Ascension

by C J M Naylor

  "I hope I'm not being forward," the woman said as she approached, smiling, "but are you whom I should speak to about the midwife position?”

  Elisabeth saw the drop of the woman's eyes to her growing belly. She nodded, and they sat down across from each other.

  "And what is your name?" Elisabeth asked, looking for a blank sheet she could begin writing on.

  "Mildred," the woman responded, "Miss Mildred Waters. I saw the ad you placed in the newspaper."

  Nodding, Elisabeth wrote down the name on her paper. "And do you have prior experience with delivering a child?"

  "Of course," Mildred said, snapping open the pink handbag and pulling out a folded paper. "Here are my references and previous experiences."

  Elisabeth took the paper, wishing she could feel something through the woman's gloves. She opened the paper and perused it. The woman hadn't been lying. She definitely had experience.

  "Have you had any difficulties with delivering a child before?" Elisabeth asked.

  "No, ma'am," Mildred responded. "I'm pleased to say that all of the babies I've delivered have been healthy and that my references can attest to that."

  Nodding again, Elisabeth pretended to continue to peruse the references. She had every intention to contact them later, but she had to think of a way to verify this woman on her own standards. She wondered if it would be odd if she made some excuse to use the lavatory and then come back and accidentally brushed against the woman's arm. But that might look odd. The next best thing would have to be the woman's word. Therefore, she asked a question she had not yet asked one of her applicants.

  "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, looking into the woman's eyes.

  The only thing she saw was kindness.

  "I would never do anything to hurt a child," Mildred said, reaching out and placing a hand over Elisabeth's. This was something she hadn't been expecting. Something no one else had done.

  And in that moment, Elisabeth made the decision to trust Mildred Waters.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Four Months Later

  Elisabeth looked over at Mathias. She was sitting up in bed, which had been difficult given her current condition, and she was looking down at him, pondering how she had fallen in love with this man. She didn't deserve him. And she especially didn't deserve him after what she was about to do. But there was no way around it. She had fallen directly into her mother's trap. And even though she had had the premonitions, and knew what was going to happen, she hoped it would change. They didn't all come true, right? She hoped maybe it would just be one, and maybe even a boy? Maybe she could keep it then?

  As Elisabeth looked at Mathias, sound asleep, one final time, she began to cry. She had taken advantage of this man. Not intentionally. Not cruelly. She had legitimately fallen in love with him. But she had done so many wrongs. She had fulfilled her mother's wishes. She had destroyed a relationship, albeit a poisonous one, but a relationship nonetheless. And here she was, about to give it all up.

  She covered her mouth to stifle the sounds of her crying, but it was too late. Mathias had woken up and was peering at her in the darkness.

  "Elisabeth?"

  She didn't look at him.

  Mathias sat up and moved closer to his wife, placing his arm around her neck and pulling her close to him.

  "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

  She shook her head. She had to get a hold of herself. She had to go before she went into labor.

  "Nothing," she said. "It's just the state I'm in. I get all these weird emotions. Go back to sleep. I promise you, there's nothing to worry about."

  "Only if you are sure," Mathias said.

  She smiled at him. "I'm sure."

  He laid back down and slowly nodded off. Once Elisabeth was sure he was sound asleep, she swung her legs out of the bed and quietly dressed herself. She had placed a small bag with everything she might need in the back of her wardrobe. She grabbed it, took one final look at her husband, and then looked at the framed picture on her nightstand from their wedding day. She reached out, grabbed the frame, and removed the picture. Then she tucked it into her nightgown, put on a coat, and made her way out of the Tower of London Headquarters and into the night.

  As much as it pained her, she didn't look back.

  Elisabeth made her way to Mildred's flat in the West End of London. It was dark and gloomy out on the cold December night. She was sure she was drawing attention from the few citizens on the streets. A woman in her condition, walking in London in the wee hours of the morning, was sure to draw the prying eyes of some. But luckily, no one bothered her, and she made it to Mildred's flat in plenty of time.

  Mildred had assured Elisabeth she would be available at any time as soon as the contractions started. Elisabeth hoped this was still the case as she knocked on her midwife's door.

  A few moments passed before the door opened, revealing Mildred in a night gown, looking groggy.

  "Elisabeth," Mildred said. "Is it time? Did you come all this way? Where's your husband?"

  Elisabeth shook her head. "He won't be here. But yes, it's time."

  Mildred pulled the door open wider and Elisabeth entered.

  The flat looked just as it had the last time she had been there. Mildred had set up a bed in her living area for Elisabeth to lay on. Mildred led her to the bed and helped her change into a birthing gown. Elisabeth laid down on the bed and Mildred began moving about to find the necessary items.

  Elisabeth emitted a cry of pain.

  "Are you alright?" Mildred asked from the kitchen.

  "The contractions are getting closer together," Elisabeth responded.

  Mildred appeared with a syringe in her hand. "I've got something for the pain if you'd like."

  Elisabeth raised an eyebrow. Mildred hadn't mentioned any type of pain medication being used.

  "I think I'll go without," she told Mildred.

  Mildred shook her head. "Nonsense."

  Before Elisabeth could say another word, Mildred was across the room and the needle was plunging into her neck.

  Elisabeth felt the effects of the drug immediately. It wasn't stopping the pain. It was causing her to black out.

  "Mildred," she said, but her words began to stutter. "W-w-what did you give me?"

  Elisabeth blacked out before she heard an answer.

  Elisabeth began blinking her eyes. She was waking up. It took her a few moments before she regained complete consciousness, and when she did, she realized several things. First, she was tied to the bed. Second, her contractions were almost unberable; she was close to giving birth. Finally, Mildred and she weren't the only ones in the room; her mother was there as well.

  As soon as Elisabeth laid eyes on her mother, she began pulling at the restraints.

  Ellie?

  She needed this to work. Their connection hadn't worked since they were children, since before they had grown apart. She desperately hoped the bond they had created over the past nine months would work now. She needed it to.

  Ellie?

  Nothing.

  ELLIE! Please, please answer me.

  And then:

  Elisabeth?

  Yes! Ellie, there's something wrong. Our mother is here. They have me pinned down. I can't get away.

  Where are you?

  I'm in the West End at Mildred's apartment.

  I'm coming.

  No, wait. Mother can't know about you

  What are you going to do then?

  Meet me at the Tower Bridge. I'll figure out some way to get out of here.

  Okay.

  Ellie went silent as Lucinda stepped forward and looked down at her daughter on the birthing table.

  "What an unfortunate sight," Lucinda said.

  "What's going on?" Elisabeth asked.

  "What's going on is you got played little girl," Mildred said.

  Lucinda looked at Mildred, fury in her eyes. "Quiet, Bessie."

  Bessie?

  Elisabeth looke
d at Mildred. "Who are you?"

  Mildred gave Elisabeth a look filled with hatred, stepped forward, and grabbed her by the chin, making sure that Elisabeth was looking directly into her eyes.

  "I'm Bessie Watson," she responded. "You probably know me better as Mathias' former finance."

  Elisabeth's heart dropped. She had let herself be fooled into a trap. And then the pain came and she let out a scream.

  "Enough of this," Lucinda said. "Bessie, get the water. We need to finish this."

  "Mother," Elisabeth said through clenched teeth, "please don't hurt my child. Please."

  Lucinda slapped her daughter across the face. "You disgust me, you ungrateful little whore. Tell me, is this Mathias' child, or Henry's? And for your sake, you better hope it's twins."

  "I've never been unfaithful to Mathias," Elisabeth responded. "And is there no decency in you? Why are you doing this? What does it matter to you that this prophecy be fulfilled?"

  "What does it matter to me?" Lucinda responded. "It should matter to all of us. We are all Timekeepers in this room. And for the past thousand years we've had to hide in the shadows and record every little thing these humans do. I'm tired of it. You don't know this about me, darling, but your mother is a lot older than she appears. I've been on this earth for thousands of years thanks to the powers of darkness. And if this prophecy is fulfilled, we can have it all. We will rule them all. We can live forever. Why wouldn't you want that?"

  Elisabeth was one step ahead of her mother, but Lucinda couldn't know that, so she shook her head. "No one should want that. It isn't natural."

  Lucinda cackled. "Nothing is natural anymore, darling."

  And then Abigail appeared. She walked out of the kitchen carrying a pot of water, Bessie in tow behind her.

  "Abigail," Elisabeth said, "please, please help me."

  Lucinda rolled her eyes. "Say nothing. Put the pot down and go sit until I need you."

  Abigail placed the pot down, giving Elisabeth a look of misery as she did, and then disappeared from the room.

  And then the pain came again. Within moments, Lucinda was taking charge, and the pain became unbearable.

  "Start pushing," Lucinda said.

  "I won't," Elisabeth responded. "I won't let you hurt my babies."

  A sharp pain spread up Elisabeth's leg as Lucinda stuck a dagger into her thigh.

  "Start pushing," Lucinda said, "or I will cut you open."

  Elisabeth silently told her children she was sorry. And she pushed.

  The next few minutes passed in a blur. There was pain. There was pushing. There was crying. Her own, but also a baby's. And then there was another baby.

  "Finally," Lucinda said. "Twin girls." Lucinda turned to Bessie. "You can kill her now."

  Elisabeth tried to look over her legs to see her babies before she died, but she couldn't. She was still strapped to the table. But then she heard her mother and Bessie screaming. And then Abigail was at her side, undoing the restraints.

  "There isn't much time, miss," Abigail said.

  "Thank you," Elisabeth said.

  Abigail nodded and pulled Elisabeth across the room to another table where her babies laid. Elisabeth’s legs wobbled, however, as soon as she stood up. Blood began to drip down her legs as well. Noticing Elisabeth’s discomfort, Abigail found a towel and quickly helped Elisabeth clean herself up a bit. Next, Abigail grabbed a sheet and wrapped each baby up. Elisabeth looked down at Bessie and her mother. They both were lying unconscious on the floor.

  "What did you do to them?" she asked.

  "Hit them with the frying pan, miss," Abigail responded. "You need to go. Now."

  Abigail placed one of the twins in Elisabeth's arms. She was holding the next one when Bessie darted off the floor and lunged at Abigail. Abigail was quick though. She backed away into the kitchen with the baby. Bessie held a knife in her hand and was advancing on Abigail. And then Lucinda began to make sounds on the floor. She was waking up. She wasn't able to use her powers though. She had a nasty cut at the start of her scalp and was clearly still out of it.

  "I can handle this," Abigail said. "You need to go."

  "No," Elisabeth said.

  "GO!"

  For the second time that night, Elisabeth quietly said she was sorry to one of her children, and then she turned and ran out of the flat. She began to hear the cries of her child as she ran down the hallway, tears falling from her face. She also heard the horrendous sounds of Abigail and the screams she made. She didn't even want to imagine what Bessie was doing to her.

  But she remembered the baby in her arms. The one life she had to protect. The one way she could stop her mother. And even though she had just given birth, even though she had just left one of her children behind, Elisabeth ran as if her life depended on it. But she wasn't running for her. She was running for the newborn baby in her arms. And she knew that God was giving her the energy she needed to get that child to safety.

  The moon was bright and lit up the Tower Bridge. Elisabeth clutched her newborn child close to her bosom as she forced herself to push on, regardless of the pain, regardless of the blood loss that she was still enduring from the birth of her children. As she made her way to the bridge, she could see Eleanor looking out over the water, her habit blowing in the night wind, her back to Elisabeth.

  "Ellie."

  Eleanor turned and took in the sight of Elisabeth and ran forward.

  "Lis," Eleanor said.

  Eleanor pulled Elisabeth to the side of the bridge and sat her down against the railing, taking the baby from her arms. The baby was sound asleep.

  "She's so quiet," Eleanor said, looking down at her newborn niece.

  "She wasn't at first," Elisabeth said. "I held her close as I came here and she eventually fell asle—UGH!"

  Elisabeth leaned forward in excruciating pain. She needed medical help, she needed to deliver the afterbirth, she knew that.

  "We need to get you to a hospital," Eleanor said.

  Elisabeth shook her head. "No. Women didn't need hospitals hundreds of years ago. I can get through this. We need to get her to the orphanage."

  The color went out of Eleanor's face immediately as she came to the realization that Elisabeth only had one child with her. Eleanor looked down at the child her sister was holding in her arms, almost as if she pitied her.

  "I couldn't make it out with both," Elisabeth said, not waiting for Eleanor to say anything. And suddenly she was crying. Tears were pouring from her, uncontrollably. "I left my baby. I left my child, my baby girl, with that woman."

  "There was nothing you could do," Eleanor said. "But listen, Lis, I need you to focus right now. Regardless of the fact that you had to leave your other daughter behind, you still have one you need to protect. And I'm sorry to say—" Eleanor looked behind her at the trail of blood that Elisabeth had left in her wake— "you left an easy way to track you."

  Elisabeth looked at her daughter in Eleanor's arms. "She'll never be safe. No matter what I do, they'll find her. You need to take her Eleanor. Like we discussed. Bessie, and maybe mother, will come, and they'll do whatever they intend to do."

  Eleanor fell to her knees, still cradling the small child. With her free hand, she reached out and took Elisabeth's hand.

  "You and I both know that you being dead won't solve anything," Eleanor said. "These are your girls. You know them. They are of you. They need you to be alive, to be watching over them. Or at least one of them. But for their sake, you also need to be dead."

  Elisabeth shook her head. "I don't understand what you're saying."

  Eleanor closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. She took a deep breath and opened them. "We switch places. We'll switch our clothes. You drop the child off at the orphanage. And then you disappear."

  "What?" Elisabeth shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. I will not let you sacrifice yourself for me. They'll kill you."

  "It's the only way."

  "No. Ellie, no. You don't deserve this. You don't des
erve this after how I've treated you."

  Eleanor placed her free hand on Elisabeth's cheek and cradled it, tears beginning to fall from her eyes as well.

  "Lis," she said, "you know that I've forgiven you. But this is the life that I chose—to be completely selfless, and put others before myself. And it's the only way. You need to be alive for these girls. And for once, we'll have the upper-hand over our mother."

  "She'll know it's you," Elisabeth said. "She'll know. And Ellie, you're my sister. I can't let you do this for me. I can't."

  "Maybe," Eleanor said, "but you know as well as I do that our mother never does the hard work herself. She might not even come. And that's why you have to let me do this. Because I'm your sister. And that's what sisters do. And these girls need their mother more than their aunt. We need to hurry. Please. Please."

  "Ellie, do not act like you aren't going to make it through this."

  Ellie shook her head. "There's no time to discuss that. We need to do this, and we need to do it now."

  Elisabeth nodded, realizing that Eleanor was right. And quickly, in the darkest corner of the bridge, the sisters switched their outfits, one holding the child while the other changed. Elisabeth, now dressed as a nun, but still bleeding, held her daughter in her arms and hugged her sister, dressed as a woman that had recently given birth in a blood-soaked nightgown.

  "I'll come back," Elisabeth said, after she pulled away.

  "No," Eleanor said.

  "Yes," Elisabeth said. "I'll be careful. But she'll be safe and if no one comes and you're still here, we can go away together."

  "Please don't, Lis."

  As Elisabeth began to walk away, her daughter in her arms, she continued to nod at her sister.

  When she turned away, her sister's voice stopped her.

  "Lis."

  Elisabeth turned around and saw her sister holding a picture in her hand.

  "I just felt this in the pocket of your nightgown," she said, walking up to Elisabeth and placing it in the pocket of her habit. It was the picture that Elisabeth had taken earlier that night, of her and Mathias. "I thought you might want it. Now go and take care of yourself."