Writer's note: I had some issues with the format for the previous chapters. I haven't quite figured out how to separate the POV when transferring from my original document, which is creating some confusion when I'm switching from one character POV to another character POV. I'm going to try some things out to see if I can get a proper break between, so bear with me. Also, I don't really have a regular schedule to how I write or update, so chapters will come up when I can get to them and feel ready to publish what I have. Sorry for any inconvenience. Also, please give feedback! I'd love to hear what you think.

PART THREE

Spencer stared at Mona for a long time, letting her words sink in and soak. None of her friends were looking at her, and, quite frankly, she couldn't look at them. No one could look at anyone—except for looking at Mona. And Mona was looking at her feet, ashamed but somehow still proud.

They were all sitting around each other in the Lost Woods' lobby. Emily and Alison were on the loveseat, and Spencer, Aria, and Hanna were sitting in rounded and cushioned chairs. They were all seated close together, but Mona was opposite of the group, sitting in her own island. Spencer noticed this had been the norm dating back to high school. Mona was always an outsider in some shape or form. Spencer knew it wasn't always fair, but Mona couldn't be trusted and she wasn't actually proving herself trustworthy now. The girl was shady even in her best moments.

Spencer spoke slowly, in the way that she does when she tries to understand something absurd by putting it into logical order, "So let me get this straight… You kidnapped Mary and Alex Drake after they sabotaged our lives. After you killed Charlotte. Then, you put them into your own miniature version of the dollhouse while living in France for three months. And suddenly, out of nowhere, some anonymous—some other A—comes in and steals them?" She couldn't help the accusatory tone that came out of her mouth. Stress and tension were building up in her neck, and she was starting to feel like this was a long, long day.

"All of that is correct," Mona said matter-of-factly.

"This isn't happening!" Hanna exclaimed, jumping out of her chair and pacing back and forth. Spencer lost count of how many times she had heard Hanna say those very words.

"Tell me you're kidding, Han," Ali rolled her eyes, exasperated, "Of course this is happening. Why wouldn't it?"

"No, Ali's right," Aria threw up her hands, with hard and angry eyes, "Why wouldn't this happen? First, Mona is A because of Alison's incessant bullying back in the day—" Ali glared at Aria, but Aria continued unrelenting, "Then, her adopted sister—Spencer's actual half-sister—stalks us and becomes A because she was put in a mental institution by her own family. Then, Spencer's surprise evil British twin comes out of the woodwork—"

Hanna snipped, "Your family is worse than the Addams family."

"—and now there's some other shadow dwelling anonymous villain?" Aria finished, "Because why not? Why not continue this cycle of torture and fear and crazy?"

Everyone fell silent, eyes darting around the room. No one could deny the familiar feelings of paranoia and guilt that washed all over them. Spencer didn't know how to feel. Her biological mother and sister could be out there, somewhere, free or not. She had conflicted feelings of worry and terror. If someone had taken them, were they okay? If they were free roaming, were they coming for them? Which was worse?

"Look… I'm sorry," Mona picked up her head, bringing Spencer's attention back to her, "I couldn't… I won the game. I won. It was my game, and I took it back. I got greedy."

Emily finally spoke, her face and dark eyes round with worry, "So then who took it this time? If it wasn't Charlotte—"

"Thanks to Mona," Hanna rasped.

Emily gave her a look, "—and it wasn't pod-person Spencer or Mary Drake, then who?"

"Jenna?" Suggested Aria. She was wringing her hands together and her eyes were darting from person to person. Spencer knew she did this when she was anxious.

Alison shook her head, "No way. I've actually started getting along with blind Jenna at the school."

"Same," Emily agreed. She gave Alison a small smile and took her hand. Spencer noticed that Emily was falling back into her old habit of idolizing Alison. She had tried warning her to be careful with Alison before the little twins were born, but Emily was as hard headed as ever. Spencer just wanted to make sure that Alison wasn't going to take advantage of Emily's love and loyalty. So far it seemed good, and they were both happy, but the future was uncertain again with the possibility of another stalker out there.

Even so, Spencer scoffed at Alison, "It can't be Jenna because you are colleagues? You and Cece were best buds, but that didn't stop Charlotte from beating you up in your living room."

Alison shot Spencer a dirty look, "And it certainly didn't stop you from trying to bash me in the head with a shovel once."

The comment hurt, but Spencer still pushed back. "That just proves my point. We all know Jenna isn't afraid to get her hands dirty, and we all know she's as two-faced as they come in Rosewood."

Mona sighed and reminded, "That includes everyone in this room, Spencer."

Everyone looked at Spencer expectantly now. Spencer hated when they did that. She knew they were waiting for her to come up with an answer, a solution. She was the smart one. She always had the theories or the plan. But sometimes, she just wanted to crawl up in a ball and let someone else do the figuring out. In a way, she knew that was why she couldn't figure out A.D. She didn't want to figure it out. She was tired. All of the family secrets and the dead bodies—she couldn't do it anymore. It hurt too much. When was it ever going to stop hurting?

But the girls were depending on her. On her. They didn't turn to Alison, the queen bee, or Mona, the original A. They turned to her. Spencer Hastings. After all that time, she was the boss.

Taking a deep breath, Spencer tried to clear her mind and erase her emotions, her anxiety. She took in the girls and spoke logically, "It's easier if we look at who we know it can't be, right? So like we have already mentioned: not Charlotte, not Alex or Mary, not Noel—"

"He doesn't have the brains, anyway," sniped Alison.

"Literally," remarked Mona.

Spencer snickered. "Not Sydney."

"Why not Sydney?" Aria turned to Spencer.

Spencer shook her head and explained, "Something Alex said to me when I was in that place. Sydney was a 'one-off'." She paused, then continued, "Not Wren. He's gone. Not Archer—he is also gone."

"I'm noticing a trend here," Alison chuckled.

"The only living people I can think of," Hanna put in, "Is Jenna and Melissa."

Spencer sat ramrod straight and demanded defensively, "Why Melissa?"

As she said that, Emily also asked, "What about Lucas?"

"No, not Lucas," Hanna asserted.

"Then not Melissa either!" Spencer argued. Hanna and Spencer made eye contact, indignant. They always butted heads on the topic of Melissa and the twisted plots of Rosewood. Hanna was always quick to judge and accuse Melissa, but Melissa was one of Spencer's last siblings standing. She couldn't suffer through the thought that Melissa would harm her. Not her big sister.

But even she couldn't deny that Melissa was a shark with secrets, at best.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, guys," Aria said, "The only person who has gotten an A message has been Mona. What if they only wanted Mary and Alex?"

Spencer looked to Mona. Mona looked at everyone, but her eyes ultimately fell to Spencer. A knowing look passed between them, and Mona said, "One could only hope."

Everyone turned to Spencer. She didn't even have to say the words aloud.

Hope breeds eternal misery.

Hope breeds eternal misery, Alex thought. That's what Spencer always said. She had noted that when she first looked through Charlotte's things and began learning about her twin sister. She remembered thinking about how bleak and cynical her sister was. And she didn't even know the half of it, living in that big house with money, family, and friends.

Alex twisted her makeshift shank in her hands angrily. She gripped it tightly and nearly cut herself. Her sister got the good side of the deal, and she had the audacity to say that hope breeds eternal misery? Alex was damn well hoping to give eternal misery regardless.

Those bitches will get what they deserve, she sneered, if I have to rot in this underground hole one more day…

After squeezing the piece of metal she forged into a weapon, Alex sighed and released her grip as well as some of her grudge. She ultimately knew that Spencer and her friends were most likely not responsible for imprisoning her and her mum. And if it wasn't Mona, then it could only be one person. Alex wishes she knew who it was, but all she learned is that it was someone that Charlotte was previously in contact with on multiple occasions. She had discovered this from some of Charlotte's things involving the game, but there was no name or evidence suggesting who she spoke with. Alex originally thought it was Lucas because of their preexisting friendship when Charlotte was originally Charles. But when she contacted Lucas during her go at the game, she learned that he was a coward and that he was hopelessly in love with Hanna.

Essentially, Alex was clueless, and she didn't like it. So she directed her anger towards the girls, because secrets and death surrounded them and dragged everyone around them down, too. That's how she lost Charlotte and Archer. And now her freedom to Mona and whoever put her in this underground chamber.

Alex glanced at her mum. She was asleep on the other bed—the one she didn't contort and tear apart—and she happened to be sleeping heavily. Unbeknownst to Mary, Alex whispered to herself, "I wonder if this is what they felt like when Charlotte played with them. When I played with them."

After the words echoed around her and she listened to her own voice, Alex felt a small pang of guilt deep in her gut. She hated this feeling. She hated being like them.

She wanted out.

Alison felt strange. She was scared, but she was used to the feeling. She didn't know how to calm Emily's nerves, because Emily was more freaked out than her, but she also didn't know how to express the complex emotions that were battling out within herself. If anything, she was more afraid of being charged for something to do with Addison Derringer's disappearance than she was afraid of another A.

But beyond her own fear, Alison had a feeling that she was sure was gnawing at Emily. This feeling was absolute terror for their girls, Lily and Grace. If anything happened to them, Alison was going to go out for blood. But Emily would be devastated.

Alison glanced at her fiancée. She was asleep in the passenger seat of their car. The twin girls were at Emily's mother's house for the night, staying with an all-to-eager Grandma Pam. They had sent the twins there so they could meet the girls and Mona at the Lost Woods. Emily's mother thought that she and Alison needed a break to spend some alone time. As much as this was true, especially with the stress of planning their wedding, Alison knew that her and Emily weren't going to have a romantic evening. Mona's bombshell took care of that mood—much to Alison's disappointment.

When they arrived at the Dilaurentis family home, Alison shook Emily awake gently. She gave her a weak smile before going around and helping her sleepy mermaid out of the car. Once inside, Emily nearly collapsed on the couch from exhaustion. Alison was also tired. They had gotten so used to their stress-free lives (minus the Addison case and the school gossip) that they forgot what stress and emotional duress did to their bodies.

Alison took a deep breath after watching Emily snooze for a little bit. She walked towards the kitchen to poor herself a much-needed glass of wine. As she was doing so, she noticed that something was clogged in her wine bottle as she put the lip of the bottle to her glass. Her gut wrenched as she pulled a thick purple material from the bottle. Damp and soaked in red liquid, Alison unfolded her old friendship bracelet from sophomore year with her name embroidered in white—now smeared red—letters. Almost immediately, her phone buzzed.

With her hands shaking, she clicked on the message from a familiar blocked called ID:

Did you miss me? –A

Alison ran towards her windows and immediately opened the blinds. She jumped from window to window, searching. Her search was in vain, though. If anyone had been out there, they were already gone.

Here we go again, she thought as her heart raced.

Aria entered her apartment quietly. Ezra had fallen asleep at his desk with his laptop still open and his journal lying in his lap. A bottle of board shorts ale was loosely held in his hand, and Aria noted that he hadn't gotten to shaving his 5 o'clock shadow. She walked up to him and lightly tossed his hair, which was doing its slight curly thing because he needed a haircut and wasn't able to cut it much over their honeymoon.

Aria admired his jaw line as Ezra continued to sleep. He looked as rugged and handsome as a literary nerd could, but that was all Aria ever needed and ever wanted. She couldn't deny the connection she always felt to Ezra. He was her rock.

But once again she was wondering how she could tell him the truth. They had promised each other that once the honeymoon was done and the movie was finished, they were going to start the process of applying to adoption agencies. How could she apply knowing that there was someone who stole—kidnapped—living people from Mona and left an A message?

Her phone buzzed. She sucked in her breath and opened the message immediately. It was a group text from Alison.

Got an A message. And a throwback. –Ali

Attached to the text was a picture of Alison's friendship bracelet. It was one of the one's that the girls had found after Alison first went missing. Aria breathed out hard. That does it. A was back. How was she going to tell Ezra? How was she going to put him through more turmoil?

Hanna stared at Ali's text message in disbelief. Rather than even trying to explain anything or come up with words, Hanna walked from her front door, which she had just walked through, and into Caleb's small office area where he was up late working. She didn't greet him. She simply thrusted her phone into his face. She nearly knocked him in the nose with it.

Caleb took the phone from her and read over the message. His mouth gaped open and he looked to Hanna for explanation.

Hanna began walking back and forth quickly. She twiddled with her long blonde hair and recited everything that Mona said as well as what the bracelet meant. She was talking fast, and she kept talking until Caleb stood up, grabbed her arms, and forced her to face him.

"Hanna, breathe," he commanded. His eyes were urgent and his expression was tired. He spoke quietly and quickly, "Listen to me. We can't get involved. We can't let you or our future baby be put in harm's way."

"We don't get to make that choice!" Hanna argued, pulling away from Caleb. She should have known this was going to turn into a fight at first, but she knew she couldn't hide something like this from Caleb. She continued to shout, "We never get to make the choices. A has all of the control. They always do, no matter who they are!"

"I know, Hanna. I know. But you're pregnant and we are starting a family and we have a good thing going and—"

"You think I don't know this, Caleb?" Hanna turned to him. Her face said it all. She was an open book to Caleb.

Caleb resigned himself. He closed his eyes and counted to ten quickly. He opened his eyes again and stepped closer to Hanna. Gently, he placed his hand on her small belly bump and looked into her eyes. Hanna's heart skipped a beat as she looked back at her husband. He breathed, "I'm sorry. I'm scared. And I know you're scared, too. I can't imagine how you feel right now. How this could possibly be happening again. But I'm here. I'm here if you need me, and I'll be here to protect you and our unborn child. We won before, and we can win again."

Hanna looked at Caleb for a long time. She gave him a hungry look before grabbing his face and pulling him to her mouth. Aggressively, she kissed him. She kissed him like her life depended on it, and in a funny way, she missed the passion and the excitement and the fear that came with loving a person so much you were afraid to lose them. In a sick and twisted thought, she wondered if it was this desperation and togetherness that she had been missing for the last three months.