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Aria felt sick They all knew Spencer liked Ian She talked about him constantly: how her sister didn’t deserve him, hoas so funny, how cute he hen he ate dinner at their house And all of the secret--it could have been this Ali must have told Spencer And Spencer couldn’t deal

Aria put ether Ali had run out of Spencer’s barn…and turned up not that far away, in a hole in her own backyard Spencer knew that the workers were going to fill the hole with concrete the very next day A’s note had said: You all knew every inch of her backyard But for one of you, it was so, so easy

Aria sat motionless for a few seconds, then picked up her own phone and dialed E six times before Emily answered "Hello?" E

"Did I wake you up?" Aria asked

"I haven’t gone to sleep yet"

Aria frowned "Are you okay?"

"No," Emily’s voice cracked Aria heard a sniffle "My parents are sendingBecause of A"

Aria leaned back "What? Why?"

"It’s not even worth getting into" Emily sounded defeated

"You have to ht now"

"Didn’t you hear what I said? I’m punished I’m beyond punished"

"You have to" Aria turned into the booth, trying to hide what she was about to say from the diner staff as best she could "I think I knoho killed Ali"

Silence "No, you don’t," Emily said

"I do We have to call Hanna"

There was scratching at Emily’s end of the phone After a short pause, her voice ca another call It’s Hanna"

A shiver went through Aria "Put her on three-way"

There was a click, and Aria heard Hanna’s voice "You guys," Hanna was saying She sounded out of breath and the connection was ru to believe this A ot this note from this number and I suddenly knehose nuround, Aria heard a horn honk "Meet s"

"Okay," Aria breathed "Emily, can you come pick me up at the Hollis Diner?"

"Sure," Emily whispered

"Good," Hanna said "Hurry"

35

WORDS WHISPERED FROM THE PAST

Spencer shut her eyes When she opened the outside the barn in her backyard She looked around Had she been transported here? Had she run out here and not re open and Ali stor confidently "See ya" She walked right past Spencer, as if Spencer were a ghost

It was the night Ali wentfaster As much as she didn’t want to be here, she knew that she needed to see all of this--to remember as much as she could

"Fine!" she heard herself scream from inside the barn As Ali storer and smaller, flew to the porch "Ali!" the thirteen-year-old Spencer screa around

Then, it was like the seventeen-year-old Spencer and the thirteen-year-old Spencer ed into one She could suddenly feel all the eer self There was fear: what had she done, telling Ali to leave? There was paranoia: none of thery with her What was she going to do?

"Ali!" Spencer screaoda-shaped lanterns on the footpath back to the ht It seeo, Melissa had told Spencer that evil trolls lived in the trees The trolls hated Spencer and wanted to hack off her hair

Spencer walked to where the path split: she could either go toward her house, or toward the woods that bounded her property She wished she’d brought a flashlight A bat swooped out of the trees As it fleay, Spencer noticed someone far down the path near the woods, hunched over and looking at her cell phone Ali

"What are you doing?" Spencer called out

Ali narrowed her eyes "I’uys"

Spencer stiffened "Fine," she said proudly "Go"

Ali sank onto one hip The crickets chirped at least twenty ti away from me But you can’t have this"

"Can’t have what?" Spencer shivered in her tissue-thin T-shirt

Ali laughed nastily "You know"

Spencer blinked "No…I don’t"