Ethan's Pov

The girls and I sat outside Lucky Leon's Cupcakes drinking our coffee and eating the desserts we bought.

Aria told us that some guy thought she was Vivian when she put on the red coat. She told us that they talked for a bit before he gave her his number to call him whenever she could.

"Well, he recognized the coat, but when he saw it first, he thought it was Alison. Vivian" Aria said.

"When we noticed you didn't come back, he was gone" Emily said.

"He was cute from the back" Hanna smirked.

"So was his front" Aria smiled.

I chuckled at that and shook my head in amusement.

"Under different circumstances" Aria said when she saw the look on Spencer's face.

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my coffee.

"He's been in Florida for, like, a year" Aria said.

"What did you tell him exactly?" I asked.

"Uh, I told him that I was a friend of Vivian's and that I hadn't seen her since she gave me the coat" Aria said.

Good lie.

"Can I see that number again?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah" Aria nodded before she gave her the paper that had the guys number.

"Thanks" Spencer said.

I scooted closer to Spencer so I could see the number and the name of the guy.

"Duncan Albert" that's the name of the guy that Aria had talked to.

"He said he met her in Brookhaven?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, in a bookstore. Couple places down from that creepy doll hospital" Aria said.

"Well, whoever Duncan is, he's connected to Alison and what she wanted in Brookhaven" Spencer said.

"How do we know that he wasn't just some guy she flirted with in a bookstore?" Emily asked.

"I don't think Alison wasted Vivian on flirting. When she put that wig on, she wanted something" I said.

"She was looking for A" Hanna said.

"Duncan was part of that trail" Emily sighed.

Aria sighed before taking the paper from Spencer as she nodded her head.

"I'll call him" Aria said.

"Aria, you don't have to" Spencer said.

"Any one of us could've been wearing that coat" Emily said.

"But it was me" Aria sighed.

As much as I don't want her to do this alone, she has a point.

She was wearing the coat and Duncan saw her. He didn't see us, he saw her. Aria has to be the one to talk to him, not us, otherwise he'll get suspicious.

I sighed and was about to eat my cupcake, when something caught my attention.

My eyes widened when I saw Jenna and Toby getting out of a car

Spencer stood up from her seat and took a few steps forward as the other girls turned around to look.

There was some sort of napkin or cotton covering Jenna's eye. I think she actually went through with the surgery to get her eyesight back.

"She had the operation" Hanna said in shock.

Toby turned around and when we made eye contact I offered him a small smile and wave.

A faint smile appeared on his face as he nodded and waved back at me.

However, when him and Spencer made eye contact all he did was shake his head before leading Jenna somewhere.

I frowned and looked up at my sister and saw that she looked upset.

"Spence?" Aria asked.

Spencer just sighed and walked back over to us and sat down.

All I could do was bring her into a side hug, doing my best to comfort her because I know how much she misses Toby.

The Next Day

It was the next day and the girls and I were at school. We were in the hallway and we were talking with Mona.

Since Hanna dropped her phone in the sink she's been begging her mother for a new phone but her mother refuses to buy her a new one since Hanna refuses to tell her anything about the A situation.

So, Mona being the amazing friend she is, gave Hanna a phone.

"It's really old, like six months. But it works pretty good for an antique. The number bills to my account so your mom never has to know" Mona explained, smiling.

She handed Hanna the phone before taking out some hand sanitizer.

"Oh. Mona, you are a life saver" Hanna smiled.

Mona smiled at her before giving the rest of us some hand sanitizer. We all smiled and thanked her.

"Well, what's the point of doing something for someone if it doesn't make you look good" Mona smiled.

I chuckled at her and shook my head at her.

"I'm already number one on the speed dial. Ciao" Mona grinned.

She winked at me and Hanna before turning around and walking away.

"If only we could harness Mona's sense of entitlement, we could light the Eastern seaboard" Spencer said.

"Yeah, well, I don't care. I got a new phone and didn't have to go through Caleb. He's safe in Montecito" Hanna smiled.

I smiled at her and gently patted her shoulder.

"Did you get through to Duncan yet?" I asked, looking at Aria.

"Yeah, he's coming after school. I'm gonna meet him in the Courtyard" Aria said.

"That sounds safe" Spencer nodded.

Aria nodded in agreement before the bell rang.

"Later" Spencer said before walking away.

"Bye" I said, waving at the girls before walking away.

After School

When school was over me and the girls met up to walk together.

Apparently when Aria was talking to Duncan he told her that she saw Alison the weekend that she disappeared.

"Duncan saw Ali that weekend?" Spencer asked.

"No, Spence, he saw her on Christmas" I sarcastically said.

Hanna snorted while Spencer glared at me and hit my arm, making me wince and glare back at her.

"Are we sure we believe him?" Hanna asked.

"He was all torn up when I told him she was dead. He couldn't have been faking that" Aria said.

I turned to look at Emily and saw her walking slower than the rest of us, her arms were crossed and she was frowning.

"Em, you ok?" I asked, worried.

"Sure" Emily nodded.

All of a sudden we heard an engine start and tires screeching.

We looked in front of us and saw Garrett car's driving away really fast, like he was trying to get away.

"Why is Garrett in such a hurry?" Emily asked, confused.

"If he's leaving Rosewood and never coming back you'll see me dancing in joy" I said.

We heard all our phones ring, causing me to groan in annoyance, before we took our phones out.

No surprise, a message from A.

"Where there's smoke, there's payback. A" Emily said.

Movement from across the street caught my attention and I saw Toby and Jenna walking out of their house.

What was weird was the fact that they were talking to the fire department as well as the police.

"Wait, what's going on?" Hanna asked, confused and worried.

"I don't know" Spencer said, just as confused.

They walked down the stairs as Toby continued to talk to them about something.

"What are they talking to the fire department about?" Aria asked.

"They're talking about that night" Emily said in realization.

"The Jenna thing" Spencer said.

"Are you serious?" Hanna asked in shock and worry.

"What could Toby be telling them?" I asked.

"I did such a good job of screwing him up, he might say anything Jenna wants him to say" Spencer said.

"That we, minus Ethan, were the ones who blinded Jenna?" Hanna asked.

"Alison and us" Emily said.

If the Jenna thing does end up getting out, the girls are screwed.

I might as well be screwed because I might not have been there that night but I knew about it and didn't at least come forward about it. But I'm not going to rat out my sister of my best friends.

The Next Day

Spencer and I were sitting together, reading, when I heard footsteps and saw Emily walking towards us.

When she saw the state Spencer was in she frowned.

"Hey" Emily said.

"Hey" Spencer said.

"You ok?" Emily asked.

"I don't know" Spencer sighed.

She grabbed her bag and stood up, me following behind her as Emily and I walked with her to a nearby table.

"You thinking about Toby?" Emily asked.

"Is it my fault? Did I make that happen?" Spencer asked.

I sighed as the three of us sat down.

"You broke off with him to keep him safe" Emily said.

"Yeah, I wanted him safe, and he ended up back with Jenna. It's like out of the frying pan and into the volcano. I made you help" Spencer said.

"What are friends for?" Emily asked, smiling slightly.

I smiled and gently patted Spencer's head before looking at Emily.

"Have you heard from your dad?" I asked.

"He emailed me on a layover in Germany" Emily said.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried.

"You never get used to it if that's what you mean. My mom's gonna be back here next week" Emily said.

"Have Maya's parents heard from her?" Spencer asked.

"No, they haven't" Emily said.

Me and Spencer sighed at that before Emily spoke up again.

"I have" Emily said.

This made me and Spencer look at her with wide eyes in shock.

"What?" me and Spencer asked.

"Yeah, she's alright" Emily said.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She hasn't told me yet" Emily said.

"Are you going to tell your parents?" Spencer asked.

"She asked me not to. But I keep thinking how my parents would feel if I was missing. You know, I don't know" Emily said.

The bell rang, causing the three of us to sigh before gathering our things.

"Better go" I said.

We stood up from the table and made our way inside. We began walking when we heard a familiar voice call out to us.

"Spencer. Ethan. Emily" we heard Jason say.

We turned around and I smiled when I saw Jason walking towards us.

"Hey, I'm so sorry that I haven't called you back. My reserves have been really depleted, and-" Spencer started but he cut her off.

"This isn't about-" Jason started but I cleared my throat, stopping him.

He looked at me and I nodded towards Emily, who looked confused.

Me and Spencer still aren't ready to tell the girls about Jason being our brother, for now it's just between us and our families. When we're ready to tell them, we will.

"Um, I've got some of Alison's things. I've been through them, but, I'm not really sure what to do with them" Jason said.

"What kind of things?" Emily asked, confused.

"They're in a bag that was left in the house when we moved out. Your friend Maya said her family found them" Jason said.

"She said that they packed up some of Ali's things by accident" Emily said.

"Maya dropped them off at the house" Jason said.

This made Emily narrow her eyes at him in confusion.

"Maya? Did you talk to her?" Emily asked.

"The bag was on the porch. And then I saw in the paper Maya was missing. Is that true?" Jason asked.

We glanced at each other before Emily sighed and nodded her head.

"Yeah" Emily nodded, looking a bit awkward.

"So the bag has Ali's stuff in it?" Spencer asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, some of the things from her room. I just thought you guys might wanna have a look" Jason said.

I smiled at him and nodded. Spencer and Emily nodded too.

Hey, if there's something in the bag that can help us, we're in.

At Home

When school was over we went back home.

Jason stopped by to drop off Alison's bag, so we were currently in our kitchen as Jason set the bag on the counter.

"Maya said this was in the attic, like it was hidden" Jason said.

"Have you looked inside?" Emily asked.

"Just enough to know it's Alison's" Jason shrugged.

We heard a knock at the door and we turned around to see Aria at the door.

I walked over and opened the door as she walked inside.

"Hey" Aria said.

"Hey" I said.

"Ok, so Duncan just called back and he wants to talk. Is that Alison's bag?" Aria asked when she saw the bag on the counter.

"Yeah, that's it. Come take a look" I said.

"I can't. I told Duncan I'd go meet him" Aria said.

"Where?" I asked, worried.

"A place called Hallow Acres. He said he used to go there with Alison" Aria said.

"Ok, just give us a call as soon as you can" I said.

"I will. Promise" Aria smiled.

I smiled and gave her forehead a brotherly kiss before she turned to Emily.

"Hey, Em, Spence. Bye" Aria said.

"Bye" Emily waved at her.

"Bye, be safe" Spencer said.

Aria nodded and sent me one last smile before opening the door and leaving the house.

I sighed and closed the door before walking back to the others. Spencer and Emily had already taken a few things out of the bag.

I went through the bag myself and took out something that was covered by a towel.

I raised an eyebrow at it before removing the towel, only to reveal a pink music box. I opened the box and music began playing as the ballerina in the middle began moving.

"She had that when she was a kid" Jason said, a faint smile on his face.

We heard footsteps and turned around to see mom walking in.

Emily quickly closed the music box while Spencer and I looked at each other in worry.

Things haven't really been the same ever since the whole 'dad being Jason's father' was revealed. It's fair to say that mom gets tense whenever she sees Jason.

"If there's anything you guys find in here you wanna keep, take it. Should bring the bag back to the house when you're done" Jason said.

"Ok" Spencer said.

"If I'm not there, just drop it on the back porch" Jason said.

"Thank you, Jas" I smiled.

Jason offered me a small smile, especially at the new nickname I gave him.

Me and Spencer guided him towards the door. He looked at us and nodded, causing us to nod back, before he left the house.

I sighed as Spencer closed the door. Mom walked over to us, clearly angry, while Emily took the bag and  the other stuff with her and went upstairs.

Good, I don't really want her to hear this.

"Did he ask to come here?" Mom asked.

"No, mom, we invited him" I said and Spencer nodded.

"Don't ever do that again. We don't need to complicate things" Mom sternly said.

Me and Spencer scoffed at that and walked back into the kitchen.

"Well, we're trying to un-complicate them" Spencer said and I nodded.

"Well, don't. Leave it alone. There's nothing for you to fix" Mom, once again, sternly said.

"So, what? We're just supposed to go back to the way it was before we all knew?" I asked in disbelief.

"Further, if possible" Mom said.

She walked out of the kitchen, leaving me and Spencer there.

I seriously can't believe her.

She shouldn't be hating on Jason for this. If anything she should be hating dad. He's the one that can't keep it in his pants.

Late At Night

Spencer, Emily and I were still looking through Alison's bag, trying to find something that would help us, but so far we've got nothing.

Everything that was in the bag was just a bunch of stuff, some were a bit useless and some were just kid toys.

And to say that we were a bit tried and annoyed would be an understatement.

"I thought we'd find something" I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

"Me too. I don't know why, but I did" Emily said.

"It's just stuff. Disconnected stuff" Spencer said, her tone filled with annoyance but also disappointment.

A Few Minutes Later

Spencer had dropped off the bag at Jason's house, left it at his front porch, before coming back home.

Hanna arrived and I prepared ice-cream for the three of us. We needed some dessert in our systems.

"Wait, so he wasn't there when you dropped it off?" Hanna asked.

"No, the house was dark, So I just left it on the back porch. Then I came back here and I found you lurking in the hydrangeas" Spencer said.

I snorted at that as the three of us walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Ok, I was not lurking, I was just working up the nerve to tell you about Toby" Hanna defended.

I shook my head while Spencer scoffed.

"Did I mess it up even more?" Hanna asked in concern.

"I don't see how that's humanly possible" Spencer said, leaning back against the couch.

"I guess there was nothing important in that bag" Hanna said, looking at me and Spencer.

"I don't know what we thought we'd find. Just a bunch of kid stuff" I shrugged.

Spencer nodded as she laid her head on my shoulder as she continued eating her ice-cream.

"Man, times are tough. Michele Obama wore this same blouse two years ago" Hanna said.

Spencer and I chuckled a bit and looked at her, only for us to narrow our eyes at the newspaper she was holding.

Where the hell did she get that?

"Where did you get this?" Spencer asked.

She set her ice-cream down on the coffee table before grabbing the newspaper from Hanna.

"I was sitting on it" Hanna said.

"That stuff in the bag was wrapped up in newspaper from July, 2009" Spencer said.

"So?" Hanna asked, confused.

My eyes widened in realization and I sat up straighter in my seat.

"So we thought Maya's parents wrapped that stuff but Ali did. Before she disappeared" I said.

Hanna slowly began to catch on as she took the newspaper from Spencer and scanned it, trying to find something.

Spencer and I grabbed some other newspapers that were on the couch.

"Spence, Ethan, look" Hanna said.

We turned around to see that a few things from the newspaper were highlighted.

"Yeah, this one's highlighted too" I nodded.

"Wait, Hanna, go through the back yard and take that bag off of Jason's porch. I'm gonna call Aria and Emily" Spencer said.

"Did something just happen?" Hanna asked, confused.

"We were looking in the bag for clues but we should've been looking at the whole bag as a clue" Spencer said.

Spencer got up from the couch and ran towards the trash bin.

Hanna went to get up to head to Spencer's porch when I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"Stay, I'll get it" I said.

"Are you sure?" Hanna asked.

"Don't worry, I'll be quick" I said.

I gave her forehead a brotherly kiss before setting my ice-cream down as I left the house to go and get that bag back.

A Few Minutes Later

I managed to get to Jason's house and walked through the alleyway to get to his front porch.

When I got there I walked upstairs and spotted the bag. I grabbed it and turned around to head back, when I heard a loud crash from inside.

I stopped dead in my track and slowly turned around. I dropped the bag and took a few steps towards the door, trying to see if I could peek through the window.

When I peeked through the window I saw some smoke, or fog, and for some reason everything inside was red.

I screamed in fright when Jenna suddenly slammed into the door, causing me to back away.

I tripped on the bag and nearly fell but managed to keep my balance. I looked up, just in time to see Jenna sliding down to the ground.

"Oh my god! Jenna!" I yelled.

I opened the door and quickly ran inside.

Holy shit, the freaking house was on fire and there was so much smoke that I could barely see anything.

I held my breath and crouched down when I spotted Jenna on the ground, unconscious. I quickly picked her up and carried her bridal style as I made my way towards the door.

"Ethan! Ethan! Ethan!" I heard Spencer and Hanna yell.

I let out a huge breath of air when I made it outside and saw Hanna and Spencer running towards us, looking worried.

"Bubs, are you ok?" Hanna asked.

"I'm fine, just come on, we need to get her to the hospital" I said.

Hanna nodded as she quickly walked down the stairs with me following behind her. I made sure I was careful since I didn't want to drop Jenna.

Spencer grabbed the bag before running towards us.

Just as we were walking the entire house exploded.

The girls let out loud screams and quickly ducked down, covering themselves with their hands.

I held onto Jenna, shielding her with my body, wanting to make sure she was safe.

I turned around and my eyes widened in shock and worry. If I hadn't gotten there in time, who knows what could've happened.

At The Hospital

When we were far away from the house Spencer called 911 and told them what happened.

They took Jenna to the hospital and some paramedics checked me to make sure that I was alright, considering I did go inside the house to save Jenna.

When they saw that nothing was wrong and that I was perfectly alright we went to the hospital.

We called Aria and Emily and told them what happened and they came as fast as they could. Right now Aria was currently talking to us about her trip with Duncan.

"Wait, so he flew her on a plane?" Hanna asked.

"From Hilton Head to an airstrip outside Philadelphia" Aria said.

"What about the bus ride from her grandmother's?" Emily asked, confused.

"We never actually saw her get off the bus. We only saw her get out of the cab. She could've been in Rosewood hours before that" I said.

"Doing what?" Emily asked, confused.

I heard nearby footsteps and turned around to see mom walking towards us, a worried look on her face.

"Ethan!" Mom yelled once she spotted me.

I sighed and walked towards her and offered her a tiny smile.

"I heard about the fire. Are you alright?" Mom asked in concern.

"I'm fine, mom. Don't worry. Just need to wash my hair from the smoke, but otherwise I'm perfectly fine" I reassured her.

Mom sighed in relief before giving me her famous motherly glare.

I groaned in pain when she smacked my arm before she pulled me into a tight hug.

"I'm seriously so close to locking you in your room until you're 18" Mom sighed.

"Never going to happen" I chuckled as I hugged her back.

We pulled away from the hug as she smiled softly at me and pushed some hair away from my face.

"Where's Spencer? Is she alright?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, she's fine. She cut her hand on the glass window, she's with Wren right now" I said.

Mom sighed in relief but rolled her eyes at the mention of Wren.

Just because mom forgave him doesn't exactly mean she likes him. Which in a way is understandable.

In Jenna's Hospital Room

For some weird reason Jenna wanted to talk to me and the girls. It was important.

And as I expected it was to tell us why she had gone to Jason's house.

Apparently she got a text from Jason telling her to meet him at his house. But Jason wasn't even home when all of that happened, he was miles away so there's no way he could've done it.

"Jason was miles away when the police called him. He didn't send you that text" Aria said.

"Somebody did" Jenna said.

"Any one of us" Spencer sighed, annoyed.

"You can't blame this on us" Emily sternly said.

I sighed and frowned slightly when tears began streaming down Jenna's face.

"I don't" Jenna managed to choke out a sob.

I sighed, feeling some sympathy for her.

Toby sighed and shook his head before looking at us.

"You should go" Toby said.

We all looked at each other before nodding as we got ready to leave.

"Wait" Jenna suddenly said.

We all stopped walking and looked at her in curiosity, wondering what she wants to say.

"Ethan, are you there?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah, Jenna, I'm here" I said.

"Toby said that you were the one that carried me out. Is that right?" Jenna asked.

"Yeah. That was me" I nodded.

"Thank you. But, why?" Jenna asked.

"Because I couldn't just leave you there. If I hadn't gotten to you in time you could've suffered more injuries, or worse" I said.

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair.

"And Jenna, despite what you've done, especially to Toby, I'm not a heartless person" I softly said.

I glanced at Toby and saw him smiling softly at me, causing me to smile back at him.

I sighed before turning around and walking away, the girls following behind me.

Back At Home

The girls were at mine and Spencer's house. We were in Spencer's room, sitting on the ground, as we looked through Alison's things again.

"There all from that summer" Emily said.

"There's gotta be some kind of key" Spencer said.

"We're the key. Ali said we know more about what happened than we think we do" I said, grabbing a newspaper.

"Who tricked Jenna into that house?" Emily asked.

"If it was anybody but Jenna, I think it'd be A" Hanna said.

Of course, who else could've done it?

"Garrett can't be happy that Toby's back in that house with Jenna" Aria said.

"She was supposed to die in there, wasn't she?" Emily asked, her voice filled with nothing but fear.

Silence.

None of us knew what to say at that.

Even though we already knew the answer to that.

Hanna opened the music box and the music played for a little while before it stopped, causing me to sigh.

"That's everything" I sighed.

"No it's not" Emily suddenly said.

She took out something from the bag and showed it to us, it was a half postcard.

Spencer grabbed it from her and began looking at it.

"Does anybody recognize this?" Spencer asked, showing it to us.

"Yeah, number 1" Spencer said.

I took it from her as Aria and Hanna scooted closer to my side to look at it.

"It's just half a postcard" I said, slightly annoyed.

"How do we find out where it's from?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, where's the other half?" Spencer asked.

"Wait, this isn't from July, it's from the end of August. Look" Hanna said, holding a newspaper in her hands.

Aria took it from her and looked at it as the rest of us scooted closer, wanting to see it.

"It's, it's Labor Day events from Philadelphia, Brookhaven and...Rosewood" Aria said.

This made us look at each other before looking back at Aria.

"When did Duncan say he left Ali at the airfield?" Emily asked.

"Before noon on Sunday" Aria said.

"Well, is this where she was when we thought she was on that bus?" Spencer asked.

"Who the hell did she plan on meeting?" I asked, confused.

We all jumped when we heard Alison's music box playing. That honestly scared the shit out of me.