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Thank you, she mouthed, her eyes full of tears

But she wanted to tell Noel to forget about Ali She wanted everyone to forget about her Her mind went to a dark, terrible place We won’t find a trace of her, Fuji had said All at once, Aria knew they wouldn’t No fingerprints on the gun she was holding No blood on the floor No long, blond hairs on the carpet Not because Ali hadn’t been there

Because Ali was smarter than all of them

A nurse poked her head into the roouests "Okay, visitors, everyone out," she deirls need their rest"

Noel patted Aria’s hand "I’ll be right outside," he said Aria nodded, then watched as everyone else trailed out, too The nurse dihts, and for a moment, the room was silent Then Hanna reached for her re Serial Killer Taken into Custody, blared a headline on CNN Of course it was all over the news

The camera showed the outside of the old farmhouse A cop shoved Nick into the backseat, his hands pinned behind his back Around Aria wondered if she’d been inside one of them, unconscious

"I hate hi shot of Nick popped up

Aria nodded, saying nothing He totally deserved this But he was only half the probleht Ali, too

The police car rolled away on the screen, but the cameras remained on the police activity on the far with police officers, forensic teas Aria listened hard over the sounds of sirens for that telltale high-pitched giggle, anything that would prove Ali was still here But there was nothing Of course there wasn’t

"What now?" she asked, when the news cut to cohed "It’s hard to know We lost everything But nowThey stared at one another, absorbing the possibilities

Hanna looked down at her phone, which was still tucked in her pocket "I keep expecting this to go off any second"

"With a text," Spencer whispered

Aria stared at her phone, too, but no texts cah to send one right then

Aria looked at her friends nervously "Do you think we’ll ever hear froain?"

Hanna shook her head, a look of determination on her face "No It’s done"

"Definitely," Spencer agreed

But Aria knew they didn’t quite believe it Theywhile But she wasn’t gone from their lives forever She was still out thereand they were still aliveand thather, she’d only stop when she got what she wanted She’d only stop when they were dead

It was just a question of when

ALI, INTERRUPTED

Alison ran and ran until her s burned The ht, the less she cared And by the tio, she was resolved in her decision This was the only solution She’d saved herself

She walked up to the place she’d set up weeks before without Nick knowing, the place that was all her own She pulled the keys out of a secret pocket sewn into her jeans and unlocked the door, striding down the dark hall and sinking into the freshlyat the pile of mail she’d left there the last time she’d come in, all addressed to Maxine Preptwill, her new alias It was always a naram of Nick Maxwell and also the name she’d used with Noel for their secret coht about what sort of person Maxine would be A quiet girl who kept to herself A friendly face around the neighborhood, a standout at the coe she would eventually enroll in with the re cash from Nick’s trust--she’d tucked away s She’d use it to get her teeth fixed, too Her hair properly cut Plastic surgery for the burns She’d becoain She needed to put someone new under her spell

She lay there for a long ti over the day’s events She poked at the Nick wound, but she felt nothing Well, good It was better to feel nothing No regrets No entangle on the television--she’d jerry-rigged the antenna with aluet the news But she wasn’t sure if she was ready to see the carnage yet Man Arrested for Clark Murder Pretty Little Liars Finally Tell the Truth And there would be Nick’sshot, his hollowed eyes, his dazed expression He was the suy Ali knew, but he still wouldn’t knohat had hit hiht about it, it wasn’t what she’d wanted She hated that those bitches were free And she hated that she had been the one to turn Nick in But she knehat ht have come next if she hadn’t As soon as she heard those sirens, she’d started to panic She’d i himand then her

Well, she couldn’t have that

And so she’d fled The cops had found Nick, still unconscious on the ground, Ali long gone He’d probably told the--which was pretty much the truth And if Ali didn’t have solid proof to stop the for her Luckily, she had the very thing to seal his fate

That video Nick never knew she’d taken it But that hat you needed to do to survive in this world You needed tricks up your sleeve You needed to keep secrets and release them at the perfect moment

Still, when Ali shut her eyes, Nick swahts The first ti a wadded-up piece of paper to get Ali to talk The first time he’d ever shown her that secret attic at The Preserve that only the cool patients knew about--she’d written the na bubble letters on the wall The way he’d listened to her when she’d explained the horrible story about the switch How he’d vowed to help her get revenge