All right, so I got a good response last chapter. Thanks everyone! This is the last actual chapter for this story, and then there's the epilogue. If, after that, people are still interested in reading more, I'm happy to deliver. But if people hate me forever then that's totally understandable. Warning: if you don't want a plot twist, just stop reading at the end of this chapter and assume that there's some kind of happy ending. If you're up for a bit of confusion and chaos, then stick with me. So review away, and I'll see you guys soon!
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It was eerily dark, and terrifyingly quiet.
Spencer hadn't seen anyone for hours, although it felt like much longer than that. She started to think she'd always been here, that everything she'd thought she'd been through outside of this room was just a figment of her imagination. She also thought she imagined it when she heard voices outside.
She was leaning against the wall, chewing on her thumbnail as she tried to think her way out of this. As far as fortresses went, this one was pretty solid. The windows were actually nailed shut, the door was locked from the outside, and although the wooden walls looked unstable, so far she hadn't managed to break through them. She had contemplated throwing the chair at the walls, or the window, or anything she could reach, but she had a feeling that wouldn't do much good.
She had, however, been able to pull one of the nails out from the wall, and she had that tucked up her sleeve now. She didn't know if she'd have the guts to use it, to actually hurt somebody – defend herself, she corrected quietly – with it, but it was reassuring to have it anyway.
At first the noise outside was just a low murmur, no words, no meaning, just noise. It was probably just someone who lived in one of the houses nearby, heading home after a normal day at a normal job. And here she was, being held hostage by a sociopath. But the noise grew louder, yet somehow more hesitant, and she worked out that it wasn't just one voice. There were at least two, possibly three. One of them said something, so loudly it almost made her jump, and then another person hushed them, clearly irritated.
The noise made Spencer even more uneasy than her conversation with Toby earlier. She was still processing what he'd done, but for now she'd have to put that to the back of her mind. One thing at a time. She still hadn't really seen Mona but she didn't doubt that she was the one behind it.
The longer she stood there, immobile, frozen in place, the louder the voices became, and she was suddenly sure she hadn't imagined them. Less than a second after she realized that, something else became clear, like an image coming into focus once you changed the lens. The voices outside weren't just random strangers; they belonged to her friends.
She didn't know how they'd found her, but at that moment she didn't care. Her friends had found her, they were here, and they were going to get her out of this. That was all she needed to know.
After another minute she could hear footsteps, and the voices stopped. Then one of them called out hesitantly, "Spencer?" and someone else snapped, "Quiet, do you want A to hear us?"
Spencer approached the window, looking out. She couldn't see anyone, just a tangle of flowers in the garden and a tree that had lost its leaves. But she knew they were there.
"Guys," she whispered, not entirely sure why she was being so quiet. "Hey. I'm over here."
There was a flurry of movement, and suddenly her friends were standing on the other side of the window, looking in at her, and she had never been happier to see anyone.
"Spence!" Aria exclaimed. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just get me out of here, okay?"
"Hold on," Emily said, and then the three of them disappeared around the front.
Spencer walked over to the door, and soon enough she heard the sounds of her friends approaching it. As they stood outside and argued about how to get in, she realized that maybe finding her wasn't going to be the most difficult challenge they faced – maybe it would be actually getting her out. Every second that slipped by made Spencer more anxious. A – the A-Team – could come back at any moment, which would not be good for any of them. She focused instead on the whispers of her friends, rather than the thoughts dashing through her head.
"Try turning it that way."
"I already did!"
"What if you try -"
"No, what about -"
There were a number of clicks, a sound like someone slamming heir hand against the door in frustration, and a sigh. Finally there was a more promising noise, and before Spencer even had time to feel hopeful the door had swung open, and her friends were standing on the other side.
Aria had barely got up to "Are you -" before Spencer had tumbled forward into her arms, so relieved that she had finally been found. Aria caught her, stumbling back a couple of steps, and then the smaller girl patted Spencer on the shoulder, while her other two friends joined in on the group hug. Spencer closed her eyes, thinking that no moment had ever been as wonderful as this.
"We should get going," Hanna said after a while. "A could come back."
Spencer disentangled herself from her friends, suddenly remembering where they were. "Right. Come on."
She led the way around the house, and, as expected, there was a car waiting for her. Aria didn't let go of her, even after they slid into the backseat, with Hanna on the other side of Spencer and Emily taking the wheel. As Emily pulled away from the curb, Aria rested her head on Spencer's shoulder.
"I was so scared, Spence. I thought…"
"Hey." Spencer reached up and rested her hand on Aria's head, gently, reassuringly. "You found me. That's the important thing."
"What happened?" Hanna asked, squeezing Spencer's free hand in a comforting way. "I mean, if you're ready to talk about it."
"I'm… not." Spencer said softly, shaking her head. There was no way she was ready to talk about how awful the past two days had been. But she did need to tell her friends what she'd found. Straightening and taking a deep breath, she said, "I did find something out though."
"What was it?" Aria asked, looking up at her.
"I…" Spencer looked around at all of her friends, unsure how to say this. There would be no turning back once she had, but she just had to hope they'd be able to move on. "I know who A is."
"What?" Emily's surprise caused her to jerk the wheel, almost steering the car out of the lane. Once she'd gotten it under control, she met Spencer's eyes in the rear-view mirror and said, more calmly, "Who is it?"
"It's two people," Spencer said hesitantly. It was now or never. She'd made her choice, and now she just had to live with it - and hope the others could too. "One of them… is Mona."
Ignoring Hanna's gasp, Spencer pushed on before she lost her nerve.
"And the other one… is Toby."
Silence fell over the car as threads were connected, clues unravelled, as everything started to make sense. And somehow the silence got deeper as their thoughts turned, as one, to the future, and they realized that they had no idea what they were supposed to do now.
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As always, don't forget to review. I'm excited/terrified to share the next chapter with you, so the more reviews I get the faster I'll have that up.
