Run! shouted the lizard that lives at the base of my brain, but I just stood there, rooted like a tree. I’d seen Emily throw the switch, but I still couldn’t believe it.

Run, God damn you!

Emily. It had been Emily all along; Emily who’d laid all the traps, Emily who’d dosed my wine with neurotoxins. Emily who had killed poor Michael by mistake, when he stole my wine at the party.

Emily, who had only been pretending to be in love with me, to get close enough to kill me. Why?

What the hell does it matter why? screamed the lizard. Go!

It would be close. The generator had begun to spin, but the capacitors would need a few more seconds to charge. I might be able to make it to the Faraday cage, and inside, but I’d have to be fast.

I turned and ran.

The hair on my neck rose as the lightning bolt chased me down the hall.