The Devious Four all turned in the direction she was pointing, their mouths hanging open. And as they watched, the footage switched from the live feed of the tampons at their feet to the security feed Ethan had successfully downloaded. A grainy image of four girls decorating the trees in the courtyard with bras and panties appeared on the wall, flip-book style. At first, it was hard to see who the vandals were, but then, one of the girls turned, stared straight at the camera, and gave it the finger. She had trademark two-tone hair and a bratty smirk.
Gotcha, I thought. My friends couldn’t have pulled this off more perfectly.
“Ethan, it looks amazing,” Emma breathed.
Ethan grinned. “I have to admit it’s pretty fun to be on this side of the prank.”
Everyone in the gym was watching. First there were whispers, and then they turned into stares and grumbles. “It was them!” plenty of people said. “Who are they?” someone else cursed. “Losers!” a voice called over the rest.
The Devious Four hung their heads. They stared at the members of the Lying Game, who had all gathered in the doorway to accept their victory. Emma stepped forward and plucked a tampon off of Ariane’s shoulder, a smirk on her face.
“Now you know who bows down to whom,” she said lightly, spinning on her heel.
Way to go, Sis. They totally deserved it.
An hour later, the party was in full swing. A rap beat pulsed through the huge speakers the DJ had positioned all around the bleachers. The disco ball spun, strings of lights flashed on and off, and bodies danced in a massive swarm under the basketball hoops. Sadie roamed with a handheld camera, and members of the yearbook staff patrolled with big SLR cameras, snapping photographs like they were the paparazzi. Hollier students had gone all out, as though this was a normal dance—some of the girls wore full-length dresses and most of the guys wore ties.
“Um, I thought we were keeping the guest list small,” Emma said, scanning the packed room. At least a hundred kids were there.
The Twitter Twins looked at each other guiltily. “Well, people kept asking to come…”
Madeline blushed. “Yeah, I ended up inviting some people from the dance studio.”
“Who cares?!” Charlotte shouted. “This party is awesome.”
The song ended, and the DJ’s voice boomed through the microphone. “This next one is dedicated to a certain group of girls—you know who you are. Thanks for throwing such an amazing party, ladies!” The opening beats to “Sexy and I Know It” swelled through the air. Everyone screamed and ran for the dance floor at once. Lili barreled up to Emma, who was supervising the food table, and grabbed her arm excitedly.
“We so rock!” Lili shrieked.
Emma grinned in return. For the past hour, kids had come up to her, thanking her for throwing the party and complimenting her on the decorations and music. It was official: The girls of the Lying Game were back on top as the queens of Hollier.
If only I could share some of the glory. Nostalgia filled me as I watched my friends. I remembered exactly how a night like tonight felt: the sheer thrill of orchestrating a prank, the buzz I felt when I walked into a packed party and decided who was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of my attention, the whoosh of heat when I locked eyes with Thayer across a room.
But then Emma checked her phone, and her stomach tightened. It was almost eight thirty. She had to leave soon.
Suddenly, a warm hand circled the top of her arm. “Can I have this dance?” Ethan said in her ear. While Emma had been holding court, he’d been talking to some kids from their German class.
“Of course!” she breathed as Ethan pulled her close. His lake-blue eyes held hers. He leaned forward and brushed Emma’s lips with a kiss.
“Awwww!” Lili swooned, snapping a Twitpic.
Emma grabbed his arm. “Let’s go somewhere quiet,” she whispered into his ear.
Ethan nodded, and they pushed through the crowd together. Students brave enough to talk to the girl they thought was Sutton Mercer congratulated her on an amazing party, and Emma flashed a confident smile. One girl dressed in head-to-toe purple asked to take a photo of “Hollier’s Hottest Couple.” Emma and Ethan paused for a moment, smiled, then moved on. Normally, Emma would have nudged Ethan and commented on how ironic it was that a foster kid and a loner were suddenly an It couple, but now wasn’t the time.
As the opening notes to a Coldplay song blared, Emma pulled Ethan under the bleachers. “Okay. I admit it, I’m nervous about tonight,” she said.
Ethan’s eyes narrowed in concern. “You don’t have to go, Emma. There’s got to be another way.”
“Maybe, but I don’t know what it is, and I can’t just continue on like this, not knowing.” Emma twisted the silver bracelet on her wrist around and around. “Living in that house is making me crazy.”
“But what if Raven is in on the murder? What then?” Ethan asked. “Maybe this is too dangerous.”
Emma thought about this, staring at the students in the gym. Most of them were dancing or laughing by the snack table. “Maybe it is dangerous. But that’s a chance I have to take. Please back me up, Ethan. Please. I don’t know what else to do.”
Ethan still looked worried, but he pulled her into a hug. “I understand,” he said. “I’ve got your back. I’ll be there every step of the way.”
Emma set her jaw. “Actually, I was thinking about that. If I bring you to the room, it could freak Raven out.”
Ethan paused, running a hand through his hair. “Okay, what if I wait outside the room?”
I liked that plan. The last thing I needed was my sister dying and both of us being in the in-between, trying to figure out who killed us.
“Deal,” Emma said.
“Please be careful, okay?” Ethan looked worried. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you.”
Unexpectedly, tears filled Emma’s eyes. “I’ll be okay.”
“How can you know that?” Ethan pressed.
“I guess I can’t,” Emma said, fidgeting with Sutton’s silver locket at her collarbone.
“I’ll be right outside the room. And if you get a bad feeling, or if something doesn’t seem right, promise me you’ll get out of there.”
Emma forced a smile. “Of course I will.”
Ethan leaned forward and put his arms around her again.
“When this is all over, think of how much easier it will be for us,” Emma whispered in his ear. “I’ll just be…me. And you’ll just be you.”
Ethan pulled her closer to him, but his gaze was elsewhere. A bunch of bulky figures stood in the doorway. “What the…?”
Suddenly, the music screeched to a halt. There were confused murmurs. Emma and Ethan made their way out from under the bleachers just as Madeline’s voice rang out. “Cops!”
“Everyone, freeze!” one of the figures called at the same time.
Pandemonium ensued. Students shoved toward the doors, nearly knocking Emma to the ground. Several police officers ran into the gym and grabbed students. Sirens whooped outside, and megaphones blared instructions to freeze and stay calm.
Emma grabbed Ethan’s arm. “Come on!”
They cut into the mass of kids. Girls hobbled toward the door, unsteady in their heels. Guys took shortcuts over the bleachers, stumbling over the risers. A lacrosse player who’d had too much to drink bumped against Emma, breaking her grip with Ethan. He was drifting away from her, like a life raft cut from its ship.
“Ethan!” Emma called out.
Students elbowed between them. A cacophony of screams and cries echoed through the air. Someone caught Emma’s shoulder, and she turned to see Nisha’s eyes flashing.
“Hurry!” Nisha called.
Emma turned back for Ethan, but he wasn’t in the spot where she left him. “Ethan!” she cried out. “Ethan!” She checked her watch. It was 8:40. She had to get out of there. She couldn’t miss her meeting with Raven.
Students poured into a hallway that led to the parking lot just as a police car screamed up to the entrance. Wheeling around, she sprinted in the opposite direction, down an unfamiliar passage. She kept looking over her shoulder, hoping Ethan would materialize, but he was gone. Maybe he’ll meet me outside, she thought. He knows where to find me.
She continued down the hall, Sutton’s sandals rubbing blisters on her feet. The hallway was dark, and she could barely see in front of her. She thought she could make out a door at the end of the hall, but what if it led nowhere?
Suddenly, there were footsteps behind her. “You!” a voice called.
Emma spun around, recognizing the voice instantly. Quinlan. Of course he would be the one to find her.
But she couldn’t let him get her—and she couldn’t let him figure out who she was. She sprinted faster, her lungs screaming.
“You there!” Quinlan’s voice sounded even closer. “Stop!”
Emma’s hands reached out and touched something hard just seconds before she crashed into it. She pulled away, seeing a bookshelf lined with old texts. She felt around for a door, but there was none. “Oh my God,” she whispered. She’d hit a dead end.
Quinlan’s walkie-talkie squawked. “I’ve got one,” she heard him say.
Emma looked down, then up. Her heart lifted. A small window glowed a few inches above the shelf. Even better, it was slightly ajar. Her fingers grasped a middle row of the bookshelf, and she set her feet on the bottom row and started to climb. The structure swayed back and forth as she shimmied up the shelves.
“Stop!” Quinlan’s shape was visible down the hall. He was running at a full sprint, his club raised above his head.
Emma pulled herself up to the top of the bookshelf and cranked the window as wide as she could. The space was just big enough for her to fit. She turned onto her stomach and stuck her legs through the window. Her fingertips caught the metal grooves of the window frame as she pushed herself through and dropped onto the ground. Her knees bent to absorb the impact, and her hands hit the grass hard. Then she took off running. She was free. She’d done it. And Quinlan didn’t know who he’d almost caught.
But I felt less than thrilled for my sister. As I watched Emma bolt through the darkness, I wished she would have thrown herself in front of Quinlan and let him haul her downtown, even if it meant getting arrested. I realized, as I watched, that I didn’t want her to go to that motel—especially alone.
Answers were waiting in that room, I just knew it. And with those answers, came danger.
29
MOTEL HELL
“You are two miles from your destination,” the portable GPS’s tinny voice rang out through the cabin of Sutton’s car. Not that Emma needed directions now—she could see the Super 8’s neon sign glowing in the distance. Her stomach was a ball of nerves as she pulled off Route 10. In 1.9 miles, she’d have her answer. Now 1.8 miles, 1.7…
She took a left at the intersection. Barely any cars were out, the streets were deserted, and the fast food restaurants that dotted the two-lane road were eerily empty. Emma passed an Arby’s, a McDonald’s, and a tired-looking diner called The Horseshoe that had a couple of rusty pickups in the parking lot. As a light drizzle turned to rain, she rolled the window farther down and let the pelting water spray across her forearms. The chill kept her present and focused. She had to keep her composure no matter what she found at the motel.