Burned (Pretty Little Liars #12)

Spencer frowned. “That’s strange, don’t you think?”

Aria shrugged. “I’m glad he’s gone. I was afraid he was going to jump out and hurt me.”

“That would make the most sense, don’t you think?” Spencer hugged her knees. “I mean, I’m glad you’re safe, but why wasn’t he waiting for you after the bomb went off? Why did he leave?”

Emily thought for a moment, absently watching as more kids streamed down the stairs. “Maybe he miscalculated where he set off the bomb, and he had to run from it so he didn’t get hurt himself.”

“Or what if Graham wasn’t sure it was us on the roof that night?” Hanna asked, pausing to cough. “Even those pictures of us are pretty blurry. But maybe when you ran from him, Aria, he got his proof. Maybe he and Naomi are going to tell the cops.”

Spencer used the railing to hoist herself to standing. “The necklace will definitely connect us to the crime. The cops will think we tore it off Tabitha that night.”

Hanna nodded. “We have to ditch this necklace now. We don’t need anything connecting us to Tabitha—especially with the FBI here.”

“You should have gotten rid of it as soon as you realized what it was,” Emily said to Aria. “Why didn’t you throw it overboard?”

Aria looked dazed. The fluorescent light in the stairwell made her already-pale skin look even ghostlier. “I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly.”

“It’s good you didn’t throw it overboard,” Hanna said forcefully. “There are a zillion cops dredging the harbor. One of them could have found it. All sorts of people saw you wearing it, Aria—they’d connect it to you in a heartbeat, and then A would make sure that they linked it to Tabitha, too. We need to throw this thing away for good so that it doesn’t come back to haunt us. We should weigh it down with something so that no one ever finds it.”

There was a screech of feedback through the speakers, and the girls looked up. Jeremy breathed into the microphone. “Once again, that’s the Royal Arms Hotel. We’re sending an e-mail out to everyone in case you forget.”

“I have an idea,” Spencer said after the announcement clicked off. “There’s a diving cove not far from here—my diving group went out near it this afternoon. Apparently it’s really deep. What if we took one of the life rafts and headed for it? We could swim to the bottom and bury the necklace under the coral.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “But we’re not all assigned to the same life raft. And usually there are more than just four people to a raft, right? What if we jeopardize someone’s safety?”

Spencer shrugged. “Have you seen how many life rafts there are on this ship? There are enough to go around.”

“Actually, it’s true,” Hanna said thoughtfully. “Some of the data-entry I dealt with in the admin office mentioned this ship’s capacity and how many kids were on it now. It might seem like there are a million of us on board, but they usually cram about a hundred more people on this boat for normal cruises.”

Aria swallowed hard. “Spencer, I don’t know how to swim.”

“I do,” Spencer reminded her. “I’m scuba-certified. I’ll bury it. You don’t even have to get off the raft.”

“What about when we’re done?” Aria asked. “We’ll be out in the middle of the ocean. How will we find the others?”

Spencer didn’t look worried. “You heard the announcements—we’re meeting up at the Royal Arms Hotel in Hamilton. We’ll be able to get there.”

Hanna picked at the flaky paint on the wall. “It might be dangerous to take a boat out alone, especially to somewhere so secluded.”

Spencer waved the thought away. “I’ve been to Bermuda six times with my family. I know these waters.”

“I’m in,” Emily decided. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll do it,” Aria agreed finally. Everyone looked at Hanna, and she reluctantly shrugged.

They rejoined the masses of kids heading to the bottom deck, stopping at the scuba storage closet to grab a mask, a tank, and swim fins. The doors to the lifeboats had been thrown open, and the blue-black ocean and a brilliant sunset splayed out before them. Everyone was haphazardly climbing aboard the lifeboats, seemingly not paying much attention to their assignments. Friends sat with friends. Couples huddled together. Kids were still holding drinks from the talent show pre-party. Most were still dressed in their performance outfits, including Aria.

“Come on,” Spencer said, pointing to an empty lifeboat at the end of the corridor. Everyone ran for it, and they climbed aboard while the ship safety staff members were busy loading up the other boats. Emily held onto the boat’s rubber sides and stared at the choppy harbor in front of her. The shore looked miles away. An FBI boat bobbed in the waves to her left, sending a fizz through her stomach. Everyone strapped on life vests, which smelled faintly of mildew. When they’d safely nestled into the seats, Spencer pulled the chain to start the outboard motor.

Then, a hand grabbed Emily’s arm. “Room for one more?”

Emily turned and swallowed a gasp. On the ship’s deck, staring at her, was Naomi. “Um … ,” she squeaked, not moving over.

Naomi’s gaze darted from Emily to Spencer to Aria to Hanna. All of them looked just as shocked. The corners of her mouth turned down in a disgruntled frown. “Can I join you or not?” she asked sharply.

“Sorry, Naomi. There’s no room.” Hanna gripped Spencer’s arm. “Go!”

Spencer hit the gas and pulled away from the deck, nearly yanking Naomi into the water. Emily rubbed the spot on her arm that Naomi had touched. Her skin prickled.

“Hey!” Naomi called after them. “What the hell?”

“Don’t answer her,” Hanna said under her breath.

“Hey!” Naomi called again, watching as Spencer turned the boat away from the shore. “Where are you going? That’s the wrong way!”

Aria whimpered. Hanna looked like she was going to throw up. Emily’s heart thrummed jackrabbit-fast. Spencer’s jaw was set and hard as she steered toward the cove. In a minute, they had pulled so far away that they had a panoramic view of the entire ship. Tiny lifeboats peeled away from the hull. An alarm light blared on the top deck. Black smoke poured from the windows.

And then, Emily’s gaze returned to deck where the staff was organizing the remaining lifeboats. Naomi was still standing there, hands on hips, glaring. Emily watched her rigid figure until she got smaller and smaller, fainter and fainter, until she finally vanished into the growing darkness.

29

S.O.S.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the dive spot that Spencer’s group had been to that afternon. The sun had almost set; the last remaining light danced across the sky in purple streaks. Spencer turned the boat toward a section of coast that was marred by huge rock formations, natural cliffs, and small caves. Jagged coral jutted everywhere. Water lapped against slick, high, algae-covered rocks. The cave they were closest to was deep and black, looking like a scary, angry mouth.

Spencer cut the engine, then strapped on the oxygen tank and flippers, feeling a little uneasy about using the scuba equipment after almost drowning. But she’d checked the gauges three times, and there was no way Naomi could have fiddled with them before they left. “The deepest part is in that cave. I’ll go alone, okay? You guys stay here.”

“Are you crazy?” Emily said. “You can’t swim there alone. I’m going with you. I’ll tread water on the surface while you dive down.”

“So will I,” Hanna said.

Aria’s eyes widened. “Don’t leave me here! I’m coming, too.”

Spencer glanced at her worriedly. “Can you manage?”

Aria pulled a strap of her life vest. “I’ll be fine. We’re all in this together, right?”

“I’ll stay close to you,” Emily volunteered.

The girls tied the lifeboat to a natural outcropping of rocks and slipped into the cool, algae-filled water. They swam toward the narrow passage and into a dark, swirling pool. After a few more strokes, the passage opened into a wider cavern, where the water was much calmer and warmer. But it was pitch-black in there, too—Spencer could hardly see a few feet in front of her. It was barely better when she turned on the scuba flashlight she’d grabbed from the equipment room. The filmy, slimy seaweed kept slithering over her legs like leeches. She peeked worriedly at Aria, but she was bobbing comfortably in the life jacket.

She grabbed the necklace from Aria’s hand. “Wish me luck,” she declared, then disappeared under the water.

She sank down just like she had earlier that day. This time, her equipment worked, and oxygen filled her lungs. Once she was down far enough, she found an outcropping of rocks and pushed the necklace deep into the cove, dislodging a cloud of sand. When it cleared, the necklace was gone. It was hidden—hopefully for good.

When she popped back up, the girls were still treading water. There was a tense silence—Spencer could tell none of them had spoken the whole time she’d been down. Hanna’s teeth chattered. Aria was breathing heavily. Emily’s eyes darted back and forth toward the shore, which seemed a million miles away.

“It’s done,” Spencer said when she pulled the dive mask from her face. “Let’s go.”

They paddled back through the passage. The sea had grown even colder with the setting sun, and Spencer couldn’t wait to climb back on the lifeboat and head for land. She squinted at the tiny sliver of sun on the horizon. There was barely any distinction between the navy-blue water and the darkening sky. The only sound she heard was the peaceful lapping of waves. She looked right and left, disoriented. Something seemed different.

Emily surfaced behind her. Aria swam through next, then Hanna. They all treaded water with Spencer, looking around in confusion.

“Where’s the boat?” Emily finally said.

Spencer blinked. Just like that, her bearings came back to her. She saw the cruise ship far in the distance. And there was the finger-shaped rock she’d remembered from the dive earlier that day. But when she looked for the natural hook they’d tied the boat to, all she saw was a slack piece of rope. She pulled at it, feeling a weight rise up from the deep. An outboard motor appeared on the surface. After that, a limp shell of a raft, all of its air gone.

Aria gasped. Emily and Hanna exchanged a silent, horrified look. The waves lapped violently against the rocks. A thin, high-pitched giggle spiraled through the air.

Hanna let out a tiny squeak and stared at all of them with wide, terrified eyes. “I-I don’t understand.”

“Something must have punctured it,” Spencer suggested, her voice trembling.

Emily whimpered. “Is this actually happening? How are we going to get back to shore?”

They stared at one another, then at the vast distance between themselves and the ship. Spencer swung around and tried to judge the swim to the land, but that was much too far, too. Emily could swim it, perhaps, but next to her, Aria was thrashing around and breathing heavily, even wearing a life jacket.