Mikko Lawrence

Much to Mikko’s consternation, not a single person in the house could sit still.  It hadn’t even been two full days since someone had tried to break in, and Genie, Frankie, and Annie were all complaining about being cooped up.  Cries filled the house, complaints about not having Christmas presents, being bored, not being built to just sit at home all day—anything they could complain about, they did. 

Mikko finally broke.

“Thank you,” Mikko muttered to Bell, giving him one of the two keys to the house.  They stood in the front yard.  Annie was already in the driver’s seat with Genie and Frankie loaded into the back.  Annie had been able to bend the wheel well of the truck back into shape.  It had just been cosmetic damage from the bat the shifter took to it. 

“Least I can do,” Bell replied.  “I get feeling cooped up.”

Mikko made a face.  “It’s literally just going to be a week, but they’re all acting like they gonna die if they wait another day.”

Bell shrugged, giving Mikko a sympathetic smile.  “Well, I’ll take care of Lina.  It should be okay if we play in the backyard, yeah?”

Mikko considered it for a second before nodding.  “You’re probably faster than anyone who would try to fuck with her, so yeah.  She knows how to activate the wards to protect you if necessary.”  For once, he wasn’t feeling eyes on him.  It had been getting worse and worse over the past couple of days.  Any time he walked outside, he felt like he was being watched.

It seemed to have stopped since Carlos called him early that morning to tell him that the shifters should be leaving them alone.  Did that mean they were okay for now?  Was it the shifters that had been watching them?

“We should be back in a few hours,” Mikko said.  “When all four of us are at the mall together, it takes a while.”

Bell nodded.  “Yeah, it’s fine.”  He clapped Mikko on the shoulder.  Mikko winced, his ribs protesting.  Bell didn’t notice.  “Go have fun.  I’ll hold down the fort.”

“Thanks.”

Bell went back into the house, and Mikko climbed into the Tahoe.

“Did he rebreak your ribs?” Annie asked as he shut the door.  “That shoulder clap seemed hard.”

Mikko gingerly pulled his seatbelt on.  “It was not pleasant.”

“Fullshifters.” She rolled her eyes, putting the car into gear.

“All right, Frankie, terp for me,” Mikko said without turning around.  His ribs still wouldn’t cooperate with turning.  Without waiting for a confirmation, he said, “We are going to the mall.  Don’t steal shit.”

“We’re never obvious!” Frankie argued.  “Best fucking lifters in Phoenix.”

“Frankie, I swear to god if you get caught by a security guard again, I will end you.”

There was a pause before Frankie spoke again.  “Genie says that she won’t, but if the perfect mark comes along, she’s not going to ignore it.”

That was really all he could ask for.  “Fine.”

The mall was an absolute shitshow.  Everyone was packed in like sardines—barely fifteen minutes in, Mikko himself had lifted a wallet, taken the cash, and replaced it without really thinking about it. 

An older man had stooped to tie his shoes against a bench next to where Mikko and Genie stood.  Mikko had paused in signing to Genie to turn his back to the man, lift the wallet, pull the cash, and replace it.  He was particularly good at lifting things while his back was turned to people. 

When the man left, Genie gave him a judgmental look.  “What was that about not stealing?”

“His wallet was sticking out of his back pocket.  It was practically an invitation.”

She rolled her eyes but laughed.  “How much?”

“Sixty bucks,” he shrugged.

They stood outside of Yankee Candle next to a garbage can and a potted tree. 

Frankie and Annie were inside the Yankee Candle, picking out candles for Mira.  Frankie was a teenaged boy, with all the bravado and pride that came with it.  But he was never afraid to go into candle shops or bath shops.  He took a certain joy in smelling things and had very strong opinions on scents. 

Mikko brought the straw of his Frappuccino to his lips.  Peppermint mocha.  Fuck, he loved holiday flavors.  They had enough money that he and Genie had treated themselves.  He signed with one hand.  “After this, I think we should go by Old Navy.”

She nodded, sipping her latte and also signing with one hand.  “I need some new shirts and jeans.  Should be some good sales.  With all that cash from the ring, should be okay if we buy some.”

“True biz,” he agreed.  “Also, should maybe get Lina some cute clothes.  She’s been saying she really wants . . .” he trailed off, looking at Genie.  She was still meeting his gaze, but he knew, just from the tilt of her mouth and the way her eyes seemed to just slightly look off, that she was distracted.  “What’s up?” he said.

“Someone’s watching us.”

Mikko’s brow furrowed but he didn’t turn around.  “Where?”

“Next to AE.”

It took him a second to realize she meant American Eagle, which was to his left, just behind him.  “Do you recognize him?” he asked, draining his Frappucino.

She shook her head.  “Wearing a hoodie with black jeans and fingerless gloves.”  She fingerspelled “hoodie” and “fingerless gloves” instead of using the sign for them.    ASL being as visual as it was, even though people generally couldn’t figure it out because they were so amazed at signed language, Mikko and Genie were still paranoid.  One time, they had been talking about a guy at a party in front of his face—some ex of Annie’s—and he had figured it out.  He almost beat Mikko , but Annie had gotten to him first.

“Alright.”  Mikko turned from her, doing a quick scan of the crowd as he went to drop his empty cup into the trash.

He caught sight of who Genie meant.  A muscular man, shorter than Mikko, stood next to the American Eagle doorway.  He wasn’t looking at them, drinking from a paper cup that said Pepsi on the side.  The hand not holding the soda was in his pocket.  His hoodie was down far enough that Mikko couldn’t see his eyes, but he seemed to be turned away from Mikko.

His body type could have been the man who had tried to break into the house.

Mikko turned back to Genie, keeping his shoulders as relaxed as possible.  “He was watching us?”

She nodded.  “Do you think it’s whoever has been watching us outside the house?”

“Maybe?  It could also be the guy who tried to break into the house.”

“Could be the same person.”

He held up his hands in the universal “I don’t know” gesture, shrugging.  There were too many could-bes.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“Keep an eye, I guess.”

Genie nodded in agreement.  She drained her latte before throwing the empty cup into the trash can fifteen feet from her.  It didn’t hit a single person in the way, landing square in the middle of the trash can.

“All net, baby,” she grinned.

Mikko wrinkled his nose.  “Show off.”  Physiopaths were terrifying.

It was another ten minutes before Annie and Frankie left the store.  In that time, Genie and Mikko tried to continue their conversation without any pauses.  Genie kept an eye on the man out of the corner of her eye, giving Mikko updates on what the man was doing.  He did walk away at one point, but he returned after a bit to the other side of the American Eagle doors, closer to Genie and Mikko.

Annie and Frankie finally emerged with two paper bags of things that smelled like flowers and beaches.

“Success?” Genie asked as they started again.

“The last Pink Sands was in there, and we got it,” Annie said.

“Had to fight off some old lady,” Frankie said, holding up an arm to show red claw marks that hadn’t broken the skin.  Frankie didn’t look upset; he looked triumphant.

“White people lose their minds for candles.”  Annie rolled her eyes.  “Where next?”

They went to a toy shop to find something for Lina.  As they walked, Mikko checked in the reflections of store windows and mall kiosks with reflective plastic covering their signs.  The man was definitely following them.

In the toy shop, they lost sight of the man.  But once they were back out, he was there, this time sitting on a bench on the phone.

They continued like this through the mall.  From store to store, they would lose the man only to find him again.  This went on for over an hour.

“Why are you acting weird?” Annie asked him.

“Someone’s following us,” Mikko replied.

“For a while,” Genie added.  “Clocked him outside of Yankee Candle.”

Frankie and Annie didn’t look up.  They continued walking.  Frankie turned, saying they had missed a store.  Annie argued with him.  As they did, they each got the chance to look back.

They continued on together, seeming to have resolved their conflict.

“Caught him,” Annie said.

“What do we do?” Frankie asked.

“We finish shopping,” Mikko said.  “See if he tries to confront us or something else.”

It wasn’t until they were almost at Old Navy an hour later that their shadow finally tried something.

A group of teenagers came out of Victoria’s Secret, separating them.  Frankie and Annie dodged the group, but Mikko and Genie got caught in the middle of it.

“Oh!  I’m so sorry,” one girl apologized as she bumped into Mikko.

“You’re fine,” he said, sidestepping her and another one of her friends.  He heard a few more sorrys and then he felt someone brush against him.  He felt the lightest touch of hands on his waist. Swiping his hands down across his hips, he didn’t hit anything.  He didn’t have anything in his pockets, having given Annie all the money he stole and leaving his own wallet at home.  There was nothing to steal.  But he still found himself scowling as he emerged from the gaggle of teenagers.

Annie and Frankie were waiting for them outside of the Old Navy.  They both had answering scowls on their own faces.

“Someone tried to pickpocket me,” Frankie said.

“Badly,” Annie nodded.  “Me too.”

“Same,” Mikko said.  “Get anything?”

“No.”

Genie joined them.

“Did someone try to lift off you?” Frankie asked her.

An impish grin unfurled on her face, and she said, “Let’s get into Old Navy.”

Mikko’s brow furrowed, but he followed her anyway.  They went deep into the store, disappearing into the children’s section where a couple of exhausted-looking women picked through cheap sneakers.

Genie pulled a brown leather wallet from her pocket once they were hidden behind a rack of clothes, out of any others’ sights.  “I didn’t see you guys”—she motioned to Frankie and Annie—“but I saw the guy again, trying to lift off Mikko.  He tried to lift off me, too.  I stole this off of him because he was terrible.  What is this, amateur hour?  Trying to go against a fucking physiopath.”

They all agreed that it was a sloppy lift.  Maybe not to most people, but trying to lift off of thieves, with no skill whatsoever?  He was going to have to try harder.  Especially with Genie.

She opened up the wallet and an ID sat in the window.  She pulled the ID out, looking at it. 

Annie snatched it from her, looking at it with wide eyes.  “This is that guy I fought!”

Mikko took it from her, holding it for Frankie and Genie to see.

Mikko hadn’t seen Annie’s opponent, Russell, too well in the ring.  But he could see the similarities in the jawline and the hair color and length. 

“ID says Eliot Spencer,” Frankie said.

“He’s got like eight hundred dollars in here,” Genie said, thumbing through the cash inside of it.  “What was the purse at the fight?”

“Thousand dollars,” Frankie replied.  He grinned, looking up at Annie.  “We got the fucking money anyway.”

“Most of it.”  But Annie didn’t look excited.  She looked worried.

“What is it?” Mikko asked, handing the ID back to Genie to put in the wallet.  Genie slipped the wallet, cash and all, into her pocket.

“This is getting weird,” she said.  “I don’t know what Russell was, but he wasn’t a shifter.  I’d never heard of him before.”

“Do you think Bryant would know him?” he asked.  Bryant’s sign name was little more than a bouncing B. 

“He let Russell fight.  Usually he wouldn’t let someone fight if he didn’t at least know him by reputation.”

“Then let’s go ask him.”

Instead of exiting back into the mall to head back to where they parked, they left through Old Navy.  It was one of the stores that connected directly to the parking lot.

They skirted the outside of the mall, returning to the Tahoe without incident.

The ride to Bryant’s gym, through midday traffic, took almost an hour and a half.  Phoenix traffic was awful as it was, but there had also been a car accident.

The timing wound up being a blessing in disguise because they pulled up just as Bryant was getting out of his black Jeep with a duffel bag, heading into the gym.

When he saw Mikko and Annie pull up to intercept him, he stopped with a quizzical expression.  He ran his hand over his thinning hair, sweat already forming on his upper lip.

“Falk.  Lawrence.”  He nodded to them as they got out.  He looked at the Tahoe and waved at Frankie and Genie where Frankie had the window cracked open.  “I can’t get you in for the fight tonight,” he said to Annie.  “Too late.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Annie shook her head. 

“Oh, okay.  What’s up?”  He placed the duffel back in the driver’s seat.  The doors were gone from the Jeep.

“Who was that guy I fought?  Russell?”

“Russell?  Oh, he’s a mage.  He comes through Phoenix every few years.  His brother used to train in self-defense with me.  He’s got a real crazy history.”

“Crazy history?”

“Yeah.  He was a soldier.  Not sure for what military, but I always thought it was foreign.  Now he’s some kind of a mercenary for hire.  Does a lot of different jobs, shady as hell, but he’s honest.”

“How can you be shady as hell but honest?” Mikko asked.

Bryant shrugged, looking unbothered.  “I guess, honest for my gym.  He’s always good for a fun, clean fight.  Never plays dirty tricks or tries to fuck you over on technicalities.  I thought he’d be a good opponent for you,” he said, nodding to Annie.  “He’s a physiomancer.

Annie and Mikko exchanged confused glances.  “Physiomancer?” Annie asked.

“Means he uses his magic to bulk up his body.  Strength.  Speed.  Reflexes.  Senses.  More of a niche mage specialty.  Don’t see a lot of those.”

“Thanks,” Annie said, turning to get back in the car.

“Wait,” Bryant said.

Annie looked back at him, stopping.  “What?”

“I have an open slot for tomorrow night.”

Annie grimaced.  “I can’t fight for a bit.”

Bryant quirked his head in confusion.  “Why?”

“Doc diagnosed me with arthritis.  One-way ticket to surgery if I don’t let myself heal.”

Bryant sobered, nodding.  “Sucks, but good for you.  I’ve seen a lot of people power through stuff like that and end up with a joint replacement that keeps them from ever fighting again.  Take care of yourself, Falk.”  He looked at Mikko.  “Make sure she takes care.”

Mikko nodded, but Annie was already heading to the driver’s side.

They got back in the car.

“Let’s get home,” Mikko said.  “Call Mira.  Maybe call Carlos.”

Annie was already pulling out.

Twenty-five minutes later and they were walking into the house.

“Lina?  Bell?” Annie called out.

No answer.

Mikko beat Annie to the back door, pulling it open and stepping out into the backyard.

A faint yet cloying scent permeated the air.  Bell lay face down on the ground, not moving.

Lina was gone.