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E over the desk chair in the process She wheeled in the center of Laurel’s rooo Under the bed? In the closet? She dashed to theand pressed her back to the wall

Another knock "Sutton?" Garrett called The doorknob began to turn She inched over to theand looked out Laurel’s bedrooed at the party just a few feet away

Treht air wafted in

"Sutton?" Charlotte’s voice called "You here?"

Eht under the door began to widen Eht of Garrett’s blond hair in the doorway Here goes, she thought She turned back to theand took a deep breath

"Sutton?" a voice sounded from inside Laurel’s rooround

Chapter 29

THE GREAT ESCAPE

E hole in the heh-heeled ankle twisted on the hard dirt Letting out a groan, she ripped off her shoes and stashed thee The guys continued to play Speed Racer with the RC cars Girls giggled and passed around a chrome flask Gabriella and Lilianna stood just a few feet away, their backs to her, heatedly whispering, frustrated looks on their faces

The sliding glass door opened Garrett and Charlotte eed from the house Garrett went one way, but Charlotte found Madeline and Laurel and all three huddled in a knot near the bushes Emma crouched down close by She didn’t dare move a muscle

Madeline’s voice floated over the other sounds of the party "Was she up there?"

"I even checked Laurel’s rooone" Madeline ate Emma crouched down and crawled to the next bush, then the next Her bare knees dug into the gravel When she reached the wall surrounding the house, she hoisted herself up and over The rough surface scraped her arhs

Her bare feet crunched to the gravel on the other side She looked around wildly She had no o?

A wall of parked cars stood in front of her, blocking her passage to the street A Jeep Cherokee stood closest to her, a Toyota was to her left, and a crookedly parked Subaru Iht Then Emma spied a narrow escape corridor on the other side of the Subaru along the block-wall fence that separated the Mercers’ yard froet around the Subaru and she was free Sucking in her sto that the car didn’t have one of those car alarms that blared as soon as so ate One was tall and angular, with dark hair and golden skin Another was shorter and thicker, with pale skin that shone luirl had a familiar blond ponytail All of theht Emma quivered, momentarily paralyzed

"Sutton?" Madeline shouted, her voice cold and unfriendly

Then Laurel gasped "There she is!" She shone the flashlight across the yard to where Eh the flowerbeds and past the porch E in her ears

"Sutton!" Charlotte, Madeline, and Laurel wove around the cars "Co, her gaze on the street just a few yards away Just as she reached the end of the driveway, her foot landed on so sharp and hot She yelled out and flew to her knees

"Get up!" I screamed uselessly at her "Get up!"

Eirls had squeezed past the Subaru, too, and started down the corridor Erily Eered into the street

And then the auto the driveway and the street in total darkness Eroped for the edge of the block wall that surrounded the Mercer house, then ducked around it, out of their view

"Sutton?" the girls called Their high-heeled shoes clicked on the asphalt They werecloser and closer in the darkness For all she knew, they were right next to her

A hand shot out and grabbed her wrist Eged farther into the neighbors’ yard Her palravel Tears came to her eyes Her foot throbbed in pain Her nose twitched with the sharp sure in front of her, expecting to see Charlotte’s angry face or Laurel’s searing gaze "What are you doing?" a guy’s voice asked instead

E She could just arette between his fingers, the red tip glowing eerily in the darkness

Ethan stubbed out his cigarette in the gravel and stared at Emma’s sweaty, harried face, her torn dress, her lack of shoes "What the hell’s going on?"

"Sutton?" Madeline called out at the saht next to them, separated only by the block wall "Where are you?"

Eet me out of here? Now?"

"What?"

"Please," E Ethan’s hands "Can you help me or not?"

He stared at her A look Emma couldn’t quite discern flashed over his eyes He nodded "My car’s a couple houses down" Hand in hand, they slipped into the darkness

I only hoped he could get her away before they caught her

Chapter 30