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Chapter 19: Pull The Rug

Toby walked along the trail from the cabin to Lookout Point. He knew Emily would be close by. She was instructed to stay back to avoid being seen by Mona. Toby even thought about having Emily stay at the cabin with Spencer and Alison. The plan was to meet Mona at noon. Once Mona shows up, Emily will text Aria that they're cleared to go into her lair. Aria or Hanna will then text Emily when they manage to get into the lair and find a way to get the evidence to Tanner. The trick was how to get Mona to stay put until the authorities arrived.

Toby reached the top of the trail. He took a seat on the rock as the cold wind swept through his hair. Emily hit her mark beyond the trees where she would be out of sight of Toby and Mona, but still able to see them. Twelve o'clock hit and Mona still hadn't arrived yet. This did not worry Toby as she often showed up late to their meetings. He checked the tree line to make sure he couldn't spot Emily in her hiding spot.

"Enjoying the nice fall weather?" Mona's voice cut through the sharp air as she came walking up along the road. Toby stood. She reached the Rosewood sign and stopped.

"How's our little friend doing?" Mona asked.

"Lucas still refuses to cooperate," Toby said. "It gets worse. Caleb destroyed the copy of the files I tried to get him to leak. I've hit a dead end."

"Maybe you should have just killed Caleb when you had the chance," said Mona.

Toby gritted his teeth. "I wanted to. He deserves it for what he did to Spencer."

"What about Hanna? I thought you were going to use her as a pawn to get Caleb to bait."

"Hanna escaped," said Toby, flatly.

Mona laughed, "you are really getting bad at this whole revenge thing. You started out so strong by killing Noel and his brother. What happened to you?"

Toby sat down on the rock and sighed, "I don't know. Maybe I should just give up on this whole thing and end my life here."

Mona chewed back a smile and said, "what would Spencer say about that?"

"Spencer's not here." His voice sounded like gravel.


Aria, Hanna, and Caleb sat at a table at a diner waiting for Emily's signal. They're a half a mile away from Mona's house. According to Spencer, her house is in a low populated neighborhood outside of Rosewood. Aria's phone chimed. Hanna and Caleb looked up.

"Mona's meeting with Toby now," said Aria. "It's time."

They scrambled from their table then walked the half mile up the road. They found a house that fit the description Spencer had given them. A two-story blue house on a fenced property. Mona's house seemed normal on the outside. She even had a few rose bushes growing out front. While they were waiting at the diner, Caleb was able to hack Mona's home network to disarm any alarms she had set and trip her cameras, so she won't see them coming. They got in through the side door that opens into the laundry room of her house.

"Okay," Caleb whispered. "Let's do this."

The inside of the house was spotless. It looked as if nobody really lived here. Mona had furniture, cabinets full of dishes, and closets full of everyday objects. It was clear she spent some time here, but she's tidy. Which means she's not careless. She'll do a good job going about her days as if she's normal with nothing to hide. She knows how to cover up her tracks when she needs to.

"I think I found the room Mona kept Spencer in at one point," Aria said.

She and Hanna were scoping out the second level of the house while Caleb worked on getting into the shield basement door down below. Aria twisted the knob to open the door to a large bedroom. There's a bolt lock on the door which is how Mona was able to keep Spencer hidden for so long. At some point, Spencer must've started asking Mona the wrong questions which led to Mona not wanting her to escape. So, Mona started locking Spencer in the room, but Spencer obviously found a way out. The one thing they still do not know is just how long Spencer was trapped here.

"Mona gave her clean clothes," said Hanna as she shifted through a closet.

There were some shirts hung up on hangers, some sweaters, and jackets. The shelves had folded up pants, shoes, and belts.

"Why did Mona keep Spencer alive?" Aria wondered aloud. "Why didn't she just kill her if this was all a way to mess with our heads?"

"She probably wanted to see Spencer suffer too," said Hanna. "I wonder how Spencer escaped."

Aria looked at Hanna, "what if she didn't escape? What if Mona let Spencer out? Someone this organized and determined to control the game wouldn't be this careless to let Spencer go. Especially knowing that Spencer has all the information pointing against Mona for her crimes."

"Guys!" Caleb shouted from downstairs. "I got in!"

Hanna and Aria ran downstairs then down to the basement to meet Caleb. They froze when they saw all the test tubs, bottles, and fridges holding the chemicals that go into making the pills Mona had put together. Caleb was working on Mona's computer. Hanna and Aria started going through some of her files. She had files of every patient that was given the drug and documentation on their reactions.

"Some of these people were patients before Mona was even born," said Hanna. "She really is carrying on with what her father started."

"I don't understand why Mona is doing all of this," said Aria. "Does she think she's helping people by giving them these injections?"

"Look at this one." Hanna showed them a file. "Louis Braxton, sixteen years old. Nice boy. Loved soccer and animals. He's a shy boy feeling alone. Mona gave him a drug that would turn him into a little Romeo. Louis wanted to woah his lifelong crush, Miranda, but Miranda rejected him. When she rejected him, Louis snapped and killed her."

"Tiffany Green, twenty years old. Lost her boyfriend in a tragic accident. She was depressed, lost contact with her friends, and started therapy. Mona gave her a drug that would make her happy. Tiffany instantly started to perk up. Got a new job, made some new friends, and even went on a tropical vacation. Her extreme levels of happiness and adventure were so alarming that her own mother couldn't even stand to be around her. Tiffany was like a brand-new person," said Aria. "She was killed by a hunter."

"Why would you kill someone for being so happy?" Hanna rolled her eyes.

"There's over a hundred more files," Aria said, shaking her head.

"I found Mrs. Hastings file," said Hanna. "Mrs. Hastings was given the drug that made her sad. Her file says that after Spencer was born, that's when her symptoms of depression and irrational anger started. This must be what defined Spencer as a marked witch."

"Authorities assumed any babies born during this time were causing these women to have negative reactions," said Aria. "That's sad."

"Mrs. Hastings must've figured out what was happening to her because her file is incomplete. The only thing we know from Spencer is that Mrs. Hastings tried hard to keep Spencer protected and most likely died protecting her," Hanna was in tears.

"That's why Mona switched from going after random people, to tracking down every child that came from those other women," said Aria. "Including Spencer."

"What I don't understand is why the academy didn't notice that none of these "marked witches" had any bad temperaments until Mona injected Spencer with the drug last year," said Caleb. "This whole-time innocent people have been killed even though they never done anything wrong."

"That's what we've been trying to explain to you this whole time!" Aria hissed. Her eyes were burning with tears. "I lost my best friend because of all of this!"

Caleb got out his phone to make a call. Hanna held his wrist.

"Caleb, what are you doing?"

"Calling Tanner," he said. "I know we said we'd bring this crap to her, but it's better if she's here to see it all for herself. There's too much here to deliver. We need to get her out here."


A tiny green light on the coffee maker indicated that the pot was done. With shaking hands, Spencer poured the dark liquid into her mug. Alison was sitting at the kitchen counter watching Emily's live feed of Toby's meeting with Mona. They can't see Toby and Mona very well because of all the tree branches in the way, but they can hear them.

"Spence enough with the coffee," Alison said. "Your whole body is shaking."

"I can't help it." Spencer joined Alison by her side. "What's going on now?"

"Nothing really. They're just talking about Lucas."

Spencer drummed her fingernails on the countertop. She was bouncing her knee so fast that it was causing Alison's chair to shake.

"I don't like this," Spencer said. "We're just sitting here like sitting ducks!"

Spencer got up and started pacing.

"Relax, Spencer," said Alison. "Nothing's happening. Hanna and Aria got to the lair okay. So far everything is going well with the plan. We just have to wait for Tanner to catch up."

"I've got a bad feeling about all of this."

When Spencer reached for her coffee, Alison slapped her hand away.

"Enough!" Alison moved the mug away from her. Spencer sat down on her stole pouting. She tried to keep calm, but something on the camera piqued her interest.

"Somethings not right."

Alison rolled her eyes, "you always say that."

"No." Spencer leaned forward to get a closer look. She pushed the laptop in her direction. "Mona seems too relaxed. Do you see how she keeps checking her watch and then looking up at the sun?"

Alison leaned in, "is she keeping track of time?"

"She's waiting for something."

The sun passed the high point of the blue sky and was sailing towards the west. Mona checked her watch. Toby was too agitated to notice how laid back she was.

"Why am I here Toby?" Mona was getting impatient. "If you're not planning to go after Tanner anymore, you lost Caleb, and you can't even get Lucas, what are we doing here?"

"I still have a lot of questions for you," said Toby.

Mona crossed her arms over her chest. "What sort of questions?"

"About Spencer," he looked directly at her. Mona didn't even flinch. "Why did they arrest her? What charges did they have against her to do such a thing?"

"Caleb turned her into the authorities. She was a marked witch," said Mona. "You knew that. She was your target, remember?"

"That's how I knew she was innocent," said Toby. "There was nothing in her file that indicates she was evil. All it mentioned was she was born from a mother who supposedly had an injection, but there were no red flags on her report."

"She killed Ian Thomas. That's what set Tanner off about her. Unfortunately, Spencer was just trying to defend herself, but the academy won't see it that way."

"Why is that?" Toby kept studying Mona's expressions. "Whose fault is that?"

"Tanners," Mona hissed. "Remember? That's why you wanted to kill her."

"Do you remember when you kidnapped Spencer and injected her with some drug? You set her lose for twenty-four hours so she could kill Wilden," Toby said. "Why did you do that?"

"I've explained all of this before. I was pretending to work with the academy so I could help witches escape."

"You said you helped witches before. What did you mean by that?"

Mona sprang to her feet, "Look, I don't have time for this. Either we plan to kill Tanner or I'm leaving."

Toby stepped in front of her to block her.

"That's another thing I don't understand. Why do you so badly want all the hunters dead? Is it because they're finally starting to make a connection between you and the witches you've helped, or is there something else you're not telling me?"

"You want the hunters dead," said Mona. "They killed your girlfriend. Remember that feeling? Remember how it killed you inside to hold her while life slipped away from her? Remember that false sense of hope you had thinking that you would have a future with her? Only for them to come and rip that away from you?"

"They didn't do that. You did."

"Now, you're starting to sound like Caleb."

Toby was getting too close now. If Mona had a syringe on her to stab him with, she could just do it in a flash. In his mind, he knew he should take a step back.

"What do you want Toby?" Mona asked.

"I want to know everything you did to Spencer. What really happened to her?"

Mona smiled as if she was admitting defeat, but it did little to relax Toby. It scared him more now that she was smiling like a killer clown.

"Very good, Toby. You caught me." Her tone shifted so fast from her usual sweet to a dark edgy voice that it caused Toby whiplash. She walked around him to check the sun in the sky. Mona spun around to look at him from three feet away. "So, Spencer finally found her way back to you I take it?"

Toby was too stunned to speak.

"Is she here now?" Mona turned to speak to the branches. "Come on out Spencer! No one's going to hurt you."

"What are you talking about?" Toby shook his head. "I thought Spencer was dead."

Mona laughed chaotically. "Oh, come on. You don't think I could tell from the second I saw you that I know you've talked to her. You usually walk around all slouched over like a pathetic noodle. Today, you're all huffy and walking tall. Your body language indicates that you're protecting someone. There's only one person you have ever gone this hard for."

From the cabin, Spencer and Alison continued to watch Emily's live feed of the meeting. Spencer had bitten her nails down to the cues. She slapped the table with her hand and moved to get off the chair.

"We got to get up there," she said.

"No!" Alison held her knee. "That's exactly what she wants."

"She knows."

"We knew there was a risk she would. That's why Toby wanted you to stay here. Just relax. Toby's still keeping her distracted. Why don't you call Hanna and see how they're coming with the lair?"

Spencer used the burner phone to text Hanna. She got a text back almost immediately that Tanner was on her way out to Mona's property. A couple minutes later, Hanna texted again that Tanner had arrived.

"Tanner found the lair," Spencer said.

"Good. She'll finally see what Mona has been doing."

"I'll send the message on to Emily."

Back on the hill, Toby continued to interrogate Mona who responded by throwing verbal daggers at him.

"My former question still stands," said Toby. "What did you do to Spencer?"

"Instead of the usual lethal injection they normally give witches, I switched the meds. Noel injected Spencer with a numbing serum that causes the body to react as if they're dead. She couldn't move. She could not speak. I even got her heart to stop for a few minutes long enough to convince you she had died," Mona explained.

"Why?" Toby growled. "Why did you do that?"

"I believe the words you are looking for are 'thank you."

"You kept her from me!"

"I had to," said Mona. "I wouldn't have been able to accomplice what I needed to."

"You wanted me broken so I would do your dirty work for you," said Toby. "Why did you have me kill Noel and his brother if they were working for you?"

"They were working with me, but not for this," she said. "Noel was completely in line with the academy. He had no clue what he was doing. He thought he was killing Spencer with that injection. I needed Noel out of the way because he was starting to catch on. You were mourning 'Spencer's death' and that was the perfect opportunity to prove that witch's control other people's minds and cause them to do crazy things."

"Why did you do this?" Toby asked.

Mona shrugged, "because it's fun. I've always found human emotions to be extremely interesting. I wanted to know what emotions truly drive us to do the things that we do. What emotions control our outburst, what emotions actually calm us, and what emotions cause us to go so far as to kill."

"You injected me with something," Toby said. "That night you came to me and offered to help me get my pay back, you slipped me something, didn't you? That's how it was so easy for you to convince me to kill Noel. Normally, I would never do that."

"You didn't fight me much, remember?" Mona challenged. "All it took was a small poke and you would've taken out the whole town. Are you telling me that you didn't enjoy that sweet justice you felt watching Noel die for hurting the woman you loved?"'

"How many times did you give that drug to me."

Mona grinned, "just for Noel and his brother. The rest of the things you did, honey, which was all you. Kidnapping Lucas, beating him up, threatening Caleb, kidnapping Hanna, and wanting to kill Caleb. That was all you. Is that why you're forcing yourself to pretend you're happy Spencer is back? Is that why you no longer feel worthy of Spencer's love? Let's face it. You are no longer the Toby she remembers. I can see it in your eyes. You loved the thrill of being evil. Maybe even more than you ever loved Spencer."

Toby lunged for Mona, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders. He stared her down. Mona looked worried for a second, but her worry quickly vanished and she started laughing again.

"See," She giggled. "Told you. That rage of fire you have in your eyes can't compare to the emotions you have for Spencer."

"I love Spencer," Toby released his grip on Mona. He took a step back. "There is nothing in this world I love more than her. These games of yours. Whatever fun you are having ends today. It's over."

"But don't you want to hear how this little story ends?"

"It ends with you being locked away for a long time."

Mona shook her head, "someone is definitely getting the wrap for this, but I assure you, it won't be me."

Toby was confused, "what?"

"Do you honestly think it was an accident that Spencer escaped? She left when I wanted her too. When Tanner gets to 'that house,' she will find all the evidence, but anything that points to me is long gone from that house. The only thing that's left behind are Spencer's prints, her DNA, and proof that is where she was hiding out after 'faking her death."

Toby's heart sank to his stomach, "what? They're not going to think she's responsible for all of this."

"Of course, they will," said Mona. "It's the perfect plan. Spencer fakes her death, hides away from the world while her 'lover' runs around killing all of Tanner's colleagues. Do you honestly think I didn't think this through?"

"No," Toby shook his head.

"Start counting your days with her, because I promise you, you don't have many left. You're sending Spencer right back to that execution chamber. And this time, she will be dead."

At the cabin, Spencer was trembling with fear watching this. They all underestimated how smart Mona was. Her plan does sound perfect. Spencer knew her escape that day was too easy. Mona wouldn't be that careless to let her go. Her story does make it sound like Spencer was behind everything. All the experiments. All the killings. All the mind games. It's going to be up to Tanner to determine if Spencer was set up or guilty. Tanner didn't care to investigate her case before, so Mona's plan could send Spencer right back to the chamber. Spencer shoved down her own fears when she thought of something. Mona spent a lot of time checking her watch and looking at the sun. Mona knows that Toby has sent friends into her lair. Spencer eyes went wide. She jumped up from her chair already dialing Hanna's number.

"Toby said not to make calls!" Said Alison.

"This is important," said Spencer.

The phone rang three times before Hanna answered.

"You would not believe the crowd here," Hanna said through the phone. "Tanner is collecting evidence by the box load."

"Hanna, Get everyone out of that house! Now!" Spencer yelled.

"Why?" Hanna asked.

Spencer's next sentence got cut off by a loud explosion cutting through the background from Hanna's side of the call.


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