Page 36 of Shattering Dawn
He took a moment to consider her demand and then he evidently came to a decision. “I can’t view auras or prints the way you do, but I’m good at picking up certain currents in the human energy field. Currents that come from a very specific portion at the far end of the spectrum.”
She watched him for a moment, wondering what he wasn’t telling her. “What portion?”
“I sense the energy that generates dreams,” he said in an unnervingly neutral voice. “Nightmares, to be precise.”
Her mouth went dry. “Nightmares?”
“According to Uncle Shelton, dream energy is the likely source of all the psychic senses. When you use your talent you tap into the dreamstate.”
“While you’re awake?”
“That’s right,” he said. “And that’s what makes it so damned tricky to handle a strong psychic vibe. If you can’t control the dream energy while you’re awake it will overwhelm your normal senses. It can literally drive you insane. Think hallucinations. Voices. Visions. Delusions.”
“Are you telling me you see other people’s nightmares?”
“No, for which I am profoundly grateful. I don’t even want to think about what it would be like to have a front-row seat for other people’s nightmares.” Gideon ate a bite of the fish he had ordered. “My own are bad enough.”
She speared some of her roasted yellow cauliflower and thoughtabout the paintings on the walls of his library. “That must be a very…annoyingtalent.”
The wordsterribleandawfulandscarycame to mind but she didn’t think it would be polite to go there. The conversation was weird enough.
Gideon watched her with a look that told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“My talent occasionally has its uses,” he said.
“In your work as an investigator, do you mean?”
“Yes. You see, I’m not just good at picking up the currents of a person’s nightmares. I can trigger them.”
She put down her fork with great care. “You could send me into a nightmare? While I’m awake?”
“While you’re awake.”
She swallowed. “What would happen?”
Gideon’s eyes got a faint, silvery sheen. He watched her intently. She knew he was waiting to see how she would react to what he was telling her.
“Turns out the human mind can’t deal with that kind of sensory overload,” he said quietly. “It shuts down. Sometimes permanently.”
“Are you telling me you cankillsomeone with their own nightmares?”
“I can use your own nightmares to scare you to death, Amelia.”
Chapter Eighteen
Her phone rang.
Amelia flinched.Of course I flinched, she thought.The man on the other side of the table just informed me that he could murder me with my own dreams.
So much for concluding that she had hired the right investigator. Was he telling her the truth? Was murder by nightmares even a thing? Was he delusional?
She reminded herself that the strength in his energy field had been rock-solid stable.
The phone rang again. The couple at a nearby table glared. She raised a hand in apology and yanked the device out of her bag. She expected to see Talia’s or Pallas’s name but she flinched again when she saw the identity of her caller. She started to decline but, on impulse, changed her mind.
“Why, hello, Dr. Pike,” she said, lowering her voice and infusing it with all the cheery warmth and charm she could summon. “I wasn’t expecting you to call. I’m afraid this isn’t a very convenient time.”
On the other side of the table, Gideon’s brows rose. She could not tell if he was amused or merely curious. Maybe both.