It's not about the pieces but how they work together.

Spencer's family's home was always a familiar one to me. We'd spent just as much time here growing up as we did at Ali's house, and I spent only slightly more time with everyone there than at my own house. It was the way we all worked as friends. Our homes became each other's homes and so did our families. Of course in some cases that was a little more literal with the way Spencer's father had an affair with Ali's mother, resulting in Jason, who I had a fling with in New York and recently re-lit that fire. So it only became second nature for us to overtake her house and begin our search for the hexes. Aria and Spencer contacted the other guys, and they met us there, and soon we were all sitting in the living room brainstorming. Jason sat between Ali and I on the chaise lounge, and I tried not to sit too close so as not to arouse any intent or ideas. Emily sat in the floor next to Ali, and Spencer, Caleb, and Aria sat on the couch opposite us while Ezra and Toby stood. Spencer had her laptop opened on the coffee table and was typing in any word related to 'curse' or 'hex' she could think of to find a solution, but her efforts were fruitless.

"Well your mom said that they should be placed at places where events happened. Like it matters where they are." Ali explained.

I thought for a moment and then looked to Spencer. "Can I borrow that? I need to look up something."

"Sure." Spencer spun her laptop around.

I leaned forward and typed my dad's name into the internet search bar along with his wife's name. He came up on the first try along with his address and telephone number. I glanced up, intending to ask for a pen and paper, but I was interrupted.

"Your dad still lives here in Rosewood?" Ali called out.

"Yeah and in a much nicer house than the last one." I gave a one-shouldered shrug with my response. "I guess paying for Kate's college didn't exactly break the bank as was his reason for why he couldn't afford to pay for mine."

"Sorry, Hanna." Aria said and reached across the coffee table to touch my hand.

"Don't be," I said with a side nod. "For all we know Kate's degree didn't amount to much and she's still living in their house and mooching off them."

"We can hope." Spencer commented with a small smile.

"Okay, I need a pen and paper, a map of Rosewood, and a ruler." I announced and stood up.

Spencer left the couch and grabbed everything I asked for.

"Why? What are you going to do?" Emily asked.

"You forget that I started reading mystery and crime novels," I replied as I stood and everyone followed me to the kitchen.

Spencer unfolded the map on the kitchen counter and handed me everything I needed. I walked to the head of the map and stood next to Jason maybe a little closer than intentional, and the others clustered around the sides of the map. I wrote out my dad's address on the piece of paper along with Mona's address, my mom's address, Radley's address, Spencer and Alison's addresses, specifically for the barn that divided their property line.

"These are addresses where important events in the last five years happened and my dad's address." I then jotted down a couple more important addresses: the high school, the police station, Emily's house, Aria's house, and the cemetery. "These are other important addresses that hold a little less significance than the others."

I slid the paper to Jason and leaned over the map. "I'm going to find and plot the addresses on the map. I'll need you to read them off to me."

Jason nodded and leaned close enough so I could feel his skin arm grazing against mine. He called out my dad's address first, and I looked for it on the map and plotted the point when I found it. Then he read off Mona's address. I found it quickly and marked it as well. I began to move to my mom's address and mark it before he could read it, and then he read off Radley's address and I marked it. Each time I moved to mark a point, it put Jason closer to me but I was growing less and less aware as I became more focused on the activity. That was until I heard Caleb ask Spencer, "What's going on here" in what was supposed to be a whisper.

I glanced up for only a second but didn't stop plotting the points as Jason continued to call them out, but I listened as Spencer asked for clarification, and Caleb asked again, "Between them. What's going on?" I realized at that moment another reason why Jason might've had reservations and that was the possibility that I could hurt him . . . again. It was not the time to have any epiphanies or even contemplate anything in my less than stellar romantic life, but the thoughts and doubts wouldn't be silent. I remembered our brief relationship in a haze, like it was caught in the rain like we were when we ran into each other in New York, the night that started it all when he asked me to dinner and I agreed, through every night went spent together in ending with the night I walked out without giving any notice. I had my reasons, but then again, everyone does, and they never seem worth it to the other person nor sometimes even by the person making the excuses. I had been going about this worrying that I'd be hurt again. I forgot that he'd been through similar pain, and someone could think that there is a chance I'd be using them to make Caleb jealous or as a distraction until we end up together again. The thoughts kept pummeling my brain, and I never noticed I stopped plotting the points, until I felt a strong hand on my back and people calling my name.

I shook my head like I was woken from a dream. "Sorry, what's the next one?"

"Are you okay?" Jason asked with his hand still on my back.

I looked him in the eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. What's the next point?"

Jason read off the rest of the points and I finished plotting them, and when I was done, I picked up the ruler and connected the points which when completed created a giant pentagram with each address being either a point of the star or the points where the lines crossed over. I tossed the ruler and pen to the side and everyone stared at the map as I said, "And there we have it. The locations of ten hexes."

"How did you figure that out?" Ezra asked.

I shrugged. "My dad is a given. Mona was my best friend who betrayed me, hit me with a car, tried to kill my friends, and made my life difficult as hell even though I visited her every day in Radley. My mom because she kept this huge secret from me for as long as I've been alive. Radley because of all my time visiting there we should all be surprised I wasn't the one who became a patient. Spencer and Ali's yards because their families are entwined, and that's where everything began. And Ali used to bully me mercilessly which has greatly changed, and Spencer is dating Caleb which I am learning to become okay with. Then there's the police station where I was charged and convicted of Mona's false murder along with Ali. The school where we eventually became ostracized from our own peers. Emily's house where we fought because I got drunk at her mom's dinner for Ali because I was dealing with a lot of emotions and the others bailed and my issues couldn't be bothered to be acknowledged until we reach Aria's house where I tell her about her mom's skeevy fiancé making two undesired passes at me and she blamed me because of my drinking, all of which I promise I am past now. Well . . . except the drinking. But then we reach the cemetery because I have had to attend way too many funerals and memorials for people in my teens and my early twenties all in this town." I spread out my hands over the map. "There you go, just the bullet points of my emotional trauma laid all out before you on a map."

I felt Jason's hand rest against my back, and I felt calm warmth radiate through me.

"Okay, so there are ten in all." Toby began. "I think we should each search for one of them."

I nodded. "Yeah, but if you find them, don't move them until I talk more with my mom. We want to limit any possibility that we can cause more problems."

"Okay, let's split up in teams now, and we can begin to search the properties." Spencer suggested. "Ali and I can cover our house line and the barn."

"I'll go by myself to the station and search there." Toby offered.

"Ezra, do you want to come search my house with me?" Aria asked.

"Sure." He agreed.

"Hanna, do you want me to go back to your hotel room at Radley with you?" Caleb asked.

I hesitated for only a second before resting a hand on Jason's arm and replying, "Thanks, but I was going to see if Jason would take me. He promised me food earlier."

"Okay." Caleb nodded.

"You can come help me, Caleb." Emily offered.

Everyone agreed to meet back at Alison's house when we were done so we could get ready to return to my mom's house, and then we split up into our respective teams.