White bursts of hot terror seared through her. Everything went bright and black at the same time. And it hurt. It all hurt and she didn't know why but it was savagely ripping her into two incompatible pieces.

"Spencer!"

She was floating, flying, crashing. A high screeching sound erupted again. With delayed recognition, she realized that the horrendous noise was tearing from her own vocal chords. Something burned. She could feel it all around her, could smell its scorching odor.

But then she found him, his brilliant crystal orbs shining down on her. "Toby?"

"Please hold still, Spence, please. I know it hurts, but you can't touch it, okay? You'll only make it worse, baby."

It was only then that she truly took it all in—she was back against that damned paneled wall, but this time it was Toby who held her captive. His grip was firm, yet his gaze dripped with remorseful compassion.

"I—what…what happened?" Her throat was unimaginably dry.

Coils of acrid smoke wisped around her, triggering a spill of salty tears to trickle down her cheeks. Toby's mouth opened, then promptly shut again. His forehead creased with lingering horror. It was the same look he'd given her when he first entered the room, but her mind blanked on what had gone on since he'd stormed in. She could barely breathe. Why was her whole left side ablaze?

"You want to know what happened? It's what always happens," it was Jenna's voice snipping in from her detached location against the doorframe. "Disaster follows you everywhere. It follows all of us."

Toby's head whipped to the side, his jawline rigid. "That's enough, Jenna."

"I agree, it is enough. I've had far more than enough at this point, but until she acknowledges the reality of what's going on here, the disasters will keep on coming."

"Toby?" Spencer's raspy whine had his immediate attention, his head swiveling back to her. "My arm…"

His hand tightened over her wrist, the soft pressure restraining her attempted writhing. "I know, sweetheart. We'll get it cleaned up, okay? But you have to promise me that you'll stay as still as you can and—"

"Not yet." Noel moseyed into the room as if nothing were awry, his face fixed into a disturbing smile. A gleaming red fire extinguisher was casually hoisted over his shoulder. Even in the clouded confusion, Spencer could detect the smudge of a bruise marring the boy's jawline, the aftermath of Toby's blows. "No one is leaving until I say so. And I say you—" he pointed at the cowering boy at the brink of the hall—"you can leave now."

Nigel sent an imploring look toward Jenna, an unstated question forming in the scrunching of his brows.

"Just go. We'll talk later." Her words were clipped and apathetic. He did as told, slinking off soundlessly.

Noel crunched indifferently around the room, trooping over the glass remnants with that ludicrous smile still in tact. Positioning the extinguisher in his arms, he pulled the pin, threw it out the now-demolished window, and glazed the floor in a silvery spray. A groan rumbled from Toby as he wrapped a tender hand around Spencer's neck and propelled her head into the protection of his chest. She gratefully submitted to his guidance, shielding her eyes and nose from the unpleasant combination of obstinate smoke and dry chemicals.

"I think that covers it, Noel. The fire was practically out before you even got here." She felt the solemn throb of his voice resounding against her skin and oozing into her bones. It grounded her with its unfailing warmth.

"Thanks for the tip, Cavanaugh," he called out derisively. With one last gust from the mechanism, he turned back to leer at the couple. "But I like to hedge my bets."

"So do I," Jenna took a timid step forward. "What was it?"

Spencer kept her cheek burrowed into Toby's jacket but tilted her head fractionally to observe Jenna. Try as she might, the girl couldn't mask the quiver in her voice. She was shaken and it was no wonder as to why. Trauma by fire was all too familiar.

Noel kicked at the smoldering object. "A brick. It must have been wrapped in something flammable."

"It came through the window?" Spencer asked in a quiet murmur, her heart thumping faster as she recalled the catastrophic clatter from moments ago.

Toby's eyes brewed into a stormier shade of blue as he bent to examine her. "Yes…you were standing the closest…"

"That's his spineless way of saying that half the window is imbedded in your arm." Jenna's words were cruel, but the usual stinging tone was absent. Toby's muscles tensed anyway, his exhale whooshing through the strands of Spencer's hair. It didn't take much to put two and two together—he felt guilty.

She raised her head to scowl at Jenna, despising her for every hideous thing she'd ever done to the perfect man who held her. "This is the result of your sadistic game of hostage. For all we know, you could have orchestrated this stunt."

"God, you didn't hear a thing I said before, did you? Put down the magnifying glass, Nancy Drew. I was in the room with you the whole time and if you think for one second…" her chin shuddered as she spoke past the hitch in her words—"if you think I would willingly put myself in the same room as a fire for the sake of an alibi, you are vastly overestimating my self-discipline."

"I…I believe you." Spencer's voice was small but sure. She'd seen Jenna in the hospital last time, and it was proof enough; this wasn't a sham. It was one thing she could instinctively trust.

Jenna blinked, presumably at a loss for a suitable retort.

But Noel was not one to miss an opportunity. "Then let's have a group hug. Ladies in the middle, okay?"

"You're disgusting." The speckle of malice in her tone was all she had left. Spencer's eyelids were lowering without her consent as she moved her arm in a subtle swipe against the wall. Any relief from this insatiable prickling misery…

"Spencer, no." Toby's fingers interlocked with hers, steering her arm away from the wood trim. She whimpered in response as her body slumped further into his. Toby's breath quickened, his voice laced with fervent persistence as he spoke. "Let us out of here, Noel. She needs to get to a hospital."

Noel stretched his long arms out at his sides, his gaze shifting indolently toward Jenna. "I don't know. Did you get what you came here for?"

"Me?" She toyed with the frame of her sunglasses, her bottom lip drooping into a pout. "No, I didn't. How badly do you want out of here, Spencer? All you have to do is say the password and you're free to go."

"What are they talking about, Spence?"

It was too much. Her skin felt hot and sticky. Her tongue was heavy and her eyes were still stinging from the haze of smoky scum. "It's Ali. They want to know where she's hiding."

"They…" Toby hesitated, hunching slightly to catch a glimpse of her toffee irises.

"She knows, Toby. It's why we're here. Jenna sent the text."

His brow crinkled together as he gaped over her head. The abhorrent duo stood as a barrier against the open doorway. "Holding us here is pointless then. Alison didn't tell her anything, okay? She can't tell you something that she doesn't know!"

Noel smirked. "Don't buy it. She'd keep her own clique out of the loop? Doubtful."

"Jenna," Toby puffed out the name like it injured him to do so, desperation coloring each syllable. "You were there, you know how I felt about Alison when she was alive. Would I keep a secret for her? Would I help her stay in hiding?"

She vacillated, her mouth twitching to the right.

"Seriously, why would I ever protect her? She threatened me too, remember? I lost a whole year of my life for something I didn't do. You think I'd defend her? After that?"

"Easy, you'd do it for the girl." Noel gestured at Spencer's fragmented frame. "She wouldn't betray the Queen and she's begged you to do the same."

Toby struck back, the tenor of his voice rising higher than she'd ever heard it. "Even if that were true,"—which, Spencer thought with a pang of bitter truth, it partially was—"there's no way I'd stick to it now. I'd give her up in a second to protect Spencer. You know I'm telling the truth."

The terse rise and fall of his chest was enough to make Spencer queasy. She bit down on her lip and clamped her eyelids together as the relentless piercing sensation raced up and down her side without absolution. She wanted to chime in, verify Toby's words, snidely insert a hateful remark that identified Jenna's role in the awful night that had changed all of their lives…anything.

But her only contribution was another excruciating cry of frustration.

"I'm sorry, baby, just hold on a little longer." His whisper slid over the shell of her ear, trailed closely by a consoling kiss. She did her best to nod in reply.

Noel rolled his eyes and released a mocking gag noise. "Yeah, darling, just a little longer…but probably a lot longer. I don't remember giving anyone permission to leave. We want an answer."

The portentous click of a cocked handgun echoed through the room.

"Screw you and your permission, Noel Kahn. I swear to god, I will shoot you in a hot minute if you don't get out of their way. Now."

Hanna Marin's blue eyes glinted with reckless contempt, her hand eagerly wielding the shiny steeled weapon.

Now at least I left you with a postive cliffhanger, right?

to those who beg for more precious fluffy sweetness...ummmm that chapter is on down the line but we've got to get these kids to safety first.

REVIEW. LOVE YA.