Hunters in the Night Read Online Free PDF Page A

range. This range is usually prevalent
during cognitive tasks that combine two different senses, or tasks like memory
matching. But when you’re doing whatever it is you do, your brain wave
frequency gets way above the gamma range, at precisely two hundred and fourteen
hertz. And it never wavers. It’s extraordinary.”
    “Okay,”
I said. “I’m glad we’re getting into specifics now.”
    “But
wait . . . there’s more,” Newton said with a beaming smile. “Every time you
slip into nightcrafting mode, there’s a low level effect in the area around you
— an extremely low frequency, or ELF, electromagnetic field. Can you guess what
frequency it’s at?”
    “Two
fourteen,” I said.
    “Exactly,”
Newton answered. “It’s really quite phenomenal. The frequencies are so low it
would be easy to dismiss them as ambient fields from electrical equipment or
something like that.”
    “So
what does this mean?”
    “I
have absolutely no idea,” Newton said. “So far, all we can get is data. I have
no hypothesis for what that data means. There is no scientific explanation for
what you can do. It is, for all intents and purposes, magic.”
    “Well
no shit,” I said. “Magic, you say? I’m so glad we went through all these tests to figure that out.”
    “You’re
a smart ass,” Newton said.
    “You’re
the smart one,” I answered. “I’m just an ass.”
    Newton
just nodded and tapped his tablet screen a few times before he said, “Tell me
about your background. Your records show your parents are native Hawaiian.”
    “Only
one of my parents,” I said. “My father’s family has lived on the islands for a
couple hundred years at least. My mother’s family came from Japan around eighty
years ago.”
    “I
see,” Newton said as he furiously typed some updates. “And you grew up here in
New York City?”
    “Mostly.
We moved from Hawaii to the Bronx when I was eleven. I spent a couple of years
moving around New Jersey when my mom took a job that didn’t work out, but other
than that I’ve pretty much just lived in the city.”
    “And
you didn’t have any remarkable events in your early childhood?”
    “No,”
I said.
    “Any
. . . strange family history? Grandfathers who were shamans or Shinto priests
who healed the sick or anything like that?”
    “Nothing
that I’m aware of.”
    “I
see,” Newton said. “If that’s true it might rule out any genetic factors. Maybe
we should do a historical records check on the Kai family.”
    “Good
luck with that,” I said. “Native Hawaiians didn’t even have last names until
European and American influence started. Then at some point they just started
taking on Christian names and using their Hawaiian names as last names. I
wouldn’t be surprised if there are a bunch of people named Kai in the records,
and not many of them would be related.”
    “What
about your parents?” Newton asked. “Anything strange about them? Any possible
ties to Satanism or—”
    “You
know what,” I said. “We’re not going to talk about them. They stay out
of this. You got any other questions?”
    Newton
finally took his attention from his tablet and looked back at me with sad eyes.
“I’m sorry. I really am. I know I’m prying. It’s just part of the job. But I
can tell you’re not cool with that right now so I’ll push that task back on
Dominique. How about I just stick to the science stuff?”
    “I
think that would be best.”
    “Right,”
Newton said. “Let’s move on to the kinds of things you can do with magic. Does
that sound good?”
    “I
guess.”
    “Great.
Well, we’ve already covered making things disappear and reappear. And
Dominique’s report clearly shows you can magically open locks. How about
reanimating the dead?”
    “Can’t
do that,” I said.
    “All
right then,” Newton said as he swiped a finger along his computer screen.
“That’s one to scratch off. Any experience with alchemy?”
    “Nope.”
    “How
about sawing a woman in