Chapter 1

A fire, a dead body, and an A message, and suddenly it seemed like their four-person group was expanding to five.

Spencer adjusted the netted neckline of the black dress she'd found buried in the back of her closet. She shoved her phone angrily back into her clutch and looked at the girls around her. Her three best friends in the world…and Mona.

She bristled a little. Just several days ago, the girl beside her had been actively working against them, and now she was huddled with them like she was suddenly one of them?

Spencer exchanged an unnerved glance with Emily. There was no way that was going to happen, not if she could help it. But there were more pressing issues to deal with now. Like the murder that A was trying to pin on them.

Spencer squinted down the sidewalk, just able to make out Holbrook's retreating figure. Something about that guy struck her as slimy, not quite genuine. Better than Wilden, but only by a very small margin.

"I can't believe this," Aria muttered, watching the video that A had just sent them once again. "I just…" she trailed off, shaking her head faintly.

"Of course A was there that night," Hanna said, her lip curling in disgust. "We should have seen this coming."

"Well we didn't," Spencer said, more sharply than intended. Her stomach was roiling. She'd already been accused of murder once. There was nothing she wanted less than to go through that again. "But the important thing is that we know now."

"So now what?" Mona cut in, edging closer to the group and folding her arms. "We meet up somewhere and figure out a plan?"

Spencer flinched instinctively, exchanging glances with the others. Emily furrowed her brow. "Um, actually, I'm pretty tired."

"Yeah, I don't – I don't think any of us are really up for much planning right now," Hanna added apologetically – a little too apologetically. "We'll talk at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Oh." Mona pressed her lips together. She obviously knew that something was up. Spencer averted her eyes, unashamed. She didn't care if the girl who up until two days ago was bent on ruining their lives knew that she was being excluded. What, did she actually expect them to embrace her with open arms?

Hanna offered a small, uncomfortable smile. "See you later?"

"Yeah. See you," Mona said quietly. She turned on her heel and walked away, holding her clutch tightly.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Emily frowned, her suspicious expression matching Spencer's feelings perfectly. "Is it just me, or was that a little too…"

She trailed off, but Spencer finished for her, narrowing her eyes. "Easy?"

Emily shifted in her tall heels, swallowing hard. "Yeah."

"You guys, Mona was A, like, two minutes ago. She probably gets that we don't want to be best buds." Hanna lifted one shoulder, still looking awkward. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, adding in a low voice, "I basically told her as much."

"Okay, whatever," Aria broke in, waving her hands in front of her face. "Forget about her. I've got to go get out of this thing." She tugged on the hem of her short, not entirely funeral appropriate dress.

Spencer glanced around at her friends, raising an eyebrow. "The Brew in an hour?"

The girls agreed and parted ways. Emily went to find her mother, and Aria and Hanna headed to their cars. Spencer glanced once more at her phone, grimacing at the memory of the latest threat. Then she squared her shoulders and pulled her car keys out of her purse.

There was no use sitting around and waiting for A to make the next move. Not when the stakes were this high.

…

"Okay." It was said in place of a greeting, as Hanna dropped her purse on the floor and plopped heavily down onto the couch in the back of the Brew. Spencer shifted to make room for her. "What are we gonna do?"

Spencer raised an eyebrow. "That could be referring to a lot of different things."

"You mean that creepy woman in the veil?" Aria asked, shivering. She held a mug of coffee and whipped cream between both hands but was making no move to take a sip. Spencer, on the other hand, had downed half of her black coffee in practically one gulp. Every nerve in her body felt like it was standing on end, but she liked it that way. Oddly, it made her feel steady, in control. Like she could take on the world.

"Who do you think it was?" Emily chimed in, propping her elbows on her knees and folding her hands under her chin. "Melissa?"

Spencer stiffened at the mention of her sister. "No," she insisted. "Melissa's in Washington, she's not even – "

"I'm not talking about the freaky woman in black," Hanna interrupted, waving her hands in the air. "I'm talking about Mona."

Spencer froze, her coffee cup halfway to her mouth. She exchanged a glance with Emily as Aria furrowed her brow. "What about her?"

Hanna shrugged. The same expression of ambivalence that she'd worn outside the church flitted across her face again. "We can't pretend like she didn't get the same text that we did. A's after her now, too."

Aria looked like she was about to choke on her drink. Spencer leaned forward, unable to believe what she was hearing. She knew that Hanna's relationship with Mona was more complicated than the rest of theirs, but the look on her face was almost sympathetic. "Han," she said urgently, "up until two days ago, Mona was the one after us. She can't be trusted just because A decided to kick her to the curb."

"And who knows if they actually did?" Emily added. "This whole thing could just be a set-up. Maybe she never stopped playing the game at all."

"Wouldn't be the first time she sent herself A messages," Aria muttered, raising her shoulders. It was a good point, Spencer had to admit.

But Hanna just shook her head, clutching her coffee and staring into space so intently that Spencer could practically see the gears turning in her head. "I don't think so."

An uncomfortable silence settled around them. Spencer raised the mug to her lips again, taking another long sip of her drink even though she could feel her hands starting to shake. After a moment, Emily cleared her throat. "Maybe…maybe we should let Mona in." Spencer felt her mouth drop open at the same time that Aria's did. Emily held up a hand before either of them could speak. "Just a little."

An incredulous laugh burbled out of Spencer. "You can't be serious."

"I'm not saying we should be best friends with her," Emily argued. Spencer leaned back, crossing her legs. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the conviction in Emily's voice. "But she had an in with A. She might have information we can use."

Hanna nodded slowly, pursing her lips. "Keep your enemies close. I'm with you, Em."

"So what?" Aria burst out, looking disturbed. "We start sharing sodas at lunch and just pretend that she didn't send Spencer straight to the loony bin?"

Spencer flinched a little at the derogatory term, but let it slide. Despite the harsh phrasing, she appreciated Aria's concern for her, at least. But the more she thought about it, the more she began to see Emily and Hanna's point of view. They'd been running around in circles for months, desperately trying to keep their heads above water. Having someone on their side who knew what it was like to be in A's head might be more of an asset than they thought.

Her friends were watching her, as if it was her opinion that would cement their decision. She shifted, the backs of her legs making sucking sounds against the leather of the couch. "We'll be cordial," she said firmly. "But not friends."

Aria let out a frustrated breath. Emily bit her lip, stirring her drink. Hanna hopped to her feet. "Then it's settled. I declare this meeting officially over."

Spencer felt her lips twitch into a smile. "Meeting?"

Hanna shrugged. "I wouldn't exactly call it just hanging out."

"That's what we need to do," Emily declared, getting up as well. "Sleep over at one of our houses, watch a movie…something normal."

"Yeah," Aria muttered. She slung her purse over her shoulder, her eyes darting back and forth in an obvious state of paranoia that Spencer knew well. "Might as well live it up before A takes us down for Wilden's murder."

Spencer shushed her just as her phone chimed. She pulled it out to find a text from Toby: Need to talk.

Her stomach lurched. "We'll figure it out," she said, the words coming out in a burst of confidence that didn't at all match how she was truly feeling. "Let's get some sleep, we'll talk at lunch tomorrow."

She headed for the doors, trying to push her friends' worried expressions out of her mind.

…

Toby was waiting on Spencer's back porch when she walked up, his arms folded and a brooding look on his face. She felt her heart begin to pound as she approached him. Ever since their reunion, she'd put on a good front, acting the role of the perfect girlfriend and trying to pretend that the past several weeks had never happened. But as she'd ran a hand over his bare chest, as she'd praised the breakfast he'd made her, her stomach had swirled with discomfort, the memories of seeing him in that black hoodie, of knowing that he'd allowed Red Coat to break her into pieces, seeping into her mind.

Even looking at him now sent a wave of unease running through her so hard that she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. Toby walked toward her. "Spencer," he said urgently, putting a hand on her arm.

Spencer resisted the urge to cringe away. Her heart swelled with a strange combination of love for him and disgust at what he'd done. Part of her wished she could take back all that they'd done in that dusty room at the Lost Woods…but another part wished she could go back to that moment and stay in it forever.

"What's going on?" she asked, shoving down her conflicted feelings as soon as she saw the unsettled look on his face.

Toby's hand dropped back to his side. "There's something you need to know."

"What is it?" Spencer asked wearily, visions of pigs in trunks and taunting messages about murder passing through her head. She wasn't sure how much more bad news she could take.

Toby leaned against the porch railing. Spencer noticed that he was clutching his phone tightly. There was a text conversation displayed on the screen, but it was turned partially away from her. "Earlier today, I got a text. From Red Coat."

"What?" Spencer's eyes darted once again to the phone in his hand. Her mind flashed back to that horrible night in her kitchen, Toby standing in front of her, her open palm connecting with the side of his face.

"She wanted me to do something," Toby replied, his voice low and dark.

Spencer could feel frustration building inside of her. "All of this beating around the bush is starting to make me nervous. What did she want you to do?" It couldn't have been anything good.

Toby hesitated, and then the words began to spill out. "She told me to give her the RV. Mona's RV, the one with all of the…A stuff in it. And I…I did it."

Spencer blinked. There was no possible way she'd heard him correctly. "You…no. You didn't."

"I didn't have any other choice," he insisted, and she felt her heart sink down into her stomach with all-encompassing dread. "Spence, A knows something about what happened to my mom. It wasn't really a suicide. Someone did something to her, and Red Coat's going to tell me what it was."

The ground seemed to tilt beneath Spencer's feet. The RV. They'd searched through it just the other day, sorting through photographs and masks and stacks of detailed notes. They were going to destroy it, make sure that A's source of information was limited, at least. And now it was gone. Back in the hands of their enemy.

Spencer met Toby's eyes, and barely recognized him. "How could you do that?" she breathed, feeling like someone had slammed their fist into the center of her stomach.

Toby shook his head, holding out the phone. "I didn't want to. I would never want to do anything to hurt you. But look at this."

Cautiously, she took the phone from him and peered down at the text. Sure enough, it was from their anonymous stalker. A demand for the RV, and a promise of information when it was delivered.

Spencer's heart jumped into her throat. Toby had never been the same after his mother's death, he'd always told her that. To find out that someone had potentially taken her from him must have been killing him inside. Spencer didn't blame him for wanting to do whatever it took to get answers.

But the betrayal still hit her like a train, anyway…especially after everything that they'd just been through. It was like he hadn't learned a thing, like he didn't care to.

She shoved the phone back into his hands, her head spinning in a million different directions. "Why didn't you talk to me first?" she asked, her voice surprisingly calm.

Toby ran a hand through his hair. He looked tormented. "I wanted to. But I was worried that Red Coat would take back the offer if I said anything."

"That was all we had." Spencer's voice was faint. She felt like she was floating above the porch, above the entire house. "We finally could have been one step ahead of A."

"You'll figure something out," Toby said insistently. "You always do."

In that moment, Spencer noticed two things. The first was his use of the word you, not we. The second was that, just like after she'd discovered that he'd faked his death, the words "I'm sorry" were nowhere to be found.

"Yeah," she muttered, swallowing hard to try and push down the sudden fury flooding through her. She was too tired to fight, especially when the fight might not even be worth it this time. "I'm sure you're right."

Toby started to speak again, but Spencer turned and pulled open the back door, averting her eyes. He paused. "Spence, wait."

"It's late," she called, and let the door slam shut behind her. She waited until the sound of his footsteps disappeared, then threw her phone down on the sofa and let out a groan of utter frustration at the misery that seemed to be seeping into every aspect of her life.

Hey, remember that time when they built an entire episode of the show around the idea of Mona becoming the fifth Liar and then totally abandoned it? That really sucked. So I got to thinking, how would that storyline have gone? And here's what I've got. This is an AU from season 4 and on. Some of the major plot points from the show will still take place, but the storyline itself is going to be much different than the show. You'll get some amount of shipping, as it pertains to the story, but it's going to take a major backseat.

I'd love to read your thoughts, so please drop me a review and let me know what you think! I've had this story in the works for quite a while now and I'm excited to share it with you all!