A big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Fun With Typing, I feel you - started out with nearly 200 pieces and still had to make a run for more not even halfway through the night! It was the most insane trick or treating I've seen in a long time. Anyway, this is the chapter where things start to get more exciting as we finish up with season four stuff and catapult right into season five, starting with the next chapter. Not sure if anyone's been getting bored with the last few chapters or so, but I promise, from here on out, the excitement is back! This is one of my favorite chapters, so please review fast and let me know what you think! Five reviews and I'll put up the next chapter quickly.

Chapter 38

My chest feels considerably lighter the next day. I can almost smile as I put my books away in my locker before lunch.

Ezra's gone. Well, not gone, but not in school. I peeked into his classroom on my way to the bathroom earlier today, only to find a substitute in his place. And I heard later that he's taken a leave of absence due to a family emergency.

Likely story. He probably realized that we're all on to him and skipped town. And if that's the case, then that must mean that the "A" game is finally over. I pull out my phone and glance at the last text I received, the one after I left Ezra's lair. It's crazy to think that I may never hear from "A" again. I feel lighter than I have in a long time, like a huge weight has been lifted off of my chest.

I really do smile now as I head out the doors and over to the quad, glancing around to find someone to sit with. But I don't get very far before I hear someone calling my name.

Hanna rushes up to me. "Hey," I say, noticing her nervous expression. "What's going on?"

"Have you seen Aria? Or heard from her?" she asks, her voice low.

I shake my head, glancing around to make sure that no one is listening. "No. Why? Did she finally believe you guys about Fitz – " I lower my voice. "About Fitz being 'A'?"

Her eyes widening, Hanna grabs my arm and pulls me over to a more secluded corner, right against the wall of the school. "We talked to her yesterday. She went to Ezra's cabin last night, when we were at the zoo. She found a manuscript."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?" I fold my arms, staring at her in confusion. What does a manuscript have to do with being "A"?

Hanna shifts uncomfortably. "Ezra isn't 'A,'" she says quietly, and I feel my heart stop.

"No," I burst out before she can go on, refusing to believe this. "How can you say that? After that lair we found, and all that evidence – "

"He's not 'A,'" she repeats, and this time I let her keep speaking. "But he has been stalking us. He's been writing a book all this time, since before Alison disappeared."

"That doesn't make any sense," I protest, my head spinning. "Why would Fitz want to write a book about you guys?"

"Not just us," Hanna says, gesturing to herself. "All of us. Including Ali."

Instead of things getting more clear, I feel like the more she explains, I understand less and less. "What? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
She nods, her gaze serious. "Ezra knew Alison. He met her the summer she went missing. He's been writing a book about her, that's what all that stuff in Ravenswood was."

"Research," I fill in, slowly beginning to put the pieces together. "But if Ezra isn't 'A,' then he at least has to know about 'A,' right?"

"I guess," Hanna says with a shrug. "You saw everything he had in that lair. It seems like he knew everything about us."

I can't control a shiver at the thought of a teacher at our school stalking us and knowing all of our secrets…all in the name of writing a book. It's almost too ridiculous to believe.

"He's not 'A,'" I mumble, trying to come to terms with this. "He's just writing a freaking mystery novel."

"Aria was really upset last night, and she tried to confront Ezra this morning," Hanna goes on. "She went home after she found out that he's gone. I just tried to call her, but she didn't pick up."

"I haven't heard anything from her," I tell her, checking my phone just to be sure. "But I'm pretty sure she wouldn't call me over you guys."

Hanna glances back toward the school, and I spot Spencer and Emily through the window. "I've got to go," she says, heading for the door. "See you later."

"Let me know if you find her!" I call, moving to sit down at one of the empty tables in the quad. I rest my head in my hands, suppressing a groan.

We were so close. I really thought that we were about to end this whole thing for good, finally put a rest to "A's" crazy reign of terror. And now we're right back where we started.

I feel no closer to uncovering "A's" identity than I did back in September.

For the second time, I hear my name, and a moment later my sister sits down beside me. I am really not in the mood, but I pinch the bridge of my nose for a moment and say, "Hey."

"Hey," Mona replies, giving me a strange look. "What was up with Hanna?"

I scowl down at the table, grabbing my water bottle and taking a long sip as I figure out a response. I consider the truth, but ultimately decide against it once I realize that I'm more irritated than anything. "What?" I snap, setting the bottle down so hard that a bit of water sloshes out the top. "I can't talk to people without your approval?"

"You can talk to whoever you want," she says, smiling sweetly. I press my hand to my stomach, wondering if throwing up will put an end to this conversation. "She just looked upset, that's all."

I roll my eyes, not buying this. "Come on. Quit acting like you don't know exactly what's going on."

"Why do you always think that I know everything?"

I raise my eyebrows, leaning forward on the table. "Because you're Mona."

She smiles again, not responding to this, and I reach down to scratch at my leg. As I do so, I catch sight of her purse, on the ground between us. It's partially open, revealing a small stack of papers sticking out, paper clipped together.

I straighten up, shifting my eyes back to my sister. She glances down at her purse and then at me, clearly realizing what I noticed. "What's that?" I ask, nodding downwards.

Mona glances down at her purse, as if this is the first time that she's noticing this. "Oh, nothing," she says, waving her hand dismissively. "Just a paper for history."

I bend over and take another look at the stack of papers. That was a pretty weak lie, I decide with surprise. "Oh really?" I ask brightly. "Are most of your history papers twenty pages long?"
We stare at each other for a long moment, in a stand-off. I finally make the first move, reaching my hand down in one quick movement. But she's fast, too, and grabs my wrist just as my fingers brush against the edge of the papers.

"Drop it, Viola," she snaps, pushing my hand away. "I promise you, you don't want to see what's on those pages."

I'm shocked by how easily she gave up on lying. "Oh, I definitely do now," I argue. "Come on, just tell me what it is and I swear I won't ask anything else."

Mona leans toward me, her eyes narrowing. I'm startled by her sudden intensity. "Let's just say," she says, her voice low, "that there are things written in those pages that could bring both of us down."

I shift away from her, nearly falling off of the bench. Suddenly anxious and even more curious than ever, I look away, thinking hard. I know I just said that I wouldn't try and get ahold of those papers again…but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep that promise. Especially if there's information about me in them.

Pressing my lips together, I try and act casual as I wait for an opportunity to grab those papers. And when I glance up, only minutes later, to see Mike approaching, I have to suppress a smile. Finally things are looking in my favor.

"Hey," he says, putting a hand on Mona's back. I smile, not just out of politeness, waiting on the edge of my seat until she stands up to kiss him. Then I bend down, snatch the pages out of her purse and leap out of my seat with a grin.

"Thanks, sis!" I yell over my shoulder, clutching the papers to my chest as I bolt out of the quad and into the school, my bag bouncing against my side.

I don't stop running until I'm able to duck into the bathroom. I lock myself in a stall and lean against it, breathing hard and grinning.

She is going to kill me. In fact, I am probably going to wake up tomorrow in a different country, or maybe underwater. With amnesia.

A little less certain of my decision to steal whatever this is, I hesitate, weighing it in my hands. I have no idea what I'm about to read, only that it contains less-than-stellar information about me. Do I really want to know?

Yes. Yes I do.

I hold it out in front of me and realize immediately what I'm looking at. It's not a school paper. It's a manuscript.

Not wanting to sit down on the toilet, I lean against the wall of the stall and focus on the first page.

I scan my eyes over the words, planning to start at the top and read this whole thing if I have to, even if that means ditching the next two periods. But one line halfway down the page jumps out at me, and I feel like I was just electrocuted.

With one clandestine photograph, the team increased to three. And the newest member? Mona's own little sister.

I gasp, my grip loosening, and half the pages in my hand flutter to the ground. I stoop down, gathering them up before they can shift out of the stall. My hands are shaking so badly that it takes me a few minutes to get them all back into order.

I flip through the rest of the manuscript, or at least the part that I have, my name popping out at me every now and then. But all of our names are sprinkled through this thing. It's a book about all of us, and the section that I have seems to be centered around the time that I was a member of the "A" team. Doing illegal things.

Oh, god.

It occurs to me as I scan paragraph after paragraph that I am not just reading any novel. I'm reading Ezra's novel.

My alarm increasing, I am just about to stop reading and get rid of these pages, even if that means flushing them down the toilet one by one. But I'm on the last page. I can't stop now.

A flash of red, barely visible through the dark trees. Behind her, a fire beginning to blaze. She turned toward the source of light, blond hair cascading out from under the blood red hood.

At first, her pale skin appeared to be made of porcelain, her eyes too blue to be real. But as she stepped into the light caused by the bright fire, it was revealed that the perfect face was not a mask.

It was really her. It was really Alison.

My hands fall limply to my sides, the last page of the chapter I'm holding wrinkling in my grip.

Ezra wasn't guessing that Alison is alive.

He knows.

...

Again, let me know what you think! Next, Viola's attempts to tell the girls what she's discovered prove to be in vain once she realizes that they've disappeared to New York. Also, tensions between the sisters finally erupt when Mona tries to enlist Viola into her plan to take down Alison.