“You were a little harsh,” I said to Colin. “And Nathan is one of those who welcomed us into the … the club.”
“Thank you, Dean,” Lisa said.
“But I have been wondering why Vidmar didn’t gift him with the visions.”
“Maybe he thought Nathan was too young?”
“Like Dean’s old?” Colin shook his head. “I’ll bet Vidmar had a feeling about Nathan too. I’ve got it. The guy’s an actor, and I should know one when I see one. He’s not even very good. He’s about as genuine as that Rolex on the table!”
The guy selling the watches stabbed out his hand, pointing down the pathway when his possible customer put a watch down and walked away. “You cost me a sale. Move it before I call security on you.”
“Oh, like you could afford any kind of cop looking at the junk you sell,” Colin snapped.
I grabbed onto both Colin and Lisa and pulled them with me. We walked in silence the rest of the way to the side entrance. By the time we made it through the gate—past the metal detector, a bag search, and through a pat-down with a guard who seemed too friendly with my body parts—the sun had climbed above the trees. Sweat trickled down my back.
A breeze teased my taste buds with food truck goodies—sugary kettle corn, hot dogs, roasted ears of corn, fresh potato chips. Signs offered the things you couldn’t smell, like fried Snickers bars on a stick. The gates had been open only a few minutes. A couple dozen people wandered past us, smiling and talking. Planes sat in the open areas around us—old ones and new ones. The canvas of the tents flapped between the planes, showing off flight patches and other items for sale. Displays fluttered with information on the various pilots who would be flying.
Every so often the noise of a plane taking off or landing buzzed in the background, but it was too early for any of the aerial shows. In front of me, a woman pushed a stroller holding a toddler, who banged a spoon on the edge of the metal with a ping-ping sound. The memory of my vision rushed back. I staggered.
Lisa’s hand on my arm steadied me. “What is it? Did you see that boy in your vision?”
I shook my head. Not him. But if we didn’t stop today’s accident, if we only postponed it by twenty-four hours, I knew I would start to see the faces of those who would die the following day. However, the timing wasn’t right. We had to hang around until this afternoon. I tapped my phone. The countdown app was front and center and practically screamed the fact that we had less than four hours.
Colin lifted his nose and gave a few huge sniffs. “I smell donuts,” he said. “And chicken and cinnamon rolls and ice cream!”
“You can smell ice cream?” Lisa asked.
Colin gave her an incredulous look. “You can’t?”
I rubbed my hands together. “Okay. Let’s do this. Let’s make some connections.”
CHAPTER 13
We began our search at one end of the food trucks. No one really seemed to mind me bumping into them since the crowd was getting larger. I touched shoulders to slip past people. I cooed at babies and patted their fat cheeks. I backed into people and told them I was sorry. Next to me, Lisa and Colin had their cameras on to record all the faces. I didn’t really recognize anyone, but it was hard to say who I had seen in my vision. Several stood out, but there were so many in danger that it almost didn’t matter. But no one seemed to mind the contact since it was such a public event.
I kept touching people, my hands shaking every time as I braced for the worst. At least I didn’t scare anyone by glazing over with any other visions. I wouldn’t know for sure until later today since we had only a short time before any accident. Pretty soon we had our hands full of giveaways. People at the displays gave us flyers about airplanes and schedules for the shows. Around us, kids wandered past with melting ice cream cones and balloons shaped like airplanes.
Hours passed and it started feeling like I was walking with a weight on my shoulders. Colin stopped us under the shade of an enormous tree. Maybe he could see my shoulders hanging low or my feet dragging. I hunched over and hugged myself, trying to pull it together again.
Colin shook his head, but he didn’t look at me. It was like he didn’t want to see me starting to fall apart. “Okay, I have seen, like, nothing suspicious. Y’know, I heard what Archer said. But I think he’s … all of them are missing the most suspicious thing.”
I eased down onto a wooden bench under the tree. “What would that be?”
Colin plunked down next to me. “McKnight.”
Lisa nodded. “Yeah, McKnight is a bit suspicious.”
Motioning for them to keep talking, I shaded my eyes with my hand. Colin braced his elbows on his knees. “You’ve never met him. You’re sure of that. I’m sure of it. Yet you had a vision of him, and that’s not supposed to be possible. So I want to see what happens when you shake his hand. You have to have some kind of connection with him. I bet it’s something psychic.”
“Oh, give me a break,” Lisa said, fanning her face. The sun and heat had pinked her cheeks.
“You don’t think we should meet him?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Oh, no, I want you to meet him too. But if you’re psychic, I’m queen of the Nile.”
“Denial, more like,” Colin said. “I bet Dean saw McKnight in a dream.”
Lisa shoved out her hand, fingers spread. “If it turns out you’re wrong—which you totally are—I get to pick the next five movies we go see.”
“Five? No way.” Colin lowered his brows. “You’ll pick chick flicks only.”
“If you’re wrong, I will. So how sure are you about this, Mr. Dean-Must-Be-Psychic?”
They shook hands, and I pushed up off the bench. Hoping they wouldn’t notice, I rubbed the sweat off my upper lip. I was nervous about meeting the pilot but not because I was worried I’d have some kind of weird bond with him. I’d seen the guy die.
Not going to happen, I reminded myself. His plane is out of service. He’ll be fine.
“Okay,” I said finally. “Let’s go find the Aussie flyer.”
Before I’d taken two steps, I heard a familiar sneering voice. “Well, if it isn’t the geek patrol!”
I turned to see Eric Feldman and Rodney Palmer standing way too close for my comfort. They blocked the path in front of us. I took a step back to get out of Rodney’s cave-bear shadow. A guy that big shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on a dead body, let alone us. He loomed behind his friend.
Eric eyed me like I’d crawled out from under a rock. Eric always had to be the best. His jeans and sneakers showed off expensive labels. His sunglasses perched on top of his head like he was too cool to wear them. Even in the summer heat, Rodney had on a black jacket with zippers and chains dangling and glinting.
“Buzz-cut barbarian,” Colin muttered.
Rodney didn’t seem to hear him, and Eric was too busy looking me up and down. “Thought you’d be home hiding in the corner of your room with your security blankie. Or over at the museum like Dr. Mickelsen told you. Hey, shoot anyone today?” Eric held his fingers up like a gun.
He’d seen me make a scene with paintballs and me shooting too many people because of my vision. He was never going to let me forget it. “Shut it, Eric,” I said. “In fact, why don’t you and your pet here head home and give yourselves a whole day of rest?”
“I can see therapy’s really been helping you,” he said with a sneer in my direction. “Dr. Mickelsen will love hearing about how antisocial you’re acting today. I’m here because of him, you know. And that means because of you. Go out and meet some new people, he says. Supposed to practice good acts, whatever that means.”
“Figures you wouldn’t know anything about that,” I told him.
I was pretty sure Eric and Rodney had started going to therapy because the teachers went easier on us. None of us had to write any of our finals, which was a good thing for Rodney. We’d skated out of school this past year, and I would bet Eric was hoping to keep doing more of that. He wasn’t dumb, just laz
y. But I was pretty sure Rodney was kind of stupid.
Lisa gestured to the two of them. “Oh, would you two just get lost, please?”
Eric leered at Lisa. “Woo-hoo, lookin’ hot today, track star. Ever think of ditching these losers for some guys who’ll show you what fun is really like?”
Lisa folded her arms across her chest. “Track star? Seriously?”
Stepping closer, Colin said, “She would, Eric, she really would, but Lisa has this rule about not hanging out with shrimpy punks.”
Eric’s mouth pinched tight. He straightened and strained upward, but Colin still had an inch more height. “Careful, Blane. Wouldn’t want to get blood on your shirt.”
Rodney raised his hand to either hit or shove Colin. Before Rodney could do anything else, one of the guys working the showgrounds called out, “Is there a problem?”
We turned to see a security guard who seemed all of seventeen years old. Scrawny and a head shorter than Rodney, he didn’t appear as if he’d last five seconds if Rodney decided to make trouble. But Eric nudged Rodney’s shoulder. “C’mon, I saw Rylee earlier. Let’s see if we can find her.”
Panic sizzled through me. Rylee? She was here? I remembered I’d said I’d text her about a movie, but I hadn’t. She hadn’t waited for me, and now she was at the air show. “Go home, Eric. This is not a good day to be here. Trust me. I’m doing you a favor.”
Eric shot a rude gesture into the air and strolled away with Rodney.
Lisa asked, her voice quiet, “Are they going to be in the accident?”
I couldn’t say for sure. “It was hard to focus on any one person during my first vision. The pilot was the only one I really remember, but those guys weren’t on the list.”
“Oh, I have to show you something,” Colin said. He held up his phone. He tapped the screen a couple times and turned the display to show a map with a blinking dot. “That’s Archer’s location. I downloaded a custom app that lets me ping the GPS coordinates of any other, uh, CS phone. You want to see where Nathan is? Or Sarah? I figured they watch us all the time. Maybe we should turn the tables a bit.”
I put a hand over Colin’s phone. “I think Lisa and I both have enough of an issue with the CS pretty much being able to spy on anyone, anywhere, without us spying on them. Come on, we need to find that pilot.”
We headed for the hangars that had been set up behind the grandstands.
The VIP seats gave attendees a shaded area to watch the air show. People were gradually heading that way since the stunt flights were due to start soon. Behind the stands, tents stretched out in temporary hangars for the pilots and their planes. We saw planes lined up there for takeoff. Fuel trucks stopped by the planes on the runway, and mechanics in coveralls hurried around, looking after the planes. The runway was a distance away, but the fuel trucks returned to a station pretty close to the grandstands.
I wondered if we’d have any trouble getting in. A fence ran around the hangar area, with only one gate on this side. A security guard stepped forward, but Colin flashed his phone and the man waved us through.
“Okay, what did you do?” Lisa asked.
Colin smiled and showed her his phone. She snickered. Colin turned his phone screen toward me. “A VIP ticket?”
“Gold pass. But I didn’t do anything—it’s from the CS. Check your phones. I think they sent them to everyone.”
Lisa and I both checked, and sure enough, we had special tickets, too, that would let us in to any area of the air show. “Cool,” I muttered.
We strolled past the hangars like we owned one of the planes here. I hung on to my backpack with one hand and my phone with the other so Lisa and Colin wouldn’t see my shaking fingers. My insides felt like they’d been stuck in one of those cotton candy machines that swirl around and around.
Still no McKnight. No F-86 plane with the black and red stripes. I fiddled with my phone and pulled up a photo of McKnight and his plane, as if I didn’t have his face burned into my memory. But messing with my phone gave me something to do. And then Lisa nudged my arm, and Colin stopped in his tracks, almost making me bump into him.
In front of us, I saw McKnight, just like he had been in my vision, wearing flight gear and sort of a uniform with patches. Lean face and a wide, smiling mouth. Sharp eyes. He placed a hand on his plane. A lady stood nearby holding a little girl by the hand. The girl broke free and skipped over to McKnight, and he scooped her up, so I knew she must be his daughter.
A couple stood in front of McKnight, taking his picture. And right next to them I spotted a familiar figure. As I watched, Nathan turned and gave me that two-fingered salute he liked to use. I stayed where I was, unable to move.
He strolled over to us. “I see you found the action.” Nathan smiled and nodded at McKnight. “So far, so good. I’ve disabled the fuel pump on McKnight’s plane.”
Colin stared at Nathan. “I thought that guy Paul already disabled the plane. That they’re waiting for a part?”
Nathan’s smile froze, but he lifted a shoulder as if it didn’t matter. “Hey, anything that keeps him on the ground, right?”
“So you know all about airplanes now?”
“Colin,” Lisa said, her voice low.
“No, it’s okay. It’s good to learn about each other’s skills. Everyone in the CS needs a wide range of talents. I’m working toward a pilot’s license—fixed-wing and rotary.”
“As in a helicopter?” I asked.
Nathan seemed smug. “You never know what kind of skills you might need. The Congregatio de Sacrificio sends us into various situations and places.”
Lisa looked around. “Uh, should you really mention that name here?”
“I know. Dumb name. But it’s tradition. The CS isn’t much better, but at least you could tell people that means something like Citizen Safety or Confirmed Sightings,” Nathan said. “The whole secret thing, that’s another tradition that gets in the way more than it helps.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
He nodded to McKnight. “Wouldn’t you rather go over to him and just tell him you had a vision of him dying so he could change his own possible future to a better one?”
Colin gave a snort. “He’d think I was crazy.”
“He wouldn’t if he, and everyone else in the world, knew about the CS.” Nathan spread out his arms. “Think of it. You’d be better than the FBI—you’d be trusted, honored. People would go out of their way to be nice to you because you might save them someday. The world would like us if they knew about us. All this secret stuff, it’s just getting in the way.”
“But you keep things secret,” Lisa said. She sounded about as worried as I felt. Was this why Vidmar had never given Nathan the gift? Because he didn’t really believe in the CS?
Nathan gave a laugh. “Sorry. Got on my soapbox, didn’t I? The things I would change if I ruled the world. I better go and touch base with Hank and Sarah and let them know we’re good for today at least. Hey, you guys want something to eat? I’m buying.”
I started to say no, but people crowded around McKnight now for his autograph and more photos. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to even get close enough to touch him. Lisa, Colin, and I followed Nathan to the food trucks.
He bought us all chicken skewers and lemonades. I’d just bitten into my meat on a stick when I heard Eric’s voice from the next truck over. It sounded like he was teasing someone. I couldn’t hear everything, but I could hear the sneer in his words. “Oh, don’t be such a crybaby.”
I put my chicken back on the paper plate. Then I heard Rylee say, “Stop it, Eric. Stop!”
CHAPTER 14
Fists bunched tightly, I headed for Rylee. I felt my pulse tapping in my neck, and my face started to burn. If he’d hurt her …
Pushing through the crowd, I saw Eric standing next to Rylee. He had her purse in his hand and held it away from her. She appeared red-eyed and scared. I called out Eric’s name, and he turned to face me. Rodney stepped in behind his buddy for su
pport.
Ignoring Rodney, I squared off with Eric. But I said, “Rylee, what’s wrong?”
She gave a small sniff. “He just won’t give me my purse back.”
“Oh, come on. I said I was buying you lunch.”
“Give her purse back.”
Eric shoved Rylee’s purse at her, and she took it, her hands shaking. “I’m still buying you lunch!” he told her. “And you … you can just butt out.” Eric shoved me.
I heaved him back. He came at me with a fist pulled back, yelling for Rodney. The next thing I knew, Nathan stood in front of me in what looked like a martial arts stance, and both Rodney and Eric were sprawled on the ground. Then he said to me, “You okay?”
“Uh … yeah.”
Rylee clutched my arm. “Thank you, Dean.” She kissed my cheek. I felt my face grow even hotter.
Nathan gestured with one hand for Eric and Rodney to stand. “You boys need to go home.”
“But we haven’t even seen—”
Nathan lifted his hand, cutting Eric off. “Not another word. Get out or we have round two.”
Eric scrambled to his feet. Rodney pushed up and lowered his head like he was thinking of charging at Nathan. Eric put a hand on his arm. “Tomorrow. Fine. I’ll make sure my dad—and yours—hears you’re hanging out with gangs now.”
Moving fast, Nathan grabbed Eric’s arm and twisted until Eric cried out. Rodney swung, and Nathan grabbed his fist with his other hand. I pushed Eric away from Nathan and faced him. “Let them go. It’s not worth the trouble. We have bigger worries.”
For a minute, Nathan just stared at Rodney, his eyes cold. He gave a small nod and let go. He held up a finger. “Don’t push me, kid. Now get out of here.”
Muttering, Eric stumbled away. Rodney followed him. Nathan turned to me. “I’m going to make sure those two leave. Your girlfriend okay?”
“She’s not my girlfriend. I mean, she’s a girl and a friend, but not—”
“Got it. Buy her a soda or something.”
I moved over to Rylee. “What are you even doing here?” I pulled her hand off me. “Didn’t I say today wasn’t a good day for the air show?”
Impact Page 10