Hey there, readers (and reviewers, hint hint). Here is a special November-only ShadowsOnTheMoon story. Since I'll be off writing a novel this November I won't be able to keep up with most of my regular stories (Iridescence excluded), but a couple of weeks ago I had a dream and ended up with a voracious plot bunny and wrote 25000 words in a week and exhausted myself and this is the result. So this story will be updated frequently throughout November (every time I write 5000 words of my novel, essentially), and I hope you guys like it. I'm giving you this little taste now, and proper updates will begin next month.

Some background: it's set after season three. It will be mostly about Spencer, and of course there will be some Sparia (duh), Spoby, and a bit of Wrencer. It's dark and angsty of course, so consider yourselves warned. I don't think there's anything else that needs to be mentioned here, other than: enjoy, and please review! It honestly makes my day to see people liking my work and taking the time to let me know.

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As she took her first tentative step into the dark woods, the half-full moon dim above her head, Spencer wasn't sure what she was more scared of: finding something, or not finding anything. She glanced down at her phone, reading the message she now knew off by heart. As far as 'A' clues went, it was suspiciously specific. No wordplay, no vague hints. It told her exactly where to go, and why. Normally she'd hesitate, overthink it, try to outsmart A – but there was no time. Aria was in danger, and A had picked her to save her. It was almost certainly a trap, but that didn't matter.

Branches snapped against her face as she sped up, stumbling over a rock and scraping her hand on a tree trunk. A couple of drops of blood dripped to the ground, but she kept going, her breathing becoming shallower with fear and anticipation. Aria was out here somewhere. That's what A said. But what did that mean? Was she going to find Aria's body? The thought was too horrible to linger on.

Each step seemed harder, somehow taking her further away from her goal. At one point she reached a clearing and felt her heart leap, but the moment of distraction caused her to stumble and she went sprawling, landing on one arm. A jolt of pain shot through her, and as she scrambled to her feet she realized the clearing was empty anyway.

She kept going, wondering where her friends were. She'd tried calling Hanna and Emily, but they hadn't answered. Unable to wait, she'd rushed off by herself. She knew it was a bad idea, after everything they'd been through, with everything she knew about A, but there was nothing else to do.

Finally, after an hour that felt like a lifetime, she reached the edge of the trees. And there, lying in the middle of the clearing, was something that made her heart and feet skid to a stop. Aria wasn't moving, wasn't breathing, and there was something that looked like blood smeared across her face.

"Aria!" Spencer shouted, her voice hoarse with fear. "Aria!"

Her legs only had to hold her up for a couple of yards, and then she collapsed onto the ground beside the limp body of her friend. From this close she could see plainly that it was blood on Aria's face, stemming from a gash above her left eye.

"Oh god," Spencer moaned, hesitantly reaching out to touch Aria's shoulder. The other girl felt cold, but not deathly cold. She could feel the faint rise and fall of the other girl's chest; she was breathing. Spencer let out a sigh of relief, which was quickly followed by a wave of suspicion. A had lured her out here, but why?

Keeping one hand protectively on Aria, she looked around the clearing. It seemed deserted, but she knew all too well that A was more than able to watch from the shadows without being noticed. She knew that better than anyone; she'd only been on the team for a couple of weeks, but it was long enough to convince her of just how deadly they were.

"Aria," she said softly, turning back to her and gently shaking her shoulder. "Come on, wake up."

There was no response, but she hadn't expected one. This was more serious than the time Aria had been locked in the box on the Halloween train; this was more dangerous than anything A had ever done. Aria could die.

A rustle off in the woods made her jerk upright, her eyes once again scanning the gloom. She couldn't see anything, but that didn't make the anxiety stop bubbling up in her stomach. There was one thing she knew; she needed to get out of here.

Taking a deep breath, she scooped Aria up in her arms and got to her feet. The other girl was lighter than she'd anticipated, and she staggered backwards under the lack of the expected weight. Once she gained her balance she turned around and started heading back into the trees, needing so desperately to get out of here. To get Aria to safety.

She'd just about reached the relative shelter of the trees when she felt something slam into her shoulder. She blinked in surprise, pain not registering yet, and peered around Aria's head so she could see what had hit her. Before she could make sense of it, her shoulder exploded in agony and she let out a cry, stumbling forward. It felt like she had been stabbed, and for a wild moment she thought she had. Without thinking she set Aria down on the ground and then reached around, yanking the thing out of her arm.

It was a dart. A bright red dart, signed with the letter A. It fell from her trembling hand and tumbled to the ground, and then she couldn't make it out among the foliage. Her arm was throbbing, and when she looked she saw a welt forming, with some blood trickling down. A had actually shot her. With a dart gun.

The shock from the pain was enough to temporarily distract her from the truth: if A had shot her, it mean that A was here. Watching her. Hunting her. She picked Aria up again and hurried through the trees, her movements hindered by the pain and by the weight of her friend. By the time she made it clear of the woods, she could hardly see straight. Her fingers shook so much that she could barely open the door to her car, and as she carefully put Aria into the back seat she couldn't stop a low groan of pain from escaping her own lips.

The pain only intensified on the drive home. She tried calling Emily and Hanna, but they didn't answer. As she hit the outskirts of Rosewood she realized she needed to come up with a plan. Aria probably needed medical attention, but there would be a lot of uncomfortable questions if she dropped her off at the hospital. But she couldn't leave her alone. She settled for taking her to the Hastings house; her parents were out of town, as usual, and she could do her best to patch Aria up. If that didn't work, she could take her to the hospital.

She reached her house in just under ten minutes, and soon was staggering through the door. Leaving it open, she went back to get Aria, and carried her inside. She wasn't sure if it was the weight or the effects of the dart – was it just a dart, or had it been something more? – but the trip seemed unending. She was exhausted by the time she got to the living room, and could only just muster up the energy to lay Aria down on the couch.

The other girl still hadn't moved or even opened her eyes, so Spencer set about doing as much first aid as she could. First she pulled off Aria's jacket, which was wet with blood, and she tossed that into the laundry room. Then she got a bowl of water and a cloth from the kitchen and, sitting down on the sofa, started gently dabbing at the wound on Aria's head. It had stopped bleeding, which was a good sign, and on closer inspection it was nowhere near as bad as she'd thought it would be.

The sight of blood was making her feel woozy – or maybe it was something more – and she ran the back of her hand across her sweat-stained forehead, trying to focus on her breathing. Aria's sounded deep and almost peaceful, whereas her own was labored, every intake of breath an effort she was beginning to lose the energy for. She finished cleaning the wound and then moved on to some of the smaller cuts and scrapes, none of which needed more than a quick clean and a bandaid.

It was probably the shock, she decided. The shock of seeing Aria lying like that, not knowing whether she was alive, had caused her to jump to conclusions. As long as she took care of her, she could make sure Aria was okay. And she would be okay – if she woke up.

Spencer took the dirty cloth and the bowl of water into the kitchen, but as she reached the middle of the room she stopped, her mind blanking entirely. What was she doing here? She glanced down at the items in her hand and her heart jolted. Then the pieces slithered back into her mind; Aria was injured. She needed her. Now was no time to draw a blank.

She tipped the water down the sink and rinsed the bowl out, then cleaned the towels, listening in case Aria woke up. There was no sound from the other room, so she went about making some coffee; god, she needed it. Once she'd had a few sips of the reassuring liquid, she made her way back into the living room. Aria looked so calm she could almost just be sleeping.

Spencer sat down beside her again, propping her friend's head up on a cushion. Then she quickly checked her for signs of other injuries; there was no indication of any broken bones, any dislocations, or any major injuries of any sort. The coffee helped soothe her jangled nerves, but it didn't quite stop the tremors in her hands.

After she'd been sitting there for a while, she became aware again of the stabbing pain in her shoulder. The adrenaline had blocked it out for a few minutes, but now it was doing its best to make its presence known. She put her coffee cup down on the table and looked at her arm, scared to see the damage. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought, except there was a spider crawling up her arm.

She could feel its hairy legs creeping up her arm, each one sending tingles through her body, as it made its way up to the cut. With a muffled shriek she flicked it off, but almost as soon as it was gone another took its place, and then another, until her arm seemed to be no more than a mass of spiders.

She shook her arm and they fell off, but as soon as they hit the ground they vanished, like steam curling off water. Heart racing, she stared at the place where they were, unable to understand what had just happened. They should have run off, not just disappeared. She kept staring, but they didn't come back. Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal – or as normal as it had been all night, given the circumstances – and she chided herself for letting her guard down. Now was no time to be having hallucinations.

She turned her attention once more to Aria, who was still passed out. Leaning back, Spencer gently ran her hands through the other girl's hair, needing to physically touch her in order to remind herself that this was real, that she'd saved Aria. As long as she woke up, things would be fine.

As Spencer was getting her third cup of coffee, she heard a noise. Abandoning the cup, she rushed into the living room, almost tripping over her own feet in her haste – or was it something else? – until she was by Aria's side.

The smaller girl let out a weak whimper, and then slowly opened her eyes. For a moment they were unfocused, and then they locked onto Spencer's. At the sight of it Spencer felt weak; if she'd been standing she would have collapsed. Instead she sank down further on her knees, thanking all the gods she could think of that Aria had come back. But her thoughts were all jumbled, and now she was the one having trouble focusing.

She tried to rein her thoughts in, tried to focus on those bright eyes before her, but her vision was going black. She blinked, hard, and shook her head to dislodge the troublesome thoughts. Now was no time to black out.

"You're… awake," Spencer mumbled, feeling herself slipping sideways.

Those were her last words before she slumped over, her eyes closing as she fell into oblivion.

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Uh oh. Where do you think this is heading?