Coin #2 - Quantum Coin (22 page)

Ephraim bowed to Doug Kim.
“Kamsahamnida,”
he said. “Thank you. Sorry about all this.”

“You know Korean.” Dug was astonished.

“Just a few words. Mostly the names of foods I like. I'm learning.”

“So what happens now?” Dug asked.

Nathaniel cut the cables around Dug's wrists.

“We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress,” Ephraim said. He handed the man his glasses.

Nathaniel yanked Ephraim away from Dug. Outside, the cop began shouting a countdown.

“One!” the man shouted.

“I hope this works,” Nathaniel said, punching at the buttons of the controller.

“A little late for that,” Ephraim said.

“Two!”

“Better hold on, Eph,” Nathaniel said. Ephraim took Nathaniel's hand.

“Three!”

The door splintered and swung off its hinges. Two cops rushed in.

Nathaniel pressed a button on the controller. Ephraim locked eyes with Dug Kim. The man nodded.

“
Annyonghi gyeseyo
,” Ephraim said.
Good-bye.

He and Nathaniel shifted away. Zoe's grandfather, the cops, and the house vanished.

They arrived in an empty parking lot in front of a closed shopping mall. Nathaniel's giddy laughter echoed around them.

Ephraim was disoriented, but Nathaniel knew where they were and guided them back to the Everett Institute as quickly as he could. Even at night, the streets were practically as bright as noon, lit up like Times Square.

As soon as Nathaniel palmed the door open and they walked into the atrium housing the LCD, Zoe ran out of the control room to the side.

“Ephraim! Nathaniel!” Zoe said. She hugged Ephraim first, knocking him back half a foot and nearly unbalancing them both.

“Zoe,” he said. “Easy there.”

She loosened her grip and looked him in the eyes. They were practically nose to nose. Their warm breath mingled. Then she pulled away, glanced downward, and giggled.

Ephraim was still wearing the slippers from the Kims' house. He wiggled his toes in the cotton footies and sighed. He was going to lose his deposit for his shoe rental at the store.

“What is it with you and shoes?” she asked.

He'd been barefoot when he first met Zoe, after he'd had to make a hasty exit from a universe while wading in the park fountain.

“No hug for me?” Nathaniel asked.

Zoe turned and tackled Nathaniel.

“Thanks for the last-minute save, Z,” Nathaniel said.

“I was so worried! How did you get back here?” she asked.

Nathaniel showed her his controller.

“You built that with 1950s technology?”

He stashed it in his jacket. “I'm flattered you think I could. I'll explain later. How are things here?”

“Weird,” Zoe said.

He glanced at the LCD. The disc was horizontal, the rings around it spinning in opposite directions. He clapped a hand on Zoe's shoulder and went into the control room.

While they waited for Nathaniel to return, Ephraim explained what had happened since Jena and Hugh Everett had left them in 1954.

Nathaniel stalked out of the control room. “Where's Doc?”

“She's been in her office since Jena and Hugh got back. I was worried she'd try to stop me, but I don't think she even noticed what I was up to.”

“Then excuse me. I need to have a word with her.” Nathaniel strode toward the doors and slapped the panel with his hand. He didn't even wait for the door to lift all the way; he ducked under it as it slowly rose. A second later he crouched in the doorway to peer out at them. “You two did great today.”

Ephraim and Zoe waved him off.

“I'm glad you were looking out for us,” Ephraim said, as they followed Nathaniel into the building at a more leisurely pace.

“Always,” Zoe said. “You're okay?”

Ephraim pressed his hand to the panel on the inside, and the door lowered. Dr. Kim had given him the access she'd promised after all. The sound of the machinery outside was muffled enough that they could talk in a normal voice.

“I am now. Do you think we'll get in trouble?” he said.

Zoe scowled. “I did what I had to do. I couldn't leave you there, Eph. Both of you.”

“Was she happy that we found Hugh?” Ephraim asked.

“Honestly? She looked disappointed. Almost…”

He gave her a questioning look.

“Heartbroken.” Zoe shrugged.

“And Hugh?” Ephraim asked.

“He was unconscious last I saw him, when some of the staff wheeled him off to his room. Jena's with him now.” Zoe watched him closely.

“She is?”

“In his suite.”

“Really.” Ephraim tried very hard not to look worried. “What do you think will happen now that we have Everett?” he asked.

“He's going to get to the bottom of this and we'll have the multiverse sorted by lunch tomorrow.” She met his eyes. “We'll get back to our normal lives and everyone will live happily ever after.”

“And a thousand years of peace will reign over the multiverse.” He cocked his head. “You suppose he can actually fix everything?”

“I don't know. If I were taking bets, my money'd still be on you.” She pressed the button to call the elevator back down to ground level. Ephraim watched the numbers count down from 10 to 1.

“I couldn't even hold onto the coin,” Ephraim said. He clenched his hand into a fist. “Without it, I'm just…a kid.”

“A kid with courage and a good heart. Now, if you only had a brain…”

“Ha ha. But I didn't do much. I'd still be in 1954 if not for you, and Nathaniel really came through with that backup controller.”

“You think maybe you've been unfair to Nathan?” Zoe asked.

Ephraim pictured Nathaniel beating up Dug Kim. He closed his eyes.

“What's wrong?” Zoe asked.

He couldn't tell her that he'd seen their older friend brutally work over a defenseless man, her grandfather no less.

“I'm surprised that you suggested that, considering how much you despise Nate,” Ephraim said.

“The way I see it, Nathan has the potential to become Nate or Nathaniel, and we can help him choose the right path,” Zoe said.

Neither of those options looked all that appealing right now.

The elevator arrived and they stepped in. Zoe's finger hovered over the buttons.

“Food or sleep?” she asked.

“I'm not sure if I'm more tired than I am hungry.” He yawned widely and covered his mouth.

“That answers that,” Zoe said. She pressed buttons 1 and 3 together. “I'm taking you to bed.”

He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. “You wish,” he said.

“Wishing doesn't help anything,” she said softly.

The elevator deposited them in the secret basement, and they walked down the corridor to the mansion.

“I wasn't sure you'd make it back,” Zoe said.

“Me neither.”

“It got me thinking.”

“Uh-oh.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“I'm not kidding. Ephraim, I have a confession.” She certainly sounded serious.

They walked a while before she said anything else.

“I reassembled the controller a long time ago,” she said. “Before I said I did.”

“Zoe! Why?”

“My Ephraim was dead. Mary Shelley left. My dad's never around either, off with one of his strumpets practically every night, and when he was around, if I wanted to spend any time with him it had to be with the television on.”

“You were lonely?” he asked.

“More than that. I missed
you
, dumbass,” she said. “So I decided to go after you.”

“We talked about that.”

“I didn't care anymore that I don't belong in your universe. I wanted to be in your life.”

“Was Jena right? You used the controller at prom?” he asked.

His pulse quickened with sudden panic. What if it hadn't been the multiverse hiccuping? What if Zoe had set this whole catastrophe in motion?

“Give me some credit. I was truthful about that much. For whatever reason, the controller didn't work—like all the other times.”

“Other times?” he asked.

“Ephraim, I tried it
every day.
And it never worked.”

“Zoe.”

“It couldn't find your coin—it was like you didn't even exist. And then I started worrying that something had happened to you, and it was torture not knowing.” She balled her hands. “I know it's pathetic. I hate to admit it, but I thought you should know.”

They reached the stairs leading up to the house, and he gestured for her to sit down. He sat next to her.

He pulled at a loose thread from a tear in the knee of his jeans. His analog's jeans.

“When the coin went blank, I thought it was all over,” he said. “And I wasn't sure if I was relieved or disappointed. But I carried it with me every day, too, and I kept checking it, like I was waiting for it to start working again.” He wiped his sweaty hand on his knee and let it rest there. “Hoping.”

She put a hand over his. “If the coin had started working, where would you have gone?”

He knew what she wanted to hear, but he couldn't say it.

“Nowhere.” He took a deep breath. “I meant it when I said we shouldn't use the device anymore. I'm sorry. I wish—” He shook his head. “I'm sorry things were so awful for you back home, but things were going well for me. My mom was getting help, she started dating Jim. I had my Nathan back, and I had…”

“Jena,” she said.

He nodded.

“Why'd you give her the coin?”

“I knew if I didn't get rid of it, a part of me would always be waiting for something else.”
Someone else.
“I had to put everything behind me and commit to my life, in my universe.”

Zoe stood and walked backward up one step.

“So how is she different from me, really?” she asked.

“That's irrelevant. It's…a feeling,” he said.

“You're happy? With her?”

Ephraim licked his lips. “I've always wanted to be with her.”

“That's not what I asked.”

“Zoe, if I hadn't met you—”

“Don't say that,” she said. She walked up another step. He wasn't sure if he should follow.

“Do you believe in Fate, Ephraim?”

“I've been thinking about that a lot lately. It's kind of hard to believe in Fate, when the multiverse proves that
everything
happens.”

“But you and I met. That's not supposed to happen. Maybe there's a reason for it.”

Ephraim stood and turned to face her. “You still aren't over him,” he said.

He wanted to take the words back right away, but it was too late.

“Good night, Ephraim.” She spun and ran up the rest of the stairs. A few moments later he heard a door slam.

“Good night, Zoe.”

Ephraim, you are a world-class idiot.

While the first floor of Greystone Manor resembled a hotel, the second floor felt more like someone's home. Ephraim wandered through furnished rooms with worn-out Persian carpets, dusty mahogany tables, and plastic-covered couches.

He found Jena in a drawing room at the back of the west wing—a library—curled up on a red velvet sofa. The plastic tarp had been crumpled up and kicked under its clawed feet. She almost blended into the fabric because she'd changed into a matching red dress.

“Hey,” he said softly.

She bolted up. When she saw him, she started crying.

“Easy,” he said. He sat down next to her, and a cloud of dust rose in the air around them. She hugged him tight.

“You made it,” she said in a low voice. “I was so shocked when I realized what had happened. I would have gone back for you, but Hugh was sick,” Jena said.

“It's okay,” Ephraim lied. “How is he?”

She nodded at the closed door across the room. Loud snoring emanated from the other side.

“Sleeping,” she said.

Jena drew her feet under her legs, draping the short dress over them carefully. She was barefoot.

“What's wrong with him?” Ephraim asked.

“He blacked out after the shift,” she said. “He nearly choked on his own vomit.
So much vomit.”

Ephraim made a face.

“You didn't have to drive in a car with that smell,” she said. “I called Dr. Kim and she told me to bring him back to Crossroads right away. Thank goodness Nathaniel has a convertible.”