Impact

by Steven Whibley

  Rylee blinked hard, hurt showing in her eyes. “You said you weren’t going, but here you are, and you didn’t text me.”

  I pulled in a breath. “I meant to. Really. I did. But … stuff came up.”

  She lifted her chin in the direction of Colin and Lisa. “I see. You wanted to hang out with your friends, not with—”

  I took her hand. “Rylee, can I call you? Next week? Uh, we could talk. Would you stay away from the air show until then?”

  “Next week it’ll be over. You want someone to just sit and wait for you, is that it?”

  “No, I—”

  “Never mind, Dean. Thanks for helping me with Eric and Rodney, but I think it’s better if we just—” She shook her head and walked off. I gave a groan.

  Colin came over and tapped my arm. “Your chicken’s getting cold, and your lemonade’s getting hot.”

  I glanced back at the food. I wasn’t hungry anymore. “Let’s go meet McKnight.”

  At least the crowd around McKnight’s hangar had thinned out. We poked our heads inside and saw a few guys sitting around playing cards. I didn’t see McKnight, but his wife stood near a small office, talking on her cell phone.

  The little girl I’d seen earlier skipped over to me and held up something that looked like a brick. “Wanna see my walkie-talkie?” She had an accent that made her a little hard to understand. I smiled at the girl. She looked like a storybook character with long, gold hair and a white dress. But she had chocolate smeared over her face and her walkie-talkie too. I reached for it, but she pulled it away. “It’s special.”

  Besides her accent, she had a speech problem. A lisp made her S’s come out with a hiss. Lisa bent down next to her. “Hi, I’m Lisa. Why is this special? Does the chocolate make it that way?”

  The girl shook her head. “You’re funny.” Looking up at me, she grabbed my hand. I braced for a vision, but nothing happened. The girl tugged on me. “Talk to my da.”

  “Da?” Colin said. “You mean your dad?”

  “That what I said, my da!” She pushed the walkie-talkie at me. “I talk to him when he’s flying.”

  My heart skipped a beat. “Is he flying now?”

  “No, dummy.” She smiled wide. “I’m Maddie. Who are you?”

  “I’m Dean. That’s Colin. And you know Lisa. Where’s your dad, Maddie?”

  “That’s my mom.” She pointed to the woman on the cell phone.

  “Yeah, we know that,” Colin said. “But where’s your dad?”

  With a shout, she pushed away from us. “Daddy! Talk to me on my walkie-talkie!”

  McKnight stepped into the hangar and swept up Maddie in his arms. He kissed her cheek. “I’m not flying, sweetie. You have to talk to me tomorrow to wish me luck.” McKnight spoke with an accent like his daughter. He started to walk over to his wife, and I knew I had to act.

  Reaching out, I grabbed McKnight’s arm. “M-m-may I have an autograph?” The words staggered out with a stutter, and the look McKnight gave me told me I must seem like a nutcase. Luckily, Lisa pulled out a souvenir program of the air show, and Colin shoved a pen at me so I could give it to McKnight. He smiled and signed the program.

  He handed me the program and walked back to his wife and to Maddie.

  I let out the breath I had been holding.

  Lisa let out a sigh as well. “That is the cutest little girl.”

  “And the dirtiest,” Colin said. “I think her chocolate ended up on my pen.”

  Lisa pleaded with me. “We have to save him—for Maddie! We have to.”

  I nodded, but I was sure of only one thing: I had never met McKnight before today.

  We headed back to the grandstands to meet the others. Nathan joined us there and shook his head. “We need more CS members here.”

  It seemed like we had a lot, but maybe not.

  According to the countdown we were in the final seconds—what had happened to the time? McKnight was grounded—we’d just confirmed that—but still my pulse quickened, and tension rose around us. I could see CS members bracing. I noticed Archer in the crowd, looking ready to move. You could easily spot someone from the CS—anyone not staring up at the planes was CS.

  I checked my phone, and Colin whispered. “Five, four, three, two—”

  “Could you not do that!” Lisa said in a hiss.

  “Done.”

  Countdown was over. No accident.

  He let out a whoop.

  I wished I could. But I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling this wasn’t done. I just about heard the group breath let out by the CS members. Archer came over to us. “Can I give you guys a ride home?”

  The three of us followed Archer out to his car, which he had parked next to the church across the street from the grandstands.

  I waited until Archer dropped off both Lisa and Colin, and then I asked, “Is it really over?”

  Archer’s mouth flattened. I’d been hoping for a smile.

  “You can’t spread this around—not even to Lisa or Colin. We’re worried, Dean. The CS has secretly had every aircraft being flown checked for flaws. We’re looking into the medical backgrounds of the pilots, having CS doctors check them at the air show. We’re monitoring weather reports. We’re even checking for sabotage. So far, everything looks fine.”

  “Why do I hear a big but coming?”

  “No one reported any second visions,” Archer said.

  “But you feel it too?” I slumped in the car seat. “It’s like a cloud hanging over us. There’s something else going on. I didn’t have any second visions, either, but I … the other times, when I saved someone, it felt different. It felt like it was over. This …” I let the words trail off. I didn’t know how to explain the skin-crawling feeling I had. It was worse than showing up for a test knowing I hadn’t studied.

  Archer pulled up a block away from my house. “Get some rest. We’re going to keep on this until we’re sure we have stopped any kind of accident.”

  I nodded, got out, and walked home.

  By the time I got there, I’d made up my mind. I’d spend the rest of the week at the air show. I had to make sure I’d done everything possible. If I stayed home and something happened … I just couldn’t face that thought.

  Mom had dinner on the table. I poked at it and told her I’d eaten at the air show. She told me to at least eat my vegetables. I pushed them around and finally worked up the nerve to tell them what I knew they’d find out anyway. “I can’t make the session with Dr. Mickelsen this week.”

  Simultaneously, Dad and Mom asked, “Why?” I knew neither of them was happy.

  Pushing my food around on my plate, I glanced at Becky. She sat at the table with a spoon holding mashed potatoes in her mouth. My parents were waiting for an answer. What should I say? I have to stop people from dying, but I’m not even sure they will now? Not exactly great dinner conversation.

  “It’s just this week … uh … it’s a second session in a week and I don’t even really need to go. I just …” I ran out of words again.

  Dad put down his fork and folded his hands in front of him. I knew that meant he was really serious about this. “Dean, I thought you wanted help.”

  “I do, but …”

  Mom reached out and put her hand over mine. “Is it Eric? Is he causing trouble for you?”

  I shook my head. “No more than usual. But … I … well, Dr. Mickelsen gave us this assignment to go back to the museum. And we haven’t gone yet. We haven’t worked up the nerve. I can’t go back to therapy until we do that, and I, you know, need to write down my feelings like he said.”

  Becky stared at me, and I could swear I heard her snort, but she dug up another spoon of mashed potatoes and put it in her mouth.

  Mom patted my hand. “I’ll take you to the museum tomorrow.”

  “No!” I almost shouted the word. Becky’s spoon clattered onto her plate. “I mean, I have to do this on my own. Dr. Mickelsen talked about us having to face our pasts.” I bit my lower lip. D
id that sound lame or what?

  Mom and Dad swapped looks, and I could see a long Dean, we need to talk meeting coming. If only I could put it off a few more days, at least until the air show was over. “It’s not easy talking Colin and Lisa into this, but I think they should be with me since we all got into this together.”

  Dad pressed his lips really tight until they almost disappeared. But he and Mom both nodded. I offered to help clear up dishes, which got me more strange looks from my folks. Becky kept watching me like she knew I was ducking her. After dinner, I locked myself in the bathroom to avoid her.

  Sitting on the edge of the bathtub, I texted Colin and Lisa.

  Come over. Not done yet.

  I hid out until Colin arrived. Lisa showed up five minutes later, and I took them to my room. We were all a little squashed, and it was either sit on the floor or my unmade bed. We spread out on the floor.

  I told them what Archer had said. “But don’t tell him I repeated it. I’m not supposed to tell you, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t. I just don’t think Archer wants everyone knowing everything.”

  Colin said, “He doesn’t want Nathan knowing.”

  Lisa pulled out the pillow she’d been sitting on and hit him with it. “Will you stop that?”

  “Only if you stop,” Colin said, rubbing his arm.

  “Fine. Truce,” Lisa said.

  “Good.” Colin pulled out some papers he’d printed off. “I’ve been doing a little night work this evening. This is the flight plan for McKnight. It puts him over a small section of woods for his stunts.” Colin pointed to part of the map.

  Lisa asked, “Where are the grandstands?”

  Colin moved his finger to a square on the map. “Here.”

  “That really is a long way away from those woods.”

  “There’s got to be something else going on,” I noted. “How could McKnight cause so many other deaths when he’s not flying over where everyone is watching?”

  Colin looked up from the map. “The one thing we keep coming back to is that you had the first vision of just McKnight—only you had it and only McKnight dies in it. That’s got to be the key to everything.”

  I sat back, my hands braced on the floor behind me. “But did I really? What if that vision was just stress coming out?” I knew it didn’t work like that. I was grasping and hated that I felt so desperate.

  “Did it feel like that?” Lisa asked. I shook my head and wasn’t surprised by what she said next. “Okay, then it’s not that.”

  Warmth tingled in my chest. Even if I wasn’t sure I believed in myself, Colin and Lisa did.

  Colin said, “I don’t care what that Hank guy says or that old guy or anyone at the CS—”

  “Nathan seems—”

  “Don’t start that again!”

  Colin and Lisa locked stares. She looked away first and nodded. “Sorry. My bad. But I was just going to say he seems to like Dean.”

  “Guys, can we get back to what we are going to do tomorrow?”

  Colin said, “Wear your hiking boots. We’re going to scout the woods.”

  The idea sounded easy. But it turned out to be harder than we thought.

  I’d fallen asleep right after Colin and Lisa left. I didn’t dream. I don’t even think I moved. I woke up stiff, my pillow covered in drool, and Becky pounding on my door telling me to get up for breakfast.

  In the kitchen, Becky watched me like I was going to steal her cardboard box of teeth. She had it out sitting on the table as she wrote out more labels. I asked Mom, “Does she have to have them around when we eat?”

  Mom ruffled my hair. I got out of there fast enough that Becky couldn’t follow without leaving her tooth collection behind. I heard Mom telling her to be sure to put them away where they’d be safe.

  “Yeah, from me,” I muttered. If I got the chance, I’d bury the entire box.

  CHAPTER 15

  I met up with Colin and Lisa, and we rode the bus out to the fairgrounds. We got off one stop early and headed for the woods.

  The woods were really just a bunch of pine trees and oaks. They grew in a clump like someone had pushed them together and left them in a thick group. They screened part of the fairgrounds from the road, and the air show looked to be using them to shade a lot of the trucks that fueled the planes. They were parked in a line, and we could smell the jet fuel. I also spotted the poison oak right away: small bushes with some bright red leaves.

  I pointed the poison oak out to Colin and Lisa. “Don’t touch it unless you want to itch for a month.” I’d made that mistake once at summer camp.

  We went around the poison oak and headed deeper into the woods. Branches scratched my arms, and I heard Colin curse and slap at mosquitoes.

  Lisa scolded, “Didn’t you put on sunscreen and bug spray? What kind of spy are you?”

  “One who does his best work in cities,” Colin told her. He slapped his arm, trying to squash another bug.

  His slap echoed around us like a shot. Overhead, a group of birds took off. Black and small, they circled three times and came back to settle in the treetops again.

  I stared up at the birds and then wondered if we were walking on a lot of bird droppings. I looked down to check and saw the footprint. “Hey, guys?”

  Colin and Lisa stepped up beside me. “Is that your print?” Colin put his shoe next to the footprint, but the mark in the soft ground was a lot longer and more narrow.

  “It’s not mine, either,” Lisa said, bending her knee to hold up her foot. “My shoes have special tread marks.”

  “Well, it’s not mine.” I bent down to touch it. The edges seemed soft, meaning it wasn’t that old. “Hikers, do you think? Someone out for a stroll here?”

  Colin swatted at another bug biting his neck. “I don’t think anyone would come out here for fun—bugs, poison oak, and them.” He glanced up at the treetops where the birds had settled and chattered away now like they were yelling at us for bothering them.

  My CS phone beeped. So did Lisa’s and Colin’s. The sounds sent the birds up into the air again. We all checked the text message that came in from Archer.

  Meet me at grandstands.

  Lisa twisted her head. “How do you think he knew we were here?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe he thinks we’re at home and will be meeting him here. Or maybe he’s got an app like Colin’s and he can track us with our phones.”

  Lisa shivered. “I’m not sure I like that idea.”

  “Hey, it’s only CS members tracking other CS members. What’s the big deal?” Colin asked.

  We fought our way out of the woods and over to the grandstands. Today, it seemed even more crowded than yesterday, and I noticed a lot more people bumping into each other—CS members making connections. Archer ended up finding us. One minute we were looking for him, and the next, he just seemed to be there.

  “Peanuts?” he asked, offering a couple of bags.

  I took one since I hadn’t had much for breakfast. Colin pushed his hand into my bag and took about half. The nuts were still warm and salty, and I started cracking and eating.

  “Hey, there’s Nathan.” Lisa gave a wave. I saw Nathan right away in the nearby crowd. He gave me his two-fingered salute. I wondered if he wanted me to give one back, but I only nodded. Nathan went back to watching the crowd, but he didn’t move away from where he stood by one of the giant pillars that held up the grandstand roof.

  “Is McKnight flying today?” Lisa asked.

  Archer shook his head, but he kept watching the crowd. “We faked a phone call saying his wife and daughter were in a car accident. He’s on his way to the hospital and won’t perform today.”

  “That seems a little mean,” Lisa said.

  Archer glanced at her. “Better a small scare for him like that than a big accident for a lot of people. There’s been a lot of talk in the CS about the means we use to avoid accidents. A lot of other people think like you, Lisa, and don’t want the CS doing anything that’s … well,
maybe not a hundred percent honest. But if I had to balance a rulebook against a life, I don’t see that as a hard choice. It’s like the tech we use at the CS now. Whatever lets us get the job done is a good thing, and the CS is going to have to keep adapting and changing to keep up with our members, and our visions.”

  I nodded. To me, what Archer was saying made sense. But I could see how people like Hank might not want to change. My dad always said the need to change and the will to change were two different things.

  Archer led us to some chairs, and we sat down. Colin stole the rest of my peanuts, and I started looking around to see who else was here from the CS.

  Lisa kicked the leg of her chair and turned to Archer. “How’d you get into this, anyway? How’d you get the gift?”

  Crumpling up his empty peanut bag, Archer threw it and landed it in a trashcan. He shifted on his chair, and I thought it wasn’t just because the wood was hard. “It’s not actually a good story.”

  “Are there any good stories?” I asked. “We deal with people about to die, so not too much funny stuff.”

  “Besides,” Colin said, brushing the peanut shells off his jeans, “we need to know more about you. Heck, about everyone in the CS. Don’t we?”

  Archer stared at the crowd around us. He looked from me to Colin to Lisa and back to me. Sitting up, he cleared his throat. “Do you remember meeting Matthias Paulsen?”

  “The old guy?” Colin asked. “He didn’t like us.”

  “It’s not a matter of like. Matthias has been with the Society for … well, it might as well be forever. Anyway, he gave me the gift—he also gave it to Sarah.”

  “That’s two,” Lisa said. “He no longer has his gift?”

  “He was old when I first came into the CS and already having trouble getting to people fast enough,” Archer said. “The thing is, I can’t tell my story without telling you hers. But it’s not a secret. You see, Sarah was married to an excellent man named Jacob Pickett.”

  “Was he part of the CS?” Lisa asked.

  “No. At the time, neither of them knew about the CS. Matthias just happened to live next door to them. I was Matthias’s apprentice, so I was at his house all the time.” Archer flashed a quick smile. “Sarah and Jacob were more like family to Matthias. They even had a weekly cribbage night that I tried to avoid.”