Emily froze, whimpering. Spencer pushed around her and pulled another body from the closet, someone who’d almost been crushed by Ian’s body. Emily gasped. It was a girl, her mouth gagged. Melissa. Her blue eyes stared at them imploringly.
Everyone helped to untie the thick ropes around her wrists and ankles and pull the duct tape from her mouth. Melissa immediately doubled over and began to cough. Tears streamed down her face. She collapsed into Spencer, her sobs tortured and terrified. “Are you okay?” Spencer cried.
“She kidnapped me and threw me in the trunk of the car,” Melissa coughed. “I woke up a couple times, but she kept drugging me to knock me out. And when I woke up again, I was in…” She trailed off, her eyes sliding to the half-opened closet. Her face contorted with pain.
Then, Melissa sniffed the air. The smoke was pouring into the room so fast, a fine gray haze had begun to swirl. Melissa began to shake. “We’re all going to die.”
Everyone rushed to the center of the room and held one another. Emily shivered uncontrollably. She could feel someone’s heart beating against hers. “It’ll be okay,” Spencer repeated over and over in Melissa’s ear. “We need to find a way out of here.”
“There is no way!” Melissa’s eyes were full of tears. “Don’t you see?”
“Wait a minute.” Aria leaped to her feet. She looked around the room quizzically, her forehead furrowed. “I think this is the room with the passage that leads to the kitchen.”
“What are you talking about?” Hanna asked.
“Don’t you remember?” Aria cried. “We hid in here to scare Jason.”
Aria marched to the dresser and shoved it out of the way. To Emily’s astonishment, there was the small door, about the height of a golden retriever. Aria pulled the latch and kicked it open, revealing a dark tunnel. Melissa gasped.
“Come on,” Spencer urged, sinking to her hands and knees and squeezing through the tiny door. She dragged her sister through after her. Aria went next, then Hanna. Emily’s stomach jumped. The tunnel smelled like Ian’s rotting body.
“Emily!” Spencer’s echoing voice sounded very far away. “Hurry!”
Emily took a deep breath, folded her shoulders, and crawled inside. The tunnel was about ten feet long and let out in a small, closet-size room that looked as though it had been closed up for years. There were piles of dust and tons of dead bugs in the corners and a big water stain on the ceiling. Aria tried the knob to the far door that led to the rickety wooden staircase, but it didn’t budge. “It’s jammed,” she whispered.
“It can’t be,” Spencer insisted. She threw her shoulder against it in desperation. Emily, Aria, and Hanna joined in. Finally, the wood splintered, then gave way. Emily let out a relieved sound that was a mix between a sigh and a wail.
They scampered down the stairs and opened a third door. The heat rushed at them, stinging their eyes and skin. The room was filled with even thicker plumes of smoke. Emily fumbled around the kitchen island, trying to get her bearings. She staggered in the direction of the front door. A shadow moved to her left, in and out of the noxious fog. Someone was hammering the windows shut so there was no chance of getting out.
Emily froze when she saw the blond hair, the heart-shaped face, the kissable lips. Ali.
Ali wheeled around and stared at Emily as if she’d seen a ghost. The hammer fell clumsily to the floor. Her eyes were slate gray and cold, her mouth misshaped into a half smirk. A sob rose in Emily’s chest. All of a sudden, she knew that this girl had written that note…and that everything in it was true. Her heart broke into a million pieces.
Ali turned and raced for the door just as Emily shot forward, grabbing Ali by the arm and spinning her around. Ali’s mouth made a startled O. Emily held her roughly by the shoulders, her grip strong.
“How could you do this?” Emily demanded.
Ali tried to wrench free. Her eyes seethed with loathing. “I already told you,” she rasped. “You bitches ruined my life.” It didn’t even sound like her voice.
“But…I loved you,” Emily squeaked, her eyes filling with tears.
Ali let out a perverse giggle. “You are such a loser, Emily.”
It felt like she’d driven a long skewer straight through Emily’s heart. She squeezed Ali’s shoulders hard, wanting her to know how much it hurt. How can you say that? she was about to scream. How can you hate us so much?
But then a giant boom filled the air, momentarily blinding her. There was a bright white light and a rush of heat. Emily covered her head and eyes as the force of the explosion lifted her off the ground. She felt a snap, then a crash. She landed hard on her shoulder, her teeth clanging together.
The world was white for a moment. Calm. Empty. When Emily opened her eyes again, the sound and heat and pain rushed back in. She was lying near the front door, a pool of blood by her mouth. Desperate, she fumbled for the doorknob. It burned to the touch, but it turned. She crawled to the porch and then to the lawn, sprawling on the cold, wet grass.
When Emily opened her eyes again, someone was coughing next to her. Spencer and her sister were collapsed on the grass nearby. Aria was by the big chestnut tree, crumpled on her side. Hanna was near the driveway, slowly pushing herself to a sitting position.
Emily gazed back at the big house. Smoke billowed from every crack. Flames leaped from the roof. A shadow passed in front of the living room window. And then there was a thunderous cracking sound, and the whole house exploded.