Read The Tempering (The Mackenzie Duncan Series) for Free Online

she run away? No, she was a strong woman; she didn’t run away from anything. Even when she was younger with an over-critical mother, a father in jail, and no money to even buy new clothes at Wal-Mart, she never gave up. She always fought for what she wanted and was as headstrong as they came.
    She could handle it. She just knew it.
     
    ~*~
     
    As the day continued, her strength became harder to control, her sense of smell had her running for a toilet to puke when she walked by the boys restroom and the door opened, sending out a whoosh of pungent air. She was able to hear the faintest moans that came from her neighbor’s apartment from the downstairs entryway, and she was angry all day. The tip on her pencil broke in class and it infuriated her so much that she threw it across the room, promptly followed by her explosion of curse words when the professor asked her to leave his classroom if she was going to act like a toddler. She knew she should have blown off classes and gone for a run.
    When her final class concluded, she practically ran to her apartment to pack a bag. She had never been camping and she wasn’t even sure that she would stay the whole night. If the books were right, the change would happen the minute the full moon rose to the highest point in the sky.
    Stuffing a few water bottles, some energy bars, and a blanket into her backpack she headed out. Looking at her apartment one last time, she closed and locked the door, wishing she could go back inside and hide under the covers. As she left her building, she was filled with dread. She really hoped she was just insane. It would honestly be the better option of the two.
    With every step and passing minute she moved closer to Middlesex Fells, she felt more and more like she was walking in someone else’s skin. Her heart was heavy and tears spilled down her face as she thought about everything she might be losing—how she might be losing herself in the whole thing, too. When she finally got to the first trail of the reservation, she started to get angry. Angry at the damn wolf for biting her, angry with the doctor for not listening to her, angry with Jordan for not believing her, but mostly angry at how stupid she had been to wander through the park at night alone.
    Why couldn’t she have just stayed at the stupid game? Why had she let her temper flair up and piss off The Final Club? Why hadn’t she just pissed them off more by actually staying for the rest of the damn game? So many things could have happened differently to make this easier on her. Why did she have to be the one with everything working against her?
    As the sun was setting, Mackenzie worked through some of her anger and frustrations by smashing through the trees. She ripped plants from their roots, destroying anything that stood in her path. Rocks were picked up and thrown and she screamed out in a strange almost animal like noise she had never made before. Somehow decimating anything that came into her path made her feel better.
    The cave came into view just as Mackenzie realized she had been walking in the dark and that time had gotten away from her. Looking up, she saw that the moon was nearing its highest point. Not knowing what else to do, she stepped forward until she was bathed in the moonlight and waited. After a few moments, she decided she was indeed insane. She turned to walk back, but before she could go more than two steps, the worst possible pain shot through her body. As she fell to the ground, pops and cracks resounded from her arm and her neck twisted off to the side. Her heart raced and sweat bathed her skin.
    She had to get to the cave. If she could, she could try to push the boulder in front of the door and keep everyone, including herself, safe. Crawling and clawing her way through the forest floor, she cried out with every bone and every muscle that was slowly torturing her from the inside out. The pain was so excruciating that she nearly tried to twist her own neck,