"Soul Mates"

I didn't realize I started writing this chapter a while ago so when I went to update it I had a good start. I also took notes so I could remember how I want to end it. Spencer will be caught soon and the –A mystery will be unraveled.

Someone requested a time jump to Emily and Maya getting married since I keep mentioning the grandmother's wedding ring. So I think you'll be receiving your invitation very soon!

In the meantime let's see what the girls have discovered…

Rated T for Teen.

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"Spencer's not the only one who drives a Highlander in Rosewood ya know."

"Yeah, well that Highlander is headed towards her neighborhood."

"Let me guess. Follow that car!"

I just give him a look and he knows to follow that car!

We stay back so as not to draw her attention. The car is taking the route to Spencer's house I know it. We're almost there. Yep, it's Spencer…

"Now what Hanna?"

"I don't know. I just don't know…"

Chapter 38: Needles in a Haystack

Maya POV

We dropped the whole Spencer is -A thing in public for the sake of Shana but still we're studying the files from that computer to see if we've missed something, anything that would help us figure out what's going on with Spencer. Even Hanna said something was up when she and Caleb bumped into Toby on Valentine's Day. Spencer said she was home sick but Hanna and Caleb saw her driving that very night. Quick recovery? I doubt it…

This whole thing with Shana is bugging me too. Why exactly did she make Rosewood her home and why doesn't she want to go back to where she came from? What's her secret? We decide to avoid her so that Spencer/A doesn't think we're trying to help her. Until one day at the library. I spy her through the stacks clearing my throat to get her attention. She looks through reluctantly making eye contact with me. And when her nervousness gets the better of her she goes to leave but I start talking quietly hoping she'll stay to hear me out.

"Shana, I got a text on Valentine's Day about you?"

"Maya don't."

"Emily got it too. It was from -A."

"Maya, please."

"-A says you have a secret about why you left your home. I'm not asking you to tell me what it is but me and Emily were threatened and -A said your secret would be exposed."

"You were threatened?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I think I know who -A is."

"It doesn't matter Maya, the risk is too great."

"For whom? You or -A?"

"I have to go."

"Shana, meet me at Emily's tomorrow. I think you know who -A is too or you might have an idea. We need to stop this once and for all."

"Maya, I, I have to go."

And she's gone…

I meet Emily at her house the next day with the flash drive. I pop it into her laptop and we go over the files again and again.

"Emily we must've missed something. -A threatened Shana so she'd leave us alone and now -A is threatening us so we'll leave Shana alone, but why?"

"I don't know and we've been through these files, what feels like a thousand times."

"I know what we need to do," I say suddenly realizing there could be another way of looking at all this.

"What's that?"

"We need to print out all the pictures so they're bigger and we can use a Sharpie to circle stuff that catches our eye. We can take notes on the actual photo and create a storyboard. We'll put everything in chronological order and then maybe we'll discover something we hadn't noticed before."

"That's gonna take a lot of work and a lot of Sharpies."

"But it will be worth it if we can help Shana and help ourselves."

"Okay then, at this point I don't think we have a choice."

Hanna comes over to help.

"Okay ladies, what are we doing and why?" Hanna asks.

"While Emily prints out the pictures from the files, you and I are gonna analyze them and mark them with a Sharpie if anything catches our eye."

"Nice, I have an eye for detail."

We get started. Hanna goes through a handful of photos from Aria's house.

"Hey, here's something."

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's Mike's bedroom and dayum! Check out those abs and those arms! Did you know he looked like that under his shirt? Shit I'd do him!"

"Hanna! Is there anything in that pic that will help?" Emily brings her back to reality.

"I don't know. There's a bunch of pictures with him lifting weights. Maybe if I put them next to each other I can see if anything's missing or added to the pictures."

"Great idea. I'll go through Emily's file and see if I can find anything."

Just then we hear something hit the glass behind Emily's window seat. She gets up to look, with me and Hanna right behind her. She opens the window peering out below.

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's Shana. She's giving me the shhh sign and pointing to the backdoor."

"I'll let her in. Em, keep printing and Hanna keep looking."

I rush downstairs to let her in. She quickly slips past me and hurries me to close and lock the door.

"Shana what is it?"

"I thought about what you said."

"What about it?"

"I want to help. What can I do?"

"We're all upstairs checking pictures we found. There's a file on you. I'll have Emily print it out and you can go through them and see if there's anything out of place in them. Can you do that?"

"I can do that. And Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're okay. I mean, with your memory and all. I want you to know that I really did like you. I didn't handle it very well but that's because you're a really great girl. It was hard to let go of any thoughts of a relationship. And, yes, I get this 'soul mates' thing between you and Emily. Your bond is something so strong I can't imagine anything breaking through it."

I open my arms to her and she accepts my hug keeping the embrace a few very long seconds and it's nice. It feels nonthreatening.

"Come on, let's go upstairs."

"Hey guys."

"Hi," Emily says in an acquaintance type of way.

"Shana," Hanna says in a guarded kind of way.

"It's cool you guys. She's here to help."

Emily gets up handing her a pile of pictures of Shana's activities, "Here ya go. Have at it." She smiles.

She's trying.

"Okay then, let's see if I can find anything."

She sits on the floor against the window seat while Hanna and I take up most of the space on Emily's bed.

"I think I found something!" Hanna says excitedly.

"What? What is it?" I ask.

Shana and Emily get up to join us.

"Okay, take a look at this picture, then this one, then this one and lastly this one."

"They're just pics of Aria's brother lifting weights," Shana tells her.

"Yeah, he's lifting weights but what do you notice about the weights he's not lifting?"

"What do you mean?" Emily asks.

"Look at the floor behind him. What do you notice as you look at the pictures from left to right?"

"Oh!" I exclaim!

"What?" Emily isn't seeing it.

"There're fewer weights. The stack gets smaller and smaller."

"So?" Shana seems confused.

"So? Where are the weights? Did -A take them?" Hanna plays detective.

"Why would -A do that?" Emily asks.

"Why does -A do anything?"

"Let's just keep that in the back of our minds. Mike is missing weights. And what would -A need with them?" I suggest.

"I'll put these in an already looked at pile and highlight what I found."

"Maya, did you find anything in my stuff?" Emily asks.

"Yeah," I cock an eyebrow.

"You did! What?"

"Oh, sorry, they have nothing to do with -A, just some really nice shots of you." I hold them up, "You don't mind do you?" I wink.

"Maya," she blushes.

Shana speaks up, "Well, I didn't really find anything out of the ordinary, just that these shots show one of my head, one of my arms, one of my legs, you see what I mean?" Shana shows us the pictures. "And this one is my whole body. I have no idea what that means."

"It has to be something," Hanna says.

"Wait a minute!" I freak. "Emily, I saw those same exact shots with you. Here they are. Look."

"What the hell?" Emily says kinda creeped out.

"Is anyone else photographed like that?" I ask.

"I haven't seen anything," Hanna says.

"Well keep an eye out for pictures that are similar to these. There has to be a clue in there somewhere, we just have to find it," I know there is.

We keep looking for clues but the Emily and Shana similarities and Mike's weights are the biggest finds until Emily notices something with the video surveillance.

"I think I have something," she says over her shoulder to us.

"What?" I ask.

"It's a security feed of the Hastings cabin by the lake. There's a lot of it and at different angles."

"Good find," I smile.

"That could be the Spencer connection," Emily says hoping it's her only connection to –A.

"That could be -A's lair," Hanna suggests.

"Could be but let's not do any investigating on our own. It could be dangerous," I fear she's right.

Shana POV

I have to get back what –A took from me and if it's in Spencer's cabin then that's where I'll be. No one can know what –A knows…

Maya POV

"Guys, I'm tired," Hanna yawns.

"I think we all are," Emily agrees.

"Alright. Let's call it a night," I sigh. "Thanks for doing this everyone. I really appreciate it."

"Look Maya, we want this bitch too so whatever it takes, I'm in," Hanna so eloquently puts.

"Me too," Emily says.

"Yeah, me too," Shana says.

Hanna takes Shana home leaving me and Emily alone.

"Maya, what happens if we do find out who –A really is? Then what?"

"We just have to be careful that's all. Don't do anything that could put us in jeopardy."

"I know but that's easier said than done. I want this over with."

"We all do Em but in the meantime Shana looks like a time bomb ready to explode. I think we need to find out her secret."

"You mean go to the cabin?"

"Nah, I think that might be too dangerous at this point but maybe there's something in her school file that will help."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But you're there afterschool so maybe you can sneak into the office and check."

"Me? That seems even more dangerous than going to the cabin."

"Yeah but you do that teen hotline. It would be so easy for you to take a peek."

"I guess. But what am I looking for?"

"Check her transcripts. See if there's anything unusual."

"Like what?"

"I have no idea but maybe there's a clue in there somewhere."

"I better not get caught."

"You won't." I walk over to her as she leans against her desk and I put my arms around her neck, "Because my girlfriend is super smart and super savvy." She smiles as I close the gap between us.I lean into her and whisper against her ear, "and super sexy."

I feel her hands on my hips digging into me signaling her approval. I kiss her neck up to her chin. We briefly look into one another's eyes and kiss a much needed surrendering kiss. We've been so caught up in this –A thing, we need to keep finding time to be together. So we take our time enjoying each other as much as we can before we hear Pam cackling from downstairs that it's time for me to leave. We say our goodbyes and plan on meeting up at school the next day.

Rosewood High…

It's nearly sixth period and I haven't seen Shana all day. I hope she didn't get any bright ideas about going to Spencer's cabin. That's the first thing I think of and I have a feeling that's exactly what she did.

But I don't think she's in danger because I've seen Spencer around all day. She seems to be her normal Spencery-self; I just hope that's true.

Afterschool…

I have a private music session in my parents' studio at the house so I kiss Emily goodbye and remind her to check Shana's file. She tells me she will and she'll do it as soon as there's a window of opportunity to do so. I give her a smile and a light tap on her ass surprising her. She smiles widely and I kiss that smile just before making my way out the door.

I take my music seriously and it's my only escape from this –A thing. I'll call Emily as soon as I'm done.

Emily POV

Okay Maya, here I go...

The teen hotline director asked me to grab the binders in the office. We have a dialogue to follow and we take notes as well. She gives me the keys without a second thought and I'm off to snoop into Shana's file.

I let myself in as everyone but the Principal has gone for the day. I can see his light on in his office so I slink in hoping not to be noticed. I quickly scan the file cabinet for her last name and year of graduation. I've found it. I use the keys on the ring to open it and pull the drawer slowly as not to be heard. I sift through everything until I find her name. I pull the file and flip through looking for anything out of the ordinary. I take out my cell phone taking pictures of all the forms that were submitted for her transfer. I'm too nervous to read them now. I'll look at them when I get back to my volunteer post. I close and lock the drawer without incident. I grab the teen hotline stuff and rush back.

I tell the supervisor they weren't where she said they would be that's why it took so long. And when I have a desk and no one's looking I take out my phone zooming in on the paperwork to see if anything pops up.

And then I see it. The question is asking if her parents' are U.S. citizens. But my thoughts are interrupted by the teen hotline. So I can't concentrate on that at the moment. The call is from a girl who speaks broken English. She's upset and needs someone to talk to. I handle the call and record what she says. I give her some additional information and she ends the call. As I'm writing in my log something comes to mind. I look back at Shana's transcripts and her parents' names. It's marked no. Is this her secret? Has their green card expired? Or is it a fake? Are they here illegally? Is she worried about being deported? Is this what –A is holding over her?

As the afternoon wears on, I hurry to pack up so I can show Maya what I found but as if the universe was spying on me I receive a text. It's Shana who wasn't in school today. She asks me to meet her at a gas station. I know this place, it's the same gas station Paige abducted me at so many months ago. Her text sounds panicked so I in turn text Hanna and Maya to meet me there. It has to be a coincidence. Paige is at Radley. And –A isn't stupid enough to set me up where I've already been. So I go only because I know I won't be alone.

When I arrive it's pretty busy which eases my mind. I park in an empty space and start walking around to see if I can find her. Around the side of the building I see Shana's car so it has to be legit. The windows are rolled down. I call to her. She doesn't answer so I lean in to look inside but I don't see her though her bag is on the seat. I stand upright just before I go to check inside the convenience store part of the station but I don't even get the chance. I feel it, a fucking prick to my neck. Goddamn it Emily! How could you fall for it again?!

Everything goes black…

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To Be Continued…

Almost there!