Originally published as two books, Strangely Beautiful unites Leanna Renee Hieber's critically acclaimed novels in a single revised volume, restoring the author's original vision for the work. Miss Persephone Parker―known as Percy―is different, with her lustrous, snow-white hair, pearlescent pale skin, and uncanny ability to see and communicate with ghosts. Seeking to continue her education, Percy has come to Queen Victoria's London, to the Athens Academy. What she will learn there will change her life forever. Athens Academy is the citadel of The Guard, an ancient order that battles the forces of evil. The Victorian Guard, led by professor Alexi Rychman, is incomplete. They cannot defeat Jack the Ripper― who is more than the serial killer he appears to be―or the greater monster his appearance heralds. Percy's lifelong habit of concealment combined with Alexi's fevered search for the Guard's missing seventh nearly prove disastrous as ancient Greek myths begin playing out in modern, gaslit, Victorian London. Percy and her new friends and allies must overcome their preconceptions about each other and their own histories before they can set the world to rights. Strangely Beautiful series Strangely Beautiful Perilous Prophecy Miss Violet and the Great War The Eterna Files series The Eterna Files Eterna and Omega The Eterna Solution LEANNA RENEE HIEBER is the author of the Strangely Beautiful saga, The Eterna Files trilogy, and the Spectral City series. Rarely seen out of Victorian garb, Hieber has won four Prism Awards for her Gothic and gaslamp fantasy novels, and has lectured on Gothic fiction and paranormal themes for NYU and at conferences around the US. She is a licensed ghost tour guide in New York City and prides herself on her knowledge of the city's haunts. Strangely Beautiful By Leanna Renee Hieber Tom Doherty Associates Copyright © 2016 Leanna Renee Hieber All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-7653-7743-2 Contents Title Page, Copyright Notice, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker, Deleted scene from The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, Elijah & Josephine, Extra Scene, Author's Note: Why Percy Was Born a Parker — A Personal Tale, Acknowledgments, Tor Books by Leanna Renee Hieber, Praise for the Author, About the Author, Copyright, CHAPTER 1 London, England, 1888 A young woman, the likes of which London had never seen, alighted from a carriage near Bloomsbury and gazed at the grand façade before her. Breathless at the sight of the Romanesque fortress of red sandstone that was to be her new home, she ascended the front steps beneath the portico, with carpetbag in tow. One slender, gloved hand heaved open the great arched door; Miss Percy Parker paused, then stepped inside. The foyer of Athens Academy held a few milling young men, papers and books in hand. Their jaws fell as each caught sight of the newcomer. In the diffuse light cast by a single chandelier they saw a petite, unmistakable apparition. Dark blue glasses kept eerie, ice blue eyes from unsettling those whose stares she nervously returned. Much of her snow-white skin was hidden from view by a scarf draped around her head and bosom, but only a mask could have hidden the ghostly pallor of her fine-featured face. The sudden tinkling of a chandelier crystal broke the thick silence. Percy's gaze flickered up to behold a young man, pale as herself, floating amid the gas flames. The transparent spirit wafted down to meet her. It was clear from the stares of the young men of solid mass, rudely focused on Percy, that they were oblivious to the phantasm. She acknowledged the ghost only subtly, lest she be thought distracted as well as deformed. The spectral schoolboy spoke in a soft Scots brogue. "You'd best give up your pretensions, miss. You'll never be one of them. And you're certainly not one of us. What the devil are you?" Percy met the spirit's hollow gaze. Behind her glasses, her opalescent eyes flared with defiance as she asked the room, her voice sweet and timid, "Could someone be so kind as to direct me to the headmistress's office?" A gaping, living individual pointed to a hallway on her left, so she offered him a "Thank you, sir," and fled, eager to escape all curiosity. The only sounds that followed were the rustling layers of her sky-blue taffeta skirts and the echo of her booted footfalls down the hall. HEADMISTRESS THOMPSON was scribed boldly across a large wooden door. Percy took a moment to catch her breath before knocking. She soon found herself in an office filled to overflowing with books. A sharp voice bade her sit, and she was promptly engulfed in a leather armchair. Across the desk sat a severe woman dressed primly in gray wool. Middle-aged and thin, she had a pinched nose and high cheekbones that gave her a birdlike quality; her tight lips were twisted in a half frown. Brown hair was piled atop h