Chapter Two
Hannah Marin was determined that this was the last time she was going to willingly spend any length of time in a hospital. Visiting Mona had been creepy and intense, staying in hospital when –A had run her over and attempted to kill her had been uncomfortable too – particularly awakening to find a threatening message scrawled across her cast. Lying beside Caleb, whose soft snores were only interrupted by the beeps and whirrs of the medical equipment arrayed around the room, Hannah reflected she wouldn't be coming back to hospital any time soon – of that she was certain.
At last Caleb stirred and Hannah squeezed his hand slightly, bringing him around a little quicker. He blinked a few times, his dark, long hair messy as he shook his head slowly and sat up in bed, shuffling backward.
"Do you want me to get a Nurse?" Hannah said, already rising.
"No," Caleb said suddenly and Hannah sank back to her chair abruptly, "we need to talk." After a moment's confusion, Hannah nodded, understanding what he meant.
She frowned, "They haven't found a shooter…they know Lyndon didn't do it…they think there was a fourth person in the Light House. Do you remember who?"
Caleb was still a little disorientated, but thought back to that night. He could see the blood already, the blood on Emily's hands and hear the thud of the knife as it dropped to the floor. She wrapped her arms around him, and squeezed tightly, her dark hair drifting softly – there had been a draft – and then the ringing sound. He dropped to the floor, clutching at his side and then the darkness had swallowed him. There was a face – pale and youthful. It was also a male face. The blurriness was clearing as he focused in on the face, there were dark eyebrows and his lips were…trembling. His face was a stark contrast to his all-black attire. Caleb re-entered the hospital room and realised he must have left Hannah waiting a few minutes.
"I think," he said, weighing it out, "I saw Lucas…maybe."
He had expected shock, maybe even sadness…but Hannah's expression caught him off-guard.
She was laughing – and at any other time Caleb would have loved to see her happy. Her cheery expression, coupled with her piercing blue eyes and glowing blonde hair…would've been perfect…except now. This was serious, except evidently she didn't see it that way.
"Sorry," Hannah apologised, seeing his hurt expression, "it's just…you know…a little ridiculous. I mean Lucas? Sure he's been…a little shady at times…but shooting you? He doesn't exactly have a motive!"
"Does –A ever?"
Hannah giggled again, "Lucas? –A? Caleb you have to be kidding me right now."
"I'm not," he grabbed at her hand again and suddenly she realised he really meant it, "I can't say exactly why but I…I just know he was there. I saw him Hannah."
Hannah took in a deep breath, taking in what he was saying.
"So…let's just say for a moment – and I'm not saying I do believe this yet – but let's say Lucas is –A. Why would he go after you, and shoot you? I know –A tried to run me over once, but shooting you is a little extreme…especially without a motive." Hannah theorised aloud.
Caleb's lips curled in uncertainty, "Well you did turn him down Hannah, maybe he's still carrying a torch for you, and wanted to get me out of the way?"
"That's a little…sloppy though. –A doesn't seem to like loose ends."
"He knows I know about –A…maybe he only wants you four to know about him. So this is his way of getting me out of the situation?" Caleb prodded.
Hannah frowned, "Alright…say that he's doing it cause he dislikes me. Lucas has no beef with Spencer or Aria or Em…with Alison…there's history…but that isn't motivation enough to go after all of us. Is it?"
Caleb weighed it up – Hannah was right.
"Did you ever consider –A was more than one person?"
"Sure," Hannah laughed thinking about their theories, "I mean Noel Kahn, Garrett, Jenna, Lucas...but it was Mona. There's just someone else who's taken her place as –A. They've been trying to toy with us all though…so it can't be Lucas. And you can't think Mona's doing it again…she's practically locked up in a straight jacket in Radley!"
Caleb gave her perhaps the darkest look he ever had.
"That's not what I mean. I think that there's a group of people working under the pseudonym –A. Mona was just a part of the Team and then she got taken out of the loop…now the others are picking up the slack. Maybe Mona was the restraining influence on them – because of your friendship?" Caleb suggested tentatively.
Hannah gave him a scared look and bit her lip in frustration, "Then…then things are a lot worse than we thought they were."
Caleb squeezed her hand affectionately, "It doesn't have to be – you have a Team of your own too, and it clearly rattled their cages that more people know what they're doing. We can take them down Hannah."
"I still don't think Lucas is a part of it."
"As long as you accept the theory, then I don't mind. Just be careful."
She nodded affirmatively, "I need to tell the others…do you mind?"
He shrugged, "I'm not exactly going anywhere." He smirked and Hannah stood up, bent down and pecked him softly on the lips.
She turned to leave, "I'll come back later." She smiled sweetly and blew him a kiss before departing, already dialling Spencer's number.
._.
"Earth to Spencer?" Emily called jokingly, a piece of pasta on the end of her fork dangerously close from Spencer's cheeks. Spencer clicked back in and shrank back, batting the pasta away from her with an annoyed look on her face. "Hey, come-on," Emily implored, "it's just a joke. You've had a glazed over look all lunch – what's on your mind?"
Spencer leaned close and looked to make sure no-one was paying them any undue attention, "I got the weirdest text from –A."
"It can't be that strange?" Emily probed, an inquisitive look spreading across her face.
"-A warned me off Toby for some reason…and said that two can play games…whatever that means," Spencer produced her phone from her bag and handed it to Emily who scanned it and handed it back to Spencer, "it's just so out of character."
"I got the same kind of text…and a clue," Emily admitted, and Spencer's face lit up with the possibilities, "at least I think I did. After I broke up with Paige, I went to Maya's website…since I thought she could you know…make me feel better. There was a new video upload…Mona was in a room with Noel Kahn, Lucas, Garrett and someone else. Lucas was the one who shot Caleb," Spencer's jaw dropped at that revelation, "and Noel's going to be targeting one of us soon…except I don't think it's me. Someone who he's connected to."
"Aria," Spencer said definitively, "but why would –A expose themselves like that? That makes no sense. What'd the text say?"
Emily frowned, "That the video was a game changer…or something, and that I should fear the lone wolves more than the pack."
"This makes no sense, why would –A tell you that, and show you a video."
"Maybe…they're trying to psych us out?" Emily suggested.
Spencer shook her head, "They don't want to freak us out by sending us this…there are better ways to do that…this is just confusing."
"Do you think that's what they want?" Emily had a look consistent with a rabbit in the headlights on her face.
Spencer shrugged, "I guess…maybe this is meant to throw us. The mystery person – maybe the suggestion is that's someone we know too – a sleeper agent maybe?"
"Who do we trust then?"
"Each other."
"Aria has to be –A's next target then," Spencer thought back to her earlier conversation with Aria, her frown matching Emily's, "and I know exactly what A will use against Aria. We need to fight fire with fire – if you got that text last night then –A will have already started moving against Aria. Call her."
Emily rocked her head concurringly, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialling Aria's number, putting it on speakerphone so they could both talk. It rang a few times, then a few more times, and then rang out, before Aria's bright, sunny voice came on with her recording message. Emily ended the call and angrily stuffed it back into her pocket, "What do we do now?"
Spencer had been distracted, realising that since Aria normally always picked up on the first ring, she wouldn't answer she had started scanning the crowd and spotted someone that could help them. She waved and the blonde-haired girl crossed, dressed in a shocking scarlet maxi dress and took the empty seat, next to Emily.
"Hey guys," Cece greeted brightly, "what's up?"
"How do you feel about covert-ops tonight?" Spencer grinned mischievously.
Cece returned the smile, "Exciting – so who are we tailing?"
"First a little recon," Spencer said, Emily watching her carefully, "do you remember anything about Alison's relationships with some guys named Garrett or Lucas? Or anything that she said about Noel Kahn?"
Cece ruffled her face, and Spencer was half expecting her nose to wiggle with the expression, but didn't mention it in case she upset Cece. In a few seconds she was uncontrollably sniggering, Spencer offered a quizzical look.
"Sorry," Cece said, still laughing a little though it was dying away now, "I just remembered her thing with that Lucas guy. He was the one who she said was a hermaphrodite right? Hermie. I don't remember anything about the other two…sorry…nothing in particular anyway. Spencer sighed, clenching and unclenching her fists to radiate away some of her frustration. "So where are we going tonight? Now you've done your little recon?" Cece's smile was both disarming and ferocious.
Emily turned to face her, "Actually I think-"
"-we," Spencer said looking at Cece, "are going to the Kahn's Cabin on a little fact-finding trip," she turned to Emily next who looked extremely uncomfortable, "you're gonna pay a visit to our little friend at Radley."
._.
Emily couldn't quite believe she was playing dress-up, or that she was seriously dressed as a Nurse, although Spencer had been insistent that they had to start moving under the radar like –A. Emily strolled up to the desk confidently and stood, dinging the bell, and waiting for a receptionist to come and attend to her needs. She paused and waited, frowning and going over her lines in her head.
"Hello dear," an elderly woman greeted, "may I help you? Do you have an appointment?"
"I just got transferred here from," Emily wracked her brains for the name of another hospital and couldn't find anything, "another facility," she hoped that sounded professional, "I was asked to check up on one of your patients – Mona Vanderwaal?"
The elderly receptionist frowned for a moment and Emily was sure her face must have been giving something away. She'd already ruined the plan by being so unconvincing…there was no way she was going to get in to check Mona was still locked up tight and get a conversation out of her. Just perfect. Emily forced a smile, hoping the elderly woman would come back with something positive. She was typing furiously and then picked up the phone, speaking in low tones. A door flew open to her left admitting Wren, with a confused look on his face. Emily turned to face him and had to check she was still wearing the Nurse's uniform – Wren looked so shocked to see her.
"Doctor," Emily greeted coolly, resuming her composure, "it's good to see you again, we spoke on the phone earlier?"
For a moment Wren faltered, "Of course we did," he said, enthusiasm evident in his voice, "would you like to follow me and we'll see Miss Vanderwaal?" He flashed a confident smile at the receptionist, causing her to return to whatever she'd been doing before Emily arrived. Emily smiled gratefully at Wren, as they retraced his steps through the swing-doors and back along the sterile, white corridor. Emily shuddered involuntarily, feeling a chill and ever-growing discomfort as they passed numerous patient rooms. Somewhere in the place someone screamed and there were vulgar yells from a male patient somewhere distant.
As soon as they were out of earshot Wren pulled Emily up, his smile evaporating into an irate glare, "Would you care to explain what you think you're doing? You know I could get fired for even letting you come this far!"
Emily frowned, "I just…need to see Mona," Wren's glare was cast iron, refusing to budge, "please? It'll take…like…a minute."
Wren rolled his eyes, "One of these days I'm going to caught out helping you girls," he sighed, "come-on then."
Briskly they made their way through the corridors of the hospital, and finally arrived at the room with Mona's name affixed to it.
"Five minutes," Wren said firmly, "I'll wait outside – and don't think you're going to be coming and going as you please. That get-up might have worked once, but if it had been anyone but that old dear on reception you'd have been finished."
Emily nodded thankfully and ducked inside quietly. She scanned the room and gasped out loud. Mona's bed was perfectly made, but there was no-one sitting in it. There was no-one full stop in the room. Wren had entered as soon as Emily gasped, but the look on his face was the same confusion that had greeted Emily's arrival at the sanitarium only minutes before.
"How…how is this possible?" Emily asked. She thought back to the video and belatedly realised she ought to have expected this. She hadn't actually though anything of Mona being at the meeting – Mona had escaped and she could freely move about. They were back to square one. Then a thought crossed Emily's mind – if Wren knew she was escaping she would be taken away forcibly – to someone more secure.
"Not again." Wren said simply, "Come with me?"
Emily nodded slightly uncertainly, and followed Wren on a short walk and noted a definite change as they entered a new ward of the building. It was not quite as devoid of personality as the adult wing – this was the children's wing, it was lighter, though not notably different – except the overhead lighting was not as harsh.
Emily gasped for the second time in as many minutes as they entered the children's room. Mona, her hair perfectly groomed, and dressed in an unattractive hospital smock smiled disarmingly at Emily.
"Emily," she greeted warmly, "I've been expecting you, come play dolls with me?"
Emily gave Wren a quizzical look; he shrugged. "She sometimes imagines conversations, you wanted to talk to her – go and speak," Emily moved to go but Wren grabbed her arm, pulling her back, "five minutes only."
Emily strolled over and stood with Mona, and then leaned closer to her, hoping Wren wouldn't be able to here, "How did you escape?"
Mona's face creased with a broader smile too, "Don't be silly Emily, how could I get out? There are bars on the windows!"
Emily frowned, "I know you're getting out…somehow."
Mona's smile evaporated and suddenly there were tears on her face, "Why would you say that? I'm doing well here…I…I," her eyes fell upon Wren, "Doctor please…I want to go back to my room…she's being mean."
Wren nodded and Mona strolled over to him, Emily followed glumly in their wake. Wren settled her and then stepped outside.
"We're trying to overcome her insecurities here Emily, not make things worse." Wren said firmly.
"But she was gone and I-"
Wren gave her a reproving look that stopped her dead. "I think you all need to just leave Mona alone for a little bit, even Hannah. It's time for you to go."
._.
"Do I want to know how you got that key of Eric Kahn?" Spencer quipped as Cece unlocked the door to the cabin, stepping inside and gesturing for Spencer to follow.
Cece laughed cheerily, "Hey it was winner takes it all, and this is a nice cabin – I use to come and go here all the time before I left town," she paused, putting her hands on her hip as she surveyed the cabin, "so what are we looking for exactly?"
"Anything relating to those guys we were talking about before," Spencer pondered for a moment, "actually we're just looking for anything out of the ordinary."
Cece's eyes traced the cabin. It was a mess – but that was unsurprising, the Kahn boys were left to look after it by their parents: cleanliness was not a top priority. She looked toward the central coffee table and bent down, her eyes lighting up on a flash drive lying on the table and a folded piece of paper next to it. "Spencer I think I have something," she handed the note to Spencer while she studied the flash-drive.
Spencer unfolded the piece of paper.
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND SPENCE, I CAN'T WATCH YOUR BACK FOREVER – A.
"What was the note?" Cece prodded, her face creased in fascination.
"Nothing," Spencer said quickly, scrunching the paper up into a ball and slipping it into her back pocket, "just a blank piece of paper…probably some messed up game Noel and Jenna were playing."
Cece shrugged, "Well I have my laptop, shall we see what's on the flash drive? It's not really Eric or Noel's style to work out here."
"No, that's okay," said Spencer, snatching it from Cece, "I'll just look it up at home…we should keep looking though." Cece didn't seem fazed by that, although Spencer could tell she was resenting not being brought fully into the loop. The truth was that Cece was an important link to Alison, and she had connections that were important – especially to the Kahn brothers. Spencer crossed around the room, circling like a hawk, waiting to pounce on her prey – not that she found anymore. There were empty red-cups, a few discarded beer cans and general garbage littered about the place.
Cece didn't have any look either after the early find. After half an hour of scouring the cabin and it's many rooms they returned to Cece's car, tired and dejected – outwardly at least. Spencer was feigning disinterestedness to try and cool Cece's interest in the flash drive. She needed to examine what exactly was on it first.
._.
Aria wished she could give herself over to her normal giddy excitement that greeted attending a theatre performance with Ezra. Tonight, however, she couldn't. The text from –A was still playing freshly in her mind and she was terrified about its implications for her relationship with Ezra. Either way she was damned. If she kissed Wes, somehow Ezra would find out and they would break up. If he found out she had been lying to him about Maggie having raised his son, he would break up with her. There was no winning and she was trapped. She had to be strategic.
As ugly a thought as it was, she was beginning to suspect that she would find it easier, if it came to it, to tell Ezra she'd made out with his brother, than to tell him he had a son and she'd withheld the information from him. More and more, she felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart, every time she realised she'd deprived a father of his son. It would be like taking Mike from her Dad…it was unforgivable. Her mind swung again toward Wes.
How much easier it would be…she could even frame Wes if it came to it. Claim that he had kissed her, she hadn't wanted it or asked for it – it had just happen. She immediately cursed herself – how could she be so selfish and self-centred? Wes had been nothing but nice and supportive to her, and she would seriously risk his relationship with his brother over this? Aria was a bad person. The thought caught her, and knocked her sideways. No matter how good her intention had been in not telling Ezra, she had withheld the information from him. She had been the one who'd created the time bomb on their relationship – she had to deal with it. Didn't she?
She looked up and frowned as Wes advanced on her.
Why was he there? What was he doing?
Aria smiled timidly, "I was expecting someone taller," she said taking Wes in, he was overdressed for a random walk around the city, "and older."
"Ezra got a call and had to take it, it sounded like a long one, so he sent me instead," Wes showed Aria the tickets as though to prove his credentials, "that's okay right?"
Aria's mind was spinning as her phone chimed out, and she pulled it out.
THIS IS A SPLIT-SECOND ONE ARIA. MAKE-OUT WITH WES OR AN INNOCENT PHONECALL BECOMES SO MUCH WORSE. –A
She almost gasped and scanned around, as though there would be a huge arrow pointing out –A in the crowd, or wherever they were. She looked at Wes who had a slightly bemused expression and she lunged toward him, kissing him unwillingly and then drawing back, tears already welling as she took in his awestruck expression.
"I'm…I'm so sorry!" she called, but Wes was already disappearing through the crowd. Alone, as people began flooding through to take their seats, Aria sank to the ground in tears. In a dark saloon car, distant from her, there was a series of flashes – the second in as many minutes, the car then pulled away smoothly, disappearing into the night traffic clogging the streets. Aria looked to her left and gasped as she saw him observing her, confusion spreading across his face.
._.
Emily sank onto Spencer's bad, fully ready to fall asleep and accept the embrace the bed had given her. Instead she focused and perked up, turning to look at Spencer as she switched on her laptop.
"So all you found was a flash drive?" Emily asked, dejectedly.
Spencer nodded, "I wasn't exactly expecting a file marked A-…but I wanted more than this. No dice with Mona?"
Emily shook her head, "She wasn't in her room when I got there," Spencer's eyes lit up, "but turned out she'd just gone to the children's wing to play with her dolls…and thanks to her theatrics Wren won't let any of us near her again. Even Hannah," Emily let out a long deep sigh, "let's just…look at what's on the drive…maybe –A will surprise us again."
Spencer shrugged, putting the drive into her laptop, "The note just sounded confusing…so it might just be a part of that plan…but we can look."
Spencer inserted the drive and frowned. There was a single video file. She opened it, and the screen was filled with footage of a darkened room – it was just Noel and Mona now. There was no time-stamp, but Emily could surmise it was relatively recent – Mona's hair was almost a spitting image of what it had been at the sanitarium. She must have only just gotten back before Emily arrived – Emily cursed her bad luck.
"Lucas is growing to be a liability," Noel raged, "I'm not even sure why you brought him into this?"
"He still has a tentative link to Hannah," Mona countered confidently, staring Noel straight in the face, "which is more than I can say for you. Let's just hope your plan for Aria plays out to our advantage? I'm beginning to think your heart isn't in this anymore."
Noel laughed, "I'm giving us Aria. She'll be our play thing – our new toy."
"You're handing us one Liar," Mona reminded, raising an eyebrow, "I nearly gave us four." She frowned, turning away from him, "For the record Lucas is out of control…but we don't need to shut him down yet. He's still useful and still under our control."
"He was talking about going after Hannah." Noel murmured, almost to himself.
Mona smiled, "Then we'll have to stop him earlier than I thought. But that's already planned – you can bring in our new recruit to replace him."
Spencer was so entranced by the video that the text message nearly gave her a heart attack. A second one followed almost as quickly. The sender of both was Hannah.
22:32: CAN ANYONE COME GET ME FROM THE HOSPITAL? SEEING CALEB AND MY MOM CAN'T GET ME ANYMORE…SOME STUPID DATE…WITH A STUPID GUY…ANYWAY – SOMEONE PICK ME UP, KAY?
22:34: PROBLEM SOLVED! LUCAS JUST HAPPENED TO BE HERE! SEE YOU TOMORROW, XXX
._.
Hope you liked Chapter 2,
Really enjoying writing this now,
Reviews and responses really welcomed and appreciated – as always,
Acrobat
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