Impact

by Steven Whibley

  I stared at him. “What about when you made me watch all those anime movies? You even translated one.”

  He lifted a shoulder and offered a lopsided smile. “Well … I might have been making some educated guesses.”

  “Making it up,” Lisa muttered.

  Archer started for the lobby, and we trailed after him. “Let’s hope you remember something when it matters.”

  “Yeah,” Colin said, lagging behind us. “Maybe.”

  We stepped into the lobby, and I glanced around. It was still pretty early but the place was full of people. I heard them speaking all kinds of languages, too. A lot of folks travel a long way to see the air show, but I had no idea so many came from other countries or that Harrison Hot Springs was such a tourist destination. I shivered and tried to avoid touching anyone. I didn’t really like the idea of being connected to someone from another country—someone I might have a vision of and be a million miles away from. Just dealing with this vision, a vision from someone else, someone I’d never met, was enough to knot my shoulders and have me sweating. Then again, I couldn’t stop wondering about this Nathan guy, too.

  Mr. Vidmar hadn’t asked me if I wanted the gift, the one Nathan was supposed to get. Vidmar was a mess at the time—beaten, almost unconscious. I remembered him coughing blood on me and then the touch. I remember that. He grabbed me and said, “Glimpse.” That touch and that word had changed my life. Still, there were times when I wasn’t entirely sure if having these visions was a gift or a curse.

  Archer pointed to a sign that had arrows directing visitors to restrooms, a café, and pools. Pools? As in more than one? I gave a soft groan. “You three go to the pools in case she’s already there. I’m going to try and contact her room from the front desk and see if I can intercept her before she even gets outside. And, Dean, if you’re not sure who Mrs. Yamada is, touch anyone who you think might be her. If one of us can connect with her, we’ll know if we’re close enough to do something when the time comes.”

  Touch everyone? Yeah, because that wouldn’t be at all awkward or inappropriate. Plus it kind of wrecked my plan not to connect myself with a bunch of foreign strangers. I tried not to overthink what I had to do. It was for the greater good.

  Archer headed to the front desk, and I pulled out my phone to look at the photo again. Lisa leaned over my shoulder. “It really is blurry enough to be almost anyone,” she said.

  Colin glanced at her. “Yeah, but how hard is it going to be to find an old Japanese lady wearing a flower-printed swim cap? Who even wears those things anyway?”

  I nodded and swallowed. My mouth had gone dry. When you have the gift, and you’ve touched someone who is about to die when they’re not supposed to, you get a vision. The world goes gray, and you sort of see how they’ll die or, at least, how they’ll look the moment before they die. You also get a second vision—a warning really, and only if you’re close enough to the person to actually do something. The second vision comes moments before the death, and it’s not as freaky. It’s just colorblindness—you don’t actually see the person. Still, that’s two chances. Archer had said to touch anyone to find her—and hopefully touch the right person in the process. I had to anyway, so I’d know if we’d managed to save her from dying. Nonetheless, the thought of possibly having to touch a lot of old Japanese ladies—and there seemed to be more than a few in the lobby—left me feeling like a creep. This wasn’t going to be fun. A lot of them would probably slug me.

  Colin started walking. “C’mon. I know the way to the pool.”

  Outside, I had to shade my eyes with my hand. The sun seemed way brighter after the cool, dark hotel lobby. Light glinted off water. A breeze rustled some trees. Blinking, I glanced around.

  The place had several pools, all built to look naturally carved into the rocks, with trees and grass planted around them and brick paths that wound through the grounds. The pools were obviously fed by the hot springs, as steam rose off into the air and swirled into shapes. Music played in the background—something cheesy, generic, and bland. At least two dozen Japanese-looking women sat near one of the pools on chairs, wearing white robes. More women and men strolled around, and I couldn’t even begin to say if they were locals or from out of town. Some had towels hung over their shoulders. Others walked purposefully, seemingly heading somewhere down the curving paths. I couldn’t tell anyone’s age. All the ladies seemed to be old enough to be at least my mom’s age. Any one of them could’ve been Mrs. Yamada as far as I could tell—except for the blond or the gray-haired ladies. At least half of the older women carried a swim cap with flowers dangling from their fingers. Blue flowers, pink flowers, bright purple flowers.

  I smacked my forehead with my palm. “You have to be kidding me. It’s some kind of convention for old Japanese ladies.”

  Lisa bit her lower lip and shoved me forward. “You have to touch them. All of them. We’ll start asking for names.”

  I turned on her. “I can’t do that. I’ll … I’ll get arrested.”

  Cupping his hands around his mouth, Colin shouted, “Yamada-san!”

  I cringed. Several women turned toward us, probably to see what crazy kid had screamed. Lisa nudged Colin and me again. She nodded to her right where a woman with a name tag and what looked like a hotel uniform of tan pants and a tan shirt stood in a booth with stacks of towels in front of her.

  I went over to the towel lady. “Excuse me, do you know a Mrs. Yamada?”

  She stared at me and asked, “Just where are your parents?”

  Mouth pressed tight, I turned away. We didn’t have time for delays.

  Colin stepped up to one of the Japanese women who had turned when he’d called out and stuttered, “Um … Yamada-san? Dare ga … um?”

  The women giggled and said, “Which Mrs. Yamada do you want? I know of at least ten of us staying here.”

  Colin’s face reddened. “Ten Yamadas?”

  She giggled again, and so did the other ladies.

  “What’s the joke?” I asked.

  “Yamada. Very common name in Japan. It is like asking for a Smith here in America. You have a lot of Mrs. Smiths; we have many Mrs. Yamadas.”

  “Oh great. That’s terrific,” Colin muttered. He scratched his head. “Noriko.” He looked at Lisa. “That was her first name, wasn’t it?”

  Lisa nodded. “Yeah, Noriko. I’m sure that was it.”

  I thought so too and glanced at the ladies.

  “Ah, Noriko-chan,” one of the ladies said. She glanced around. “I did see her earlier.” She said something in Japanese to the other ladies and they looked around and shook their heads. “If we see her, we’ll say you’re looking for her.”

  Lisa grabbed my arm and dragged me a step away. “We don’t have time for this. You have to start touching people.”

  Sweat popped on my upper lip, and not just from the heat of the sun. My T-shirt stuck to my back, and I groaned. “Okay, okay …”

  We ducked past the group we’d talked to, and followed another group of Asian ladies to an area with tables, chairs, and shaded awnings. I reached out and brushed the hand or arm of every one of them, wincing as I did. Most of them shot me surprised or startled looks. A couple of them glared at me. I wouldn’t even know if I’d touched the right person until the last few moments, but I had to move quick. Colin stayed next to me and kept saying, “Yamada-san, desu ka?”

  “What are you doing?” I hissed at him.

  He leaned closer. “I’m asking, ‘Are you Mrs. Yamada?’”

  “Are you sure you’re not saying my friend is a pervert nutcase?”

  He laughed. “No, but when we’re done here, I’m going to learn how to say that in a dozen languages so I’m ready the next time we have to do something like this.”

  Lisa gave a frustrated growl and stopped. “This is taking too long. We’ve got to split up. I’ll check the changing rooms. You two search opposite sides of the pools. Keep looking for swimming caps with flowers.”

  S
he took off before I could say anything. Colin glanced at me. I shrugged. I didn’t have a better plan. We saw two more pools now, with trees, winding paths, and shaded areas with tables and chairs. None of the pools had many people, but the areas were pretty big and really spread out. I spotted at least half a dozen women wearing flowered bathing caps in the pools, bobbing around and talking in what had to be Japanese. Any of them could be Mrs. Yamada. To touch them, I’d have jump in the water. I wondered how long it would take for security to drag me away if I did that.

  “I can’t get to everyone!”

  Colin took a deep breath and let it out in a single burst. “Okay, if we can’t figure out which one is Mrs. Yamada, we need to just get everyone out of the water, right?”

  “Like a fire alarm?” I squinted at Colin. Had he lost his mind?

  Colin shook his head and gave me a you are too dumb look. “We’re outside with water all around. Anyone in a pool is safe from a fire.”

  “Right. Just double-checking … and stressing.” I held up my phone and showed him the time. “It’s way over an hour since Archer told us we only had two hours.”

  Colin nodded and pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket. “Lucky for you, I have a plan.”

  “Oh, no. Not like summer camp.”

  “Oh, yeah. Just like.” He tore off the wrapper, broke the gooey, melting bar into chunks and started tossing them into the pools. He was able to get pieces into three of them.

  “C’mon, that’s not going to work,” I said, bumping his arm with my elbow.

  Colin smirked. In seconds, the warm water had swirled the chocolate into brown smears. I had to admit, it looked real.

  “Look, Mommy,” a little boy called out. “Poop!”

  The kid’s high voice cut through all the other chatter and lifted up over the music playing in the background. I’m pretty sure it was the kid’s mom who screamed first. That got everyone moving. A girl in the other pool yelled and jumped out of the water with a chocolaty streak down her arm. She kept shrieking like she’d been bitten by a snake.

  From behind, I heard Lisa say, “Colin, did you do that?”

  “Mission accomplished,” Colin said, dusting his hands. “No one’s going to drown today.”

  Lisa propped a fist on one hip. “According to the vision, she’s wet and wearing a swimming cap. For all we know, she slips in this panic you started, falls, and that kills her!”

  Pulling in a breath, I pushed into the crowd gathering to stare into the stained pools. I bumped into at least half the people, muttering, “Sorry. Sorry.” I held my breath at every touch, but nothing happened. Everyone seemed so interested in the pools that no one even looked at me. I knew we were close to running out of time, even though I didn’t look at the clock on my phone. I didn’t want to see if we were too late already. I kept hoping the other team with that Nathan guy had already found Mrs. Yamada. But it wasn’t good that Archer hadn’t joined us yet. He was probably having as much trouble as we were.

  Two guys who looked Asian headed toward me from the far side of the pool. I kept brushing against anyone and everyone. I didn’t even care now if it was a woman or a man or a kid or an old person. Panic tightened my chest and closed my throat. I forced out rasping breaths, and my heart hammered away against my ribs.

  Just as the two guys walked past, I asked, “Excuse me. Do you guys speak English? Do you know a Mrs. Yamada? Noriko Yamada?”

  One of the guys stared at me like I had some of Colin’s chocolate smeared on my face. “Yeah, I speak English.” He didn’t have an accent. My cheeks burned for being such an idiot to think they might speak only Japanese. Then he added, “Mrs. Yamada’s over there.” He gestured over his shoulder, and he and his friend pushed past me.

  I followed where he’d pointed and spotted a young Asian woman sitting on a lounge chair. The bikini and the rest of her didn’t look anything like the blurred image I had of a woman twice her age. But an older woman sat up from a chair behind the younger woman. I headed for her. The middle-aged woman walked to the edge of the pool. I cut around another pool and pushed past more people gawking at the brown, swirling streaks. The older woman stood beside a pool and pulled on a swim cap with bright yellow and orange flowers.

  I could swear a band of energy seemed to snap between me and her. I might have been imagining it—maybe I wanted so badly for her to be the right person that I’d felt something that wasn’t there. I shook my head. I couldn’t overthink this. It had to be her. Heart pounding like I’d just run ten miles, I knew I had only a couple minutes. She stood at the edge of the pool. I imagined her diving in and smashing her head on the bottom. Or slipping and splattering her brains on the rocks around the pool.

  “Mrs. Yamada. Wait!” I ran the rest of the way around the pool, waving my hands, not caring if I looked like a maniac.

  The woman stepped away from the pool and ducked behind the younger one who had gotten to her feet and stood between me and the older lady, holding out one hand to stop me. “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “Oh … I … you speak English, too.” Okay, did everyone in Japan speak English as well as Japanese? “Sorry, it’s just I’m looking for a Mrs. Yamada from Japan. Mrs. Noriko Yamada.”

  The young woman narrowed her eyes, but her shoulders relaxed. “You don’t look like you’re from the hotel.”

  “Please, lady. It’s really important.”

  I could see her thinking about it, but she glanced at the older woman. They spoke to each other in Japanese, and the young woman turned back to me. “This is Mrs. Noriko Yamada. She’s my aunt. She wants to know why you’re looking for her.”

  “Just don’t go near the water.” I glanced at my phone. “At least not for the next five minutes or so. It’s … there’s something wrong with the pools.” I gestured to the other pools that had emptied out. People were still standing around and staring at the water. Tapping my phone screen, I texted Archer, letting him know I’d found Mrs. Yamada. He texted back that he’d track me by my phone’s GPS and would meet me. Stay put, the text ordered.

  Letting out a breath, I looked up and smiled at the two women, but the older woman had gone really gray. Oh, no—not a vision. I blinked. She was still gray, and it was as if a ripple spread outward from the woman pulling all the color out of the scene around me.

  It was happening. Now!

  “Are you feeling okay?” I asked her.

  The woman glanced at me and asked, her voice soft and strained, “Nani?”

  The younger woman looked at her aunt. “Obasan. Daijobu.” She turned to me and folded her arms. “Just what is going on here? You know what, never mind.” She grabbed a towel from her chair and yelled, “Security!”

  The color was fully gone. The pool had gone from sparkling blue to a swirling gray. “It’s still happening,” I muttered. I whirled, hoping to spot whatever danger was headed for the older woman. I saw only the empty pools and people in the distance, standing around in small groups, looking down at the chocolate-bar scene Colin had created. Suddenly, it clicked. My gut churned, and I nearly threw up.

  I turned to stare at the older woman. “I didn’t touch you yet.”

  Both of them retreated, and the younger woman held out her towel in front of her. “If you try to touch either one of us—”

  “No. No. That means it can’t be her. It’s still the wrong Yamada. The wrong Yamada.” I whirled around.

  I was experiencing what would have been my second warning if I’d been the one to have a vision of Yamada in the first place. It was the colorblindness—so I must’ve touched the right Mrs. Yamada at some point since we arrived at the hot springs. I tried to remember all the people I’d seen in the hotel. Who had I touched? I’d rushed past lots of people, bumping into at least a dozen or more. But where was she now?

  I wouldn’t have had this warning if I hadn’t been close enough to do something. That was the rule, wasn’t it? I had to get a better view.

  Turning, I stared up at the roc
ks around this pool. They created the highest point out here. It would have to do. I climbed up on them, my hands burning as I scraped my skin. The world spun and swirled into gray. Dizzy, I clung to the top rock and turned. I stared out at the pools. I could see three of them with trees and paths dotted between, all of them ashen and hazy. The world seemed to slow, as if even time had started to crawl. One pool empty. Another also empty. Another … and that’s when I saw her.

  Black edged my vision, but I saw the woman in the water, right beside the edge of a small pool tucked away from the others. Thick palms and other plants hid the edges of it. I could see it only because I clung to the high outcropping of rocks.

  I shouted and pointed to Colin and Lisa. I half fell and half climbed down the rocks, jumping the last couple of feet. I hit the pavement hard, and pain jolted up into my knees. Staggering, I ran for the small pool. Colin got there just before me. He jumped into the water. I heard Lisa yelling for help, for security, for a lifeguard. With all the strength I had, I jumped in too.

  The water felt like a bath.

  I pushed off the bottom, against the dragging weight of my clothes, knowing what I’d see when I surfaced. I knew because of Colin’s face. I knew because the woman floated, her face down in the water. I knew because the color bled back into the world around me. The second vision ended only after the window to save someone ends. When that person is saved … or when it’s too late.

  CHAPTER 5

  I stood beside the pool with a towel wrapped around me, unable to move. Everything seemed like a movie. It all seemed like something that wasn’t really happening. Colin had pulled the woman out of the water. I think I helped, but I couldn’t remember doing anything. He’d started CPR, pressing on her chest and giving her rescue breaths. Lisa got there with help from the hotel. Sirens screamed. My clothes clung to me, wet and cold. Someone had put a towel over my shoulders. I sneezed.

  Archer arrived at some point. He looked around, his expression seeming calm. But when his stare met mine, I saw the sadness in his eyes. I turned away.