Five reviews! That means a speedy update, yay! Thank you to all of the wonderful people who reviewed. And Mr Tea The dino, to answer your question, "A" has big plans in mind for Viola...and that's all you're getting. This chapter and the next are not very exciting, mostly just followup of the lodge fire, but in a few chapters, things really start to pick up. Even so, let me know what you think!

Chapter 22

I wake up to the feeling of my body being dragged across something cold and damp, but my eyes feel too heavy to open. My head bumps something hard, and I finally cough, my lungs tight and sore.

I'm dead, right? I have to be. The last thing I remember is collapsing in the lodge, with Mona, Aria, Hanna, and Emily. We're all dead. Right now I'm probably being dragged into, I don't know, the afterlife or something.

I cough again, my whole body aching now, and I finally feel myself come to a stop, my arms hitting the ground. I try to breathe, but the smell of smoke is too overpowering.

But that doesn't make sense. If I was dead, I wouldn't still be able to smell the smoke, would I?

I brace myself for the worst, then crack my eyes open, just a bit. I'm not dead. I'm laying on the ground, far from the lodge, which is completely blazing with fire. I pull myself up on my elbows, which makes me cough harder, just in time to see a flash of red disappear behind a tree. Red Coat?

I look around, still having to squint. Hanna, Emily, and Aria lay just a few feet away. They are sitting up as well, coughing just as hard as I am. Their faces are practically covered in ash. I reach up, wiping at my own cheek. My fingers come away black.

"Did anyone see her?" I glance up as Mona rushes over, kneeling down beside me.

"See who?" I ask, my throat aching.

"Alison. She pulled me out of there, she pulled us all out."

I frown at her, very confused, and thinking back to that flash of red. I guess I assumed it was Red Coat, but that doesn't make very much sense, if she was the one to set the fire. But, then again, it doesn't make much more sense for it to have been Alison.

"No," Aria says from my left. "You're hallucinating."

"She was here," my sister insists frantically, grabbing my arm. "I swear it."

Concerned, I press the back of my hand to her forehead, checking for a fever. But judging by how hot I feel, I'm pretty sure I have one as well. "Ali's dead," Emily mumbles, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Hanna, though, looks up, shaking her head. "I saw her too," she whispers, so low that I can barely hear her.

"So did I," a much louder voice speaks from above us. Spencer runs over, still wearing her fancy soiree dress. I stare at her for a moment, stunned. I guess Toby didn't pummel her with a flashlight after all.

I rub at my eyes, regretting it when the soot makes them sting. "I saw someone in a red coat disappear around a tree, just a second ago," I say, mostly to myself. "You guys don't think it could have been…"

I can't bring myself to finish what is probably a completely ridiculous statement, but Spencer's eyes widen as she looks down at the rest of us. Then she speaks, and her words chill me to the bone. "Ali's Red Coat."

…

"So all of this started when you were in Radley?"

I lean back against the seat, thankful that my breathing is finally under control. Even though we arrived in three separate cars, we all decided to try and fit into one on the way back. No one wanted to drive alone, after what just happened. I think I'll be sleeping with all the lights on tonight.

Emily's driving, with Spencer in the passenger seat and the rest of us squished in the back. I'm crammed in between Mona and Aria, feeling uncomfortably warm in the thick hoodie.

"I made a deal with the devil," Mona says faintly, shaking her head. "And she gave me a way in and out of that place…at first it was fun, having a partner. But then the game changed. She stole you from me."

I sigh, closing my eyes. "Nice word choice."

Emily glances back through the rearview mirror, her brow furrowed. "So what happened that night?" she asks, and I think she's talking about the night Ali died until she continues. "Were you there at the cemetery? Did you drug me? Did you take Ali's body?"

"I don't know who drugged you. But I was at the cemetery, and so was Red Coat."

"How could you not see who it was?" Spencer asks, twisting around.

"She was wearing a mask," Mona insists. "She looked just…like Ali."

"Hey," I pipe up, opening my eyes. "That's probably what happened tonight, then. That wasn't Alison, it was just a mask."

Everyone seems to be okay with this explanation as the church comes into view. I breathe out a sigh of relief at being back in Rosewood, something I never thought I would do. But anything's better than being trapped in a burning building in the middle of the woods.

A water-soaked car is parked outside of the church, and Hanna and Aria gasp simultaneously as it comes into view. "Guys," Hanna says quietly. "Wait. Is that…?"

"Someone pulled it out of the lake," Aria concludes.

I recognize that this is a police car, most likely Detective Wilden's. Hanna's mother hit him with her car a few weeks ago when he was antagonizing her, and he's been missing ever since. A few days ago, the car appeared in Hanna's garage.

Okay, it didn't just appear there. Mona put it there. I know this, but I figure the others don't, so I stay quiet.

Anyway, the car contains a laptop computer, which is set to play on a loop a video of Wilden tumbling over the hood of the car and being left on the ground.

I figured they'd gotten rid of it somehow. But until now, I hadn't realized what they must have done with it. "You guys pushed his car into the lake?" I cry as Emily parks. We all climb out and rush toward it. But that's not the real question that's bothering me. Who pulled it out?

We crowd together along one side of the car, peering through the windows. Despite the fact that the car has been submerged in water for who knows how long, the laptop is in as good condition as ever, the video still playing on an endless loop. I've seen it multiple times, most recently when I was rigging it to play on that laptop and not stop, but it's still hard for me to watch Wilden's body thrown launched backwards onto the street.

"We've got to get this out of here," Hanna says desperately, watching as her mother climbs into her car and knocks Wilden right out of the way.

The video seems to end, but glitches, then suddenly progresses forward. "There's more," I gasp, leaning further into the window and nearly pressing my face against it.

Tiny on the screen, two girls come into view, rushing over to Wilden and pulling him to his feet. They loop their arms around him and help him walk out of view of the camera.

My mouth falls open. One of the girls I recognize only vaguely, but the other I know well.

"It's Jenna…and Shana? They know Wilden?"

We all exchange horrified glances, and I knock at the window, wondering if the glass has been worn down at all. It hasn't.

"Guys," Spencer calls out, and I look up. She and Mona have walked around to the back of the cruiser. "Look at the trunk."

We hurry over to join them. Sure enough, the trunk is slightly propped open, as if something has been stuffed inside that doesn't quite fit.

"Oh my god," I groan, a thought occurring to me. "You guys don't think…"

The sound of six cell phones going off cuts me off, thankfully, because I'm not sure if I had it in me to finish that question. Shakily, everyone pulls their phones out of various pockets and purses. I don't bother to get out my own. I'm fairly confident that they are all going to say the same thing, so I lean over Mona's shoulder instead.

The text appears on the screen, and Emily reads it aloud. "You're mine now. Kisses."

I can barely believe how the text is signed, and even though I'm barely aware of speaking, my voice comes out at the same time as my sister's. "A."

The four other girls all look over at us, just as surprised as I feel. This is all wrong. We don't get "A" texts, we send them.

Have we just been kicked off of the team for something that was totally out of our control? I feel a sudden rush of surprisingly mixed emotions. Do I really want to be off of the "A" team?

Before I really have time to think about this, Spencer is reaching forward to open the trunk. I take a step back, bracing myself. I'm absolutely positive that we are about to be faced with Wilden's decaying body.

The trunk springs open, and we all gasp, leaping back as the pungent smell fills the air. I feel like I'm going to throw up.

But it's not a dead body.

It's a dead pig.

My hand flies up to cover my mouth and nose as I try and shield myself from the smell. I'm relieved that we're not looking down at a human corpse, but a little confused, too. Why would "A" leave a dead pig for us to find? This seems like some sort of metaphor or riddle or something. "A" doesn't do things just for the heck of it. There's always a motive.

I am so disgusted that it takes me a moment to realize that our group of six has decreased to five. Aria notices my expression and her eyes widen. "What the – where's Mona?"

"This was all her," Hanna exclaims. "She set us up."

They all turn on me, and I step back, shaking my head. "I have no idea, you guys, I swear."

The general consensus is that we all need to get out of here before something terrible inevitably happens. Spencer, Aria, and Emily take off jogging toward the car, but I exchange a glance with Hanna and begin moving around to the front of the car.

Sure enough, Mona has not ditched us. She is sitting in the front seat of the car, fiddling with the laptop. "Hanna, Viola," Spencer calls from beside the car, and I feel a sudden surge of gratitude at finally being included, even if it is a little too late. "Come on!"

I yank open the door of the car and repeat, "Come on!"

"God, Mona, what are you doing?" Hanna demands, looking around frantically.

"Saving your mom," my sister says flatly, not looking up.

I spot two people walking down the street, hand-in-hand, coming in our direction. They don't seem particularly concerned with what we're doing…in fact, they don't even seem to notice us. But still, six teenagers, most of whom are dressed in black, standing around next to a water-soaked car never looks good. Not to mention the dead animal in the wide-open trunk. "Crap, guys," I call out, straightening up so quickly that I slam my head on the car. "Someone's coming!"

The other girls come running back, attempting to quite literally drag us away with cries of, "Hurry up!"

"They're coming, Mona, come on," Hanna insists, as the other girls run for the car, leaping inside and starting the engine.

"Hurry up!" I practically scream, my eyes following the couple as they draw nearer, their eyes on us now. "Come on!"

"Got it," Mona finally says after what seems like an eternity, pulling some sort of chip out of the computer. I yank her out of the car just as Emily pulls up. The three of us hurl ourselves into the back and we shoot down the street.

I let out a breath of relief, collapsing back against the seat and pressing my hand to my chest. "God, that was scary."

This is probably the biggest understatement of my life.

...

Let me know what you think! Next chapter is short, as Viola and Mona deal with some damage control after being officially kicked off of the "A" team.