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Chapter 65

I was never really a fan of listening to loud music. I guess I always just preferred keeping my ear drums intact. But ever since I escaped from that place, I feel like I spend half my time with my ear buds in, the music on my phone cranked to top volume.

That's what I'm doing an hour after I let Mike in. I have no idea what's going on in the room next to mine, how Mona handled seeing him, or if he's even still here. I can't hear anything over the blasting in my ears.

I smack closed a magazine and am just moving on to another one, snapping the gum in my mouth, when the song I'm listening to dims and such a loud chiming fills my ears that I nearly fall off the bed.

Swearing – probably pretty loudly, too, but I can't really hear – I yank out my ear buds, my heart speeding up. My mind immediately jumps to the worst possible conclusion, that this is some message from "A," some new way of tormenting me, when the chiming resumes, and I realize that I'm stupid.

It's my phone ringing. Someone's calling.

Rubbing my ringing ears, I turn the volume on my cell down. Before I can check the ID, the ringing stops. I'm a little curious, but not curious enough to check and see who it was. I'm just going back to my magazine when it chimes again.

My eyebrows shoot up and I grab my phone. No one has been this urgent to get ahold of me in a long time. Suddenly wary, I look down at the name on the screen, and my surprise grows. Nervously, I hold it to my ear.

"Alison?"

"Viola," she replies, sounding intense, and I blink, alarmed. "Finally."

I shake my head, completely dumbfounded. "Um, what's – what's going on?" This can't have anything to do with Charles, can it? If any new discoveries were made, Alison would probably be the last to call me.

"I need your help," she says, and I hear the shakiness in her voice. "Can you give me a ride?"

This is bewildering. "Why me?" I stammer, swinging my legs off of the bed and standing up, wrapping my free arm around myself.

"I've been calling everyone," she explains, speaking quickly. Her voice is slightly muffled, like she's talking under her breath. "No one's picking up."

I'm unsurprised to find out that I am her last resort. But I'm still suspicious. Alison hasn't really given me any good reason to trust her over the past few years. And this plea for help is coming completely out of nowhere. "And where, exactly, do you need me to take you?"

"I don't know," Alison admits after a hesitation. "I just have the address. But this is important, Viola. I think Charles is going to do something to Jason."

My eyes nearly pop right out of my head. "What? Wait, wait, what is going on?"

"Charles is coming home for his birthday," she says nervously. "I can't explain everything right now. There's not time. I'm staying in that hotel, the one right outside of town. Can you please come pick me up?"

My mind is spinning so badly that I barely understand what I'm agreeing to, but the words come spilling out anyway. "Sure. Yeah. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Thank you," Alison breathes, and the line clicks off.

My arm falls to my side, and I blink quickly. It's Charles' birthday? Do psychopaths even have birthdays? And once again, I've just agreed to run right into what is potentially a dangerous situation.

It's like I'm asking to get kidnapped again.

Now that my head has cleared a bit, it occurs to me that this is incredibly stupid. I have no idea where I'm going to be driving to. Even Alison doesn't seem have a clue. And where are Spencer, and Aria, and the others? Why couldn't they pick her up?

I'm getting the feeling that I'm missing a lot of information here.

The term "butterflies in your stomach" doesn't even apply here. I feel like my stomach is being attacked by a swarm of bees. Shakily, I grab my car keys and purse and rush out of my room.

I'm going to help Alison. But I am not going alone.

I practically slide down the hallway, grabbing onto the doorframe of the next room, bursting right in on Mike and Mona. He's sitting in a chair, she's sitting in his lap, and they're kissing, completely unaware that I've even entered the room, let alone that I'm on the verge of panic.

Slightly mortified, I leap back, clear my throat, and say, "Hey."

They both jump horribly, turning to look at me. Mike turns several shades of bright red. My sister looks like she wouldn't mind if I fell out of an open window. "What are you doing, Viola?"

"I need your help with something," I say, widening my eyes to try and communicate the fact that this is urgent.

Mona hops up and brushes back her hair, looking irritated. "And it couldn't wait?"

"No," I say earnestly, glancing down at my cell phone, which is still clutched in my hand. "It's important."

Maybe it's the phone, or the look on my face, but she seems to understand, glancing uncertainly at Mike. He jumps up, still clearly flustered. "Everything okay?"

"Yes," I blurt out, too quickly and too loudly. The last thing I want is to involve him in this. He's one of the only people left who's not completely wrapped up in this whole situation, and I want to keep it that way. "Fine, I just…"

"No problem," Mike says, holding out his hands in surrender. "I'll talk to you later." He leans down, kisses my sister briefly, and squeezes my arm on his way out.

She shuts the door behind him and folds her arms. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," I confirm, and toss her a set of car keys. "Come on. We have to go pick up Alison."

"What do you mean," Mona demands, but the irritation in her voice has changed to incredulity, "we have to go pick up Alison?"

I hop back and forth, growing impatient. "Check your phone lately?"

She grabs it off of the desk and frowns suspiciously. "Why would Alison be calling either one of us for help?"

I wave my hand dismissively. I want to get on the road – now. Not because I necessarily want to dedicate my night to helping Alison, but because I feel closer to answers than I have in a long time. "Last resort," I say quickly, pulling open the door. "Now come on. This has to do with Charles."

…

"Okay, you're gonna make a right at the next stop sign." I lean forward from the backseat, my phone clutched tightly in my hands. My nerves feel almost completely shot, but a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that I'm sitting in a car with two of the most unpredictable people I know.

"Thank you for coming," Alison says suddenly, twisting around in the passenger seat to glance back at me. "You were the only one who answered my call."

"I know," I say awkwardly, shifting a little in my seat.

"Did you tell Mike where you were going?" Ali asks suddenly, and I notice guilt flashing across her face. I blink in surprise. Alison feeling bad for someone other than herself? This is a side of her that I'm going to have to get used to.

Mona shakes her head silently, her grip tightening on the steering wheel. I jump in hastily, "No one knows. Not even our parents. So this better not be anything dangerous."

"How did you get out of there?" my sister asks, glancing over at Alison.

"Yeah, I thought your dad had you on, like, lockdown," I add, consulting the directions on my phone. "Keep going straight. Next left isn't for a while."

Alison shrugs, fidgeting a little. "Sleeping pills." I press my lips together to stifle a hysterical laugh. Sleeping pills. Honestly. "I still couldn't find my dad's car keys, though."

"I'm just glad I could help," Mona says, sounding sincere. "I know I owe you. More than just a car ride."

The stifling silence that follows this is quite unsettling. I wince and stare determinedly ahead, glad for the distraction when Alison pulls out her phone and lifts it to her ear. "Who are you calling?" I demand, grateful for the excuse to talk. "Jason?" She's been trying to get a hold of him since we picked her up at the hotel, but he hasn't answered. No one has.

"No," Alison says quietly. "No one's answering their phones. There's no point."

"Then who are you calling?" my sister asks sharply.

Alison pauses, taking in a breath, and I know I'm not going to like the answer even before she speaks. "911."

"Alison, you can't do that," Mona says in alarm, just as I let out a yelp and nearly drop my phone.

"What the hell?" I gasp, gaping at her even though she's not looking at me, keeping the phone firmly pressed to her ear. "What do you think that's possibly going to – turn left!" I scream, because I've only just glanced at my own cell and realized that the street we're supposed to be turning onto is several feet away.

Mona turns the wheel so sharply that I fall against the side of the car, just as Alison speaks into her phone. "My name is Alison DiLaurentis." Her voice is shaky, but surprisingly calm. "My friends and family are in danger. I know who 'A' is. His name is Charles DiLaurentis, and he's my brother."

My heart feels like it's going to pound right out of my chest. As Alison gives off the address to the 911 operator, I exchange a look of panic with my sister through the rearview mirror.

"The police are going to the address I gave them," Alison announces in a small voice once she's off the phone. "They're going to take care of it."

"So we're not going," Mona says flatly. It's not a question.

"We're almost there!" I snap, furious. I did not come all this way, risk my parents' wavering trust, and devote my whole night to helping Alison, for this. "We can't go back now!"

"I'm afraid that Jason is in danger," Alison says shakily. "I don't want to think that Charles would hurt him, but…I can't know for sure. My friends might already be in trouble. I don't think it's a good idea for us to get in the middle of this, too."

"Your friends?" I say angrily, dropping my phone onto the seat beside me and scowling at what I can see of Ali from the backseat. "Last time I checked, we were friends with them, too." I bite my tongue, holding back any mention of the tracking chip that was recently removed from my neck. I trust those girls enough to allow them to perform surgery on me. If you can't consider someone a friend after that…

"Less people are going to get hurt this way," Alison argues as Mona resigns, turning the car back in the way we came. "The police need to know what's going on. They need to know about Charles."

I raise my eyebrows, settling back against the seat and crossing my arms. "Fine, Ali. But the next time you're going to ask me to potentially risk my life for you, at least make up your mind first."

...

Next, prom night has arrived, and Viola is roped into the final plan to catch A, once and for all. But will someone from her past get in the way?