room who was looking at him with sympathy and care, and a bitter taste rose to his lips. Could they possibly be right? Somehow, could it be possible that the innocent Miss Parker had blinded him? Could his dear, sweet Percy indeed be the trap of which he was warned so many years previous? He had indeed made a mistake before—one that had cost his sister her legs and his family their love. Could he afford to stand alone again?

  “May I speak?” Lucille asked. Her voice was like warm music, soothing the chill throughout the friends.

  “Yes,” Elijah replied. Alexi set his jaw.

  “Please, my friends, I don’t presume to know anything about how your esteemed faction operates. I can’t say exactly how the doors operate. I’ve only seen them in times of stress, and I cannot guarantee them. But…let me spend a bit of time with you and let us see,” she sugges
ted gently.

  The Guard turned to Alexi, staring expectantly. They were still his to command, if he would do so.

  His shoulders fell. “I curse the day I received the burden that is this life,” he stated, taking in his comrades. “Looking now, I don’t recognize any of you. It’s as if you’ve turned to stone.”

  He turned blankly to Miss Linden. “Very well, we’ll have a meeting. Perhaps our chapel might return all of you to your senses,” he muttered; but he was defeated, his voice hollow. Drawing his cloak about him, he turned slowly and moved to the door.

  “I’ll make arrangements for Miss Parker to be returned to her convent. The safest thing would be to keep her out of the way,” Rebecca suggested quietly.

  Alexi whirled with dead eyes, pointed a warning finger at her. “Don’t say one word to Percy. I will handle it,” he said, and stormed out the door.

  The Guard stood silent, staring helplessly.

  Lucille glowed with soft warmth. She said softly, her eyes watering, “I feel for the first time in ages that I—and all of us—may at last be safe.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Isabel roused her with a sharp rap on the door before scurrying down the hall, and Percy rose and dressed alone, assuming, as she always did, that she was too frightening to receive help. When she finally made her way downstairs, Alexandra was awaiting her with scones and tea. Percy did not have the heart to admit she didn’t have an appetite.

  “I’m sure you’re anxious to get back to your campus and to Alexi,” the woman said, “so I won’t hold you with pleasantries, but you simply must eat something; you’ll waste away.”