Hunters in the Night Read Online Free PDF

half? Can you do that?”
    I
shrugged. “I can’t, but I have no idea if more skilled nightcrafters can.”
    “Okay
then. Let’s . . . rethink this,” he walked over to his desk, grabbed some paper
and a pen, and placed them in front of me. “Write down everything you do know how to do.”
    I
wrote down the effects of all the spells I could think of. When I was done,
Newton eyed it.
    “Interesting
list,” he said. “So you know how to make things lighter?”
    “I
don’t know if that’s exactly what it is,” I said. “I’m not actually changing
mass or anything. Just kind of providing some lift, I guess.”
    “I
noticed you don’t say any magic words when you do these things,” Newton said.
    “Yeah,”
I said. “With practice I can just think about it, and it happens.”
    “But
there are some spells you have to speak the words for?” Newton asked.
    “Yes.
If I don’t use a spell very often, or if it’s new to me.”
    “What
are these spells like? Do they rhyme?”
    “No,”
I said. “They’re not like poetry. They’re more like . . . mantras.”
    “Could
you try one now?”
    “I
could. What kind of spell do you want?”
    “Something
you haven’t done in a really long time,” Newton said as he walked over to one
of his sensor gadgets and turned it on. “I’d like to see if the data comes out
differently.”
    I
had to think for a moment to recall something that had not been part of my
usual practice rotation during my night watchman gig. The spell I’d used to
evaporate the window in Dominique’s car was one, but since I’d recently used
that maybe it wasn’t the best choice. An idea came to me after about a minute.
“Give me a plain sheet of paper.”
    Newton
reached into a nearby drawer and retrieved a plain sheet of white paper, which
he handed to me. I folded it in half to make a good crease in the middle of it,
then opened it back up and laid it on the little table next to me. Then I spoke
one of the first spells I ever learned.
    “Wood
that floats upon the air. Wings and wind, wings and wind. Light as a feather,
flapping strong. Wings and wind, wings and wind. Rising high, gliding free.
Wings and wind, wings and wind.”
    The
paper twitched, then twitched again. Then the two halves flapped up and down
like the wings of a bird. The paper gradually lifted into the air, flapping its
fake wings with stronger thrusts until it had enough lift to soar across the
room. It flew gracefully for a few seconds before hitting the wall across the
room. My flying paper instantly lost all of its magical life, and fluttered to
the floor.
    “It’s
a stupid trick,” I said. “Not useful for anything other than showing off.
That’s why I haven’t used it in a while.”
    “I’m
sure it is stupid to you,” Newton said with a wide grin. “But that was one of
the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.”
    “Then
you need to get out more,” I said. “Was the data any different that time?”
    Newton
glanced at a few of the monitors arranged around the room. “There was more
activity in a different part of your brain. That’s to be expected since you
were recalling something from memory instead of reflex this time. Other than
that, seems like it was the same as before. Fascinating.”
    Newton
kept looking at the screens, alternating his attention from one to the next. He
did this for so long that I thought he forgot I was still there. “So what do we
do next?”
    “Oh,”
he said, turning back to me. “I’ll report everything to Dominique and see what
she says.”
    “Great,”
I said. “I’m sure that will go over well. If we’re done here, I’ll just take
these gadgets off my head and be on my way.”
    “Let
me help you with that,” Newton said. In a few minutes the itchy electrodes were
off and I felt a surge of relief. My stint as a lab rat was over . . . at least
for now.
    “Well,
it was nice meeting you, Newton. Maybe I’ll see you around some time.”
    “Oh
I have no doubt