"But what I don't understand," Toby said, "Is why you didn't just come out and tell me." He had been listening to Spencer explain herself for half an hour, and he was still staring at her in disbelief. They had been sitting on opposite sides of the bed, staring at each other and not touching.
"I couldn't," she whispered. "I couldn't risk you. . ."
"Me what? Me telling them?"
"Toby, who is them?"
"You know. . ." he trailed off. He cast his eyes down and said, "Them." with a shrug.
"TOBY, who the hell is them?" Spencer cried. "Toby, why can't you tell me? What the hell is there to lose anymore? I have lost my family, my friends, my SANITY. What is the damage in you telling me? Just tell me the truth. Or just SOME of the truth."
Toby looked up at her, his lips pressed tight together. "I haven't been in touch with them since before you disappeared. I told them I was done with everything, but they were. . . . pissed. I threatened them, saying I would reveal their secrets. And the leader said that if I ever came back, she would kill me. Me, and Emily, and Hanna, and Aria. Honestly, I don't care about my life any more, but I couldn't be the cause of their deaths."
"Then why are you back?"
"Because the leader. . ."
"TOBY, TELL ME WHO IT IS. TELL ME WHO IT IS, OR I AM WALKING OUT AND NEVER, EVER COMING BACK."
His eyes flashed as he whispered the name: "CeCe."
Something in Spencer's heart broke. After all this time, she finally knew who it was, who was finally behind it all. But when he said it, she knew it couldn't be true. "CeCe is the leader?" He nodded gently, and Spencer asked, "How did she rope you all in?"
"It started when she was in Radley. Her name used to be Candance, so no one recognizes her. And there was this charity that paired mental patients up with friends. She had four: me, Mona, Lucas, and Holden. We became. . . friends. All of us."
"Holden?"
Toby nodded. "Everyone had a reason to hate Alison, or her posey. CeCe did too, and she was able to tap into that and control us through our anger."
"But Toby, CeCe didn't even KNOW about Ali being her sister until recently."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about?"
"She literally just found from Holden. He knew for years because it was on her medical files, but she didn't know until just know. "
Toby gasped. "Is that what that bitch told you? That is the biggest lie in the world. She's known for years. That's the whole reason why she hates you guys! Because Ali locked her up in Radley."
"WHAT?" Spencer gasped. This was making no sense. "Ali didn't even know she had a sister! The gave up CeCe when she was a baby."
"No, they didn't, Spencer. Is that what CeCe told you?" Spencer nodded, suddenly very unsure. "Spencer, they didn't give up CeCe for adoption until we were in 4th grade. And it's Ali's fault."
Spencer's mouth gaped open. Suddenly, she felt her phone buzz. NOT NOW, she wanted to scream as she opened the new text. Her blood went cold as she read the message:
Looks like your pretty little friends are running out of time. Nice try, Spence, but they are as good as dead. -A
Spencer cried out in horror, and Toby grabbed the phone and read her text. "She's going to kill them?" Spencer wailed. "I don't know what to do! I don't even know where they are."
But Toby looked at her mournfully and said, "Spence, get in the car. I know where she's taking them."
Meanwhile, Aria's mind was finally swimming back into consciousness. Her head was pounding like mad as her ears began to focus on her surroundings. She realized that she was in the back seat of a car, lying down, but she didn't dare open her eyes. The pounding in her head would only be intensified, she knew. She hated waking up from seizures because she always felt weak, stiff, and dizzy, and light would make it worse.
Somewhere far away, she could hear a voice, a male voice. The voice was sobbing, wailing. "I KILLED HER!" the voice the declared, a confession of guilt. "I KILLED ARIA!"
What? she thought. Am I dead? Am I a ghost? But that couldn't be it. She pinched her fingers together to be sure, but she felt it. She was definitely in the back of a car, going somewhere.
She opened one eye as wide as she dared and saw Holden sitting in the front seat of the car, driving and crying like a crazy person. He was talking on the phone- SOBBING on the phone- to some one as he steered the car with fast, jerky moments.
"Lucas, don't tell CeCe!" he moaned. "She was having a seizure, and the taser slipped, and. . . and. . . it WENT OFF! She stopped moving, stopped BREATHING! Oh God, Lucas, I fucking KILLED ARIA!"
He broke down again into the phone, barely even looking at the road. Aria shut her eyes quickly, and her body went stiff. He thinks he killed me. The last thing that Aria could remember was the spots that formed in front of her eyes just after Spencer walked out. They always appeared just as she was about to have a seizure, and she remembered thinking to herself, Holy shit, not again.
"I'm going to meet you guys there, I swear. I just need to, oh God, Lucas, I just need to breath for a second." Holden shut off the phone and threw it across the car, screaming as it shattered the passenger side window.
Holden thinks I'm dead, Aria realized. That means so does Lucas. That means so do a LOT of people. So let's keep it that way for a while.
