Stunning pll-11

  Stunning

  ( Pretty Little Liars - 11 )

  Sara Shepard

  In the eleventh novel, A is still out there, lurking in the shadows and digging up the liars’ latest secrets...

  Emily’s reconnecting with an old flame, one baby step at a time. But is she headed toward true love or another bundle of heartache? Spencer’s learning about the highs and lows of campus life on a trip to Princeton. Aria’s seeing a whole new side to Noel’s dad—and it could drive a wedge between her and Noel. And, for better or worse, Hanna’s getting in touch with her inner A.

  Secret by secret, lie by lie, the girls get tangled in A’s dangerous web. Soon A will have enough ammunition to pull the trigger and end the pretty little liars, once and for all….

  SARA SHEPARD

  Stunning

  It’s not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

  —JOHN WOODEN

  A BUNDLE OF SECRETS

  Have you ever done something so shameful, so shocking, so unlike you that you wanted to disappear? Maybe you hid out in your room all summer, too mortified to show your face. Maybe you begged your parents to let you switch schools. Or maybe your parents didn’t even know about your secret—you hid from them, too. You were afraid they’d take one look at you and know that you’d done something horrible.

  A certain pretty girl in Rosewood carried a secret around for nine long months. She ran away from everything and everyone—except her three best friends. When it was all over, they swore they’d never tell a soul.

  But this is Rosewood. And in Rosewood, the only way to keep your secrets safe is to have none at all . . .

  That summer in Rosewood, Pennsylvania, a picturesque, wealthy suburb about twenty minutes from Philadelphia, had been one of the hottest ones on record. To escape the heat, people flocked to the country club pool, gathered around the local Rita’s for extra-large strawberry ices, and skinny-dipped in the duck pond at Peck’s organic cheese farm, despite the decades-old rumor that a dead body had been found there. But by the third week in August, the weather suddenly turned. “A Midsummer Night’s Freeze,” the local news called it, because the temperature got down to freezing a few nights in a row. Boys broke out their hoodies, and girls donned their brand-new, back-to-school Joe’s jeans and puffer vests. A few leaves on the trees changed to reds and golds overnight. It was as though the Grim Reaper had come and ripped the season clean away.

  On a chilly Thursday night, a beat-up Subaru cruised down a dark street in Wessex, a town not far from Rosewood. The glowing green clock on the dashboard read 1:26 AM, but the four girls inside the car were wide awake. Actually, there were five girls: best friends Emily Fields, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin . . . and a tiny, nameless baby Emily had given birth to that day.

  They drove past house after house, peering at the numbers on the mailboxes. When they approached number 204, Emily sat up straighter. “Stop,” she said over the baby’s cries. “That’s it.”

  Aria, who was wearing a Fair Isle pullover she’d bought while on vacation in Iceland last month—a vacation she couldn’t bear to think about—steered the car toward the curb. “Are you sure?” She eyed the modest white house. It had a basketball hoop in the driveway, a big weeping willow in the side yard, and cheerful flower beds under the front windows.

  “I’ve seen this address on the adoption form a million times.” Emily touched the window. “Two-oh-four Ship Lane. This is definitely where they live.”

  The car grew quiet. Even the baby stopped crying. Hanna glanced at the infant next to her in the backseat. Her tiny, perfect pink lips were pursed. Spencer looked at the baby, too, then shifted uncomfortably. It was obvious what everyone was thinking: How could this have happened to sweet, obedient little Emily Fields? They’d been Emily’s best friends since sixth grade, when Alison DiLaurentis, the most popular girl at Rosewood Day, the private school they all attended, recruited them into her new clique. Emily had always been the girl who hated badmouthing people, who never instigated a quarrel, who preferred baggy T-shirts to tight-fitting skirts—and girls over guys. Girls like Emily didn’t get pregnant.

  They’d thought Emily was doing a program at Temple that summer, much like the one Spencer was attending at Penn. But then, one by one, Emily had told each of them the truth: She was hiding in her sister’s dorm room in Philly because she was pregnant. Aria, Spencer, and Hanna had all reacted the same way when Emily broke the news: with jaw-dropping, speechless shock. How long have you known? they had asked. I took a pregnancy test when I got back from Jamaica, Emily had answered. The father was Isaac, a boy she’d dated last winter.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Spencer asked quietly. A reflection in the window caught her eye, and she cringed. But when she turned to stare at the house opposite them, a similarly modest brick ranch, no one was there.

  “What other option do I have?” Emily twisted the pink rubber Jefferson Hospital bracelet around her wrist. The staff didn’t even know she was gone—the doctors had wanted her to stay an extra day so they could monitor the incision from her C-section. But if she’d stayed in the hospital a minute longer, her plan wouldn’t work. She couldn’t possibly give the baby to Gayle, the wealthy woman who’d paid a huge sum of money for her, so she’d told Gayle she’d pushed back the date for her scheduled C-section to two days later. Then she’d solicited her friends’ help to sneak out of the hospital shortly after the baby was born. Everyone had played a part in the escape. Hanna returned Gayle’s money. Spencer distracted the nurses while Emily hobbled toward the exit. Aria provided her Subaru and even found an infant car seat at a garage sale. And they’d succeeded: They’d escaped without Gayle finding out and taking away the baby.

  Suddenly, as if on cue, Emily’s phone bleated, breaking the tense silence inside the car. She pulled it out of the plastic shopping bag the hospital had stashed her clothes in and looked at the screen. Gayle.

  Emily winced and hit IGNORE. The phone quieted for a moment, then bleated once more. Gayle again.

  Hanna eyed the phone warily. “Should you answer that?”

  “And say what?” Emily hit IGNORE one more time. “‘Sorry, Gayle, I don’t want to give you my baby because I think you’re psycho’?”

  “But isn’t this illegal?” Hanna looked up and down the street. There wasn’t a car in sight, but she still felt on edge. “What if she turns you in?”

  “For what?” Emily asked. “What Gayle did was illegal, too. She can’t say anything without incriminating herself.”

  Hanna bit a thumbnail. “But if the cops do find out about this, what happens if they investigate other things? Like . . . Jamaica?”

  A palpable tension rippled through the car. Although it was always on their minds, the girls had promised each other never to talk about Jamaica again. It was supposed to have been a getaway to forget about Real Ali, the diabolical girl who’d killed her twin sister, Courtney, the Ali they all knew and loved. Last year, Real Ali had returned to Rosewood and tried to pass herself off as the girls’ old friend, but it was later revealed that she was the new A, the girls’ text-messaging tormenter. She’d killed Ian Thomas, Rosewood Day heartthrob and suspect in the first murder, and Jenna Cavanaugh, who the girls and Their Ali had blinded in sixth grade. Real Ali’s master plan was to murder the four girls. She’d brought them to her family’s house in the Poconos, locked them in a bedroom, and lit a match. But things hadn’t turned out as she’d hoped. The girls escaped, leaving Real Ali trapped in the house when it exploded. Even though her remains had never been found, everyone was positive she was dead.

  But was she?

  The trip to Jamaica had been a chance for the girls to move on with their lives and deepen their frien
dships. Once they got there, though, they met a girl named Tabitha who reminded them of Real Ali. She knew things only Ali would know. Her mannerisms were chillingly like Ali’s. Slowly, they became convinced that she was Real Ali. Maybe she’d survived the fire. Maybe she’d come to Jamaica to finish off the girls as planned.

  There was only one thing to do: stop her before she got revenge. Just as Real Ali was about to push Hanna off the rooftop deck, Aria had intervened, and Ali fell instead. Her broken body had vanished before the girls got down to the beach to see what they’d done, probably swept away by the tide. The girls vacillated between relief that Ali was gone for good . . . and horror that they’d killed someone.

  “No one will ever know about Jamaica,” Spencer growled now. “Ali’s body is gone.”

  Emily’s phone bleated again. Gayle. A beep followed. Six new voicemail messages, the screen announced.

  “Maybe you should listen to those,” Hanna whispered.

  Emily shook her head, her hands trembling.

  “Put the call on speaker,” Aria suggested. “We’ll listen with you.”

  Drawing her bottom lip into her mouth, Emily did as she was told and played the first message. “Heather, it’s Gayle.” A harsh voice blared through the car. “You haven’t returned my calls in days, and I’m worried. You didn’t have the baby a few days early, did you? Were there some complications? I’m calling Jefferson to make sure.”

  “Who’s Heather?” Spencer whispered nervously.

  “It’s the fake name I gave everyone this summer,” Emily said. “I even applied for my job using a fake ID I bought on South Street. I didn’t want anyone making the connection that I was Alison DiLaurentis’s best friend. Someone might have told the press I was pregnant, and then my parents would’ve found out.” She stared at her phone. “God, she sounds really pissed.”

  Gayle’s second message followed. “Heather, it’s Gayle again. Okay, I called Jefferson—that is where you’ve scheduled your C-section, right? No one on the staff will tell me what’s going on. Can you please pick up and tell me where the hell you are?”

  The tones of the third and fourth messages increased in intensity and frustration. “Okay, I’m at Jefferson now,” Gayle said in the fifth message. “I just talked to an orderly, and they don’t have any record of anyone named Heather in the maternity ward, but then I described what you look like and she said you are here. Why didn’t you call me? Where the hell is the baby?”

  “What do you want to bet she bribed the orderly?” Emily murmured. “So much for checking in under my real name to throw Gayle off the scent.” Checking in under Emily Fields had been a risk—even though Emily gave a PO box in Philly as her address and planned to use her babysitting savings to pay the hospital bill, what if, for some reason, her parents called Jefferson and found out she’d been there? But since Gayle knew her only as Heather, using her real name seemed like an easy way to lose her.

  By the sixth message, Gayle had figured it out. “This was a setup, wasn’t it?” she growled. “You had the baby and you left, didn’t you? Was this your intention all along, bitch? Did you plan to scam me from the start? Do you think I give out fifty thousand dollars to just anyone? Do you think I’m an idiot? I’m going to find you. I’m going to hunt you and that baby down, and then you’ll be sorry.”

  “Whoa,” Aria whispered.

  “Oh my God.” Emily flipped her phone closed. “I should have never promised her anything. I know we gave it back, but I should have never taken her money in the first place. She’s crazy. Now do you guys see why I’m doing this?”

  “Of course we do,” Aria said quietly.

  The infant started to whimper. Emily stroked her tiny head, and then, steeling herself, pushed open the car door and stepped into the chilly air. “Let’s do this.”

  “Em, don’t.” Aria opened her own door and grabbed Emily’s arm just as Emily fell against the side of the car, clearly in pain. “The doctor said you shouldn’t strain, remember?”

  “I need to get the baby to the Bakers.” Emily pointed woozily to the house.

  Aria paused. A truck horn honked far in the distance. Over the sound of the car’s chugging engine, she thought she heard a brief, high-pitched laugh.

  “Fine,” Aria conceded. “But I’ll carry her.” She grabbed the baby seat from the back. A smell of baby powder wafted up to greet her, bringing a lump to her throat. Her father, Byron, and his girlfriend, Meredith, had just had a baby, and she loved Lola with all her heart. If she looked too long at this baby, she might love her just as much.

  Emily’s phone rang again, and Gayle’s name flashed on the screen. She dropped it in her bag. “Come on, Aria.”

  Aria hefted the baby seat higher in her arms, and both girls staggered across the front lawn. Dew wet their feet. They narrowly missed a sprinkler head jutting out of the grass. When they climbed onto the porch, they noticed a cheerful wooden rocking chair and a ceramic dog dish that said GOLDEN RETRIEVERS WELCOME.

  “Aw.” Aria pointed to it. “Golden retrievers are awesome.”

  “They told me they have two golden retriever puppies.” Emily’s voice shook. “I’ve always wanted one of those.”

  Aria watched as a million emotions passed across her friend’s face in a split second. She reached over and squeezed Emily’s hand. “Are you okay?” There was so much to say, but no words with which to say it.

  Then Emily’s expression hardened again. “Of course,” she said through her teeth. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the baby carrier from Aria and set it on the porch. The baby squeaked. Emily glanced over her shoulder at the street. Aria’s Subaru idled at the curb. Something slipped into the shadows near the hedge. For a split second, she thought it was a person, but then her eyes blurred. It was probably the drugs that were still racing through her system.

  Even though it made her incision hurt like hell, Emily bent down, pulled out a copy of the baby’s birth certificate and the letter she had scribbled down shortly before going into the hospital, and tucked them into the top of the baby carrier. Hopefully, the letter explained everything. Hopefully, the Bakers would understand and love this baby with all their hearts. She kissed the baby’s forehead, then let her fingers trail across her impossibly soft cheeks. It’s for the best, a voice inside her said. You know that.

  Emily pressed the doorbell. Within seconds, a light flipped on inside, and two sets of footsteps sounded behind the door. Aria grabbed Emily’s hand, and they staggered for the car. The front door opened just as they were putting on their seat belts. A figure was silhouetted in the doorway, first looking out, and then looking down at the abandoned baby seat . . . and at the baby inside.

  “Drive,” Emily growled.

  Aria zoomed into the night. As she rounded the first corner, she glanced at Emily in the rearview mirror. “It’s okay.”

  Hanna placed her hand on Emily’s arm. Spencer twisted around and squeezed her knee. Emily crumpled and started to sob, first quietly, then in huge, heaving gasps. Everyone’s hearts broke for her, but no one knew what to say. This was yet another devastating secret in a long list of secrets they had to keep, along with Jamaica, Spencer’s near-arrest for drug possession, what had happened to Aria in Iceland, and Hanna’s car accident that summer. At least A was gone—they’d made sure of that. What they’d done might have been terrible, but at least no one would ever know.

  They shouldn’t be so sure about that, though. After all that had happened, they should know to trust their premonitions, to take those phantom laughs and shadows seriously. Someone had been there that night, after all. Watching. Studying. Plotting.

  And that someone was just waiting for the opportunity to use all this against them.

  1

  REUNITED, AND IT FEELS SO GOOD

  On a chilly Saturday evening in early March, Aria Montgomery sat down at the mahogany dining table at her boyfriend Noel Kahn’s house. She smiled as Patrice, the family’s private chef, served her a plate of rav
ioli with truffle oil. Noel sat next to her, and Mr. and Mrs. Kahn were across from them, fending off the Kahns’ three prize-winning standard poodles, Reginald, Buster, and Oprah. Noel had given Oprah her name when he was little because he’d been obsessed with the talk show.

  “It’s so nice to see you, Aria.” Mrs. Kahn, a stately woman with friendly crinkles around her blue eyes and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of diamonds on her fingers, gave Aria a genuine smile. Both Noel’s parents had whisked into the house moments before dinner was served. “You’ve been such a stranger.”

  “Well, I’m glad to be back,” Aria said.

  Noel squeezed Aria’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back, too.” He kissed her cheek.

  Tingles rushed up Aria’s spine. Though lacrosse-playing, Range Rover–driving, Typical Rosewood Boy Noel Kahn wasn’t exactly Aria’s type, he had slowly won her over. Aside from a brief breakup a few weeks ago, they’d been dating for almost a year.

  Ever since they gotten back together, they’d been making up for the lost time. Monday night they’d gone to a Philadelphia Flyers game, and Aria had actually gotten into it, cheering as the team scored goal after goal. Tuesday, they’d attended an indie French movie that Noel said was thought-provoking, even though Aria was pretty sure he was just being nice. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday they spent at Noel’s house, lounging on the couch and watching Lost on DVD, and earlier that day they had gone snowshoeing after a freak snowstorm.

  Patrice appeared again with salads, and the Kahns raised their glasses. “To my handsome husband,” Mrs. Kahn said.

  “To the most beautiful woman in the world,” Mr. Kahn countered.

  Noel pretended to vomit, but Aria gave an appreciative “Awww.” She’d gotten to know the Kahns in the year she’d dated Noel, and they seemed like a couple who communicated well and still planned romantic surprises on Valentine’s Day. Aria’s parents had never been like that, which was probably why they were divorced. Aria had told Noel just yesterday how lucky he was to have parents who still loved each other, and he said he thought so, too. Guys could be pretty dense sometimes, but Aria was happy her boyfriend recognized a good relationship when he saw one.