Elizabeth's Midnight

By Aaron Michael Ritchey

Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Meyers is an overweight, unhappy teenager enduring a dreary suburban life when her grandmother awakes from a catatonic state and announces that the two of them must go to France and solve four magical puzzles to reach a long-lost prince from another world. Elizabeth doesn't believe this, of course. She has no inten

• Language: English
• Publisher: Black Arrow Publishing
• Release date: Feb 18, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986184512

Book preview

Book Description

Quickly.

Quietly.

Or Mother Meyers will hear.

Sixteen-year-old Beth Meyers creeps through her days, terrified of her domineering mother and viciously pretty sisters. Beth’s only comfort is reading to her catatonic grandmother.

Then the impossible happens. Grandma May awakens, desperate to get to France by midnight on Halloween, only five days away. Someone named Phillip will be there waiting, someone she knew when she fought the Nazis during World War II.

But is Grandma May telling the truth?

For the first time in her life, Beth will defy her mother and sneak her grandmother out of the nursing home and across the Atlantic. There she will find answers, romance, and a world she never dreamed could possibly exist.

Aaron Michael Ritchey

Digital Edition – 2015

Elizabeth’s Midnight

By Aaron Michael Ritchey

ISBN: 978-0-9861845-1-2

Copyright Aaron Michael Ritchey 2015. All rights reserved

Cover Art: Natasha Brown

Original artwork by Aria of ShePaintsWithBlood.com

Editor: Staccato Publishing

Layout/Typesetting: RuneWright LLC

Back Cover Image: Lauren Lang, Jacobin Photography

Published by Black Arrow Publishing

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First Edition: 2015

All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Reader Discussion Questions may be used and reproduced in a classroom setting.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Contents

Book Description

Title Page

Dedication

GRANDMA MAY FAR AWAY

GRANDMA MAY MISSING

RACHEL, EVERY DAY

GRANDMA MAY’S PLAN

BETH REBELLING

BETH ON THE BACK PORCH

BETH LEAVING EARTH

THE LADIES ESCAPING

THE LADIES BUSING

RACHEL AND ROSE THORNS

BETH DRIVING

BETH AND THE PASSPORTS

BETH QUESTIONING

GRANDMA MAY TREASURE HUNTING

LADIES IN DANGER

BETH REACHING OUT

GRANDMA MAY DEALING

GRANDMA MAY LYING

BETHIE BETRAYING EVERYONE

MOTHER MEYERS LAUGHING

GRANDMA MAY IN MOTION

GRANDMA MAY’S WAR

GRANDMA MAY’S PROPHECY

GRANDMA MAY REMEMBERING

BETH READING

BETH WINNING HER WAY

GRANDMA MAY STUMBLING

BETHIE DRESSING UP

ELIZABETH SPEAKING FRENCH

BETH WITH THE WIND IN HER HAND

BETH THREATENING

BETH MAKING AMENDS

ELIZABETH, FINALLY

ELIZABETH IN DARKNESS

ELIZABETH’S GARDEN

LADIES RUNNING

QUINCE QUESTIONING

ELIZABETH TESTING

LADIES DINING

ELIZABETH WEEPING ROSES

GRANDMA MAY WEEPING THORNS

QUINCE’S WITCHCRAFT

ELIZABETH CLIMBING

ELIZABETH AND QUINCE BURNING

ELIZABETH ROBBED AGAIN

ELIZABETH SKETCHING

QUINCE SILENCED

QUINCE’S DEFENSE

GRANDMA MAY BLEEDING

ELIZABETH DESPAIRING

ELIZABETH HOPING

ELIZABETH QUESTING

ELIZABETH OVERCOMING

ELIZABETH AND HER QUINCE

ELIZABETH CONFESSING

THE LADIES SAYING GOODBYE

ELIZABETH CHOOSING

QUINCE APOLOGIZING

ELIZABETH, IMPOSSIBLE

Reader Discussion Questions

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by Aaron Michael Ritchey

Dedication

For my grandmother, for who you were and who you longed to be. And for my mom who read to me before school and who is always ready for a grand adventure.

GRANDMA MAY FAR AWAY

Beth Meyers had only one memory of her grandmother before the nursing home. Beth had been six years old, helping Grandma May make cookies. Sunshine gleamed on the counter in a warm buttery light and made the lace curtains glow. Beth could still remember mixing the dough in the big metal bowl, the thud of the rolling pin, and the hot, heavenly smell of cookies right out of the oven. The powdered sugar was sprinkled like fairy dust into the sunshiny-yellow frosting while the mixer whirred.

Grandma May smiled at her with kind, blue eyes, calling her Elizabeth. Not Beth. Not Bethie. Elizabeth.

Then it all changed.

Ten years later, on the Monday before Halloween, Beth rode the swaying bus to read to Grandma May like always. Mondays were the best day of the week—another trip to the Gentle Whispers Nursing Home meant another chapter of Pride and Prejudice.

But for how much longer?

Beth gripped the colorful brochure she’d dug out of the mail to keep her mother from finding it. It was another advertisement for a nursing home in Mexico. That was where her mother wanted to send Grandma May, to Mexico, because she said it would save them a ton of money, but Beth knew it was also to push the old woman farther away.

Losing Grandma May and her Mondays would kill Beth.

Getting there was such a chore, but it was worth it, if only to escape her mother and sisters. A mind-numbing bus ride and then the sorrowful walk through the halls of the nursing home, horribly named. Nothing was gentle. No one whispered.

The place stank—body smells and bathroom smells underneath the sour acidity of industrial cleaner. Elderly people sat frozen in their dark rooms. Shriveled faces were lit by the blue glow of their TVs, forever on. Some screamed at her. Others slept silently in beds, never moving.

Would a nursing home in Mexico be better or worse? Beth didn’t know. She hurried down the corridor because once in Grandma May’s room she would feel safe. Hopefully, her grandmother felt the same way.

Once Beth made it through the doorway, she sighed. The worst part was over.

Grandma May sat where she always sat, in a small chair between the dull gray ruffle of the bed sheets and the window framed by sickly yellow drapes. The same position, year after year. At night the nurses moved Beth’s grandmother to the bed, but in the morning they always found her in the chair by the window. Like she was waiting for someone to stop by. Ever hopeful.

It wasn’t unusual for catatonic patients to move about, though the nursing staff had been surprised at first. Now, after a decade, Grandma May’s nightly trips to her seat by the window were just one of her quirks.

Since Grandma May always sat on the chair facing the window, Beth sat on the bed next to the nightstand. She hated the framed picture under the lamp—a portrait of Beth, her mother, and her two younger sisters. Every smile fake.

Beth cracked open her copy of The Complete Works of Jane Austen. Her sketches covered every bit of white space—drawings of the characters, from Emma to Anne Elliot to Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and of course the very handsome Mr. Darcy with dark eyes, proud yet kind.

Hi, Grandma, how are you today? Better?

Her grandmother didn’t answer.

Just days after baking the sunshine cookies, Grandma May had fallen in her bedroom by the window. She stopped moving. She stopped talking. The doctors said she suffered from severe catatonia. All Beth knew was that her grandmother had gone away.

No more cookies. No more Elizabeth.

"I found another brochure for Susurros del Mar. If she sends you away, I’ll never get to visit." Beth thought she’d cry if she said the words out loud, but she didn’t. She hurt, but she didn’t cry.

But maybe that won’t happen. Maybe it will be okay if I keep checking the mail before my mother sees the brochures. Maybe she’ll forget. It was a nice idea, but also very stupid.

She says it’s about money, but I don’t think so. I think there’s another reason, but what could it be?

The question hung in the air. Beth waited, but the only answer was muted voices and shuffling footsteps outside in the hall.

Beth let out a sigh. Okay, okay. Let’s just start. I love this next part.

She began reading the scene where Elizabeth Bennet marched through the mud and rain to Netherfield. This Elizabeth was strong and sure of herself. Though they shared the same name, Beth knew she could never be that strong. And she would never get a boy as wonderful as Mr. Darcy. Still, Beth could lose herself in the story and her drawings and forget all about her own life, or losing her grandmother.

Beth was reading along, entranced by the words, when—

Elizabeth.

A hushed voice. Grandma May’s voice.

Grandma? All Beth could see was the old woman’s white hair and the blue bathrobe she wore, day after day.

No. Impossible. Grandma May was catatonic. She couldn’t have talked.

Beth opened her mouth to read the next sentence when she heard the whisper again. Elizabeth. What day is it?

Two years of reading to the old woman. Nothing.

Ten years of silence. Broken in an instant.

Grandma May was awake. Was it the threat of being sent away to Mexico? Had that shaken her grandmother awake?

Beth rushed from her chair to kneel by her grandmother. It’s Monday, October twenty-sixth.

Grandma May didn’t turn. Her eyes were still closed. Our time has come, my love. Our time, finally…

Time for what, Grandma?

The old woman’s chin dropped to her chest.

Grandma? Beth touched her shoulder. The blue robe was soft. Softer still was the skin on Grandma May’s throat. Beth gently felt for a pulse. The old woman was alive. She hadn’t moved, but she had talked.

Beth clicked the call button. She expected a flurry of nurses, doctors, the entire staff to come descending upon the room. Would they be happy Grandma May was awake or would they worry they’d lose one more patient, one more paying customer?

Beth didn’t wait long. It might be Grandma May’s only chance to come back from wherever she had been and she might need medical help.

Beth ran into the hall, down to the nurse’s station, which was empty, and then all the way to the front desk.

Finally, finally, she found someone, a dark, thick-limbed woman with reading glasses stuck in the neckline of her scrubs.

My grandmother, Beth said too quickly, forgetting her manners, too jumbled up to know she wasn’t making any sense. She’s awake.

Who is that? What is going on? The nurse seemed worried. That was a good sign at least.

May Meyers, she’s awake. She talked to me.

The nurse took off immediately and Elizabeth had to jog to keep up.

At the door, both paused.

The bed was empty. Grandma May was gone.

GRANDMA MAY MISSING

A half an hour later, people packed Grandma May’s room—Beth, her mother, her sisters, and Mr. Cooper, the director of the nursing home.

Both of Beth’s sisters leaned against the wall, texting, maybe to each other, while Beth’s mother slowly drew a cigarette out of her pack like a sword from a scabbard. Mother Meyers was not happy they had called her from work. Well, where is she?

Mother Meyers. It was how Beth thought of her mother after the divorce. That was when everything changed. Even before the divorce Beth’s mother hadn’t been easy, which was why Beth’s father had run away in the first place.

Mr. Cooper gave a nervous little tick of a smile. Don’t worry, Ms. Meyers, we’ll find her. I’m certain she didn’t leave the facility.

Beth had been pushed to the very back of the room near the window. She glanced down and half-hidden underneath the bed was a little box of paperback books, the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin. Next to it was a pile of clothes and a toiletry bag. Had her grandmother been packing?

Beth thought of her whispered words. Our time has come, my love. Our time, finally…

What did that mean? Beth’s grandfather had died before Beth was even born.

Mother Meyers continued to chew on Mr. Cooper. She pointed at him with her unlit cigarette. Well, you better find her. If you know what’s good for you.

Cooper pulled at his tie. Ms. Meyers, could you please put the cigarette away? There’s no smoking in the—

She brandished her lighter. Find my mother in five minutes or I will smoke. Right here.

Beth’s sisters looked up from their texting to smile, showing teeth. Megan and Melinda were a matched set, pretty twins with heart-shaped faces boys adored and girls envied. Though Beth’s sisters were only freshman, they were already considered royalty. Beth was a junior, and no one knew her at all. She was just the weird girl in the big, blue coat. Nameless.

A trickle of sweat ran down the back of Beth’s neck. She felt stifled, and watching Mother Meyers bait Mr. Cooper made her sick. I have to go to the bathroom, Beth finally said. It was a good excuse to get out of there.

No one moved to let her out. Maybe they hadn’t heard her. More likely, they were ignoring her.

It’s very odd. Cooper gulped. I can’t imagine where she went, though it’s not uncommon for catatonic patients to wake up with a certain level of dementia and then to—

Four minutes. Mother Meyers held up her watch and the cigarette. Get moving.

Mr. Cooper fussed with his cell phone.

Mother Meyers nudged Beth. You said you had to go to the bathroom, Bethie. Well, go then. She pointed at the cramped toilet.

Beth did not want to go into such a small place. And she hated being called Bethie. No, I’ll go to the one in the lobby. I need some air anyway.

Why?

Beth shrugged. I just want to, that’s all.

A sigh hissed out of her mother. Beth stumbled past her sisters on her way out, and they both groaned.

We have the weirdest sister ever.

Maybe we’re not related.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Beth fled from the chatter, out the door, down the hall. She edged her way through a crowd of people in the lobby, feeling her size and hating it. There were bigger girls at school, but compared to her sisters, Beth felt like a behemoth. She pulled her blue, down coat around her more tightly—her armor against the wind and anything else in the world that wanted to hurt her.

Where are you, Grandma? Beth whispered. Cooper’s words haunted her. Catatonic patients wake up with a certain level of dementia. What if Grandma May hurt herself? She was so old, so frail.

Distracted by worry, Beth pushed through the bathroom door and nearly ran into Rachel Phipps.

Pretty, popular Rachel Phipps from school was the last person in the world Beth wanted to face. Not after what Rachel had done to her so many years ago.

RACHEL, EVERY DAY

Beth stood by the door of the bathroom. She didn’t say a word, didn’t move, waiting to see what Rachel would do. To see if Rachel would talk to her at all.

Hi, Bethie, Rachel said as though they talked to one another every day.

Rachel was the closest thing to a best friend Beth had ever had, until four years ago. They had gone to school together their entire lives, but their first day of middle school had severed their friendship forever.

Rachel washed her hands in the sink. Are you here to visit your grandmother?

Yeah.

Me too. Rachel finger-combed her blonde perfection of curls.

Beth focused on every wisp of hair. Envy ballooned in her belly—a feeling too familiar.

It’s so weird being here, Rachel went on. It’s like, oh my God, am I going to end up in a place like this? I hope not.

Beth heard the words but couldn’t believe Rachel was talking to her, inviting her into a conversation after the years of silence.

Did you go to Homecoming? Rachel asked, then shuddered. Of course Beth Meyers hadn’t gone to Homecoming.

I did, and it was so lame, Rachel backtracked, or tried to. I mean, they had this DJ and he was playing all this old music. You didn’t miss anything.

Beth realized Rachel was trying her best, and Beth wasn’t helping her any. So Beth helped. Did you go with Logan?

Logan the football player. Cheerleaders and football players, together forever, a million miles from where Beth lived and breathed. They might as well exist on different planets.

Yeah, Rachel said, but it’s not like we danced or anything. He talked with his friends, and I talked with mine. It was all so middle school. I did get to drive there in my new car. That was cool. She wiped her hands on a paper towel and tossed it in the garbage. Well, gotta spend some quality time with my grandmother. Nice talking to you, Bethie.

And Rachel was gone. Just like that. The door closed with a bump. Nice talking to me? Why didn’t you talk to me four years ago? Beth asked the empty room.

Only it wasn’t empty.

Grandma May stepped out of a stall. Is she gone?

Beth took a step back. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be real.

Thank God it’s you, Elizabeth, Grandma May said. Her face was flushed and her blue eyes sparkled like Christmas tree lights on a snowy night. We don’t have much time. I’m so glad you are here to help me.

Grandma, everyone is so worried. I have to take you back to your room.

Her grandmother only smiled. Yes, I’ll go back to that awful room, simply because I can’t leave tonight. But first things first. They have the office guarded, but I’m sure you and I can think up a plan to get inside. They took something from me…something important. I can’t return to France without it. I thought I could do this all myself, but I never imagined the years would weigh on me so. Will you go with me?

Beth’s mind whirled merry-go-round quick, spinning so fast she could hardly breathe. Her grandmother wasn’t just talking, she was moving around, walking, hiding, chatting about France.

Had Grandma May ever been to France?

No. What Mr. Cooper said came back to her again, every word.

If her grandmother was demented, it would explain everything.

Yet, Grandma May smiled at her, so full of life and adventure. Like she had been the day they made cookies together, the powdered sugar like fairy dust from a magical land.

What if Grandma May was telling the truth?

GRANDMA MAY’S PLAN

Beth stood by the sink, head full of questions. How could she ask her grandmother if she was crazy? She couldn’t. Instead she asked, What did they take from you, Grandma?

My special-special, Grandma May answered. It’s something Phillip gave me. Well, he didn’t. One of his men mailed it to me, just after my mistake. My tragic, hideous mistake. But now I can redeem myself. In that box is everything I need to see him again. The clue to every puzzle. The answer to every riddle. The key to every lock. Knowing my Phillip as I do, it will all be there. It’s a treasure box that leads to other treasures.

A treasure box? Beth didn’t believe a word. And what had Grandma May called it? Special-special? It was clear her grandmother wasn’t all there.

The old woman shook her head. I’ve kept my special-special safe and hidden all these years, but just this week, someone stole it. I think it was that whelp Trudy. If Cooper had more of a spine he would keep that woman in check.

Who’s Trudy? It was not the question Beth wanted to ask. She wanted to know who Phillip was. Why did her grandmother want to go to France? And what exactly was in her special-special? Yet how could she ask those questions without first asking if Grandma May was sane?

Trudy is the assistant director. Grandma May moved past Beth to open the bathroom door, just a crack, to peek out. She steals things and no one does anything about it. Well, not this time. I’m getting my special-special back. No matter what. I just can’t get caught. She turned to smile mischievously at Beth. So, how can we trick them?

Beth let out a long breath. Grandma, I know you’re packing to go to France. I saw your Earthsea books. But you can’t go. You just woke up. Grandma, I’m worried about you.

Grandma May turned and touched Beth with a hand as soft and gentle as the feathers of a dove. Elizabeth, I know all of this is strange. And I also know I’m a stranger to you, just some old woman you read to on Monday afternoons. But to me, you are my first grandchild, the quiet little girl who I watched grow taller, year after year, in my silence. Yes, I was aware during that time, mostly. Thanks in part to your lovely voice.

Grandma May lowered her eyes. Oh, it was hard waiting for the years to pass, sixty-four years. Harder than I could have imagined. In the end, the torture of those minutes ticking by so slowly was too much for me to bear. I let myself die for the last decade because the first fifty-four years nearly killed me. But now I’m resurrected. I’ve rolled the stone from the tomb and now I can stand in the light. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything once we are on our way. Halloween is just six days away. First, though, I must reclaim my special-special.

Beth knew what she should do. She should turn the old woman over to Mr. Cooper and have her checked out by a doctor. It’s what Mother Meyers would’ve wanted. Yet, Grandma May calling her Elizabeth shook something loose, something that had been stuck for a long time. Beth felt herself wanting to help. And she had an idea. I could create a diversion. Maybe pull the fire alarm.

Fire alarm! Grandma May said loudly then shushed herself. The fire alarm. Perfect. Give me five minutes to get in place. Okay, Elizabeth? Then we’ll meet behind the cafeteria, by the dumpsters. We’ll make our getaway from there. A few stops in Denver and then off to Paris!

Beth nodded, though she knew she would never go to Paris with her grandmother. And there was no way on Earth Beth could pull the fire alarm. It was a stupid idea.

Yet she was curious. What was in Grandma May’s special-special? Who was Phillip? What did all of this have to do with France?

Only one way to discover the answers to those questions.

Help Grandma May.

BETH REBELLING

Five minutes later, Beth was in the hallway next to Grandma May’s room where her mother smoked as viciously as a summer forest fire. Smoked and chattered. Megan and Melinda agreed with every word she said. About Cooper being worthless. About the nursing home being a dump. About Bethie taking too long, like always.

Near the door, Beth saw the fire alarm. Could she really do it?

She glanced around. The hallway was empty except for an old man down the hall, crumpled over in a chair, staring at the floor.

She raised her hand, fingers reaching for the white handle, but then she dropped her arm. No way. Her grandmother was senile. She should just go and tell her mother and Mr. Cooper that Grandma May was outside Trudy’s office.

Beth’s heart thudded.

Do it, Bethie, she whispered to herself. Even she called herself a name she hated. How stupid was that?

A Bethie wouldn’t do such a thing. Bethie was a good girl who did everything Mother said. So Mother wouldn’t yell. So Mother wouldn’t hit. So that maybe, one day, Mother Meyers might actually be nice to her.

A Bethie wouldn’t pull the alarm, but an Elizabeth would. Elizabeth, just like Miss Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, walking to Netherfield against her mother’s wishes.

Do it.

No, don’t do it.

She could picture her grandmother creeping through the

Reviews for Elizabeth's Midnight

[ddonovan-2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

At first glance, Elizabeth's Midnight would seem your ordinary story of an overweight, unhappy teen who resents and lives in suburbia - but take another look, because things are about to radically change when her grandmother suddenly awakens from a coma and drags them both to France on a mission to solve four puzzles to reach a lost prince from another world.What would a typical teen do if one's grandmother in a nursing home suddenly awoke and posed such a folly? Elizabeth, of course, initially doesn't believe her; especially since her grandmother's proposal involves a series of illegal and dangerous activities, from busting grandma out of the nursing home to obtaining fake identification to travel overseas. But what is attractive is her grandmother's return to life and her unorthodox, sparkling invitation to adventure: something the shy Beth never longed for nor wanted before … and so begins a lovely blend of coming-of-age story, fantasy, and family relationships. Nothing is cut and dry here; not even Elizabeth's (initially unwilling) involvement and plans to cut and run (but only after she learns more).These three facets are the glue that holds Elizabeth's Midnight together and keeps it from becoming a predictable or standard fantasy. By placing Beth's insecurities and growth into an unusual adventure peppered with equally unpredictable results, Ritchey gives young adults plenty of compelling moments and events to keep them engrossed.Too many young adult fantasies focus on adventure without the necessary overlay of strong protagonist interactions or family ties. Elizabeth's Midnight embraces both and wraps all in a cloak of magic, making it a strong pick for advanced elementary to middle school grades.