Free Coin #2 - Quantum Coin by E.C. Myers Page A

waiting for,” Ephraim said.
    “I'd feel better if I heard it from Nathaniel,” Zoe said. “I don't know this woman.”
    “But she's us,” Jena said. “I say we go. It's better than sitting around here.”
    “I guess we won't get any answers otherwise,” Ephraim said.
    “Hello?” Dr. Kim called. “Are…there?”
    Zoe leaned into the microphone and transmitted. “We'll be there,” she said.
    “Splendid. Use the Charon…3:33 a.m. precisely.” Noise drowned her out. “see you. Ov—”
    Zoe adjusted the tuner a couple of times, but the coin was flat and motionless, and the empty radio channel sizzled and sputtered back at them.
    “She's gone,” she said. She switched off the radio and carefully stowed the microphone next to the headphones.
    “Where are we supposed to go? I couldn't make it out,” Jena said.
    “The fountain,” Ephraim and Zoe said.
    “The one in the park?”
    “It's a hunch,” Ephraim said. “The Memorial Fountain is located smack in the center of the Institute. It's where we dropped off Nathaniel last year.”
    He reached for the coin in the controller, but he stopped an inch away from it when he felt the heat radiating from it. Instead, he used the pocket square from his tux to pick it up and let it cool. Even through the cloth, his hand tingled with energy. It felt like the coin could jump from his hand and flip itself.
    “But we made contact, and we have a plan. Not bad for a night's work,” he said.
    “I get the impression our work has just begun,” Zoe said.
    Jena shuddered. “I hate hearing my own voice.”
    “Thanks,” Zoe said. “But I know what you mean.” They both smiled.
    “So we're headed back to the park. We can get there in ten minutes if we walk fast.” He yawned. “So much for sleep.”
    “You weren't really planning to get any tonight, were you?” Zoe asked. He shot her a look. Zoe smiled slyly. “Sleep, I mean.”
    Jena blushed. “I, for one, am too wired to sleep. I can't believe we actually talked to Grumps! Sort of.”
    Zoe pulled a red hoodie out from under her bed, brushed off some dustballs, and tied it around her waist. She opened the top drawer of her dresser and pulled something out of it. Something dark and heavy, which she tucked into the back of her shorts. It looked like—
    “Holy crap! Is that a gun?” Jena asked. “Where did you get a gun?” She whirled to face Ephraim. Her face had become a shade paler than Zoe's. “Why does she have a gun?”
    “We confiscated it from Nate,” Ephraim said. “I can't believe you kept it, Zoe.”
    “I live in a tough world,” she said. “Guns aren't dangerous if they're in the right hands.”
    “No one should carry a gun around,” Jena said. “Least of all an eighteen-year-old woman.”
    “You know that isn't true even in your universe,” Zoe said. “I don't expect you to understand. I know how to use it. I spend a lot of time at the shooting range at school.”
    “There are so many things wrong with that statement,” Jena said.
    “Whatever,” Ephraim said. “Just be careful with that, Zoe.”
    She'd kept the controller. She'd kept the gun. He wondered what else she was keeping from him.
    “Don't worry about me,” Zoe said. “I can handle myself.”
    “I'm not worried about you ,” Ephraim said. “Let's just go.”
    Zoe snapped her fingers. “I need one more thing. Be right back,” she said and went into the bathroom.
    “What did she forget? Nunchaku?” Jena asked.
    Ephraim pulled on his tuxedo jacket and slid the coin in the handkerchief into the breast pocket. When Zoe returned a couple of minutes later, he caught the familiar glint of silver over her right nostril.
    “You have a nose stud!” Jena said. “Dad must have freaked.”
    “That was the idea. But it's kind of who I am now.” She smiled at Ephraim.
    “It looks so badass on you. Maybe I'll get one in college,” Jena said. “Or a tattoo. If I can think of something I would want on my body for the rest