Can't believe I'm already at chapter thirty...and there's still a long way to go. Thanks to Fun With Typing, RHatch89, karma3825, nick2951, and Mr Tea The Dino for reviewing - I appreciate it! Please let me know what you think of this chapter, which is a lead-in to the next one...which is HUGE.

Chapter 30

"I seriously can't believe you've never seen this movie."

"What can I say? Black and white movies have never really been my thing." Justin glances over his shoulder at me from his place on the couch.

I raise my eyebrows, grabbing the bowl of popcorn from the counter and walking over to join him. "Really? Old movies are, like, all anyone watches around here."

He laughs, grabbing a handful of popcorn and leaning back on the couch. "In Brookhaven, it's more reality shows and cartoons."

I shudder, picking up the remote and switching the TV to the correct channel just as the opening credits for the movie begin. "Still. 'Strangers on a Train' is a classic. You have to see it at least once."

I cross my legs and lean back, aware of his arm draped across the back of the couch. After we kissed in my house last week – was that seriously only a little over a week ago? – I haven't really been sure of our relationship. The tension between us, however, is undeniable. It's like we want to be dating, but we're not sure if it's the best idea.

Or, at least that's how I feel.

I sigh and pop a piece of popcorn into my mouth, forcing myself to calm down and just go with it. Right now, Justin is the only normal part of my life, and I want to keep it that way. Forcing a relationship before we're ready for that again would just make things awkward, and my life is awkward enough.

"Think they'll ever recreate these types of movies?" he asks only five minutes in, obviously not very interested yet. "You know, add color?"

I groan, grabbing a pillow from the corner of the couch and dropping my head down into it. "Oh my god, I hope not." I raise my head and brush my hair out of my face. "You obviously don't understand the artistic genius behind black and white movies."

"Obviously not," Justin agrees, his mouth full of popcorn. "And I hope I never will."

I smirk and shush him, turning up the sound. We sit in silence for a few minutes, and I can tell that Justin is just starting to get involved in the movie when he glances down and pokes me. "Hey. I think your phone just went off."

"Huh?" I reach forward, plucking it off of the table, and see that he's right. A new text has just come in. Figuring it's my mother, checking to make sure I'm not up to something inappropriate, I open it. It's from Spencer, and as soon as I read the message I feel my blood run cold.

SOS. You need to get over here. Now.

I stop breathing for a moment, and apparently have a funny look on my face, because Justin pauses the movie and leans toward me. "Hey. What's wrong?"

"What?" Surprised, I fumble with the phone, dropping it into my lap. "Oh. Um. Nothing."

He shrugs, giving me another strange look, then continues the movie, his eyes moving back to the screen. I take another look down at the message, my nerves increasing. I need to get out of here. Somehow, I need to make something up.

"Actually," I blurt out, getting Justin's attention. "I'm, um, I'm really not feeling so great. Think we could finish this another night?"

This time, he actually turns the television off, his brow furrowing. "Yeah, you do look a little pale. What's going on?"

"Just an upset stomach," I say, and it's not necessarily a lie. I do feel a little sick. "I'm think I'm just still getting over the flu from a few days ago."

"Hey, yeah." He stands, getting his jacket from where he draped it over the back of the couch and pulling it on. "You should rest. Why don't you text me when you're feeling better, in a couple days or so? We can do this again."

"Great," I breathe, relieved that he's not any more suspicious. That's the best thing about having a friend – boyfriend? – who's not from around here. He doesn't know many of the grim details of my life. "That sounds great."

"Alright," he says with a smile, heading for the door. I follow him, and for a moment we stand together silently. He leans in a bit, and so do I, and then it's like, at the same time, we both realize what's going on and pull away.

"Uh – "

"I'm – "

I let out an awkward laugh, half hoping that he'll lean in again. But instead, he reaches out and hugs me, then grabs the doorknob. "I'll see you around," he mumbles. "Feel better." And he's gone.

I groan, leaning against the closed door and allowing myself only a moment of reflection. But I don't have time to worry about my stupid love life. I check my phone for any more updates, send Spencer a text that I'm on my way, and head out to my car.

Five minutes later I pull up in front of the Hastings house. The front door opens before I even make it onto the porch, and the four girls usher me inside. "Whoa," I say, alarmed by the expressions on their faces. "What's going on, you guys?"

This must be bad. Or a trick, something cooked up by "A." There's no way that these girls would actually be trusting me, involving me in one of their plans, unless they felt they had to. It's been obvious ever since that night at the police station that they still don't consider me to be completely on their side.

"Viola," Spencer says instead of "hello," pulling me into the entryway and positioning herself so that I can't see into the living room. "Do you know where Mona is right now?"

Something about her tone, along with the half worried, half horrified expressions on all of their faces, makes me think that I can't possibly have the right answer. "No," I say in alarm. "Still in Radley, I thought, but – "

"She's not," Emily interrupts, shaking her head. "We just called. She's been out since yesterday."

My head is spinning, and I'm glad that whatever flu I had a few days ago has mostly gone away. I don't think I'd be able to deal with this if I was still sick. "What? No one told me that. My parents are out of town." I pause, fighting down the urge to be sick, and wrap my arms around myself. "What do you guys know?"

"We know that 'A' has something to do with this," Hanna says, grabbing my arm and pulling me into Spencer's living room. "This came yesterday. We've been trying to figure it out, but we thought you should know."

I follow the other girls into the room, and immediately catch sight of what they must be talking about. A white, child-sized casket is open on the coffee table. And inside is a doll that bears a striking resemblance to my sister.

"Oh my god." I sit down hard on the couch, unable to tear my eyes away. "You think that 'A' did something to Mona?"

"No," Spencer says, pulling out her phone and opening a text message. "But we think that they might. 'A' sent us this text right after we opened the box."

She holds her phone out for me to read, but I can barely make out the words as black dots appear in my vision.

Hanna won, so Mona loses. Find her before the cops or they'll think you killed her. –A

I am nearly certain that I'm going to pass out. "Oh my god," I say again, unable to think of anything else that sums up the horror that I'm feeling. "I can't believe you guys are just telling me this now." Before any of them can respond, I sit up straighter, realizing something. "You guys, there was a car parked outside of my house last night. It was gone when I got up this morning. You don't think – "

"No," Hanna cuts me off, smiling a little. "That was just me and Caleb. We spent the night outside of your house, to see if she came home."

I raise my eyebrows in disbelief. Sometimes these girls really can be stupid. "Seriously? You really didn't think I'd notice if I'm home alone or not?"

"We didn't want to tell you anything until we knew for sure that something's wrong," Emily explains, sitting down beside me. I'm surprised by her sudden compassion. Out of all the girls, I've always felt like Emily's trusted me the least, probably because she was always the closest to Alison. "I barely slept last night."

"I don't think I'll ever sleep again," I counter, probably the twentieth time I've had that thought over the past few months. "What are we going to – "

The doorbell cuts me off, and Spencer glances at us all, her eyes wide with uncertainty as she gets up to answer it. She returns only a moment later, a large box covered in brown paper in her arms. "Guys, another one."

" 'A' can't even give us one day," Hanna mutters, shaking her head as Spencer sets the box down and rips off the paper.

A plain black box sits in front of us, with a knob on top and on either side. I reach out shakily, pulling open the little opening on the side of the box. We all peer inside, and I hold my breath, fearing the worst.

"There's nothing here," Hanna exclaims.

"It's just an empty box," I say in disbelief, sitting back on my heels. "What the heck?"

Though Emily, Aria, and Hanna all share my looks of confusion, Spencer furrows her brow and moves closer, frowning deeply. "Or maybe not."

Hanna rolls her eyes. "For once, I'm right and you're wrong, Spencer," she protests, a little triumphantly. I hold back a laugh. Being friends with a genius must get pretty tiring. I would know. I live with one.

Or, I did. I feel my stomach clench with fear. "What are you doing?" I demand as Spencer moves her hand across the box in a fashion that does not look random. Then she grabs the little handle on the top and pulls.

The sides of the box collapse away, revealing, of all things, an old-fashioned hand saw, propped upright in the center of the table. We all gasp, leaning away. I jump to my feet and bend down, examining the words written on the saw in what looks suspiciously like blood.

Watch me make a girl disappear. Kisses, A

"I'm gonna be sick," I groan, pressing my hand to my stomach and sinking back down onto the couch. I try to look away from the saw, only for my eyes to land on the doll in the coffin instead. I squeeze my eyes shut, the only escape from a life completely taken over by "A."

"How did you do that?" I hear someone ask in shock.

Spencer's nonchalant voice replies, "Took home first prize for my magic act at performing arts camp."

I open my eyes just in time to see Aria roll hers, snorting, "Of course you did."

I stare at the saw, trying to make sense of it all with the little knowledge that I have. I feel like I'm definitely missing something here – this does not seem like a random message, or else "A" would have just sent it by text. There is definitely some meaning to the saw, but I can't figure out what it is until Spencer exclaims, "It's magic!"

"What?" Emily asks.

"Watch me make a girl disappear," Spencer explains, her voice growing in excitement. " 'A's' not playing a game, she's putting on a magic show."

Hanna looks just as confused as I feel. "Why would Cece do that?"

Cece? I have never even heard that name, and yet I feel waves of familiarity anyway. For some reason, I feel like I know who this is, but I have no idea why they all suddenly believe that she's "A."

I open my mouth to question this, but at the last second decide against it. If I learned anything from my time on the "A" team, it's that these girls change their prime suspect for "A" at least once a week, and they're wrong one hundred percent of the time. If they really think that whoever this Cece person is can be "A," they're probably wrong.

Spencer keeps talking, ignoring the confusion that must be written all over my face. "People want to go to magic shows to be deceived. They want to believe in something they know can't be true."

I snap back to the present, just as I realize where I've heard the name Cece. She was just accused of killing Detective Wilden, which must be why my sister was released from Radley. Maybe she is involved in all of this.

I picture her face in my mind, from the police sketch that has been all over the news for the past day or so. I know that this must be where I've heard the name, but I still can't shake the feeling that there's something more here, that I know her from somewhere else. In fact, I can actually picture what her voice sounds like, though I can't remember ever talking to her.

"Wait," I interrupt, standing from the couch and crossing my arms. "You think that 'A' is putting on a magic show?"

"Yeah," Aria agrees, shaking her head, "and we're the audience?"

"No, we're not the audience," Spencer corrects us, glancing down at the saw. "I think we're part of the act."

I feel my gaze drawn to the little coffin, and my stomach turns over. No one else seems willing to say it, so I do. "And she's gonna make Mona disappear forever."

...

Again, let me know what you think. Next up, Viola goes along with the girls to Ravenswood...and discovers something huge.