Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Sorry for the late update but Christmas Planning has somewhat disrupted my schedule; expect a possible Sunday update instead of Saturday.
Leave it to Hanna to invite the whole gang.
As I watched the three girls and Ezra make their way towards us, I seriously wanted to bang my head against the ground.
So much for doing this on the lamb; with just about everyone now here, it was obvious that Alison and her partner would now about them finding the hideout. I wouldn't be surprised if they were watching everyone now, given that they tracked the girls just about everywhere they went. I had a feeling that this might cause problems down the road; maybe even sooner than that.
"What are they doing here?" Caleb demanded to know, seemingly just as alarmed by their appearance as I was.
"I texted them where we were after we got here," Hanna admitted, looking embarrassed while I sighed in frustration.
"Why the hell would you do that?" I asked angrily and Caleb just shook his head. I think the temperature must have dropped considerably since you could see both Caleb's and Hanna's breath quite easily.
"Oh my god," Emily exclaimed as she saw Cece's body as the group walked up to where we were at. Ezra's jaw dropped while Spencer and Aria looked stunned.
"Is that Cece?" Aria asked as she just stared down at the body. The whole place was illuminated since all of them were carrying their own flashlights.
"Yeah; Alison killed her and buried her here," Hanna said, and I once again gave a frustrated sigh since the group would obviously want to know how she knew that.
"Wait….how do you know Alison killed her?" Spencer asked and I hoped that there was a real good lie for the answer.
"Given her connection to Alison and the fact that she knew quite a lot; isn't obvious that Alison killed her like Mona?" Caleb put forth as an answer; which was pretty good in my opinion.
"That makes sense, but how did you find out she was here as well as where to dig up the body?" Ezra asked and I hoped for another good lie.
"Caleb's friend followed Cece here and when we got here, we saw the pile of dirt, we decided to see if there was something here," Hanna answered and I was impressed with the story she gave since it was pretty believable in my opinion.
"Why kill Cece though? Isn't she a part of Alison's group?" Emily inquired, looking at the body. I could see her shiver, but I wasn't sure whether it was because it was genuinely cold outside, or because my anger affecting the area.
"She could be cleaning up potential loose ends. If Cece was ever caught by the police then they weren't going to make the same mistake with her twice," Spencer said and there were several nods of agreement from the group as we as myself.
"But this also changes everything too. That body is very fresh and it means Alison is now killing people more openly," Ezra stated and he had a point.
"I think Mona dying was what changed everything," Aria said and I smiled at her despite the fact that she couldn't see me.
"I don't think so; Mona was an active threat to Alison, who she had to be rid of. Cece was an ally to Alison and if she is now getting rid them, then that means no one is safe," Spencer said adamantly and I had to admit that she had a point.
"So who do you think is next then? Could anyone in her new posse be at risk?" Hanna asked, making the other's think about that.
"I don't think she would kill Cindy and Mindy because I don't think they know anything about what is going on. Jenna and Sydney might be at risk though," Emily said and I had to admit that I didn't care what happened to them at this stage.
"Should we warn them?" Aria inquired, looking around.
"No; let the blind bitch and her friend suffer," I said out loud and Caleb shot a glare my way while everyone was distracted.
"Paige thinks that the only reason why Jenna and Sydney are with Alison is because they are afraid of her; which I can understand. Maybe we should warn them and try to convince them to side with us," Emily suggested, and I had to admit that she had a point.
"What happened with them this morning anyways? I watched the two of them leave school early," Spencer stated and once again, Caleb shot a glare at my direction which Hanna this time caught; confused by it.
"Sydney freaked out because she claims that she saw Mona in the pool this morning," Emily answered and I could hear the sigh from Hanna.
"I didn't think she could see me; it was just a harmless prank that I felt she deserved. Instead of thinking of themselves, they could have helped nail Alison earlier," I said and Caleb's face was passive so I wasn't sure how he took that.
"Probably a guilty conscious since they could have helped us when Mona was murdered," Aria stated, echoing what I had just said. I nodded in agreement and smirked at Caleb, getting back at him.
"Well maybe we should take advantage of that; try to appeal to the both of them so that we can get them on our side," Ezra suggested and I appreciated that there was someone with a brain in this group.
"Ezra's right; maybe you and Paige can talk to Sydney during swim practice," Spencer said to Emily and she nodded in response.
"So what now?" asked Aria as it got later at night.
"Well I and Caleb will stay here with the body; you guys go check out the cabin and see if there is anything there," Hanna said and I was happy that she was asserting herself to the group.
The rest of the group headed out to the cabin, leaving us three alone with the dead body.
"Why is it so cold here?" Hanna asked as she shivered in the darkness and I felt a little guilty about that.
"When Mona gets emotional, there is some reaction in the air around her," Caleb said, looking over at me.
"I was mad; ok? Hanna here nearly screwed up everything and I hope that A doesn't know we are here," I said, highly annoyed at the situation.
"You need to calm down; also, no more coming to school since you can't control yourself," Caleb told me, almost like an order.
"Fine; but we need to find out about Alison's sister," I told him and he nodded.
"What is she saying?" Hanna asked, feeling left out and I forgot we now had a third member of our little band.
"Mona found out through her first trip here that Alison has a sister," Caleb told her and I watched as Hanna's jaw dropped.
"Who is she?" the blond asked and I just shook my head since I didn't know.
"Mona doesn't know; I plan to start look when we get back to the cabin," Caleb said and there was a general nod from us girls.
"Well we need to tell the others," Hanna stated and I just rolled my eyes at that.
"We already dodged a bullet tonight by lying to them about how we found out about this place; how are you planning to tell everyone that Alison has a sister without revealing the truth about Mona?" the boyfriend inquired and I had to admire how Caleb tempered his responses with the blond.
"So we just keep this to ourselves?" Hanna demanded to know and I could hear the impatience in her voice.
I sympathized with her feelings since tracking down Alison's sister needed to be a group effort. As good as Caleb was, he couldn't do the search alone and would need help from everyone else; especially Ezra given that the former teacher really knew how to do research on something like this. To bring up the subject of the hidden sister was going to take subtlety that those two sadly lacked when it came down to it.
"For now; then we slowly raise the subject to the group," I suggested and Caleb nodded in agreement, relaying the message to Hanna who nodded in understanding.
"So you mentioned that Mona affects the area around here when she gets emotional; was that what happened in the hallway this morning?" the blond asked as she looked around to make sure we were still alone. There was light coming from the cabin which told me that the rest of the group was searching for anything useful.
"Pretty much; Mona saw Alison and couldn't control her anger," Caleb answered, giving me a condescending look.
"Well, can you blame her? Alison had her murdered," Hanna said defiantly.
"Thank you," I said, happy to see someone defending me for something that wasn't my fault.
"But that doesn't give her the excuse to lose it every time she sees someone she doesn't like. Mona has to learn how to control herself around the living because we have enough complications as it is," Caleb argued and I just glared back at him though he did have a point to some degree.
"So is there anything else I should know that the two of you have found out?" Hanna asked, clearly disagreeing with him but dropping the subject; I always found that frustrated tone in her voice amusing in every way.
"No," I answered and wondered why I even bothered sometimes given that I was stuck with Caleb for the time being.
"Not really; but there hasn't been a lot of time to investigate since Mona has been back," Caleb informed her and I nodded in agreement.
"Well if she could remember everything, then we wouldn't need to investigate," Hanna snapped and my anger rose at that.
"Well if you got to me sooner than taking your time, I would be here today to help you pick out a prom dress," I screamed at her and a wind started to pick up around us as well as a sudden temperature drop. I swear I could see a part of the ground freeze below us.
"Whoa," Hanna said as she wrapped her jacket more tightly and Caleb struggled to do the same.
"Take a walk Mona," Caleb said to me and I rounded on him as my rage threatened to boil over again.
"Why?" I demanded to know as the air shifted around us.
"Because you need to calm down and take a time out," he chided me as if I was a little girl. I was tempted to stay and argue, but decided to just leave. Giving the two one last glare, I turned and made my way to the cabin.
Hanna's words stung and I was a bit upset by them. Granted they weren't harsh in any shape or form but it was the wording that had bothered me; like this was my fault. Granted it was slightly because of the A business but that was beside the point. Come to think of it, this all would have probably happened anyways given that Alison was the villain here.
As I entered the cabin through the wall, I saw that the rest of the girls were busy tearing up the place while Ezra was nowhere to be seen. While Spencer was going through the various cupboards and drawers, Aria was looking through the books and I could hear Emily in the bedroom.
They were making quite the mess but it wasn't like Cece was ever coming back.
Thinking about it, I felt a little sad that Cece was dead. I didn't have any animosity towards the blond even though it was obvious that she played me. I had always assumed that her hatred of Alison was genuine so it is surprising that Cece had been working with her. I was curious to how the dead blond could have been convinced to side with the person who had her kicked out of college.
If I had to guess, Alison probably lied through her teeth and convinced the older blond that one of the girls was behind the prank. When she visited Toby in juvie, Alison had tried to convince him that the girls were the real bad guys and that she was the victim; a story he had relayed to me when he first joined up with me. We both had a laugh at that since we both knew that Alison was never the victim in anything.
"Find anything?" Spencer asked as she finished going through every cupboard and drawer, coming up empty.
"Nothing here; just a bunch of bills and such," Aria said with a frustrated sigh, collapsing onto the couch.
"Nothing in the room either," Emily stated as she came from there, also frustrated.
I was both surprised and annoyed at the same time. Given that Alison and A had just tried to burn the place down hours ago, I would have thought that there was at least something of importance in the cabin. There was the possibility that there was truly nothing and that A was just being cautious; something I had done on occasion back when the game was mine. Hopefully Caleb could find something on the phone.
"Jackpot," Ezra said as he came from another room in the back; which I appeared to have missed when I was last here. He was looking down at what appeared to be a bunch of paperwork in his hand.
"What is it?" asked Aria, a hope in her voice that I felt as well.
"Well it seems that Cece was getting cashier checks from a savings account that she shared with someone else," Ezra answered as he sat down on the couch next to Aria and scrolled through the various papers.
"Does it say who?" asked Spencer as excited as I was; finally something new.
"Yeah; the initial "A" is next to Cece's name," Ezra answered with a frown.
"So A was paying for Cece's way," Emily stated and I nodded in agreement.
"But why kill her now? A could have done that a while ago without wasting the money," Aria said and she did have a point.
"Maybe A didn't know what she had and decided to wait until she knew completely," Spencer answered.
"I don't get it; what do you mean by that?" Aria inquired though I understood right away at what the brainiac was saying.
"Cece was smart; she had to have some backup information for blackmail in case Alison or A double crossed her. So until A knew exactly what Cece knew about everything, she was strung along," Spencer explained and there were general nods of understanding.
"Is there anything else?" Emily asked Ezra and I attempted to look over his shoulder as he looked through the information.
"Lots of money transfers, receipts for rentals, bills, bank statements; quite a lot that could be useful," Ezra informed.
"Should we keep looking?" Emily asked.
"I would like to but I think we should call the police about Cece," Ezra said, and he was met with alarmed stares including my own. Before anyone could object, Hanna and Caleb entered the cabin.
"Find anything?" Hanna asked as she looked around at the assembled group while Caleb glanced at my direction.
"Just some financial stuff that we can follow; how about you guys?" Ezra asked.
"We got Cece's phone so I'll go through it and see if I can find anything," Caleb said, holding up the pink cell.
"Ezra wants to call the police," Spencer said, and while Hanna looked accusingly at the older man, Caleb held a more sympathetic look.
"Why; we still have places to look here," Hanna stated and I nodded in agreement.
"Someone is dead Hanna; Cece doesn't deserve to be left in a hole. She deserves a proper burial," Ezra said and I could see that Caleb agreed with him.
"Why? Leave her where she is; Cece doesn't deserve any better," Hanna stated with venom in her tone. The girls looked alarmed at her words while the guys looked at each other.
"Hanna," Spencer said, objecting to what was said while I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Cece murdered a cop, tried to kill Emily, and may have killed Mona. She is not some innocent person who got caught in all of this," the blond argued and I truthfully agreed with her. Cece could have been the one who killed me.
"But that doesn't mean that we forget that she was a human being; Cece deserves a burial," Ezra argued back and it looked to me that Aria agreed; which didn't surprise me since she was the more compassionate one.
"Mona deserves a burial; Cece can rot in the ground," my friend countered and I never felt more proud of her than right now. I was curious though if she would have said all this if she didn't know about me.
"I think we need to call the police; we can't just leave Cece there Hanna. I know you want to avenge Mona but we can't stoop to her level on things," Emily chided like the mother hen that she was.
"Screw you," I said angrily and I stormed off before something could happen. I wasn't really successful though as I exited the house with a loud bang from the front door; I had created a wind that had slammed the door.
I went out into the darkness of the night in order to clear my head. As I stood a ways from the cabin, I was both happy and angry at the same time. While I was ecstatic that Hanna was still a loyal friend, I was annoyed at what Emily had said. If those girls had sided with me then they would not be in this situation now.
As I struggle to clear my head, something caught my eye in the woods and I tried to squint me eyes to get a good look. The headlights from the vehicles were still illuminating the area which was how I spotted the movement in the first place. When I finally got a good look, my eyes widened considerably and I was stunned, it was a person.
And it was Mike.
Please R&R and a thanks to Paraddicted for the pre-read!