Chapter Twenty-One

Emily, Hanna, and Aria all looked to Spencer as soon as the agents were out of sight.

"Well?" Aria asked. "What do we do?"

Spencer shrugged. "Don't look at me, it should probably be up to Emily, since she would be the bait."

"What?" Aria and Hanna exclaimed in unison. Emily's emotions were so frayed, she almost wanted to reach up and smack the know-it-all look off Spencer's face. But she knew Spencer was right.

"It makes sense. He came after me the most. Twice as Nate, and once as Maya, even though, unfortunately, Paige got the brunt of that one." Emily felt her voice catch at the mention of Paige's name. She knew Paige would hate this plan, but she also knew that if she had any hope of salvaging their relationship, this mask business had to end. She couldn't keep having memories of her past, of their past, popping up at random, cracking the foundation they had spent so long building. Emily knew that she and Paige worked best if they focused on the present. Their relationship was a delicate balance; looking too far backwards or forward would send everything crumbling to the ground. She didn't want to lose Paige, not again. So she was willing to do anything to stop this torment.

"I'll do it."

Hanna and Aria started to protest but Spencer cut them off. "You heard Myka and H.G., they'll be there the whole time. This is the best chance we have of ending this."

"Spencer's right," Emily added. "If we want this to be over, we can't just sit back and wait for the pieces to fall into place. We have to take matters into our own hands."

"But what about the text A sent us?" Aria asked. "Do we even know if we can trust them?"

Emily looked incredulous. "They've been nothing but helpful and supportive since the moment they got here. What possible motive would they have for trying to hurt us?"

"Besides, their story checks out," Spencer added. "Well, Myka's anyway. I looked her up online and she's listed as a secret service agent, and there's a news story about an ex-partner who was killed while they were on duty together."

"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Aria asked.

"I didn't think anyone else cared. You all seemed so quick to tell them all our secrets."

"That's a little harsh, Spence," Emily said.

"You told them about seeing Alison before you even told your own girlfriend."

"That's different and you know it." Emily's voice was sharper, exhaustion and frustration filling her eyes up with tears.

Hanna stood up. "Alright, enough. Obviously we need to end this. Look what it's doing to us. It's just what A wanted, what A always wants. To pit us against each other." She put her hand on Emily's shoulder. "Are you sure you don't mind being bait?"

Emily nodded. "I'm sure."

"Alright. Then let's put this worm on a hook."

Aria made a face. "Gross."

Hanna scoffed. "You know what I mean." She looked from Emily to Spencer. "You two okay? You're not going to tear out each other's eyeballs or anything?"

The two girls exchanged apologetic looks. "We're okay," Emily said.

"We're okay," Spencer agreed. The rest of the girls stood up and Spencer linked her arm around Emily's back. "You should all come over, we can call the agents from my house."

Emily looped her arm around Spencer and gave her a light squeeze. "Sounds perfect."

All four girls strode out of the coffee shop, and Emily felt something she hadn't felt since she saw Nate's face last Saturday morning: hope.

"Paige, sweetie, your father and I are going out, do you want me to make you something for dinner before we leave?"

Paige didn't move from her spot at the edge of her bed. "I'm not hungry. Have fun," she called downstairs half-heartedly.

She heard the front door open and close, heard her parents' car drive away. She let the silence weigh down on her. She listened through the quiet for a few minutes before she realized that she knew what she was listening for. She was listening for the sound of her phone. She was waiting to hear from Emily.

She flopped backwards on her bed. She knew she was foolish to wait. Emily had tried to talk to her in school earlier, but she hadn't been ready. She was still trying to wrap her head around everything. Around the fact that Alison might still be alive. Around why Emily wouldn't have told her. She felt as though a large weight was lying on her chest, making it hard to take full breaths. It felt like she was underwater and she didn't know how to get the air she needed. At least, not without Emily by her side.

Paige sat up, resolute, and picked up her phone. As soon as she did, it started ringing. She smiled when she saw Emily's face pop up on her screen. She thought of a thousand different things she wanted to say to her girlfriend, but when she answered, she could only muster up a meek, "Hey."

"Paige, hi. Listen I know you probably don't want to talk to me right now-"

"No, I do, actually, I was just about to call you."

Emily sounded surprised at this. "Really?"

Paige's heart fluttered at the excitement in Emily's voice. "Really."

Then Emily's voice fell. "Well you might be upset with me all over again when I tell you why I called."

The fluttering in Paige's chest changed to racing. "What is it, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's...wrong, necessarily. We - the agents, Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and I - we decided we should take a shortcut to finding out who is behind everything that has been going on over the past few days."

"A shortcut? I don't like the sound of that."

"The agents will be with me the whole time," Emily rushed to explain.

Paige cut her off. "YOU? What do you mean they'll be with you?" Paige realized she had stood up and was pacing around her room.

"It's just, he's appeared to me most, it makes the most sense-"

"He who? Em, what are you talking about?"

"Can you come over to Spencer's? We'll explain everything. You're part of this, too. We thought you should be there."

"I'll be right over." Paige grabbed her bag and ran out the door, hopped on her bike, and pedaled faster than she had ever pedaled before. She made sure not to look at anything but the road directly ahead of her all the way from her house to the Hastings' house.