Chapter 26:

"Ezra, the masquerade is tomorrow, and we still don't have a plan." Mike panicked. The boys were sitting in Ezra's apartment after Mike had made sure Aria was going to be busy all day. She was in Philadelphia with her friends for the day, shopping for the masquerade.

"I know, I'm thinking. Every plan I come up with has something wrong with it." Ezra said, running his hands through his hair, frustrated.

"Well, what did you come up with?" Mike asked.

"Well, I thought about it and I'm thinking we need to tell the girls. Because, we need their help with this." Ezra said.

Mike sighed. "I really don't want them involved..."

"Think about it. Because, here's what I was thinking. Instead of you putting something in Aria's drink like A wants, you can pretend and she'll act sick. And then, we can make sure Emily keeps her purse with her at all times if we tell her that A is planning to plant the drugs. As for Hanna and Spencer, we'll just have to keep a really close eye on them. But, as for exposing Caleb, I'm not quite sure what to do..." Ezra said.

"Hmm, maybe you're right about telling the girls. Only, I'm not so sure how Hanna will take it. We're going to have to give her some time to take it all in, but we don't have much time." Mike said.

"Well, we can't just keep her in the dark. Besides, knowing Hanna, she'll probably want payback." Ezra replied.

"Okay fine. We'll tell them." Mike said, taking out his phone. He texted the girls to meet at Ezra's apartment ASAP and they waited for them to arrive.

"Wait a second, what if Caleb knows what we're doing?" Ezra asked.

"He doesn't. I messed with his computer and disabled all of the cameras that are here. He thinks that I'm here planting new ones." Mike said, smiling.

"Nice!" Ezra said, giving him a high five.

LATER:

Ezra and Mike stood up as the apartment door opened, revealing Aria, Emily, Hanna and Spencer.

"What's going on?" Aria asked, walking over to the two boys, her friends right behind her.

Mike looked uneasily at Ezra. Ezra nodded encouragingly and Mike started. "We have to tell you girls something. I think you should all sit down." he started.

The four girls took a seat and waited for Mike to continue.

"We know who A is." Mike blurted out.

Everything was silent in the apartment as the girls' expressions went from confused and worried, to shock. "Who?" Spencer asked, automatically.

Mike looked at Hanna, then down at his shoes, then up at Ezra. Taking the hint, Ezra spoke up. "It's...Caleb." he said, his eyes focused on Hanna.

Aria, Spencer and Emily gasped and then looked straight at Hanna.

"No, that can't be right." Emily started.

"Yeah, Caleb's our friend. He's helped us." Aria said firmly.

Hanna sat there, tears streaming down her face. "He's right." she whispered.

"WHAT?!" Everyone said, looking at Hanna.

"He's A." Hanna said louder. "I didn't want to believe it, but when Aria got kidnapped, me and Emily were here, with Caleb and he was working on his computer. Only, when I looked at him, he kept changing the screen. And then I saw he was messaging someone and it was all cryptic but it made me suspicious." Hanna said, sobbing.

The girls all wrapped her in a hug, soothing her.

"Wait, why didn't you say anything?" Spencer asked.

"I guess I just didn't want to find out the truth." Hanna said, sadly. "I'm sorry you guys. I should have told you."

"It's okay." Emily said.

"Yeah, we totally get it." Aria said, rubbing Hanna's back in an effort to soothe her.

"Uhhh, guys?" Mike said.

The girls turned back to him and Ezra.

"We're not done. There's more." Ezra said. The girls looked really upset and he didn't want to make things worse but he knew he and Mike had to tell them.

There was a chorus of sighs from the girls.

"Caleb's been making me help him." Mike admitted.

Aria stared at him in shock. "Oh my God. How could you?" she said, closing her eyes, trying to take this piece of information in.

Mike was about to speak but Ezra went over to her and sat beside her, pulling her into his arms. " It's okay, he's on our side." he said, pulling her into his chest. He nodded at Mike to continue.

"Caleb's planning something for the masquerade tomorrow. He want me to drug you..." he said, pointing to Aria, who closed her eyes, trying not to get mad at her little brother. "and he's going to hide drugs in your purse and then give the police an anonymous tip." he said, gesturing to Emily, who gasped.

"What about us?" Hanna asked, gesturing to herself and Spencer.

"I don't know. He only tells me what I'm supposed to do. I don't have a clue as to what he's planned for you." Mike said, apologetically.

"We need a plan." Spencer said automatically.

"Well, that's what we're working on." Mike said, gesturing between himself and Ezra. "We've only got some of it figured out though." he said, motioning for Ezra to explain their plan.

Ezra got up for his place beside Aria and went to stand next to Mike. "Okay well, here's what we have so far." He turned to look at Aria. "Mike's going to pretend to drug your drink and you're going to have to pretend to faint and then get sick when you wake up. Can you handle that?"

Aria nodded. "Yeah, I can do that."

Ezra smiled. "Okay great. And Emily, we need you to keep your bag with you at ALL times. Don't let it out of your sight. Okay?"

"I'll guard it with my life." she promised.

"Great!" Ezra said, and then his eyes lit up. "Oh my God, I think I've just figured out how we're going to catch him!" he said, excitedly and started to explain his plan.

What's Ezra thinking? How will they catch Caleb? Leave your ideas in the reviews. :)