Broken Trust (Broken Book 3)

35: Facing the Tiger

"But where did she go?" Malia asked.

"We need to find out," Stiles said. As they listened to the background noise, which oddly enough was lacking.

Malia suddenly cocked her head to the side. "Rewind that."

Stiles complied as she listened.

"That's it. That's where it is. Play it again and turn it up."

Stiles rewound the tape and pressed play, turning the volume all the way up. As Lorraine called Brunski out on taping her like he had the others, Malia figured out the sound she was hearing.

"It's the record player," she said.

Stiles stopped the tape. "What record player?"

"The one in the lake house. In the study."

"So she escaped Eichen House to go back and listen to a record player?"

"She was like Lydia, right? A Banshee? Lydia got the first cipher key by listening to that record player."

"But Lorraine only did it once. She predicted Maddy's death then spent decades trying to predict something else."

Malia had a thoughtful look on her face before the proverbial lightbulb went off. "Maybe she finally did. And what of this time, it wasn't just one death, but a lot of deaths?"

"Like the dead pool?"

"What if all those years ago, Lorraine predicted it? And she knew there was something in the study that could stop it."

"Then we're going to the lake house." Stiles grabbed his keys and they ran out of the house.

~~~

Derek and Isabel arrived at the warehouse, followed by Sean, Lindsey, and Isaac. Once Derek saw that they were going to need even more fighters, Derek called Braeden. Once everyone was there and the situation explained, Chris went to all the entrances and set up sensors. Satomi had gathered her people close and was trying to keep them calm. Braedon was loading her shotgun. Kira looked scared as she ran her fingers up and down the sheath of her katana. Lilith looked like she was meditating. Devin explained she was gathering power from the Universe. Lindsey was checking her supply of crossbow bolts, a .22 pistol strapped to her right thigh. It was the first time Scott had ever seen her with a gun. Sean looked like he was loaded, an assault rifle slung over his shoulder, with another handgun strapped to his thigh. He also knew he was packing one in the waistband of his jeans. The Valkyries were loading themselves with seemingly random objects but Scott knew that they would be deadly weapons once the Hunters arrived. Derek was looking everyone over, the gun Braeden gave him in his hand.

Scott approached him. "They'll be okay," he said.

Derek didn't look convinced. "They've got claws and fangs, but they're not fighters," he said.

"That's why I called you and Isabel to help."

"Well, try to remember I don't have claws and fangs anymore either."

"That's why he called me," Braeden said. "Isabel and Devin will only be able to do so much, even with their abilities combined."

"We have three Valkyrie," Isabel corrected. "But she's right. We needed more than us. That's why Chris called Sean."

"Am I the only one still hoping this is just a false alarm?" Kira asked.

"Because it's not," Devin said. "There's going to be a fight here. And we're going to be hard-pressed to survive it."