Fair Coin

by E. C. Myers

  “Did you bring the controller?”

  Nate patted his left pocket.

  “Good,” Ephraim said. “Remember our conversation the other day, about finding a version of you who can use the coin?”

  Nate nodded.

  “I want to try it,” Ephraim said.

  “Yeah?” Nate's asked. His voice was even, but Ephraim recognized his friend's restrained excitement and apprehension. “Why? You said you liked working with me.”

  “I do. But…think of what we could do with two coins,” Ephraim said.

  “Oh, I have been,” Nate said. Ephraim thought it was more likely he'd been thinking about what he could do if he didn't need a partner to use the Charon device.

  “We'd be real partners then. Equals,” Ephraim said. “And let's be honest. I'm sort of holding you back.”

  “That's true.”

  “I might want to quit one day too, settle down with Zoe, and I can't do that with this in my life. But I don't want to screw you over either.”

  Nate narrowed his eyes. “So why'd you want to meet here?”

  “I needed a safe place to hide the coin. I can't leave it at Zoe's place. The other Ephraim abandoned her, and I'm worried she'll try to get rid of the coin to keep me in this universe.” He smiled. “Or just to spite you.”

  “You should work on your taste in women,” Nate said. “No offense.”

  “Well, I finally figured out that there's only one analog of Mary Shelley in this universe, and you've got dibs on her,” Ephraim said.

  Nate glanced at him sharply. “Where did you hear that word?”

  Ephraim swallowed. “What word? Dibs?”

  “Analog. I've only heard one other person use it in reference to parallel universe doubles.”

  “Oh.” Ephraim scratched distractedly behind his right ear. “Zoe, I think. She has a big SAT vocabulary.”

  “What's an SAT?”

  “A form of torture in my universe. Now I remember. That's what she calls Ephraim. My analog. She must have picked up the term from him.”

  “Sure.” Nate dropped it, but he was still suspicious. “Anyway, if you're really worried about the coin's safety, I could hold onto the coin for you,” Nate said.

  “I considered that. But it seemed better to keep it where no one would think to look for it. Thus, the library.”

  “Certainly no one would think to look here, especially since it's been closed for ages, and Ephraim never liked it much,” Nate said. “How did you get in?”

  Ephraim dangled his key ring. “I work here, remember? And the locks are the same as in my universe.”

  He unlocked the door, and Nate followed him inside slowly, looking around the murky lobby with his hand on the gun in his pocket.

  “I stashed it back here,” Ephraim said, leading the way to the stacks behind the checkout counter. Nate trailed behind him in silence. They reached the even darker room, and Ephraim picked up Mary Shelley's flashlight, where he'd hidden it just inside the door.

  He hoped everyone was already in place. As he wandered between two shelves, he sneezed loudly, the arranged signal to let them know they were there and the plan was on. He rubbed his arm against his nose.

  “The only drawback is I'm allergic to all this dust,” he said to Nate.

  Ephraim heard the safety hammer on Nate's gun click softly as he released it. He couldn't risk attacking Nate here, though it would have been much less trouble than what they had in store for him.

  “Almost there,” Ephraim said lightly, hands clenched.

  He stopped in front of a dust-covered bookshelf that was still loaded with abandoned books. Zoe had come up with the plan to lure Nate into the library, and she picked the book he had hidden the coin inside.

  Ephraim slid it off the shelf and shone his flashlight on the spine.

  “Labyrinths,” Nate said.

  “Page 29.” Ephraim shook the book, and the coin dropped into his palm. He reshelved the book dutifully.

  He tucked the flashlight between his elbow and side, pointing away from where the others were hidden, just behind the shelf in the next aisle over. He glanced at Nate. “So I'm going to make a wish, and you'll follow with the controller.”

  “But you'll switch places with another Ephraim,” Nate said.

  “I'm sure you can handle him,” Ephraim said. “Besides, it might make it easier to get the coin from your analog.”

  Nate grinned. “I get it now. I'll get a coin and you'll get your own controller. Smart, Ephraim. And here I thought maybe you really wanted to help me.”

  “There's nothing wrong with us both coming out ahead,” Ephraim said. “You ready?”

  Nate flipped open the controller. “I'll be right behind you.”

  It was hard not to interpret that as a threat.

  Ephraim didn't know how much time he would have once he and the others reached the other universe, but it probably wouldn't take Nate long to lock onto the coin. He hoped they would have enough time to get into position.

  Someone's sneaker squeaked against a floor tile behind him.

  “What was that?” Nate peered into the darkness, moving his head up and down to look through the bare shelves. If he spotted the others now it would be all over. “Shine the light behind you,” Nate said.

  “It was probably just a rat,” Ephraim said.

  “A rat!” Nate put his hand back in the pocket with the gun. That was his solution to everything.

  “Shh, I'm trying to concentrate,” Ephraim said. He tilted the coin heads up in his hand and closed his eyes, keeping his mind as blank as possible while he spoke. “I wish that I were in a universe where Nate can use the coin instead of me.”

  The coin wasn't getting hot. Did that mean it couldn't grant his wish? He hoped so. Nathaniel had seemed pretty sure that this was the only coin.

  In his mind, Ephraim focused as clearly as he could on a universe without any analogs of Nathan, Zoe, Mary Shelley, or him. It wouldn't do for any of them to switch places with their counterparts there. The metal warmed up gradually in his hand. He kept thinking about the universe he wanted to visit until the coin was finally painfully hot. He flipped the quarter into the air.

  And deliberately missed it on its way down. It hit the tiles and rolled away from him, but also away from where Zoe, Mary Shelley, and Nathaniel were hidden. Damn. That's what he got for relying on chance.

  “Whoops!” he said. “Where'd it go?”

  “Dumbass. I think it went over there,” Nate said.

  Ephraim scurried after the rolling coin, then pretended to stumble. He dropped the flashlight and the light went out.

  “Shit,” Nate said in an exasperated voice.

  Ephraim kept moving toward where he'd seen the coin disappear and hunched down.

  “Eph?” Nate called.

  “I can't find it!” he said. Ephraim felt the darkness closing in around him. He struggled to breathe, and his palms became cold and wet. Maybe this was a bad plan, like Mary Shelley had said it was. Of course Nate would realize what was going on. And he'd never give them another opportunity to stop him.

  “Hold on,” Nate said. His face lit up with the glow from the controller. “Where are you?”

  “I think I see it,” Ephraim said, knocking books off the shelves to cover the soft footfalls of the others heading toward him. Some metal bookends clattered, and he heard Mary Shelley's muffled curse. Ephraim sneezed loudly.

  Nate came closer, holding the controller out in front of him to light his way. Then Ephraim felt hands on his shoulder and back. He couldn't tell how many, but he hoped that all three of them were in contact with him or each other. He groped for the coin in the dirt. Come on, he thought. He needed to find it now.

  The glow from the controller's screen grew closer. Someone slapped the coin into Ephraim's hand, and a moment later he was…still in the stacks, but the glow of the emergency lights showed that the library was back in operation.

  Zoe was still holding his hand.
She gave it an encouraging squeeze before letting go, and he closed his fingers around the coin.

  “Everyone here?” he asked. He turned around and the motion sensors triggered the fluorescents overhead, flooding the aisle with light. He, Zoe, Mary Shelley, and Nathaniel squinted and blinked at each other, smiling broadly. Then Zoe and Mary Shelley darted away with barf bags pressed to their faces. Ephraim and Nathaniel exchanged uncomfortable looks and pretended they couldn't hear the girls retching behind the shelves.

  A moment later Mary Shelley and Zoe emerged with pained expressions.

  “This is a stupid, stupid plan,” Mary Shelley said.

  “That was so close,” Zoe said.

  “It's still close—we don't have a lot of time. He's gonna be coming through any second, as soon as the controller locks onto the coin's coordinates. You guys get out of here and head for the fountain. We won't be far behind.”

  The door to the stacks had just creaked closed when Nate popped in next to Ephraim, accompanied by a burst of static electricity and a soft popping sound. Ephraim nearly jumped out of his skin.

  “Holy crap!” Ephraim said. “Is that what it looks like when we do that?”

  “Amateur,” Nate said. He closed the controller and tucked it away in his hoodie. “I expected another Ephraim to take your place, but no one appeared. I guess you don't exist here. Weird, huh?”

  Ephraim shrugged. But that reminded him to check the coin, as Nate would expect him to. Since Zoe had handed the coin to him in the dark, he had no idea if it had landed on heads or tails. As it happened, it was neither.

  The coin was blank again.

  Ephraim trailed slowly behind Nate as they crossed the street to Greystone Park, trying to give the others more time to get ready for them. Nate was impatient; it was getting dark and the park would close in a little while. Dusk settled around them while they neared the fountain, the sun tinting everything an ominous red as it sank behind the treeline.

  “Why do you want to walk through the park?” Nate asked him.

  “You got the coin and controller there, so I thought it was a good place to start looking for your analog,” Ephraim said.

  “I think my house would be better. I mean, that's where I'd look for me.”

  “Well, it's on the way, so we might as well check it first.” Ephraim pretended to sound frustrated.

  “Fine. But come on,” Nate said.

  Ephraim fiddled with the coin in his pocket. “Coming.” He had checked it again and again, but there was no getting around it. The coin was out of power. That last wish—the effort of shifting four people without exchanging them with analogs—had completely drained it.

  If they failed to get the controller from Nate, they would all be stranded here. Wherever “here” was.

  “Should we swing by the fountain?” Nate asked. Ephraim hadn't even noticed them enter the park.

  “Yeah,” Ephraim said. That played into his plan perfectly. He headed for a side path that led into a short maze of hedges, and Nate followed.

  Ephraim stopped short just before the hedges opened onto the plaza and pointed.

  Nathaniel stood next to the fountain with Mary Shelley. She was holding her cell phone out, waving it around like a Geiger counter. Ephraim groaned to himself—they hadn't explained to her how the controller worked, so she was making it up as she went along. Nathaniel was much more collected. He put a hand on her shoulder and said very clearly, “Set the coordinates for the next universe.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. It glinted in the waning sunlight.

  “Is that supposed to be me?” Nate asked. “He's so old.”

  “Shelley's with him. It must be you.” Ephraim said. He winced when he heard his flat delivery, but Nate didn't notice. He was too caught up in the scene playing out for his benefit.

  Nate shaded his eyes with his hand. “It is me,” he said in amazement.

  In the plaza, Nathaniel flipped the coin a couple of times. Then he mimed fitting it in the cell phone in Mary Shelley's hand.

  “So how do you want to—” Ephraim began.

  Before Ephraim could stop him, Nate stepped out between two hedges, drawing his gun. “Hold it right there, pops,” Nate said.

  Mary Shelley released a very effective B-movie scream, which may not have been part of her act—there was a gun pointed in her direction. Nathaniel purposely fumbled the coin and it fell onto the cobblestones between him and Nate.

  “Ephraim,” Nate called. “Fetch that coin for me will you? And get the controller from that hot chick. Robbing the cradle, eh, old man? What universe did you find her in?”

  Ephraim winked at Mary Shelley when he took the cell phone from her. He scooped up the quarter and returned to Nate.

  Nate couldn't hold the gun and take both the quarter and cell phone from Ephraim.

  “Give me the gun. I'll cover them,” Ephraim said.

  Nate just smiled as he reached for the quarter. Ephraim handed it to him, trying to keep his hand from shaking from excitement and nervousness. It wouldn't be long now.

  Nate held his gun on Nathaniel while he checked out the quarter. Satisfied for the moment, he slipped it into his pocket.

  “Now let me see that controller,” Nate said.

  Nate might not have noticed that the quarter was a perfectly ordinary coin, but he wouldn't be fooled by Mary Shelley's cell phone. Ephraim didn't know what else to do, so he dropped the phone at Nate's feet.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? You're such a fucking klutz today, Eph.”

  Nate knelt to pick up the phone.

  Ephraim saw his moment. He yelled, “Get down!” then kicked the gun out of Nate's hand. It clattered against stone somewhere to their side, but it didn't go off.

  A moment later, he realized he should have kicked Nate in the face instead, when Nate tackled Ephraim's legs and brought him down hard.

  “What the fuck?” Nate said. Ephraim's foot connected with his jaw, and he ducked away.

  “The jig is up, Nate,” Zoe said. She darted from behind a hedge and snatched the gun. In one smooth movement, she tossed it underhand into the fountain. “I always wanted to say that,” she said, smiling.

  Nate scrambled away from Ephraim and turned to face the four of them. He wiped a smear of blood from his chin.

  “Give me some credit, guys,” Nate said. He reached behind him and pulled a second, smaller pistol from the waistband of his jeans. “In some universes, they practically give these away to anyone who wants them.”

  “Shit,” Ephraim said.

  Nate cocked back the safety and aimed the gun at Zoe. “If anyone moves, Zoe dies. Or Jena, or whoever you are.” He gestured at Nathaniel and Mary Shelley. “All of you stand over there. You too, Ephraim.”

  “You can't shoot all of us,” Mary Shelley said.

  “Actually, I can,” Nate said. “Six bullets and only four of you.”

  “Too bad someone threw the other gun in the effing fountain,” Mary Shelley said.

  Ephraim held his hands out. “Nate. This was all a setup. That coin in your pocket's only worth twenty-five cents. You won't be going to any more universes if you kill me, or anyone else.”

  Nate pulled out the quarter. His lips moved, and he flipped the coin, catching it in one hand. When nothing happened he cursed and threw it into the fountain. “I'll just take your coin from your dead body, the same way you did. And I'll find another Ephraim here.”

  “This universe doesn't have an Ephraim,” Ephraim said. “I wished for a universe where analogs of you and I don't exist.”

  “You can't do that. The coin doesn't work that way.”

  “It drained all the power from the coin to do it, but it brought us here,” Ephraim said.

  “Eph.” Zoe groaned.

  Ephraim winced. He'd just given away the fact that they couldn't leave without the controller either.

  Nate waved the gun at Nathaniel. “I recognize you now. You're the geezer who gave us the coin and co
ntroller. You're another me?”

  Nathaniel grimaced. “Unfortunately.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “I grew up. You should try it.”

  “If you came from my universe, this must be Zoe and Mary Shelley.” Nate smiled thinly. “They were in the library with us. You're trickier than I thought, Ephraim. A lot trickier than the Ephraim I knew. I shouldn't have underestimated you.”

  “Come on, Nate,” Ephraim said. “It's over. We're all prepared to stay in this universe if it means stopping you from hurting anyone else.” This wasn't going exactly as planned, but he could still salvage the situation if he got the controller from Nate.

  Ephraim stepped forward and jumped when the gun swiveled in his direction, then back toward the girls. Nate's aim was getting wilder, but this close, chances were he would hit someone. “Nate. Just give me the controller and the gun and we'll take you wherever you want to go. I promise.”

  The gun fired, the shot echoing through the park.

  “No!” Ephraim turned to Zoe—he couldn't stand to lose her again. But she was fine.

  Nathaniel fell next to her, clutching his left side. Bright red blossomed on his flannel shirt.

  He stared at Nate in disbelief. “You little shit.”

  “Nathaniel!” Ephraim rushed to his side.

  “He stepped in front of me,” Zoe said.

  “I'll…be all right.” Nathaniel grunted. His breath wheezed and his hand was slick with blood. “Damn. This is a new shirt.”

  “Why did you do that?” Mary Shelley screamed at Nate. “You didn't have to do that!”

  “My finger slipped,” Nate said casually. He pulled back the safety. “I'm so nervous I can barely hold this gun steady.” He pointed it straight at Zoe.

  Zoe took a panicked step back.

  Ephraim launched himself at Nate, careful to get between him and Zoe. He wasn't going to let any more people die in his place. He didn't care about the controller or his home universe or any of that anymore. He had only two things on his mind: stopping Nate and protecting his friends.

  Nate swung the gun toward Ephraim but hesitated before pulling the trigger, just long enough for Ephraim to shove him onto the hard cobblestones around the fountain. Ephraim heard the gun drop next to them and another shot go off. He hoped it hadn't hit anyone else.