Thanks to RHatch89, nick2951, Pinkpoodle8, Fun With Typing, and Mr Tea The dino for reviewing! As always, I appreciate the support. Let me know what you think of this chapter...next one should hopefully be up soon, and it's a big one, where things really start to pick up again.

Chapter 24

Closed caskets keep secrets. His is open and exposes yours.

I switch my phone off and shove it into my purse, my hands shaking even though this is the fourth time that I've read it. I'm still not used to getting "A" messages. It feels weird, being on the receiving end, and every time my phone chimes, whether it's from "A" or not, I feel a new wave of sympathy for Spencer, Aria, Emily, and Hanna. I can't imagine dealing with this for as long as they have.

"Do you think 'A' really planted something in there?" I hiss, wrapping my hand around Mona's arm. "Or is this just some kind of trick? Like, someone's gonna burst in and find us elbow deep in a casket. 'A' would love that."

"Shh," she whispers back, elbowing me just as the sound of heels clacking down the wooden floor of the church grows closer.

It takes me a second to make out the slim figure who enters the room. It's Spencer. She looks down at her phone, most definitely at the same message, I would guess, and begins to approach the casket.

A phone begins to ring, so suddenly that I jump, checking my cell even though it doesn't sound anything like my ring tone. I'm so distracted that I don't notice Mona walking out of the shadows until I hear her say, "Looks like we got the same 'A' message."

I hurry after her, and Spencer jumps in surprise, looking over. The phone continues ringing, and with a sick feeling in my stomach, I glance slowly over at the casket. "Oh my god, it's in there."

Slowly, I follow the older girls towards it, until we're standing directly in front of the casket. For a moment, we all glance at each other. No one wants to be the one to actually lift the lid.

It's Spencer who finally reaches out, carefully opening the coffin. I hold my breath, recoiling a little, but the sight of Wilden's body isn't as gruesome as I feared. He's been embalmed, obviously, and looks almost peaceful, if a little pale. And sure enough, tucked in the pocket of his shirt is a cell phone.

I twist my hands together, shaking my head. Looking down at a dead body is one thing. There's no way I'm getting any closer. Spencer reaches down hesitantly, looking as nauseated as I feel as she pulls the phone out, of course the second it stops ringing. "Blocked," she mutters, holding it out for us to see.

There it is, the first number after the "Missed Calls" label. But, just as I expected, there's no number. There is, however, a name.

"Kisses?" Mona reads, staring down at the phone.

Spencer's finger hovers over the name. "Redial?"

"I'm not leaving here until you do," my sister says quietly, and I nod, adding, "Hurry."

Spencer presses the redial button and holds the phone up to her ear. A female voice answers, but I can't make out just who it is until Spencer says, shocked, "Hanna?" She holds the phone out, turning it to speaker.

"Why are you calling me on my mom's phone?" Hanna's voice comes through, tinny and confused.

"I thought your mom was in New York," I blurt out, rubbing my forehead. What would "A" want to do with Ms. Marin?

Mona checks her watch. "The service is starting soon. We need to get out of here."

Spencer ends the call just as footsteps begin to echo down the hallway, growing closer. "Come on," she says, and we rush from the room and into the chapel.

I stare at Wilden's body throughout the whole service, unable to get rid of the feeling that bugs are crawling all over me.

But at least "A" was kind enough to wait until the end of the service to continue their reign of terror. The next text comes when we're all standing outside of the church.

Truth won't set you free, bitches. I'm going to bury you with it. Kisses, A

…

It is clear that none of the girls trust us yet. But I can't say that I blame them. I mean, Mona did torture them all as "A" for over a year, and I can't claim much more innocence. I was just as involved as she was for the past few months, and I don't expect them to believe anything I say.

But as long as Red Coat is still out there, now with me on her radar, I'm not going to sit back and let them leave me out. I'm sure they'll come around and start to trust both of us, eventually. And I'm not going to give them any reason to rethink that. The way I see it, the past doesn't matter. We're all on the same side now.

Apparently my sister feels the same way, because when Spencer finally demands to search the RV for proof that neither of us are still involved in the game, Mona doesn't hesitate.

And neither do I. This seems like the final straw, the final thing that will make them realize that we're all equals now. I'll do whatever it takes. After all, we need to stick together against the real bad guy…you know, the one trying to frame us all for murder and everything.

It's dark by the time we pull up in front of the farm, the place where we dumped the RV just yesterday. "Take this," I say, handing Mona a flashlight and following her out of the car. The others are already there, huddled in a group and whispering, but they go quiet as we pass them. I notice.

I stop beside them, watching Mona unlock the fence and push it open. For a moment, she freezes. "Oh my god."

"What?" I ask, rushing over. As soon as I'm close enough to peer inside the fenced-in area, I feel my blood run cold.

It's empty. Completely and totally empty, with no giant RV in sight. "Oh my god, it's gone," my sister says again, whirling around.

There is something strange going on here, I decide, turning in a circle and looking all around as the girls demand, "What do you mean, it's gone?"

"This is where we left it. I mean, you saw me, Hanna. I haven't been back here since."

I look over at her, my doubt growing. I want to believe her, just like I always do. But my mind flashes back to those moments, all those times over the past few months when she seemed so enthusiastic about the "A" plans, so into the game. She was doing it because she liked it, because she actually enjoyed creating schemes that would frighten and hurt these girls.

Does that sort of passion go away so easily? Can one night really change that? I only joined the team in the first place so my own secret didn't get out, and I still found myself missing it a little as I lay in bed last night, missing the planning and the thrill of adrenaline when I was carrying out an order.

There is something more to this story, and I feel a surge of anger replace my fear. Slowly, I cross my arms and turn, walking to stand beside the other girls. Five against one, and my sister notices. "I swear," she cries out. "Somebody stole it."

Hanna's eyebrows shoot up. "Somebody?"

"Let's get out of here," Spencer says, shaking her head.

She and Hanna turn away immediately, not looking back as they head for the car they arrived in. "That somebody wasn't me!" Mona pleads, her eyes meeting mine. "Viola…"

She sounds genuine, but I can't help but remember most of my sophomore year, when she managed to stalk four girls without anyone's knowledge. Obviously, lying is not a problem for her.

I stare at her for a long moment, my irritation growing as it becomes clear to me. Mona didn't stop playing the game that night at the lodge. She just made sure that I no longer could.

I take a deep breath, forcing down my anger, and take a step toward Aria and Emily, who are both staring at me, wide-eyed and clearly unsure of where my loyalties lie. "I'm going to get a ride back with you guys, if that's okay."
"Of course," Aria says quietly, averting her eyes and nodding. "It's fine."

It looks like I've finally gained their trust. All it took was my sister losing it.

Mona stares at me for a second, hurt written all over her face. For the first time, I am not even tempted to buy into her fake sad act. For once, it's not going to work.

I'm done.

I raise my eyebrows and shift my position to stand directly between the others. Finally, she turns, walking back to her car and getting inside. I exhale, slowly. "Let's go," I say to Emily and Aria, but Aria puts her hand on my arm.

"Wait."

I stop, understanding. I guess it makes sense, us waiting until Mona's gone before we leave ourselves. Who knows, that RV could be hidden anywhere around here, and we obviously can't trust her alone.

I focus my gaze on the ground, forcing back a sudden onset of tears. I can't believe, even though I really should by now, that my sister would fake us all out like this. I really believed that she had changed.

"What's going on?" Emily asks in alarm, breaking me out of my thoughts, and I look up. A few yards ahead of us, the brake lights of Mona's car are blinking on and off, erratically.

"Okay, that's weird," I say, blinking in surprise. This can't possibly be a trick, can it?

And then the driver's side door opens, and my sister falls right out onto the asphalt, coughing and gasping for breath. I can make out the shadow of another person, inside the car. "Oh my god, Mona!" I yelp, running over with Aria and Emily right behind me. "What the hell?"

I reach down, pulling her up by the arms as the other girls reach us. "Are you okay?" Emily asks in horror as Mona coughs again, rubbing at her throat.

In all of this alarm, it was easy to forget completely about the person in the car. But that was clearly a bad decision. One moment I am rubbing my sister's back, trying to help her get her breath back, and the next I am completely blinded by headlights. My mind is screaming at me to run, but my body is frozen, unable to focus on anything but the car suddenly barreling toward us.

"Watch out!" I hear Emily scream, and the next thing I know, my hip knocks into the hard ground, my hands thankfully shooting out instinctively to stop myself before my head hits a rock. Tires squeal against the asphalt. My heart feels like it's going to explode.

I roll over, breathing hard, and see that the three others are all beside me. It becomes quickly apparent that Emily is our savior, having pushed us all out of the way of the car, which is now growing tiny in the distance as it speeds away.

"Holy crap," I gasp, pressing one hand to my heart and rubbing my hip with the other. Thankfully, everything seems to be working correctly. I glance around, squinting in the dark. Mona and Aria sit up as well, seeming unharmed, but Emily is grimacing, rubbing her shoulder. "Are you okay, Emily?"

"My shoulder landed on a rock," she says with a groan, squeezing her eyes shut. "But I'm fine."

Aria watches her, obviously concerned, but grimaces and pushes herself to her feet. "Then let's get out of here. Now."

I roll over and scramble up, brushing dirt off of my clothes. I pull up the edge of my shirt, revealing a bruise on my ribs, but that, along with a few scrapes on my arms, seems to be the only thing wrong with me.

Thankful, I watch as Aria runs ahead toward the car, Emily following, her hand pressed tight against her shoulder. Mona gets up as well, glancing over at me. Guilt begins to ebb into my stomach, replacing the fear I felt just a few minutes ago, and I reach out, grabbing her hand. "I'm sorry," I blurt out, shaking my head. "I should have believed you. God, if you hadn't gotten that door open…" I trail off, unable to finish even the thought, let alone the sentence.

"We're on the same side, Viola," she says, releasing my hand and reaching up to touch the bruises that are beginning to form on her throat. "I didn't move the RV, and I'm not still working with 'A.' I don't know what else I can do to get you to believe me."

"I do believe you," I insist, realizing as I pull her into a hug that it's true. No one, not even my sister, is crazy enough to stage an attack like that. "And I'm sorry that it took you getting hurt to make me realize that." I pull away just as I hear Emily start up the engine. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

Mona nods and grabs my hand, and we run toward the car together.

...

Again, review and let me know what you think! Next chapter, an old confrontation returns...along with a certain picture that can only lead to trouble.