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"Greetings, bitches," Ali whispered, pulling out a gun as well "You’re co with us"
33
THE SWEET SMELL OF DEATH
Eaze upon her Here she was, finally Real Alive Sickly and way too thin, her jeans hanging off her hips, her ar out in her neck There was dirt all over her face, her hair washer sirl, the irl, envied by everyone, adored by Emily herself Now she was just a tarnished ruin A twisted freak Then she spun around again and looked at Nick Derrick It made no sense Emily couldn’t believe this was her sweet confidant, the boy who’d helped her through a bleak summer He’d offered to rescue her fro at her coldly now, an eerie, unfa else occurred to her, too: Derrick knew Gayle He had worked as her landscaper that same summer It hy Gayle spoke to Derrick with soht he’d killed her She’d probably wondered what Derrick, of all people, was doing in her driveway
Ali waved the gun, her body still planted firainst the front door, their only exit "There’s a trapdoor in the corner Go there Now"
They irls to a hidden door in the floor Nick pulled at a rusty hinge and yanked it open A set of stairs descended to a basee, sweet sh "What is that smell?" she sputtered
"No questions Cliun into Aria’s back
Tre twice Spencer, Aria, and Hanna followed Emily’s feet touched the bottom, and she looked around They were in a narrow corridor There was nothing down here except for four walls The sweet s, and there was an unsettling hiss in the air, perhaps of hed a fewbreaths Aria looked pale
Ali’s and Nick’s shapes danced before them as they cliirls," Nick said, grinning like a crocodile "Are you still confused?"
No one dared to speak, though Emily was sure they were all as confused as she was
"You followed uess I did"
"Were you there, too?" Aria asked Ali, peeking at her in the di Probably figuring she didn’t have to answer
"Did you put Noel in that shed?" Aria whispered, tears co to her eyes
Nick crossed his arain with that sly smile
Then Emily cleared her throat "You stole that money from Gayle And you killed her And you came on the cruise with us You told the Feds about Jordan"
"And you bombed the ship," Aria added "You almost killed me"
"You did kill Grahalanced at each other, looking proud They seeiddy
E he’d done knifed through her, hot and sharp It was bad enough what Nick and Ali had done to Noel But the two of them had killed Ian, too And Jenna He’d helped set fire to Spencer’s yard He’d more than likely been in the Poconos when Ali tried to kill theh it uy had been four people at once, different people to all of the at Nick "And because of you, I alave my baby away to a crazy person"
Nick’s eyes hardened "I didn’t force you to make that deal, Eirls--I got you all into trouble, but you were the ones, ultied a dooht They were culpableand ultiured out their weaknesses and exploited them
"You killed Tabitha, too, didn’t you?" Elanced at Ali, and she snickered "We just did e had to do," Nick said
"And what about Iris?" Eed "No more questions We’re done"
He brushed past therunted, and the whole wall shifted, revealing a hidden rooht spilled out fro Emily and the others inside
Emily walked shakily into the space It was a small, damp, basement room that smelled of mildew and that horrible sweetness she couldn’t identify There was an old tweed couch pushed against the cinder-block wall, a table at its side And on the walls, covering every inch, were pictures of Ali
Old school pictures frorades, candids of her when she’d returned to Rosewood after Ian was arraigned, family portraits Emily remembered from the DiLaurentis front hall, only one DiLaurentis twin sap-toothed smile The pictures covered every inch of the space Newspaper articles about Alison returning to Rosewood, Alison going s all over the country were plastered on the walls as well, certain lines of text highlighted, other things circled with red pen WE LOVE YOU, ALI, read sparkly letters along the top border of one wall WE MISS YOU, ALI, read letters on the opposite wall
Emily stepped back "What is this?"
"Like it?" Ali asked behind theun still pointed at their backs "You should Youon her neck She couldn’t feel her legs, exactly "What do you mean by that?"
"When they find you," Ali explained in a pleasant voice, "they’ll figure it’s your shrine to me"
Spencer’s eyes blazed "We would never make a shrine to you"
"Oh, please" Ali rolled her eyes "You loveabout these past few years That’s what the cops will think when they find all of you dead here Your own little death plan, a final tribute to moi"