Emily's phone buzzed on her bed and caught her attention. Alison's name flashed on the screen. This had to be the news about Charlotte. Emily couldn't help but wonder if she was the first one Alison had decided to call.

Her trembling hand picked up the phone and slid to answer.

"Hey," Emily greeted.

"Hey," Alison responded. "I just got the decision from the judge."

Emily's heart pounded.

"They're letting her come home," Alison revealed. "I wanted to let you know first."

As Emily sat on her bed she couldn't help but feel defeated. Not only had she protested Charlotte's freedom and upset Ali, but in the end, it hadn't even mattered.

"Have you told Elliot?" Emily wondered.

"He's still not picking up his phone." Alison paused. "I'm starting to get worried, Em."

Emily glanced at the clock on her bed-side table and realized why Alison was so concerned. But of course, Emily didn't know Alison and Elliot's relationship. Except it was weird for Elliot, who was Charlotte's doctor, not to show up on the day of her hearing and then seize contact with Alison. Emily still had a bad feeling over all of this.

Emily tried to be positive for Alison's sake. "I'm sure everything's fine. He's probably on his way home now."

"If he doesn't come home I'll have to pick up Charlotte by myself tomorrow morning," Alison said.

Emily silently prayed she didn't ask her to go with her.

"He'll come home, Ali," Emily assured. Although, she honestly had no idea.

Emily heard Ali take a deep breath on the other side of the phone. This had to be hard for her. After everything that had happened today, Alison needed a break.

"I should call the others," Alison said.

"Yeah," Emily agreed.

"I'll talk to you later."

"Bye."

Then Emily hung up.

It was official. Charlotte would be released tomorrow morning and she would be out in the world just like the rest of them.

Maybe the reason Emily was so nervous was because she hadn't seen Charlotte since that night she had tried to kill Emily and her friends, and then herself. That was the last image Emily had of her. Maybe if she saw that Charlotte was better...

But could she bring herself to meet with Charlotte?

What Emily had said in the court room was no lie. She still had nightmares and she still had her days where she was afraid to leave the house. What if seeing Charlotte in the flesh only made her paranoia worse?

Emily lied back down and tried not to think so hard. She knew if she did it would only keep her up tonight. Besides, she had other things to worry about. Like the fact that Hackett had basically offered her a job at RHS.

If Emily did stay in Rosewood, she would need to come clean to a lot of people about the fact she hadn't even graduated college. In her opinion, it was long overdue, but the thought of disappointing her mom frightened her.

But maybe she should come clean before Charlotte got home, because she knew Charlotte had a special talent for digging up secrets that people wanted to stay buried.

* * *

Alison squeezed the hand of her sister as she drove them away from Welby. She could feel a small sense of relief as some of the loneliness she had felt for so long dissipate.

She smiled to herself. Charlotte was finally coming home.

"Where's Elliot?" Charlotte asked.

At this, Ali couldn't answer honestly, but she decided not to worry her sister. Today was stressful enough.

"I don't know," Alison said. "But I'm sure he'll be home soon."

Although, Alison wasn't so sure anymore.

"He said he would be there with you," Charlotte claimed.

Alison glanced over to the passenger side. "I know."

Charlotte remained quiet after that and Alison knew why. Elliot may have been Charlotte's doctor, but she also considered him a friend. Or a confidant.

Him not being there on her release day was a big deal.

"So I was thinking on your first night home, we can have a girls night," Alison suggested. "We can order pizza and paint each other's nails..."

At this Charlotte looked at Alison with a smile.

"That sounds nice," she admitted.

"And you have your own room and everything," Alison said. "It's across the hall from mine."

"Does Jason and dad know I'm coming home?" Charlotte wondered.

Alison tried not to show her disappointment. "Yeah, they do."

"Are they coming over?"

Alison's grip on the wheel tightened. "No."

The tension in the car shifted but Alison tried not to feel so bad. At least she and Elliot would be there for Charlotte as she integrated back into society.

Alison knew she could, and she would help her sister every step of the way.

"I should've figured," Charlotte stated.

"But now that you're doing so much better, it's possible they'll come around," Alison tried.

Alison didn't want Charlotte's first day of freedom spent moping over Jason and her dad.

When they got home Ali half-expected to see Elliot's car, but unfortunately it wasn't there. He still wasn't home.

A small part of her doubted that anything was going on, but another wasn't so sure. Had something happened to him? Technically, they weren't married, and no one knew about their relationship. If he was hurt, no one would alert her.

Her anxiety suddenly began to grow.

But Ali distracted herself with helping Charlotte settle in. And once they were, she popped in a movie and broke out the nail polish.

She wanted to try her best at making Charlotte feel normal, because from here on out things would get tough. But she was ready. Charlotte had worked so hard to get home, and Alison wouldn't let her down.

Ali palmed her glass of water that was nearly empty. "So would you like to go shopping tomorrow?"

Charlotte watched Ali set her cup down and return to painting her nails. "Oh yeah, I need a serious change of wardrobe."

The two women talked a bit longer about what Charlotte wanted to do with her new-found freedom while Alison finished painting her sister's nails. Things seemed to be great, and soon Charlotte interrupted their moment and stood.

"I need to use the restroom," she claimed.

Ali watched her sister disappear and rested her head back on the couch. Today had been long, and she was already feeling sleepy. Hopefully Charlotte felt the same.

But before Alison knew it her eyes became heavy and there was no way to keep them open. Sleep seemed to approach quickly, and Ali couldn't fight it.

She was just so tired...

* * *

Alison jolted awake. The house was dark and the front door was open. The rolling thunder must've woken her. Her first thought was 'where was Charlotte?'.

"Charlotte?" Alison called, but there was no answer.

She stood and closed the front door. Her feet led her upstairs in a hurry and she tried not to think of the worst possibility.

But Charlotte's room was empty, and so was every other room upstairs.

Alison bolted back downstairs and spotted her laptop open on the dining room table. As she paced closer the glow from lightning and the sound of thunder filled the house.

Her hands were clammy. Her skin was hot but her blood was cold. When she made it over to the laptop her heart nearly fell out of her mouth.

The webpage was logged onto her bank account that held the Carissimi Fund. The money that had been transferred over to Alison's account after Charlotte had been admitted into Welby was gone. The balance was completely zeroed out and the latest transfer went to none other than Elliot Rollins.

Alison felt the air leave her lungs.

Had Elliot screwed Alison over? And did he kidnap her sister?

Alison checked her savings and checking only to find that money had been transferred too. Everything was gone.

Alison fumbled back toward the couch and grabbed her phone. She wasn't sure of the time but she needed to call someone. Anyone. She needed Emily, or Hanna, Aria or Spencer.

She dialed Emily and prayed she picked up.

"Ali?" Emily answered sleepily. "What's going on-?"

"Charlotte's gone," Alison panicked. "She's gone, Emily and I don't know what to do. Should I call the police?"

She could hear Emily sit up in a bed. "Wait, what do you mean Charlotte's gone?"

Alison took a deep breath. "I mean she's gone. She's not in the house. I woke up and the front door was wide open and..." Alison glanced at her laptop. "Emily something bad happened."

She heard Emily talking to someone else. It sounded like Spencer. Then she heard Aria and Hanna's voices. Were they all together?

"Spencer said not to call the police yet," Emily directed. "We're coming over."

"O-Okay," Alison's voice shook. "Please hurry."

That's when Emily hung up and Alison was alone again. Where could Charlotte have gone? And when had she left?

Alison paced around the kitchen and looked for anything that was out of place. That's when she spotted Charlotte's anti-anxiety medication on the counter. Her trembling hand picked up the bottle and dumped the pills onto the counter.

When she was done counting, she realized one was missing, and she knows Charlotte hadn't taken it.

Could it be that Charlotte crushed one up and slipped it into Alison's drink? Is that why she had suddenly grown so tired?

She didn't want to believe this was all a set up. She didn't want to think Charlotte had played her once again just to gain freedom and disappear. Ali broke down and tried to call Elliot again, but just like before, the call went straight to voicemail.

It didn't take long for Alison's friends to arrive at her door. They looked distraught and disheveled, but nevertheless, alert and on their toes.

"Ali, what happened?" Hanna asked.

Alison shook her head. "I-I don't know... one minute we were hanging out and the next I was too tired to keep my eyes open." She tried to catch her breath. "When I woke up the front door was wide open and I called... My bank accounts were drained."

Alison's panicked eyes found Emily who was studying her intently.

"Your bank accounts were drained?" Emily questioned.

"All my money is gone. My savings, my checking... and the Carissimi Fund," Alison revealed. "It was all transferred to Elliot."

Spencer paced up to Ali's laptop. "Do you know his account information?"

Alison had been given the password to pay some bills on his behalf. Maybe if she logged in she could see if there were any recent transactions after her money had been stolen.

Alison nodded. "Yeah, I know it."

She pulled up the browser and typed in the credentials. The password was wrong. Alison tried again but to no avail couldn't access the account.

"He must've changed the password," Ali claimed.

Emily stood in the den with her arms crossed. This wasn't supposed to be happening. She wasn't supposed to be this scared because Charlotte, or in more accurate terms, -A, was on the loose. None of this was supposed to be happening because Charlotte was never supposed to get out of Welby.

Yet, she was seventeen again, and scared to death at what lurked around the corner.

"We'll go back to The Radley," Aria said. "We'll sneak into that room Emily saw him go into Friday night. They might be there."

Alison found her eyes glued on Emily. "Em, do you remember what room?"

Emily just nodded. "Yeah."

The five women left the DiLaurentis household and drove through the dark streets of Rosewood. They kept an eye out but never spotted Charlotte.

Alison sat next to Emily in the backseat of Spencer's car. Emily felt as if she was close to being sick because Charlotte was missing and she had called it. She knew something bad would've happened if Charlotte were released.

And she had been right.

Alison on the other hand couldn't think clearly when all she could envision was something terrible happening to her sister. Charlotte wasn't supposed to turn on her, not after all the time Ali had spent visiting and getting to know her. Not after everything they had gone through to get her out...

When the girls arrived at Radley Alison looked at Hanna. "How are we gonna get into the room?"

"We'll have to steal a master key," Hanna advised.

"And how are we gonna do that?" Aria asked.

Hanna threw up her hands. "I don't know! Spencer, you're the one that always has a plan."

"You're the professional klepto!" Spencer countered.

The women walked into Radley that was basically deserted this time of night. No one seemed to be around. Maybe they could break into the security office and steal a card...

That's when they spotted a janitor, a set of keys hanging from his pocket. Could those keys get them into the security office?

"There," Emily said, and pointed to the man. "He has keys."

"And how do you suggest we get them?" Hanna huffed.

"Use your charm," Spencer advised.

Hanna just rolled her eyes and strutted up to the janitor.

The rest of them watched from the lobby and tried to look casual. Alison was feeling emotional and wasn't in the right state of mind to be doing this. Emily was anxious and ready to run as far away from Rosewood as possible.

Then the janitor was unlocking the office for Hanna and she threw him a dazzling smile. He moved along and Hanna signaled the girls over.

Once they were all in the office they closed the door.

"Now what?" Aria wondered.

"Hanna, did you find anything?" Spencer asked while rummaging through the drawers.

"No," Hanna answered.

"Here." Emily found the key scanner. "Just program one to work."

"Do we look like we know how to do that?" Hanna jabbed.

"Spence?" Emily hoped.

Spencer moved in on the computer and studied the programs. She turned on the scanner and pulled up the driver she believed to be the one she needed.

"Uh, what was the room number?" Spencer wondered.

"Two-fourteen," Emily said.

Spencer held up her hand. "Card."

Emily found a blank card and gave it up.

When all was said and done Spencer stood straight and handed the new card to Emily. "Hopefully it works."

"I'll stay and watch the cameras," Hanna offered. "You guys go."

"Let us know if anything weird happens, okay?" Emily stated.

"Yeah."

Emily, Alison, Spencer and Aria left the office and made their way to the second floor. Emily could feel her heart beat in her head as they walked up to the room. Her trembling hand slipped the card into the slot and prayed for a green light.

And luckily, she got one. The card worked.

But when they piled into the room there was nothing there. It just looked like an unused hotel room.

"Did he check out?" Aria asked.

"I'll call Hanna and have her check." Spencer dialed. "Let's look around."

Emily found Alison clinging to her side as they paced through the room, but there was nothing to find. That was until Spencer found something.

"Guys," Spencer called.

They all crowded around and saw what she was talking about.

There was a giant hole in the wall. It was carved out and there was an escape ladder hanging on the other side.

Aria moved in closer. "What the hell...?"

Then Alison heard Hanna's voice on the other side of the phone when Spencer put her on speaker.

"Elliot checked out at nine," Hanna said. "Looks like they cleaned his room not long after."

"Hanna," Spencer started. "We found something."

"I'm coming." Then Hanna hung up.

When all five women stood in the hotel room they just looked at each other.

"So who's going first?" Hanna asked.

"Not me," Aria declined. "I'm the smallest and easiest to catch."

"I'll go," Alison volunteered.

Emily went to object but allowed the blond to take charge. She would go right after.

Once all of them were at the bottom of the ladder they crammed their way down the narrow hallway. It was cold and creepy. It was hard to believe this is where Elliot had brought Charlotte if they had come here together, but it was a possibility. Out of everyone, Charlotte would know the secret passages of Radley.

But when they made it to the end of the hallway all that stood there was an empty file cabinet.

"It's just a dead end," Alison assessed.

"No..." Spencer moved around the file cabinet. Then she pushed it over and revealed a large hole on the other side.

The women followed her through the passage way, which led them to a door. They opened it only to find they were standing on the outside of The Radley, but the door didn't have a handle to get back in.

"Look..." Emily picked up a wedge. "He could've used this to prop the door open."

"Spence, let me see your phone," Aria said.

Aria turned on the flashlight app and knelt to pick up a paper on the ground. Emily recognized it as a business card.

"What is that?" Alison wondered.

Aria studied the card. "It's a car rental business."

Alison looked as if she was going to throw up. Emily moved in closer to provide some comfort.

"Ali?" Emily asked.

But Alison didn't know what to say.

"We need to call the police," Hanna advised. "If Elliot did kidnap Charlotte... or something else... they need to know."

As much as Ali didn't want to believe this was happening, she tried to bring herself back into reality. Her shaking hand pulled out her cellphone to dial 9-1-1.

"Wait," Spencer said. "Not here. We can't call them here."

"Why not?" Alison asked.

Spencer took a picture of the business card with her phone. "Do you want to explain that we broke into the manager's office and Elliot's room to the police?"

"So we go back to Ali's," Emily suggested.

"Well can we go now?" Hanna said. "This place is really creeping me out."

Spencer set the business card back onto the ground and the girls left The Radley in a hurry. Emily was concluding that there was something seriously wrong.

They made it back to Alison's and crowded into her house. It was then that Spencer gave Ali the 'okay' to call the police.

Alison dialed.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.

"My sister is missing," Alison said. "Charlotte DiLaurentis is missing."