As Aria opened her eyes, something wet and smelly scraped its tongue up and down her face. She reached out, her hand sinking to soft, warm fur. For some reason, she was now on the art studio floor. A lightning bolt lit up the room, and she saw Jenna Cavanaugh and her dog sitting on the floor next to her.
Aria shot up, screaming.
"It's okay!" Jenna cried, catching her arm. "Don't worry! It's okay!"
Aria scuttled backward, away from Jenna, knocking her head on a nearby table leg. "Don't hurt me," she whispered. "Please."
"You're safe," Jenna reassured her. "I think you had a panic attack. I was coming here to pick up my sketchbook, but then I heard you—and when I came close, you fell." Aria could hear herself swallowing hard in the darkness. "A woman in my service-dog-training class gets panic attacks, so I know a little about them. I tried to call for help, but my cell phone wasn't working, so I just stayed with you."
A breeze blew through the room, bringing in the smell of wet, rained-on asphalt, a scent Aria usually found calming. Aria certainly felt like she'd just had a panic attack—she was sweaty and disoriented, and her heart was beating like mad. "How long was I out?" she croaked, smoothing out her pleated uniform skirt so that it covered her thighs.
"About a half hour," Jenna said. "You might've hit your head, too."
"Or I might've really needed the sleep," Aria joked, and then felt like she was going to cry. Jenna didn't want to hurt her. Jenna had sat with her, a stranger, while she'd lain like a lump on the floor. For all Aria knew, she'd drooled on Jenna's lap, and talked in her sleep. She suddenly felt sick with guilt and shame.
"I have to tell you something," Aria blurted out. "My name's not Jessica. It's Aria. Aria Montgomery."
Jenna's dog sneezed. "I know," Jenna admitted.
"You…do?"
"I could just…tell. By your voice." Jenna sounded almost apologetic. "But why didn't you just say it was you?"
Aria closed her eyes right and pressed her hands hard into her cheeks. Another streak of lightning illuminated the room, and Aria saw Jenna sitting cross-legged on the floor, her hands wrapped around her ankles. Aria took a huge breath, perhaps the biggest one of her life. "I didn't tell you because…there's something else you should know about me." She pressed her hands to the rough wood floor, gathering strength. "You should know something about the night of your accident. Something no one ever told you. I guess you don't remember much of what happened that night, but—"
"That's a lie," Jenna interrupted. "I remember everything."
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Somewhere close by, a car alarm went off, starting a cycle of harsh, piercingly loud buzzes and ee-oos. Aria could hardly breathe. "What do you mean?" she whispered, stunned.
"I remember everything," Jenna repeated. She traced the sole of her shoe with a finger. "Alison and I set it up together."
Every muscle in Aria's body went limp. "What?"
"My stepbrother used to set off fireworks from his tree house roof all the time," Jenna explained, frowning. "My parents kept warning him that it was dangerous—he might mess up, send a firework right into our house, and cause a fire. They said the next time he set one off, they were going to send him to boarding school. And that was final.
"So Ali agreed to steal fireworks out of Toby's stash and make it look like Toby had launched it off the tree house roof. I wanted her to do it that night because my parents were home, and they were already mad at Toby for something anyway. I wanted him out of my life as soon as possible." Her voice caught. "He…he wasn't a good stepbrother."
Aria clenched and unclenched her first. "Oh my God." She tried to comprehend everything Jenna was telling her.
"Only…things went wrong," Jenna explained, her voice teetering. "I was with Toby in his tree house that night. And just before it happened, he looked down and said angrily, 'There's someone on our lawn.' I looked down, too, pretending to be surprised…and then there was a flash of light, and then…this horrible pain. My eyes…my face…it felt like they just melted away. I think I passed out. Afterward, Ali told me that she'd forced Toby to take the blame."
"That's right." Aria's voice barely more than a whisper.
"Ali thought fast." Jenna shifted her weight, making the floor beneath her creak. "I'm glad she did. I didn't want her to get in trouble. And it kind of worked out the way I wanted. Toby left. He was out of my life."
Aria slowly rolled her jaw around. But…you're blind! she wanted to scream. Was it really worth that? Her head hurt, trying to process everything Jenna had just told her. Her whole world felt smashed open. It felt like someone had proclaimed that animals could talk, and dogs and spiders now ruled the world. Then something else hit her: Ali had set things up like it was prank they pulled on Toby, but Ali and Jenna had been the ones who planned it out…together. Not only had Ali set up Toby, she'd set up her friends, too. Aria felt sick.
"So you and Ali were…friends." Aria's voice was faint with disbelief.
"Not exactly," Jenna said. "Not until this…not until I told her about what Toby was doing. I knew Ali would understand. She had sibling problems, too."
A flash of light streaked across Jenna's face, revealing a calm, matter-of-fact expression. Before Aria could ask what Jenna meant, Jenna added, "There's something else you should know. There was someone else there that night. Someone else saw."
Aria gasped. The image of that night scissored through her head. The firework burst inside the tree house, lighting up the surrounding yard. Aria always thought she'd seen a dark figure crouching near the Cavanaughs' side porch—but Ali insisted, over and over again, that she'd imagined the whole thing.
Aria wanted to smack her forehead. It was so obvious who'd seen. How could she have not realized till now?
I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. —A
"Do you know who it was?" Aria whispered, her heart hammering fast.
Jenna turned sharply away. "I can't tell."
"Jenna!" Aria shrieked. "Please! You have to! I need to know!"
All of sudden, the power snapped back on. The room flooded with light so bright, it hurt Aria's eyes, the fluorescent bulbs hummed. Aria saw a streak of blood on her hands and felt a cut on her forehead. The contents of her bag had spilled out onto the floor, and Jenna's dog had eaten half of one of Aria's Balance bars.
Jenna had taken her sunglasses off. Her eyes stared out blankly at nothing, and there were wrinkled, puckered burn scars on the bridge of her nose and the bottom of her forehead. Aria winced and looked away.
"Please, Jenna, you don't understand," Aria said quietly. "Something horrible is happening. You have to tell me who was there!"
Jenna stood up, grabbing hold of her dog's back for balance. "I've said too much already," she croaked, her voice shaky. "I should go."
"Jenna, please!" Aria pleaded. "Who else was there?"
Jenna paused, sliding her sunglasses back on. "I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling on her dogs harness. She tapped her cane once, twice, three times, fumbling clumsily for the door. And then she was gone.