Color Blind
Color Blind # 1
Genre- YA paranormal
By- Penny Miller
All her life Harmony Phillips has felt defective. Growing up in a paranormal community where magikal abilities come from the wavelengths of color, a color blind girl is worthless, and they haven't let her forget it. No one but her adoptive parents, Charlie a Were-Lion and Sarah a Witch, along with her best friend Tesch, a Siren, have ever given her an ounce of esteem. When a fit of outrage unlocks the color yellow to her eyes, Harmony passes out cold with shock over her eggs and accidentally glamours her nemesis Challen Parks into a cowardly golden retriever. As other colors unfold before her eyes, so do new abilities. Love and friendship get turned upside down as Harmony struggles to have faith in people, discovering they are not always as they seem. The misfit becomes the outlaw as she is once again different from everyone else. What began as joy turns to peril when the paranormal Council finds out she is more than a Witch, or a Were or a Fae... oh my.
Character Bio:
Harmony Phillips: 5’2” tall. Hazel eyes that are blue, green, with a hint of violet in them. Hair: has been described as “living wood polished to a high shine” ~ ash, oak, cherry and mahogany. Her birthday is June 1st.
Harmony was adopted as a baby. She has never really considered who her birth parents are because her adoptive parents are so wonderful and loving. Sadly, Harmony was born totally colorblind in society where magik is based on colored wavelengths of light. She can’t see or do any of it. Because of her disability she has been bullied, picked on and left out of a lot in school, but it hasn’t stopped her from still looking for the best in people.
Harmony fully expects to join the “Normal” world someday because she can’t see magik. So when something happens and she starts to see color and do magik, she accepts it as a miracle and is grateful. She just wants to enjoy the change with her family and best friend/boyfriend Tesch. She never dreamed of the danger it could bring to her life and certainly never wanted anyone to be hurt by it. She is loving and honest to a fault. Expecting people to be the same, she never anticipates cruelty or lies from others. It makes her naive, her biggest downfall. .
Tesch (Teschandarian) Wight: 6’0” tall, Eyes: Jade Green, Hair: Black
Tesch is a Siren, he has Fae magik which is in the yellow spectrum. He is also an orphan who lives with his guardian, Mr. Wight. He has been Harmony’s best friend and self appointed protector since first grade. He’s been in love with her for years even if Harmony doesn’t realize it. Tesch feels like he has been ‘on his own’ all his life and is not as forgiving or innocent as Harmony. He knows people are not always what they pretend to be. While he has powers and can do magik, he deliberately refrains from doing very much magik around Harmony. He doesn’t want her to feel bad that he can when she can’t. Tesch doesn’t like anyone who picks on Harmony and has come to think of Harmony’s home and parents as his own. He’d do anything to keep the Phillips family safe and sound.
Sarah Phillips: 5’0” tall, Eyes: Warm Brown, Hair: Red (long)
Sarah is a former witch of the green spectrum. When she married her husband Charlie, she had to give up her powers. Intermarriage between color powers is not allowed. as Harmony says “You can take the magik out of the witch, but you can’t take the witch out of the woman.”
Sarah has her own business, raising farm fresh vegetables and selling them to ‘green’ grocers. She loves her husband, her daughter and her plants, in that order. She prayed to Gaia for a miracle to restore Harmony’s color vision, hoping that she might share her craft and potion skills with the next generation. Very practical, she is the calm center of this family group and handles the changes in Harmony’s life with the optimism of discovery.
Charlie Phillips: 6’4” tall, Hair:Blond, Eyes:Blue
Charlie gave up being a were-lion for love. He has all the red magik he needs when he runs his fingers through his wife’s hair. By profession, Charlie is a college professor of American History. He is quite content with his life, wife and daughter and doesn’t need or want things to change. When changes do happen he is more cautious about the new events. His love of history has taught him that while change is not necessarily bad or evil, it can be painful for those going through it. He feels his role is to guide his family through change as wisely as he can.
Challen Parks: 6’1” tall, Hair: Blond, Eyes: Blue Grey
Challen Parks has been the bane of Harmony’s life since she was a little girl. An alpha were-wolf, he was always the first to bully and make fun of her. Only when Harmony stands up to him, (and accidentally glamours him) is he forced to face his true feelings about her.
Being confused and conflicted have made Challen a real jerk, but he will have a chance to redeem himself.
Joliet Combs: 5’8” tall, Eyes: Dark Brown, Hair: Dark Brown
Joliet is the social scene Queen. The girl everyone wants to know or be. She is one of two djinni’s at McLoud High School and the only daughter of the Mayor. Spoiled, pampered and powerful she befriends Harmony when she first manifests Fae magik. Harmony describes Joliet as “vain at times, even narcissistic, but with the mind of a born prosecuting attorney.” Joliet is only being a friend so she can spy on Harmony for her parents. When Harmony learns this, she realizes how lonely Joliet is, trapped by the circumstances of her birth and gives her a second chance on the condition of complete honesty between them. It remains to be seen if Joliet can live up to Harmony’s terms of friendship.
Mr. Bellfwigg 4’11” tall, Hair: balding Eyes: Brown
Mr. Bellfwigg is Harmony’s vice principal. He also takes on the role of Fae magik tutor and mentor when Harmony’s powers begin to develop. Harmony thinks he is a gifted teacher in the way he uses visualization to help her learn magik. She is a bit disturbed when she also learns that Mr. Bellfwigg belongs to a secret political group called the Wizened This group is dedicated to bringing all paranormals back into the fold of their society, including mixed blood and half-breeds. The Wizened strongly opposes the Paranormal Council’s ban on intermarriage and mixing of color powers and has been waiting for centuries for a champion to take on the Grey Cloaks.
Madame Osza: Height: unknown (she is in a wheelchair), Eyes: One dark brown, one serpentine, Hair: Silver
Madame Osza is the first mixed blood paranormal Harmony knowingly encounters. She is the fortune teller for a carnival, part lamia *seer) and a very wise woman. She tells Harmony’s future with her deck of tarot cards. It is not a future Harmony is sure she wants. The question is, can she escape her fate or is she destined to be more than just a small town paranormal girl.
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Grey Cloaks: Height, hair and eyes varies
These are the paranormal world’s ‘boogeymen’. Soldiers and henchmen for the Paranormal Council, they enforce the strict laws on racial mixing and keeping the paranormal world a secret from “Normals”. There is only one punishment. Death.
About the Author-
Penny Miller is a born and bred Oklahoman. She has a nursing degree from Eastern Penny Miller Oklahoma State College and is a Registered Nurse in addition to being an author. Penny wrote her first short story complete with illustrations when she was seven-years-old and has been writing ideas and bits of dialogue ever since. As a child, her mother regularly read to her classic faery tales. It was those stories that ignited her imagination and attraction to the magical and whimsical. With her three children Robert, Amy and Cheyenne, she carried on the tradition of introducing them to fantasy and other worlds through stories. Three years ago, she co-authored erotic romance e-books under the pseudonym Jp Archer. At that time her daughters asked her when she was going to write stories they could read. Penny went to her keyboard and dug in and her debut solo novel, Color Blind, was born. Most importantly, creating a story in the Young
Adult/Paranormal genre is where she found her true voice as a writer. She hopes readers will become fans of her heroine Harmony Phillips and follow her story through the next phases; Colorful and Colorless.
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