Try (Book Four, Teen Wolf)

Ch. 3: Muted

Braedan was in the loft with Peter, Derek and me. I, of course, sat on the spiral staircase, leaning against the railing. Derek and Peter sat on the couch, a table in front of them. Braedan sat in a chair on the other side of the table.

Peter was hiring her to find Kate. And to find the $117 million someone stole from the vault.

Yeah, you read that right.

Braedan propped her feet up on the table.

"That table's Italian," Peter told her.

"So are these boots," Braedan said. "Are we gonna talk interior designing or are we going to talk numbers?"

Peter sighed, leaning forward. Derek was looking at his reflection in his sunglass lenses. Peter wrote a price, putting the pen down, sliding it over to Braedan.

Braedan took the paper, wrote down a new price, sliding it back over to Peter.

Peter turned the paper so he could read the price, looking up. "We're hiring you to find Kate, not assassinate the President."

"I was hired by the Calaveras to find Kate," Braedan replied. "You're hiring me to find her first. Going against the Calaveras is what's going to cost you."

Peter exhaled, writing down a new price, sliding it to Braedan.

Braedan didn't even look at the new price before she slid it back over to Peter.

Peter scoffed, standing up, walking toward me on the spiral staircase.

Derek took the paper, ripping it in half, looking at Braedan. "We'll pay. Just find Kate. That's all we want."

Braedan walked out of the door, Peter sliding it shut behind her.

Peter turned to us angrily. "Are you insane?"

Derek was facing away, leaning against the table.

I stood up, getting a little annoyed. "We didn't have a choice. We spent a week looking for her and came up with nothing."

"If we don't find out who told Kate about the vault, we don't get those bonds," Peter said, walking closer to us. "What do you think I'm gonna do then, huh? Get a job? My resume is slightly out of date." I rolled my eyes with a quiet sigh, turning to look out of the window. "We got robbed, Tara. Robbed!" I looked at him over my shoulder as he stood behind Derek. "Derek, why aren't you saying anything?!"

As Peter grabbed Derek's shoulder, Derek turned around angrily, shifted, grabbing Peter's wrist as he growled.

"Oh, that's a new look for you," Peter said. Derek let him go. "What happened to your eyes?"

"I don't know," Derek said. "But I'm willing to pay to find out."

*

I wasn't staying at the loft. I was going to find a strong enough lead to follow Kate on.

The one place we hadn't checked?

The Hale vault itself.

I saw Stiles, Kira and Scott walking outside, heard them talking about an ax murderer and how Stiles wanted to use it as an excuse to get out of school. Both Kira and Stiles walked away.

While everyone was starting to go to class, I stood at the Beacon Hills High School sign, making sure no one was was watching.

But I sensed Scott behind me. "Yes?"

"The only time you ever come to this place is when it has nothing to do with school or class," Scott told me, seeming a little hectic.

I turned to face him. "If you're asking why I'm here now, the answer is simple. I'm tired of being around Peter when he's whining about the $117 million stolen every five seconds, and tired of being about Derek when all he can think about is how or why his eyes changed. That, and I'm trying to catch Kate's scent so I can figure it out. And the only place we haven't been to is this vault." There was a beat of silence. "So, I heard about the family-murdering ax murder."