There was a slim piece of metal at the base of her skull, just visible below her hairline if she tied her hair back. It was about a half-inch wide, perfectly circular, and had a tiny little piece of blackened plastic at its centre.

Rhiannon had no idea where it had come from. She didn’t know how visible it was, either. She knew it had been present when she woke up that morning, a slight ache betraying its existence. Someone had put it there while she’d been asleep, she assumed. She didn’t think she ever slept so deeply, and only her roommate should have been able to reach her while she slept.

Which was why, when her roommate rolled home late at night, Rhiannon wanted to get clear. Too suspicious.

She was on her way out of the door when her roommate punched the button on her remote control. Rhiannon froze in place, her back to the other woman. Her brain froze too. Everything paused.

“I’m sorry it has to be like this,” her roommate said. “But only because if I could, I’d have taken you over entirely. All I could go was give you a weak spot. A single point where I can inject new thoughts and behaviours.

“Every time you turn your back on me, I can make you more truly mine. So please, Rhi - run away every time.”