Penny Exchange

Chapter 2: Unforeseen Consequences

"You're telling me zoogs are real?" Peter demanded in disbelief.

Henry hedged for a moment before replying. "They shouldn't be in our reality, but ours isn't the only reality."

"I knew it!" Mozzie exclaimed triumphantly. "I insist on every scrap of information you possess. If only I had a way to wire myself to your brain." His eyes widened. "Do you know of one?"

Henry could sigh all he liked, Neal wasn't about to let him off the hook. Hadn't they made a pact to not keep secrets from each other? Henry had been sitting for six months on the mother of all secrets and hadn't breathed a word about it.

Henry and Eric had stopped by their loft to pick up Splash, giving the tunnel explorers time to clean themselves off. They were now holding an emergency council in June's living room. The only carefree members were Splash, Bugsy, and Satchmo.

"I would have told you," Henry said. "But Lavinia made me promise not to, and let me assure you Miskatonic University's alien librarian is a thousand times more intimidating in person than in Diana's stories."

Peter took a glug of June's Italian roast. "You expect us to believe that those weird dreams we had last December about visiting our Arkham characters actually happened?"

"Of course, I don't expect you to believe me," Henry said, "but it's true. Arkham Mozzie explained that an infinite number of alternative realities exist in an infinite number of parallel worlds. In one of those, the world of Arkham as described in Diana's stories is real. Arkham Mozzie somehow managed to create a wormhole between his world and ours."

Mozzie beamed. "I always knew I was brilliant beyond my own imagining."

"I wouldn't crow just yet," Neal advised. "Lavinia was furious about what your character did."

"And I, for one, don't blame her," Peter agreed. "It's no doubt because of his actions that we now have a tunnel full of zoogs."

June wrinkled her brow. "But how? There aren't any zoogs in that world. The zoogs are endemic to Tirelia, and it's currently inaccessible."

"And that doesn't help us with the immediate problem," Eric said, placing his elbows on his knees and leaning forward. "That brick tunnel could have cracks allowing them to escape. Perhaps they already have. In the stories, they could be killed by guns, but we don't know what weaknesses they have in our world."

Neal scanned the group. "I don't suppose anyone has the number for Zoogbusters?"

Henry smiled. "As it so happens, I do." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a penny, and placed it in the palm of his hand.

"What's so special about that?" Eric asked, looking at him with bewilderment.

"Check the date," Henry said, handing him the coin.

Eric's eyes widened. "2012?"

"That's right," Henry said calmly. "This penny was minted six years from now and is proof that we visited the future." He shrugged. "I decided to bring back a souvenir."

It took a minute for that to sink in. Henry possessed evidence that they had visited another world and engaged in time travel. For once, even Mozzie was speechless. Then came the flood of questions as everyone demanded answers. As the initial torrent gradually eased, they returned to Henry's memento.

"If Lavinia is anything like the way Diana wrote her, she couldn't have been thrilled about your action," June commented.

"That's putting it mildly," Henry agreed. "I still can't figure out how she knew what I'd done. But since it had already happened and because she realized what an asset I was, she decided to let me keep the penny. She also spread some sort of goo on it—I don't know if it was algolnium-based or some other alien chemical. She told me if I needed help, I could use this. She cautioned that it would work only once."