"Emily, slow down!" Hanna screamed as Emily slammed the gas pedal down the empty streets of Rosewood all the way to Radley Sanitarium. Hanna was in the passenger seat, trying to get a hold of the wheel so they didn't crash the car, and Aria was in the back seat, her doe hazel eyes wider than saucers and her face pale. She looked like she was going to be sick.

"I can't!" Emily screamed back, her eyes never leaving the road. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we end this. We need to find out what went down at the mental institution between Spencer and Mona. We could finally get some answers!"

"We can't get any answers if we get KILLED in the process!" Hanna shot back. The two friends bickered back and forth while the speedometer slowly creeped up to 70mph, and the whole time Aria just remained silent, watching two of the people she cared most about slowly begin to lose it. Unfortunately for Aria, she had already lost it.

Earlier that week, Aria had taken the girls' advice to go see Malcolm and ask whom the person who picked him up from karate looked like. She had taken out her phone and showed him a picture of Alison, and he had shaken his head "no", but then stopped when he saw the girl who's arms were draped around the youthful looking blonde. Spencer happened to be in the frame, and Malcolm pointed to her with assurance.

Aria's heart stopped, and from that point forward everything slowed down. Spencer. No. It couldn't be. Aria watched her crumble to pieces when she found out Toby was A. How could Spencer be a part of it? She asked a million times if Malcolm was positive, and he repeatedly nodded his head that he was sure. Feeling tears, and possibly vomit, in the back of her throat, Aria slowly stood up and began to walk out of the apartment, without even saying goodbye to a confused Ezra. Once she was out of the building, she stood on the sidewalk and said the 3 words she never thought she'd say:

"Spencer is A."

And with that, the tears came, and Aria fell to her knees in a fit of sobs right outside of her car to the point that she was hyperventilating. She didn't care that it had rained earlier that day and she was getting mud all over her black leggings. She didn't care that she was in full view of the entire town of Rosewood at her most vulnerable moment. She didn't care about the strange glances she was getting from onlookers as they walked by wondering why this short brunette was going absolutely ballistic in the middle of the street. All she cared about was that her best friend, the smartest person she knew, the one person she could look up to in times of trouble, the one person she would do absolutely anything for, was truly the enemy.

"We're here," Emily breathed, breaking Aria out of her thoughts. They sat in the car for a minute, as Hanna was still rubbing her neck from the whiplash, until Aria broke the tension by opening the car door with a shaky hand, the other two following in suit. Hanna gently touched Aria's arm.

"You ok?" she asked in a concerned tone. Aria could only nod her head, but Hanna noticed the dead look in her eyes. Aria's mysterious eyes were usually filled with so much hope and love. Now, however, Hanna saw something else: hurt, betrayal, and shock. She had never seen Aria this broken, but it made sense. Sure, all three of the girls were very stunned and upset when Aria bawled to them that Spencer had betrayed them like this, and they were all very close to her, but no one was closer to Spencer than Aria.

Aria and Spencer were like partners and crime, and Spencer used to always call Aria "the Scooby to her Shaggy". The two shared a special bond that no one could compete with; they were there for each other in ways that no one could understand, and had a shared admiration for each other that was very rare. Aria admired Spencer's drive and determination, and her intelligence that seemed to stretch on forever, while Spencer admired how Aria had the kind of strength and affection that was barely seen in someone of normal stature, let alone someone as tiny as Aria. They were practically sisters, and Hanna always wanted someone to be as fiercely protective of her the way Spencer was of Aria; she wanted someone to have the same desperation in their eyes as Spencer had in hers when Aria was kidnapped on the Halloween train and they had searched everywhere for her, about to give up. Spencer refused to give up, though, and she seemed at the time to truly want to save her friend. Hanna thought that if Aria were to disappear, Spencer would become a basket case; the two could not survive without each other. And for all of that to be a lie, and for Aria to have to find out herself that it was a lie, was truly heartbreaking.

They walked up to the Sanitarium walls and looked up to the nearest window, about 7 feet above. Emily measured up the distance and then turned back around to Hanna and Aria.

"Okay, it's not that far up. I'll lift one of you up there so that you can find a way to open the window, then once you climb in you help the rest of us up. I should be able to climb in last by myself. Who wants to go first?"

Emily then looked at Hanna, who looked at Aria, who looked at the ground. Emily sighed sadly at the realization that it had to come to this.

"Aria," Emily said cautiously, "are you okay with climbing up there? You're the smallest, so it should be easiest to lift you for an extended period of time while you break in."

Aria looked up at Emily, and finally croaked, "Yeah." It was the first thing Aria had said the entire evening, so Emily took it as a good sign and motioned for them to stand up against the window. Emily and Hanna linked their hands together, and Aria stepped on their hands as they lifted her effortlessly up to the window. As soon as she had steadied herself, Aria reached for the pocketknife in the inside of her jacket, and set to work on breaking open the window. She heard the lock click from the inside and immediately pushed it open. She heaved herself inside and then looked back to the ground, where Emily was hoisting Hanna up at the moment. She pulled Hanna inside, then Emily as she climbed up by herself with little trouble.

They surveyed the scene, each armed with flashlights shining on the lowest setting so they didn't draw too much attention. The room was dark and gloomy looking, with a tattered, pathetic-looking sheet lining the bed and a layer of dust on both bedside dressers. It sent shudders down each of their spines. Emily leaned toward Hanna, whispering, "Do you remember which room was Mona's?"

"14B," Hanna whispered back, "but I don't know how to get there from here. I'll recognize it when I see it though."

The girls slowly pushed the door open and entered the hallway, which, somehow, was even creepier looking than the room they were just in. It was dimly lit and so quiet you could hear water dripping from a faucet nearly all the way on the other side of the building. They walked in slow circles around the building until they finally found the room with fading letters on the door: 14B.

The room was empty, so it was unlocked. "Start looking around," Emily ordered, but before they could start, they heard frantic footsteps down the hall. The girls froze in their tracks, and before they could even make an attempt to conceal themselves, the footsteps stopped in the doorway, and before them was a tall, lean figure that they thought they had known so well.

Spencer.

"You guys have to get out of here, now," Spencer said firmly. She was still in her dress from the party her parents had thrown her that evening for being released from Radley, and looked incredibly glamorous next to the other three girls, who had changed out of their fancy clothes and into sweats that were appropriate for sneaking into the Sanitarium. The girls ignored this, however, as they stared down the girl they had come to now know as their nemesis.

Hanna's clear blue eyes turned a shade of gray. "Why should we believe anything you say?" she spat.

"I'm telling you, it's a trap!" Spencer exclaimed desperately. "You shouldn't be here. You never should have been here! They'll be here any minute to finish you."

"Right, to finish us," Emily said coldly. It took Spencer a second to realize what she was implying, but she immediately caught on.

"To finish me, too. All of us. It was their plan all along. And now they can finally execute it."

"What are you talking about?" Aria spoke up, but her voice didn't have the same venom that the others' had. Spencer took note of this, and her tone softened.

"The A-team. They're on their way. I came as fast as I could to warn you guys. I wasn't fooling anybody when I joined the team to try to infiltrate it, and now it's just made them even angrier. We have to LEAVE!"

"If you were really on our side," Hanna retorted, "you'd tell us right here and now what you know."

"There isn't time, Hanna!" Spencer shouted urgently. "We have to get out of here. Mona, Red Coat, they're all on their way."

"Wait, RED COAT?" Emily cried, clearly shocked. "Do you know who Red Coat is?"

Spencer froze, and swallowed mournfully. "I do."

Emily's stood stiff, astonished at the revelation, but quickly came to her senses. "Spencer, you have to tell us who she is."

"I can't now. We have to GO!"

"Spencer, we're not going anywhere with you until you prove that we can trust you," Hanna stated. "We're not leaving from this spot until you tell us who she is!"

"WHY CAN'T YOU SEE THAT WE HAVE TO LEAVE?! THESE COULD BE THE LAST WORDS WE EVER SAY TO EACH OTHER!"

"Spencer," Aria squeaked, "Please."

And with one look at the anxiety and fear swirling in Aria's eyes, and knowing that she was the cause of it, Spencer knew that there was no way they were getting out of there until she revealed what she knew. It was the least she could do. For Aria she would do it. She took a deep breath and said it.

"Ali. Ali is Red Coat."

Emily, Aria, and Hanna's eyes went wide at this new and confusing information, but before they could process it all, a THWACK was heard across the room, and Spencer fell to the ground.

The girls looked up to find a girlish figure clad in red and gripping a heavy metal flashlight. She was hovering over an unconscious Spencer, her long blonde hair concealing her face. She slowly raised her head, and the sight of her face haunted all three of the girls.

The flawless tan skin. The dark blue eyes. The pouty red lips. The perfect white teeth that sparkled sinisterly when she cracked a grim smile at the girls. All were features of their presumed dead best friend. All were features that they thought they'd never see again.

All were features of Alison DiLaurentis.