"What's going on, Em?" Aria demanded when Emily walked in to Spencer's kitchen.

Emily paused to catch her breath. After Mrs. Vanderwaal had basically thrown her out of the house she had decided to go for a run, to clear her mind and figure out what to do. Half a mile in to the trail through the woods she had stopped and sent and S.O.S. to the girls, telling them to meet her at Spencer's. She had run all the way there, and Aria, Hanna, and Spencer were already waiting for her. They all stared at her with wide eyes, waiting to find out what was going on.

"They don't want to do it." she said, panting. "It's A."

"What's A?" Hanna asked.

"What are you talking about?" Spencer asked at the same time.

Aria said nothing.

Emily walked across the room and lowered her voice so no one but her friends could hear. "I went to talk to Mona's parents, to try to change their minds about the DNR, and they were acting strange. Mr. Vanderwaal was just sitting there, staring at me, and Mrs. Vanderwaal kept repeating the same stuff she told us at the hospital. I told them how we feel about it, and that, for whatever reason, I know Mona's going to come out of this."

"And?" Aria prompted when Emily stopped to take a breath.

"And all of a sudden they, like, freaked out." Emily continued. "Mrs. Vanderwaal pretty much threw me out. As she was shoving me out the door she said that they weren't playing a game, which sounded weird at first. Then I thought about it, and I think she was trying to tell me something."

Her friends looked at her with blank looks on their faces.

Spencer sat up straighter. "So…you think she was trying to tell you that A is somehow involved?"

Emily nodded. "Yes. It was the way she said it. 'We aren't playing a game.' They don't want to sign the DNR. It's A. It has to be."

"What could A possibly have on Mona's parents?" Hanna asked.

"I don't know, but we need to figure it out before it's too late." Emily said. Every inch of her was filled with determination. "We can't let A kill Mona. We can't let A win this round."

Aria reached out and took Emily's hand. "Don't worry, Em. We'll figure something out. A won't win."

Spencer jumped up and headed toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Hanna asked.

"To talk to the Vanderwaals." Spencer said. "We have to figure out what A is threatening them with or we won't be able to stop it. The best way to do that is to ask them."

"Spencer, no." Emily said, grabbing Spencer's arm before she could get out the door. "We can't just barge in and demand answers. They're terrified!"

"She wouldn't have dropped that hint if she didn't want us to help." Spencer said. "A already took my sister. I'm not letting them take one of my friends too."

Aria placed herself between Spencer and the door. "Em's right, Spence. Mrs. Vanderwaal may have reached out for help, but we can't just tear in there. We know how to deal with A. They don't, and it might spook them if we barge in. We have to be careful."

"We don't want to spook A either." Hanna said, finally tossing her two cents in. "If we make it obvious that we know A is involved they might go in and poison Mona, or something."

"We have to be careful, Spencer." Emily said gently. "You know that."

For a moment Spencer looked as if she might bolt anyway, but she didn't. Instead, she took a deep breath and sighed. "Okay. Let's come up with a plan. How are we going to figure out what A is holding over Mr. & Mrs. Vanderwaal's heads?"

The girls sat back down and started discussing possibilities. As usual, they had to be careful, and they didn't want to involve anyone else unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Spence, you were in on the A game for a while." Emily said. "Is there a way we can track A? Maybe then we could figure it out without having to ask the Vanderwaals."

Spencer thought for a moment. "Maybe. Let me talk to Toby and see if we can come up with something."

The four of them agreed to keep this new development to themselves, and act as if they didn't know until they had more information. They wouldn't pressure the Vanderwaals to change their minds about the DNR, but they would let them know that they were working on a plan. They would continue to visit Mona, and Spencer would talk to Toby and see if there was a way to get inside A's head. They had to be careful, patient, and sneaky. All three were things they were all getting good at when it came to dealing with A, but Emily wasn't certain she could pretend that everything was alright this time.

This wasn't a secret A was threatening to share with the world. This was a life.