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"So Melissa told me you’re in therapy, huh?" Ian asked "Pretty crazy"

Spencer stiffened It see about therapy to Ian The sessions were supposed to be private "It isn’t that crazy"

"Really? Melissa said she heard you screa?" Ian nodded "W-as I saying?"

"She didn’t say you were saying anything Just that you were screa"

Spencer’s skin prickled The DiLaurentises’ sprinkler systerass-blade heads "I have to go" She walked crookedly toward the house "I think I need some water"

"One more sec" Ian stepped toward her "Have you seen what’s in your woods?"

Spencer stiffened Ian had such a strange look on his face that Spencer wondered ifof Ali’s One of her bones A clue So to make sense of Spencer’s memory

Then Ian thrust out his open fist Inside were six plu blackberry bushes back here Want one?"

The berries had stained Ian’s palm a dark, bloody purple Spencer could see his love line and life line and all the strange etchings near his fingers

She shook her head "I wouldn’t eat anything from those woods," she said

After all, Ali had been killed there

25

SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR HANNA MARIN

Friday evening, a pielled T-Mobile salesperson inspected Hanna’s BlackBerry screen "Your phone looks okay to "

"Well, you ruffly, leaning up against the store’s glass counter

"What about the service? Is T-Mobile down?"

"No" The sales boy pointed to the bars in the BlackBerry’s"See? Five bars Looks great"

Hanna breathed forcefully through her nose So on with her BlackBerry Her phone hadn’t rung once all night Mona ht have ditched her, but Hanna refused to believe that everyone else would follow so quickly And she thought AHanna in with more infor what itsecret that had yet to be revealed

"Do you just want to buy a new BlackBerry?" the sales guy asked

"Yes," Hanna said sharply, conjuring up a voice that sounded surprisingly like her mother’s "One that works this tiuy looked tired "I’ to be able to transfer over your inforh We don’t do that at this location"

"It’s fine," Hanna snapped "I have a hard copy of everything at houy retrieved a new phone from the back, pulled it out of its Styrofoa some buttons Hanna leaned on the counter and watched the shoppers strea not to think about what she and Mona usually did on Friday nights First, they’d buy a Happy Friday outfit to reward theh another week; next, they’d hit a sushi place for the salo ho fun of the "Ouch! of the Day" column in CosmoGirl! Hanna had to ads--she’d sidestepped any eht he was gay, and they were never able to talk about Ali’s disappearance because Hanna didn’t want to dredge up bad ht about it, she wondered what she and Mona did talk about Boys? Clothes? Shoes? People they hated?

"It’ll be aon his co"

Ha! Hanna thought There was sohed as they entered T-Mobile, and Hanna looked up She had no ti in with Eric Kahn

Mona’s light blond hair stood out against her charcoal gray turtleneck sweater dress, black tights, and tall black boots Hanna wished she could hide, but she didn’t knohere--the T-Mobile register counter was an island in the middle of the store This stupid place didn’t even have any aisles to sneak down or shelves to hide under, just four walls of cell phones and , Eric saw her His eyes flashed with recognition, and he gave Hanna a nod Hanna’s limbs froze Now she kne a deer felt when it was face-to-face with an oncoaze "Oh," she said flatly when her eyes irl trouble, shrugged and wandered to the back of the store Hanna took a few steps toward Mona "Hi"

Mona stared at a wall of phone headsets and car adapters "Hey"

A long beat passed Mona scratched the side of her nose She had painted her nails with Chanel’s limited edition La Vernis black lacquer--Hanna remembered the time they’d stolen two bottles froht tears to Hanna’s eyes Without Mona, Hanna felt like a great outfit without e juice and no vodka, an iPod without headphones She just felt wrong Hanna thought about the ti with her et service there, and when she came back, there had been twenty voiceto you every day, so I decided to tell you everything in es instead," Mona had said