Well, only two reviews on the last chapter...but both good ones! So I figured I'd go ahead and update. I would like to get a little more feedback, though, so I probably won't be updating again either for a few days longer than usual, or until I get five reviews, whichever happens first. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 15

I hear sirens blare in the distance as I walk toward Radley's main gate alongside my fellow teammates. This is the first time – in my experience, at least – that an "A" scheme has not gone according to plan, and everyone's spirits are a little low.

But it's not all bad, I guess. By revealing himself as not Maya's sweet, simple cousin Nate, but her old stalker, Lyndon James managed to both admit his guilt in Maya's murder and get himself killed. By Emily of all people.

I shake my head as we walk, trying not to smile. I would have never thought that she had it in her, the ability to stab someone right in the stomach. Mona always calls her the weakest link, but I'm not so sure, after tonight. I think Emily has more guts than everyone gives her credit for.

And since Lyndon confessed to Emily that he was responsible for Maya's body ending up in the St. Germain's backyard, Garrett Reynolds is a free man.

But we never got Maya's bag back. And now Paige is in possession of Maya's cell phone, though I'm betting that she doesn't even know she has it.

I'm not aware that my steps have slowed until the others are a good few yards ahead of me. I hurry to catch up. Mona pulls out a compact mirror and lipstick. She's back in the nurse's uniform, getting ready to sneak back into Radley. "If I knew Nate was gonna get Garrett out, I would've stayed in tonight. You have to get Maya's cell phone back. Paige doesn't even know she has it. It sucks we didn't get to make that phone call."

She slaps the compact closed and tosses both items into her bag. She hands it to me and I sling it over my shoulder. Then she keeps talking, her voice taking on a mocking tone. "Ring, ring? 'What's Paige doing with Maya's cell phone? OMG, she must be the killer.' Oh, well. Even the best laid plans go awry."

I roll my eyes at the melodrama going on here. This whole Paige setup seems to have already been in the making at the time that I joined the team, so I'm not sure why it was necessary in the first place. Anything to freak people out and get the focus off of the real team members, I guess.

"I'll see you soon," Mona says to Toby, then looks at me. "Did you get what I asked you to?"

My heart skips a little; I had hoped that she would forget about this. I probably should have known better. I wince and unzip the little pocket of my bag, pulling out three small, silver bullets. She holds out her hand but I hesitate. "I'm not so sure this is a good idea. What are these for, anyway?"
"Nothing that you need to worry about. I'll make sure you get three back after the train."

I hand them over and scowl, crossing my arms. "You better. If Dad realizes I cracked the code on his safe, he'll be using those bullets on me."

Mona smiles, dropping the bullets into her little change purse and snapping it closed with a click. "He won't." She turns and walks up the steps to the doors to Radley, using her fake ID card to enter.

I turn and rush to catch up with Toby, fairly certain that someone is going to be murdered on that train. I want to punch myself. Aside from the fear of my secret getting out, the whole point of me joining the "A" team was to make sure no one else got hurt. But judging by what has already happened and what seems to be in the works, that's not going so well.

I think of my father, away on another two month long business trip, oblivious while his sixteen year old daughter managed to break into his gun safe ("I don't like to think of you all here unprotected while I'm away," he always says) and steal bullets to hand over to his seventeen year old daughter. My stomach clenches.

"Did you get the tickets?" I ask Toby, hurrying along to match his long stride. The hood of his black sweatshirt is pulled up around his face, just like mine.

"Yes," he replies flatly, glancing over at me. "But you'll have to buy your own. If I got more than two Spencer would've suspected something."

I smirk, reaching into my bag and pulling out my own ticket, folded in half. "Already done. I'll see you on the train."

…

The problem, it becomes apparent, is Garrett. He knows a little too much about the night Alison was killed, and if I know one thing, it's that "A" doesn't like it when people know too much.

The ghost train is the biggest Halloween event in Rosewood this year. Apparently it is in other towns, too, because just two days ago Justin asked me to go with him. He bought tickets and everything. How could I say no?

I hold tight to his hand as we walk onto the train. Of course we had to make sure that our costumes match, so we decided to go with something not too complicated. He's Gomez Addams, because his hair is already black and he has a pinstripe suit, and I'm Morticia because my hair is long enough, even though it's not quite black, and it was easy to find a long, tight black dress.

"What?" he asks, noticing my worried expression. "You're not…scared, are you?"

I scoff, trying to snap out of it. "Of course not. You know me. I'm not scared of anything." Except for a possible murder via gunshot wounds, I add in my head.

"Not many people from Brookhaven are here," Justin says, craning his neck and looking around. "But I should have guessed. Not many people want to be in Rosewood right now, especially on Halloween."

"I don't blame them," I agree, shuddering. The news of Lyndon's death and Garrett's release from jail have been all over the news lately. Thankfully Emily's part in everything is not known, but I'm sure that won't last long, especially with "A" around.

"Hey, here we go," Justin cheers as we walk into another train car. "Food. Want me to get you something?"

The music is starting now, loud and pumping, so I have to raise my voice to be heard. "Maybe just some punch?"

As soon as he's out of eyeshot, the smile slips off of my face. I gaze around nervously, spotting Toby and Spencer, dressed as gangsters. Toby catches my eye briefly and turns away. I do as well, scanning the train car. Mona is here somewhere, most definitely wearing a mask or five because of course she snuck out of Radley again to get here. And I would bet money that Red Coat is lurking around somewhere, too.

But there are others as well. All I know is that two people are skulking around in Queen of Hearts costumes, their faces concealed behind masks and their figures hidden by bulky outfits. One has a gun, loaded with the stolen bullets, and the other has pills crushed into powder. Mona wouldn't tell me who they are, just that they're being blackmailed into doing our dirty work for us. I didn't ask. I don't really think I want to know.

But that doesn't make me any less afraid. I catch a glimpse of one of the costumes through one of the train windows and whirl around, nearly slamming into Justin as he approaches with two cups of punch. "Wow, I went to get you a drink and you're still here when I came back," he jokes.

I take one from him and smack him on the arm. "New rule. No talking about the past. Come on, let's try and get close to the stage before the crowd begins to swarm."

Somehow whoever is in charge of this ghost train managed to get Adam Lambert to perform. But that's Rosewood for you – we always have to be the best.

But I can't really muster up my usual amount of bitterness about this. I mean, who cares what the reason behind it is? We get to see Adam Lambert perform.

We shove our way through the crowded train cars, finally getting to the little stage just as the first song begins, the train lurching along down the tracks. For the next hour, I finally get to put aside my "A" worries and dance along to the music with Justin. I try my best to forget about the gun and the possible murder. Neither Mona nor Red Coat gave me any orders for tonight. I have nothing to worry about.

After the first set, I walk with Justin back to the other end of the train for another round of punch. Just as I'm taking my first sip, a hand grabs my arm. I whirl around, fully expecting someone in a Queen of Hearts costume, and am relieved when it's only Emily standing behind me, dressed as something that goes way beyond the limits of my imagination.

"Have you seen Aria?" she asks worriedly.

I raise my eyebrows, glancing over at Justin, and shrug. "No, I haven't. Why?"

"No one knows where she is. Spencer and Hanna found her purse." Emily peers over my shoulder at Justin and tugs on my arm. "Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

The last thing I want is to ditch him – again – but I get the feeling that something major is going on. My stomach flips over. I wish that I at least could know what "A" has planned for tonight. "Sure," I mumble, and tap my date on the shoulder. "Hey. I'll be right back, okay?"

He nods, giving me a thumbs up over the music, which has just resumed, so I walk a few paces away with Emily. "What's going on?" I ask, trying to arrange my face into an innocent expression.

"Spencer just talked to Garrett," she says in a hushed tone. "He didn't kill Alison that night, but Jenna thinks he did."

"Jenna thinks Garrett killed Ali?" I repeat in a daze, trying to grind this into my memory. I don't know what my teammates know – probably much more than me – but I can't let this go. "That's crazy."

"That's not all," Emily whispers, leaning closer. "Garrett saw Ali talking to Mr. Montgomery that night."

"Aria's dad?" I gasp, my eyebrows shooting up. "What were they saying?"
"He didn't hear," she says. "But apparently it didn't sound good."

I shake my head. "Oh, wow. Yeah, that's probably something that Aria should know."

"Can you help us look for her?" Emily pleads, her eyes darting around in concern. "We need to look all over the train."

"Of course," I say earnestly, and when she rushes off, I sigh and head back to Justin. I know two things about what is going on: Obviously this has something to do with an "A" plan that I don't know about, and obviously I shouldn't interfere. I grab his hand and say, "Come on. Let's get back to dancing."

…

Garrett is dead, and the only thing I can think is that I never heard a gunshot. His body was discovered by the other girls, in a box about to fall right out of the train, with Aria crammed in there with him. It makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

Everyone found out about the body when Spencer, Hanna, and Emily discovered it. I found out about five minutes before that, when someone dressed as the Phantom of the Opera brushed past me and slipped a scrap of paper into my hand.

Garrett's dead. Thanks for the bullets. It wasn't signed, but when you've lived with someone your whole life it's pretty easy to recognize their handwriting (but it should be pointed out that I am obviously not an expert in that field).

The train screeched to a stop as soon as possible, and now the police are here, making sure the body is taken care of and investigating everyone. I stand amongst the jittery crowd with Justin, who looks like he just can't believe this town.

"I'm sorry," I say to him, slipping my arm through his.

He glances down at me, his face pale. "It's not your fault," he says quietly, and my heart sinks a little. Isn't it?

The police have moved out of our train car, and just as everyone is getting ready to disperse, a commotion occurs. I watch Noel Kahn shove Toby and wrap my arms around myself, closing my eyes. This isn't over yet, and I know what's going to happen. I'd tried all night to forget about it, actually. I swallow hard and try not to throw up.

Toby shoves Noel back, hard enough to knock him right into the ice chest in the center of the room. Noel slams into the cooler so hard that it breaks, just as planned, and out spills ice, drinks, and…a body bag.

Everyone gasps simultaneously, leaping back, so that's what I do as well. My eyes meet Toby's for a brief second, but I quickly look away and stare down at the black bag on the floor, soaking wet and, thankfully, zipped closed.

Shouts and exclamations of "Oh my god," and "Is that Alison?" fill the train car. I grab onto Justin's arm and pull. "Let's get out of here," I snap. The plan is over. There's no reason for us to stay and get even more freaked out.

"Whoa," he mutters, allowing me to pull him off of the train and to the nearest street. "What the hell just happened?"

"Weird," I agree, chilled to the bone despite the heavy dress. "I guess that explains what happened to Ali's body." I hope he attributes the shaking in my voice to me being just as shocked as he is.

"Who would do that, though?" he demands, following me in the direction of Rosewood. "What kind of sick person would steal a body and put it in an ice chest?"

I wince. Even though I am not, in fact, that person, I feel just as twisted. I've known about the body in the cooler for days now, plenty of time to tell the police. But I didn't.

The fear that I am turning into just as corrupt a person as my sister fills my head. Yet another innocent person has died, and maybe, if I hadn't gotten those bullets from my dad's safe, he wouldn't have.

Suddenly sick to my stomach, I bend over and throw up on the grass. Justin gapes, putting his hand on my back until I straighten up again, grimacing. "God, are you alright?"

I laugh weakly, pressing my lips together. "Yeah. I mean, no. Are you?"

In response, he pulls out his cell phone and turns it on. "I think I'll call a cab, have it pick us up and drive us back into town."

"Yeah," I say, gazing out in the direction of Rosewood. I can just barely make out Radley Sanitarium, right on the outskirts of town. I fight down the urge to throw up again. "Do that. Let's get out of here."

...

Thanks for reading, and remember to let me know what you think! In the next chapter, Viola battles with where her loyalties really lie when Mona returns to Rosewood High School.