Hey guys! I don't know what happened, I just sat down and wrote this out super fast- I think it's a method of procrastinating school work to be honest. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, I really love getting feedback.
I said at the beginning of the first chapter that this story would link directly to the clip of the time jump we saw in the season finale. Wellll it won't anymore because I decided to change direction completely and didn't want to be limited by canon. Hope you still enjoy it!
"You are definitely more southern than the last time we spoke," Hanna Marin stated, passing a steaming mug of coffee to her tiny friend. Aria shrugged, taking a tentative sip before placing the cup down on the table.
"Living in Savannah for five years does that to you, Han. Any update from Emily?"
"As of forty minutes ago she was on her way," the blonde replied, sinking into the sofa. "Not that we know what to do when she gets here."
"The only one of us who would have any sort of plan would be Spencer," Aria said glumly. "We shouldn't be worried that she's not contacted us right? I mean, she's probably trying to keep a low profile."
"Yeah…" Hanna's voice trailed unconvincingly, her fingers toying subconsciously on the tassels of the throw. "I wish she'd told us where she was."
"She thought you'd follow her there." Caleb appeared in the doorway, laden with grocery bags. Hanna rolled her eyes.
"Well obviously we would. I'm not leaving her in the middle of nowhere with some psycho after her and little Adrianne-" Caleb raised his eyebrows.
"My point exactly," he said, disappearing into the kitchen. Aria tapped on the side of her mug with her nails. Keeping the worry out her mind for the past few hours had been exhausting. It hadn't been so bad on the way up from Savannah, the sense of purpose in the journey had somehow kept her positive. It was now, sat passively on Hanna's couch, when the dark thoughts nagged at her brain.
"Why hasn't anybody come after us," Hanna exclaimed suddenly. Aria raised her eyebrows.
"Well I don't know Hanna, but I'm not complaining."
"No but if this is –A again, why wouldn't she be after all of us? Why is somebody after just Spencer?"
"I asked her that," Aria admitted. "But she wouldn't say, because God forbid anybody else but her have to deal with the problem."
"She hasn't changed," Hanna said bitterly, downing her latte. "God, nine days until my wedding and this happens? Typical –A move."
"Yes, because that's the real issue here," Aria replied sarcastically. Before Hanna could open her mouth to retort, Caleb was back in the room.
"Toby's on the phone."
"What's happened," Aria demanded, instantly picking up on the sense of urgency in his voice. He shook his head.
"They've got Spencer."
III
The first thing Spencer was aware of when she awoke was pain. Her head felt like it had been split open with a searing, throbbing ache, and she could feel the ghost of the stranger's hands across her neck. She coughed drily, forcing her eyes open and seeing nothing but darkness. Pushing herself upwards, she sat silently for a minute allowing her eyes to adjust to the low light levels.
Adrianne was a decoy, she realised. Whoever was after them had never intended to use their daughter as a bargaining tool, or even a demonstration of power. The sole aim was getting to Spencer and then the video. She shook her head, wincing slightly at the pain, and attempted to stand up on her wobbly legs. Leaning against the wall unsteadily, she furrowed her brow as shapes began to outline in her vision. She seemed to be in some kind of basement. There was a short set of steps leading up to a trapdoor, but she could see the bolts and padlocks even from where she was stood. Other than that, it was devoid of anything other than a single shelving unit and a pile of old sheets.
Except that wasn't quite true. As her vision homed in on the corner where the sheets were stacked, Spencer could make out a second, smaller shape huddled beside it. The shape of a human. She froze to the spot with fear, images of Toby, Hanna, Aria and Emily's bodies flashing before her eyes in turn. She rushed over to the person, crouching over their prone form. It was a woman. Spencer took in dark curls of hair, high cheekbones and long dark eyelashes.
"Melissa?" she wheezed, her throat screaming in agony as she tried to speak. She desperately shook at her sister's shoulders, begging and pleading with the universe that she woke up. Miraculously, the older woman's eyes were slowly opening, and Melissa squinted at her younger sister.
"Spencer? Oh God he caught up with you afterall."
"He… he what? You have to tell me what's been going on Melissa!" Spencer's words were coming out as croaks; she massaged her throat. Melissa sat up, and reached for what appeared to be a torch concealed beneath the sheets. The circle of orange light revealed a dark bruise across her eye. Spencer swallowed. "Are you hurt?"
"No, no. I mean, technically yes but I'm fine. You look awful, Spencer." Melissa reached up, moving the younger girl's hand away from her neck so she could see the extent of the damage. "I'm so sorry you got caught up in this again. If you just give up Jason's recording everything will go back to the way it was."
Spencer jumped away from her sister's touch like she'd been scalded. "No, Melissa. I've seen them. I know what you did to Jason's Mom."
"I thought I was protecting you, Spencer!" Tears flooded into her eyes. "You have to believe me, I never meant to do it."
"You really thought I killed Ali," she spat bitterly. "You and Mom and Dad just assumed I was killer."
"Spencer, everybody did-"
"Toby didn't." She stalked angrily to the other side of the room, her arms crossed defensively across her chest. "And even if I had it didn't excuse… do you know how screwed up Jason was after that? And Ali and… and CeCe."
"Do you think I don't think about that every day?" Melissa sobbed, stumbling to her feet. "Do you know how sorry I am?"
"So sorry that when you thought you might be found out you chased me and Toby and our baby out of our home, which you then burnt down. You kidnapped Adrianne, probably scared her to death and all to cover your back!"
"Spencer, stop!" Melissa bit her lip nervously. "I was there when… when your apartment was set on fire. But I didn't want to do it, I promise. I had to because they warned me that if I didn't he would send the recording to the police. When I didn't manage to catch up with you, he put me down here as a punishment. I didn't know about any of the other stuff."
"They… who is they?" Melissa shook her head, looking away.
"I can't."
"Melissa!"
"I can't! Look, please Spencer just leave it okay."
"What else is on that tape?" Spencer asked with trepidation. "Something that 'they' have to hide?"
"The recording of me ki… with Mrs DiLaurentis was only how he got me involved. That's not why he wants it back." Melissa's voice dropped to a whisper, she glanced anxiously around. "None of this was my idea, Spencer. I would never want to do anything like that."
"Then help me now," she begged, her voice cracking. "Please."
"Careful Melissa. You don't want to say too much." An all too familiar voice emitted from the top of the stairwell. Spencer spun round, her eyes widening at the figure looking down at the Hastings sisters.
"What are you doing here?"
III
Emily squeezed Toby's shoulder gently as she passed him a cup of tea. "I'm sure it will be fine," she told him softly. "Spencer's been in worse positions than this before, and you know it."
"Really Em?" he replied bitterly. "The last time she went missing she was in an underground bunker for a month, do you think that's what I want to happen again?" She shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Toby. But you found her last time, and we will again."
"I was just so focused on finding Adrianne, I didn't think to just look behind me." His voice broke. Adrianne looked up from across the room where she was playing with Aria's feathered earing.
"Daddy sad?" Aria hugged the girl comfortingly.
"Daddy's just a little bit worried about Mummy," she explained. "So if you could remember anything about the man who wanted to play hide and seek with you that might make him feel a little bit better." The girl's forehead screwed up in concentration, and Aria saw a flash of Spencer in Adrianne's look of focus.
"His face was all covered up," she said slowly. "And he had a funny voice."
"I've tried, Aria," Toby said dejectedly. "She doesn't remember. I think that was the plan all along, when I was focusing on getting her back he knew that he could grab her quickly and quietly."
"Can I have a look at that recording, Toby?" Caleb asked. "And your iPad. I'm going to see if I can find out where Alison called you from."
"In the bag," Toby said dully.
"You don't think... you don't think it's CeCe again do you?" Hanna said quietly. She was met with an uneasy silence as the girls exchanged glances. "I mean, there were four people at your apartment right? Melissa's one, this man's another, that leaves two."
"Ali said she was doing really well," Emily hesitantly responded. "She's still over on the West Coast, I don't think anything could drag her anywhere near Rosewood again."
"Well who else could it be?" Hanna demanded, throwing her arms up dramatically.
"Jenna, Sara, Mona-" Aria listed deliberately. "Look, there's no way we can figure out who's behind this from here, when was the last time any of us spoke to anybody else from Rosewood? We need to focus on finding Spencer. Has anybody even tried calling her?"
"I found her phone on the floor by the motel," Toby sighed. "Look this is hopeless, let's just call the police. I don't care about Alison, Emily," he added at the sight of the girl opening her mouth in protest. "I don't care if it means Ali gets in trouble, I just want Spencer back."
"About Alison," Caleb said grimly, reappearing in the room with Spencer's ipad tucked beneath his arm. "I tracked down where she made the call from."
"Where?" Toby demanded. "Maybe 'he's' got her and Spencer in the same place?"
"I don't think so Toby," he said, sitting down and passing him the tablet. "Look." Toby looked at the map on the grid. It took him a second to figure it out.
"Is this…"
"It's the DiLaurentis house."
Emily struggled to digest the information. "Last I heard she wasn't even in America let alone Rosewood. And I thought you said she looked bad when she called you? You said you thought she was in trouble somewhere?"
"We did," Toby said flatly, looked uneasily at Caleb. A troubled silence settled on the room, broken only by Adrianne's soft hums as the stroked the feather earing up and down her cheek. Toby opened him mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the simultaneous buzz of the girl's phones. Hanna locked eyes with the man grimly, before glancing down at her cell and reading aloud.
"Home though the heart still calls me, Home through the danger zone, Home whatever befalls me-"
"I will sail again to my own," Aria finished. "It's Henry Van Dyke. A poet," she added at the blonde's blank look.
"Home though the heart still calls me," Toby repeated slowly. "What does this mean?" Emily put down her tea, and sighed.
"We're going back to Rosewood."
Thanks for reading!