“And you’re working with Ali,” Aria cut him off. “All this time you’ve been with me, it was only because she told you to be. She made you go to that séance. She had you scare me in the bathroom. She had you get close to me and then betray me so I’d go to the Poconos with her.”
“Whoa.” Noel stepped toward her, his arms outstretched.
She ducked away. “You’re the one we’ve been after all this time. You’re the one who tormented Spencer and Emily and Hanna and now even me with the stuff we did last summer. And now you’re framing us for killing Tabitha—even though that was something you did. You told Agent Fuji on us, too. For Tabitha? The painting? Maybe everything—because you’re A!”
“Aria!” Noel darted toward her again.
Aria lurched out of the way. Her gaze swung around the cemetery, but there was only one way out—the closed gate. She shot for it, but her heel twisted in the wet grass. Noel clamped a hand around her ankle and tumbled on top of her. He pressed all his weight on her. She struggled beneath him, kicking and clawing.
“Aria, just stay still!” Noel pleaded. “Just listen to me!”
Aria wrenched around to look him in the eye. A memory suddenly flooded her mind: a time at Noel’s house when he’d flopped on top of her, yelling, “Steam roll!” and they’d both laughed until there were tears in their eyes. But he’d loved Ali the whole time.
When he accompanied Aria to all those cooking classes, dutifully making sauces and chopping vegetables, he’d loved Ali, too. When they first had sex, which had been so tender and sweet and important that Aria could barely imagine it now. The whole time, Ali, Ali, Ali.
He’d helped almost kill them.
Noel’s body was heavy on top of her, and Aria gasped for a breath. “Where is that bitch?” she bellowed. “Tell me where she is so I can kill her!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Noel said.
“You do, and you know it!” Aria shrieked, flailing her arms and legs. “Just admit you love her! Just admit you know where she is!”
Noel let up for just a moment, resting on his elbows. His head twisted away, shrouded in darkness. “I loved her.”
Aria scrambled out from under him and stared into his eyes. “And is she alive?”
Noel looked pained. “Aria . . .”
“Is she alive?”
A brisk wind made the gate bang. Cars honked on the streets. Far up in the sky, a jet’s headlight blinked. Noel turned away. “I don’t know,” he said quietly in a tone that indicated otherwise.
It was as good as an admission. Fury flooded Aria’s veins. She leapt to her feet and headed for the gate, stumbling over the haphazard gravestones, the hem of her dress filthy from the mud. Strong hands wrapped around her waist, and she fell again, then felt the crush of Noel’s body on top of her. Noel breathed hotly into her ear.
Aria screamed and tried to get out from under him, but Noel was too heavy. “Stop acting so crazy so I can explain everything,” he begged.
“I hate you,” Aria wheezed, Noel’s weight crushing her lungs. “I will never, ever listen to you again.”
“Damn it, Aria,” Noel said, holding Aria steady beneath him. He sounded feral and dangerous. Aria swiped at him some more, but without oxygen, her limbs started to tingle. A desperate wail escaped from between her lips. She was going to die. The boy she thought loved her was going to be her murderer.
Whack.
Noel screamed in pain and rolled off Aria. Aria staggered to her feet and scurried behind a gravestone, unsure of what had just happened. As she gulped in breaths, several figures swam into view. Spencer stood next to Noel, the prom scepter raised over her head. Emily and Hanna loomed behind her, their eyes wide.
Emily spotted Aria and ran to her, hugging her tight. “Are you okay?”
Aria tried to nod, but her gaze was still on Noel. Spencer raised the scepter to hit him again, but he jumped to his feet and moved away. “Don’t you dare run!” she warned.
“What the hell?” Noel’s voice cracked. “You people are insane!”
He wove through the gravestones toward the entrance. Spencer tried to chase him, but her dress prevented her from moving too fast. She stopped a few paces past a row of gravestones and blinked in the darkness. Noel was gone.
Then Spencer ran to Aria. “Oh my God. Did he hurt you?”
She was staring in horror at Aria’s cheek. It was wet—Aria hadn’t even realized. When she pulled her hand away, she saw blood. Tears flooded down her face. “I’m sorry, guys,” she blurted. “There were things I knew about Noel, things I didn’t tell you. I should have. And now it’s too late.”
Hanna hugged Aria tight. “Don’t say that. It’s okay.”
“I just didn’t want it to be him!” Aria sobbed. “I wanted it to be anyone but him.”
“We know.” Spencer ran her hands through Aria’s hair. “We wanted it to be anyone but him, too.”
“But at least you’re safe now,” Emily whispered. “At least he didn’t hurt you for real.”
Aria sniffed and nodded, then looked into the dark distance where Noel had disappeared. She wasn’t sure if what Emily said was quite true. Noel had hurt her for real.
He had broken her heart into a thousand pieces.
31
Forgiveness Has a Price
Spencer walked in the woods behind her house. Dusk had fallen, and prickly branches and split logs littered the forest floor. A stream rushed in the distance, and birds called from the trees. All of a sudden, the night grew darker than it had been even a few seconds before. Something howled close by. Then she heard a low, growling sound, then the crunch of footsteps.