Magnetic Shift Read Online Free Page A

threw myself over the phone and laptop to prevent them from moving, but the coffee machine and a few other objects on the counter levitated and swirled up above my head. Cupboard doors began to open and slam shut thanks to their spring-loaded hinges.
    My first day of high school flashed in front of my eyes. It was all happening again.
    I covered my ears and ran to the bathroom, trying to escape the clanging metal and vibrating walls, but the chaos followed. Why me? Why did I have to suffer with this curse?
    I knew why. It was thanks to the father I didn’t rememberand the stupid unexplained condition he passed onto me at birth, the one that caused my iron levels to fluctuate with my emotions and allowed my body to store it all without symptoms.
    But I could live with that—and I had, for fourteen years. No one but my mother knew I could sense every metal object around me the second I walked into a room, more so if my emotions were heightened. Essentially, I was a human metal detector. But what Mama failed to explain to me was why my father felt the need to take his own life only days after surviving a power line accident when I was two, or why she kept me locked inside the house during electrical storms.
    I understood when I’d survived my own life-altering encounter with high voltage the night of her funeral. My emotions had been at their highest, my iron level through the roof, when lightning had struck. I found out that night what had driven my father to end his life. And now the curse was mine to bear.
    For three years now, I’d been dealing with this new manifestation of my ability, this new control I had over metal objects as if they were an extension of my body. I thought I’d finally mastered it—but then again, who can say for sure when emotions play a role?
    A tight-fisted knot ached behind my ribcage. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t stay here. I had to leave on Sunday before someone figured out what I could do, before they shipped me off to some institute or research facility. But did I really want to go back to face Roy and his rage?
    I leaned against the wall and faced the long mirror in front of me. My usual storm grey eyes stared back at me, blood red and panicked from the intensity of uncontrolled magneticcurrents flowing through me like a triple shot of caffeine. My eyes burned and tingled like pins and needles. They’d done the same that first day of high school, and every other time I’d lost control after that until I’d learned to contain it.
    I wasn’t doing a good job of it now, though.
    I squeezed my eyes shut and sank to the floor, rocking myself back and forth to calm my mind. Mama did that with me when I got upset as a kid. If only she were here now to take me into her arms, rock me, and tell me everything would be okay. But things weren’t okay. Every metal-hinged door flung open and slammed shut, over and over. I kept my hands over my ears to muffle the noise and prayed the shower door didn’t shatter. The walls around me shook as if a hurricane was blowing through the lot outside. My lungs burned and ached. I wanted to scream.
    Oh, God, make it stop. Make it stop.
    I hugged my legs tight to my chest, put my head down, and forced myself to concentrate on something, anything other than the chaos around me. Imagining my mother’s face was the only thing that worked in the past. That calmed me when this new ability first manifested, but as time went on, the details of her features, her smile, even the feel of her skin faded from my memory. I relied on pictures that contained some—not all—of the details my memory had lost, but it wasn’t the same. Besides, I hadn’t needed to be calmed in over two years. Why was this happening now?
    I rubbed my temples, trying to soothe them. I couldn’t think straight. All I could do now was clear my mind and wait it out, one deep breath at a time.
    It took several minutes for my rattling senses to calm, and for silence to return. What a sweet