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

of my life.”
    Zoe frowned and pulled on a fingerless glove that covered the barcode on her wrist.
    Ephraim looked at the two of them.
    “We make an interesting trio,” he said. He tightened his bowtie.
    “One guy in a tux and a pair of twins…this is the perfect setup for a sitcom,” Jena said.
    “All we need are some wacky hijinks and an easily avoided misunderstanding,” Zoe said. She scratched at her nose.
    Ephraim smiled. Now that Jena and Zoe were getting along, mostly, this situation might not be so bad after all. He was with two beautiful women who liked him, and he…
    His smile faded. This situation could be more dangerous than he'd bargained for; he'd just realized that he might be caught between two women, and that never ended well, even in sitcoms.

 
    Ephraim, Jena, and Zoe stared up at the chained and padlocked gates to Greystone Park.
    “I think it's closed,” Ephraim said. The padlock was coated in reddish-brown rust. “Forever.”
    “Let me guess: high crime rates in your universe?” Jena asked.
    “An underground community of draft dodgers was squatting on the old estate,” Zoe said. “This is supposed to prevent that.”
    She pointed out a crumbling section of the wall next to the gates. “Just do what I do,” she said.
    Zoe scaled the wall, finding cracks and crevices to take hold of so easily it was clear she'd done this before, and often. Ephraim concentrated on watching where she placed her hands and feet instead of how good she looked doing it. He'd forgotten how much more athletic she was than Jena.
    Zoe crouched on the wall on the balls of her feet, fingers pressed against the old stone in a classic Spider-Man pose, only with cleavage visible from her tank top.
    “Who's next?” She stage-whispered, even though they probably were the only people around.
    “Me,” Jena said. She cracked her knuckles and jogged in place for a moment. She pulled two paperbacks out of her sweatshirt pockets and handed them to Ephraim. “Carry my books, boyfriend?”
    “My pleasure, madam.” He squinted at the covers in the soft yellow glow from the old-fashioned wrought-iron lampposts flanking the gates: The Dark Tower by C. S. Lewis and The Sense of the Past by Henry James. “Does Zoe know you stole these?” he asked.
    “They're library books,” Jena said. “Consider them checked out.”
    Jena climbed, more slowly and clumsily than Zoe at first, but she picked up speed as she went. Her calf muscles strained with the effort, and she had more trouble pulling herself up.
    A foot away from the top, she hesitated, testing out a couple of toeholds. As she tentatively applied weight on her right foot, a section of the wall disintegrated, and she slipped with a short shriek.
    Ephraim leapt forward to help. He reached up and pushed against her butt. Her right hand swung loose from the wall. Zoe was holding onto her left hand, her feet hooked over the far edge of the wall for leverage.
    “I've got her,” he said. “You can let her go. Slowly.”
    Zoe shook her head. “Push on three. One. Two…”
    On three, he heaved Jena up, and Zoe hauled her up with both hands. Jena grabbed onto the wall with her right hand, pulled herself over, and sprawled on her stomach on the top of the wall.
    “Thanks,” Jena gasped. She remained flat on her stomach and pivoted around until she was lying lengthwise along the one-foot-wide wall, looking like a contented cat. She rested her head on her hands and gave Ephraim a Cheshire grin. “And you. Watch where you put your hands, mister.”
    Ephraim stared at the wall. Jena's struggle had collapsed more of it, knocking out several bricks he had planned to use as footholds.
    “Now how do I join you two?” he asked.
    “Maybe there's another section that's easier to climb,” Jena said.
    He scanned the wall, squinting at the long shadows cast by the moonlight and the flickering fluorescent glow of the light inside the dilapidated bus shelter.
    He prodded the wall,