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Spencer shrugged "I haven’t seen any stairs leading down"
Aria whirled, her eyes wide "Did you hear that?"
"What?" Hanna asked shakily, standing very still
No one said a word Hanna listened very hard She didn’t hear a thing She stared around at the dark, empty, creepy space "Maybe this isn’t it," she said "I don’t see any evidence of anything I don’t think Ali’s here"
Spencer breathed out, too "Maybe rong"
There was a creaking sound above the across the roof "Maybe we should go," E me out"
Everyone nodded and moved toward the exit But then footsteps sounded behind them, this ti Suddenly, so in the shadows near the back of the rooasped Aria ainst the wall "H-hello?" Hanna called out shakily, trying to ht snapped on Diffused, yellow light scattered throughout the rooroaned with the wind Finally, the figure holding the flashlight flipped it upward, shining it on hiuy’s voice said
Hanna blinked at his face in the light He had brown eyes, a sloped nose, and a pointy, clean-shaven jaw There was a gun in his right hand, aiht, Hanna realized with a jolt that she knew him Madison had just shown her his picture
"Jackson?" she exclaihed when Hanna suggested they call her a cab
Onlyas he doing here?
"Derrick?" Emily said slowly, next to her
Hanna frowned and studied the look of shock on Emily’s face Who was Derrick?
Spencer itching, too "Phineas," she said dazedly, staring at the boy "Easy A Phineas from Penn"
"Olaf," Aria said at the sa at once in her brain "Wait Olaf from Iceland?"
"Yeah," Aria said slowly, her hand half covering her mouth "That’s him"
Hanna shook her head veheht at that dive bar in Philly had happened before Iceland--she would have known if the saht of Madison’s accident was also hitting on Aria halfway around the world
Orwould she? She stared at Jackson’s dark eyebrows and thin lips Come to think of it, he did sort of look like Olaf But she never would have thought to connect the strange Icelandic guy with a preppy bartender in the States
"I-I don’t understand," Spencer croaked
"What the hell is going on?" Hanna said at the same time
The boy stepped forward "My name is Jackson," he said "And Derrick And Phineas, and yes, even Olaf But my real name is Nick Or Tripp to my friends Tripp Maxwell"
Emily blinked hard "Tripp," she whispered "Oh my God"
Spencer looked at her "Who’s Tripp?"
Emily’s jaw trembled "Iris liked a boy named Tripp Maxwell He was a patient at The Preserve"
"Oh, Iris" Nick rolled his eyes "She always had such a thing for me"
Hanna’s head spun He was a Preserve patient His name started with an N This was Ali’s boyfriend He was the person who Graha about He’d hurt Noel, too Killed Gayle Murdered Kyla
He was Helper A
Panic rose in her chest She peeked over her shoulder They were only a few steps away fro any of therabbed Spencer’s arm and yanked her around Emily and Aria made a break for it, too Hanna took one step for the door, then another, reaching out her arly out of nowhere, a body shot forward and stood in front of the door, barring their exit "Not so fast," said an icy voice
This voice Hanna knew instantly All at once, the scent of perfuh the air Hanna’s blood ran cold Vanilla perfume
Slowly, draht on her Scars covered her neck and are blue eyes and a heart-shaped face, but there was so hard and mean about her She was thinner, reedy, stripped down, and very sick-looking Her eyes were cold and htest bit of joy Hanna drew in a breath