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Then Chase grabbed her hand "I would be honored Just tell me when and where, and I’ll be there with a tux on"

"Really?" Spencer’s mouth wobbled into a s else, but then the door behind the open An old lady with a kerchief over her head and a bunch of bags in her arled out the door Chase stepped up and held it open for her The old lady smiled at him "That’s so sweet of you, dear!"

"No proble her a sh the door before it slammed closed

The hall was dark and smelled like spicy curry There were two apartround floor, then a set of stairs Spencer could see another apartht There had to be at least four or five

She looked at Chase "So what do we do now?"

"Go to Four-B, I guess," Chase said, peering up the stairs Then he turned to the front door again "You go up I’ll be right behind you, keeping watch"

Spencer nodded, then bolted up the stairs, passing three doors painted red, orange, and blue Another blue door still had a Christe one had a pile of rabbed it for support She could hear Chase’s footsteps on the stairs behind her

On the top floor, light flickered behind 4B Sing hard, Spencer exchanged a look with Chase, as a few steps down, then crept up to it and pressed her ear to the door Could Ali’s nurse really be inside? What if Ali was inside, too?

"What should I do?" she whispered to Chase

He shrugged Knock? he , Spencer rapped once, then twice Then she listened The television’s voluh and couch springs squeak There was a click in the hall, and she whipped around, on alert "What was that?" she whispered to Chase

"I don’t know," he whispered back, eyes wide Then he walked farther down the hall He stopped at the second-to-last door on the right and stepped closer to it, inspecting the knob He pressed his ear to the door, as if listening, but then he lost his balance, falling forward and softly slapping the door with his palm Spencer covered her eyes "Shhh!"

"Sorry!" Chase ju to spring out

For a moment, it was eerily silent Then, a creak sounded above her, and she looked up And all at onceboom There was a crunch ofsounds Spencer ju opened and items tumbled down First an unwieldy coatrack, then a mounted deer head, its antlers sharpened to knifepoints, and then a bowling ball The ball crashed onto the floor next to her and careened down the steps

"Spencer?" Chase called through the dust "Jesus Are you okay?"

"I-I don’t know," Spencer said, realizing she’d fallen to the ground When she touched her face, it was slick She brought her hand away--it eat or tears, not blood More dust cascaded froe, the screws dangerously loose

"Co her hand, and dragging her down the steps Heads poked out of apartape

"That eird," Spencer said shakily as they barreled down in to describe that," Chase said He glanced up the stairwell Another loud thunk sounded "It’s almost like it was planned"

Spencer shivered She’d been thinking the sa It was possible, perhaps, that Ali or her helper had planted this address online for Chase to find And then snuck in here and filled the attic with dangerous things Rigging the door to fall at just the right ht person’s head

A’s evil uess what? You’re next Maybe this had all been a trap Andtrue

21

An Unexpected Guest

Hanna pulled into the Bill Beach parking lot, her burner phone wedged between her shoulder and her ear Screw the no-technology rule This was an eain," Hanna pleaded "I can explain I want you back I want to go to prom with you I have a new cell phone--this is my nu up and eyed her prom queen crown and scepter--she carried theoing to ruin her ood even when she was cleaning up pee

When soain, praying it was Mike But it was her old phone It had auto-logged onto the Bill Beach WiFi and downloaded a new e-e without even reading it

She stoh the double doors, threw on her scrubs, and kicked the mop bucket down the hall toward Graham’s partitioned-off area She whipped back his curtains, not caring who saw her Graha hard Hanna pressed her ear close to his lips, but no sound carowled, wanting to shake hi break? They could nail A and get Fuji off their backs They could clear up this nonsense with the painting in Aria’s closet She could ht with Mike, too

But Graham didn’t make a sound Hanna was so annoyed she stomped her foot hard Her sole clacked loudly on the linoleu okay?"