Okay, I had a guest who said he/she liked mean Percy better, and to be truthful, so do I, but there is a reason I am making him grow soft! The reason: reactions. That is all I will tell you! PM me if you think you've figured it out. I bet you haven't.

I DO NOT OWN.

The Faults in Shoplifting

All Katie had wanted was to learn a new thing for her birthday.

Of course, that thing turned out to be pickpocketing—but, in her defense, her best friend was a criminal mastermind. Even though Percy, said best friend, would probably want to decline at first, he would eventually say yes, and when he did…

Well, Percy was a freakin' criminal; he knew how to do this stuff.

It was four in the morning, but Katie was too wound up to fall back asleep. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, she slowly tip-toed her way to the room next door—Percy's room.

Now, many people would find it strange that their best friend had their own room, but Percy had lived with the Gardners before, so it only felt right. Besides, he slept over so much, it was like he lived there.

Katie didn't bother being quiet as she bursts into Percy's room. She barreled over to him, jumping on his bed. "Wake up! Wake up!" she shouted, jumping even harder. When Percy felt safe, he was a deep sleeper. That often led to difficulty waking the boy up. "Wake! Up!" She pushed him off the bed, and he tumbled to the floor with a thud.

"I'm awake," he groaned as he sat up, glaring at Katie in the dark.

"Good." She plopped down, dangling her legs over the edge.

"Ugh. What could you possibly want at this hour?" He pulled himself up to the bed, sitting next to her.

"It's my birthday," Katie stated simply, as if that explained everything.

"I got that, thank you," Percy snapped. "I mean, what you want for your birthday."

She put on a thoughtful look, as if she didn't already know, but she did; Katie just had to make it sound simple, like a good idea. Be… manipulative. Like Percy. Yeah, that's what she needed to do. Be like Percy and twist his mind into knots. It probably wouldn't work, but, hey, you gotta start somewhere. "I wanna learn how to pickpocket." There—short, simple, and sweet. The three S's.

Percy didn't even bat an eye. "You already know," he said, stuffing his face in his pillow.

"No—not really."

"No. Or, at least, not until later." He sighed through his nose, as if he were sniffing for his pillow; he probably was, since his head had hit the object of need not two seconds later.

"Please?"

"Ask again and I'll give a definite no."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"PLEASE?"

"I said 'no.'"

"PLEEEEAAASSSSSEEEE?"

"Okay, fine!" Percy sat up, grumbling under his breath. "I'll teach you how to pickpocket. Go get ready. Now."

"Wait"—Katie furrowed her eyebrows—"I just wanted you to get up so I could ask, and, ya know, get you to say yes."

"Yeah? Well, too bad. I'm teachin', and I'm teachin' ya now."

Maybe Katie should have waited to ask. This was not going to end well.

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie blinked her eyes.

For nighttime, New York City wasn't very dark. Lights and cars and people—it was always active, alive, and she wasn't used to that. Katie spent the first decade of her life in the middle of nowhere, the nearest neighbors beside her grandfather being a half hour drive away.

And that was considered pretty close.

"C'mon." Percy tugged at her arm, bringing her deeper into the surging sea of New Yorkers and tourist. His dorky glasses were propped high up on his nose, and that beanie was back on his head; the shiny metal chain was back, too, wrapped loosely around his waist.

Dang, Katie was so conflicted on those things—they were a part of Percy, but they were usually only around nowadays during trouble. (His mom thought they influenced his attitude towards darker things, so she took everything away with limited use.)

"We'll just start simple, kay?" Percy continued, coming to a stop. "Since you're a novice, just… trick the people. This is some'in' I used when I first began pickpocketing around the age of seven." A man was coming their way on the sidewalk, and Percy pointed out the expensive suit and gold watch. "Watch 'n learn."

Percy sauntered up to the man, turned around, and "accidently" bumped into the business man's stomach. Percy hit the ground with a cry of "Ow!"

The man grumbled, like he really didn't want to do anything, but helped Percy up anyway. That was his biggest mistake. Percy grabbed the man's wrist as he rose, as if for support, and as soon as Percy was on his feet, the man was gone.

Missing his watch.

Percy dangled it before his face, an enormous smirk stretching his lips. "Pretend to trip or bump into 'em," he explained. "Be smooth when you grab whatever ya want, though. No need for them to suspect anything."

Katie nodded, breathing in deeply. A woman was prancing her way on stilts more commonly known as heels; rings covered nearly every finger. All she needed was two or three. Then she'd be good. Katie twirled on her heels and danced backwards while pointing at Percy, like there was a joke between them. Bump! Katie hit the ground, and so did the woman. "I'm so sorry," Katie apologized, helping the woman up; one, two, three, four rings popped into her palms.

The woman, frazzled, fixed her stiffened hair and briskly took off from her.

Katie grinned, and she skipped back to her best friend. "Looky here!" she cheered, showing off the rings—all pure gold with expensive gems in the center.

Percy nodded his head carefully as he picked one up to examine it. "We could sell them to a guy I know. It'd be good money." He shrugged. "You could keep one if you want." He returned the ring to Katie, who tucked all four rings in her jacket pocket.

Always have a jacket while pickpocketing for safekeeping.

"I like money better," Katie stated, and Percy grinned.

"I know a way for you to get more money…" He trailed off, that mischievous glint clear in his eyes. "But I'll save that for later."

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie continued to pickpocket poor pedestrians for another hour.

The duo would move from place to place—in case people came back and to lessen suspicion—from one corner to one corner, for their victims. In the time they had for pickpocketing, Percy had nabbed two necklaces, three watches, over a dozen rings, two sets of earrings, and around one hundred dollars, and Katie had gotten her four rings, one watch, one bracelet, and twenty bucks.

What? Percy has had a lot of practice.

After that last hour, though, Percy had wanted to try something… different. One that involved anything they wanted from any store.

Yep—shoplifting.

This was all new to Katie; pickpocketing was her limit. But Percy wanted to break that limit. "Leave your comfort zone, Butterfly. Go and fly to new places," he had told her.

Katie had responded with, "Of course, this is your comfort zone. When was the last time you robbed a bank—yesterday?"

It didn't do anything for her, and now here they stood, on 550 Madison Ave. near 55th St., about to enter the ever famous Sony Style.

Yeah, that's right—Percy Jackson wanted to "borrow" things from an all-out gadget store.

He was going to kill her one day.

"C'mon," Percy muttered, tugging her along. His eyes scanned the shelves, judging the televisions in front of him. "We'll get this one."

"How?" she whisper-shouted. "It's huge! This is not something you just tuck under your shirt and leave with from the drug store. This is Sony. Freakin'. Style!"

"Calm, Katie. Just make a distraction, I'll do the rest."

"You don't need this. You just want to cause trouble," she accused.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Correct." Smirking, Percy gave a mock salute. "But you're an actress, so you can help me get what I want, right?"

Katie grumbled. "I can…"

"Will you?"

Don't look at his face. Don't look at his face, she chanted over and over again in her mind.

A nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind, and she looked up. Aw! There it was: the raised left eyebrow, all-too-serious face.

"Fine," she grumbled as she stomped off to the center of the store, which looked more like a showroom to Katie. Clearing her throat attracted some attention, but that wasn't the real show stopper. Taking one of the four rings—a thick band of gold with a large emerald right dab in the middle—she stole off of her first victim's fingers, Katie set it down on one of the shelves and walked off.

"Uh, ma'am," she heard behind her, and Katie turned to see a young boy around her age, maybe thirteen or fourteen, with close cropped hair and faint blue eyes holding out the ring for her. When he realized her age, he gulped. "Oh, um," he stuttered. "You—you left this." He shoved the ring toward her.

And the show stopper begins.

"YOU STOLE MY RING, THEIF!" Snatching it back, Katie peered over a shelf and screamed at some poor souls who wanted a new camera, "THIS THEIF STOLE MY EMERALD RING!"

She stormed back and forth, screaming at the top of her lungs, making sure to emphasize on thief, and she continued to scream at the top of her lungs when workers came to her aid.

One man, who had a bulging gut and double chin, glared at Katie after he rounded the corner, while his co-worker, a toothpick of a man wearing oversized loafers, had simply seemed confused.

Katie deemed both of them idiots.

"Uh, child," the toothpick man—Arnold, his name tag read—began, tentatively taking steps forward. "What seems to be the issue here?"

Katie placed a hand on her cocked hip; even if her clothes were ratty and her hair hastily put in a ponytail, she had to act the superior beauty queen. "I already told everyone!" she squealed, glaring at the three in front of her. "That—that thief stole my ring!" She pointed a delicate finger at the gaping boy. "My ring! I just barely got it back before he ran off."

"No—no, it isn't like that!" protested the boy, but Katie stepped in front of him, interrupting his defense.

"You should have people guarding him! He's a criminal!" Widening her eyes, Katie got next to the overweight man, Henry, and gripped his arm fiercely. "What if he has a weapon?!"

"Little lady, I'm sure—" Arnold tried to comfort, but Katie wouldn't take it.

She was a princess. They should protect her from the bad guy.

Even if she was really the actual criminal.

Still.

"HE. STOLE. MY. RING! Why aren't you arresting him? I'll have my daddy sue this whole company if no one does anything!"

Snicker doodles. Now Katie had to think of names.

Henry blinked and pulled away from her. "And who is this daddy of yours? Hm?" He was eyeing her over, like he couldn't believe a girl like her came from a wealthy family.

Katie straightened her posture and let lose the lie: "My name is Deanna Perjure, and my father is Charles Perjure."

Henry snorted. "Never heard of him."

Katie flipped her hair over her shoulder, making sure to roll her eyes so she could get a furtive glance at all of them. "Of course you wouldn't. My father is a stock trader, but he makes millions."

"Millions?" the boy asked. "Is that how you got that ring?"

Katie popped up. "See! He even knows what my ring looks like! Arrest him!"

Arnold huffed, but nodded anyway. "This does look slightly suspicious. Go tell your parents that you need to be questioned for a while, but you're not in trouble, okay?" Arnold said to the boy. "And you"—he pointed at Katie—"where is your father?"

"My daddy left me here to buy whatever I want. He'll be back soon…" She added quickly, "But there is no calling him. He's busy."

"Fine." Arnold grabbed her elbow and when the boy came rushing back, looking faint, led both of them to the back. Henry lumbered behind them, glaring at all the customers and co-workers that stared.

There was no escaping without suspicion.

What had Katie gotten herself into?

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie slumped in her uncomfortable seat.

Why did this all seem familiar? Oh yeah, that's right—she's been questioned before. Far too many times, actually. The boy beside her, Alexander Chandler Williams III or Alex, pouted in his seat, as if he were about to cry.

"I didn't do anything and you know it," he told her over and over again, as if it made a difference.

She sighed, tapping the emerald ring against the wooden table. Arnold had gone to see video footage—which wouldn't work, she knew, because Percy would have disabled it all before he snuck out the television and probably more—and Henry stood outside the door, inhaling donut after donut.

She pulled out another ring, and Alex's eyes widened in shock. Katie soured; maybe this was why Percy was bitter all the time when he was younger—everyone was the equivalent of an idiot to him. He just grew used to it as time went on, though Katie had no idea how. Tap, da-dap. Tap, tap, da-dap. Tap, da-dap. Tap, tap, da-dap…

"Stop gawking at me," Katie snarled. She just wanted Percy to whisk her away so she could be home in time for her birthday brunch; it was nearing ten-thirty!

"Then tell me why you have all those rings." His mood had soured as well, apparently.

"Ya gonna bargain with me?" Turning in her seat, Katie placed the rings back in her pocket and whipped out a bobby-pin.

That was rule two: Always have a bobby-pin.

If Percy came, which was likely, she wouldn't have to use it, but if he didn't… well, she would finally have to learn how to pick a lock.

"Yeah, I am." Alex leaned forward, getting up in her face. "I don't know why you did what you did, but I know you know I didn't do anything."

"Repetitive, I see. Just wait until Arnold gets back, and then we'll see what happened." She turned back in her seat and placed her ratty shoes on the table.

Okay, messing with people's minds was fun, she had to admit.

Wow. Katie was acting like Percy more and more these days.

At that moment, Arnold decided to come back into the room, and he looked slightly shaken. "Someone disabled all of our computers—everything."

"What do you mean?" Katie snapped, once again becoming Deanna. "You can't prove that this thief stole my ring?"

"Ex—exactly. There is nothing we can do. We'll have to keep you two here until things can get situated." With that, Arnold left, slamming the door behind him. Katie watched as he absently picked up a donut and walked dazedly to the elevator.

"There isn't anything to prove," Alex growled, and Katie sighed through her nose, feeling a throb appear in her right temple. Great. Was this a migraine Alexander Chandler Williams III was giving her? It sure felt like it.

"Shut up, please."

"Oh." Alex waved his hands in the air. "Did I just hear a please from the princess?"

"Yes, you did. And if you don't shut up, you're going to get a taste of her fist." Katie held up her right fist, waving it in his face.

"Okay, I think we both know you're not a princess," Alex whispered, suddenly serious. "I'll tell you my secret if you tell me yours."

It was a bluff. It had to be. But she was so curious… "You start."

"My parents aren't here. I came to Sony Style to see if I could steal anything, but everything is all wired and stuff. You go."

Another criminal.

Irony is a funny thing.

"I came to Sony Styles with my best friend, who should be here any second. Knowing him, he probably has that television he pointed out and a bunch of other stuff." Katie smirked.

"You have that much money?" Alex asked, staring at her pockets, like a pickpocketer. Not really—Percy would never do that; he would simply ask and wait for the answer, and then see if they show him the money.

Katie snorted. "Of course not. We're kids."

Blinking, realization dawned on Alex. "You stole from this store." And then, "I was just a distraction."

"And a great distraction you were," a voice said from above. A boy dropped from the ceiling, and Katie rolled her eyes.

"Finally. I thought you'd never come," she muttered.

"What? No faith?" Percy placed a hand over his heart, like what she said hurt.

"No—you're a criminal who steals and cons people on a daily basis." True.

"I thought conning people was sorta like stealing."

"Whatever. Let's get outta here." Katie stood up, but before they could leave, Henry stepped in the room, another donut half in his mouth.

"What are you doing?" he spat out around the powdered donut. "Who are you?"

"I, my good sir, am your worst nightmare." Percy grinned devilishly, and then there was a kick, a thud, a click; the next thing Katie knew, Henry was handcuffed to a chair, unconscious.

"Wow. I needa learn that," Katie mumbled, and she saw Alex nod in her peripheral vision.

"Later. What we need to do now—Twerp the Third included—is get out of here." Percy huddled them in a circle. "I turned everything off earlier, including the video cameras, as you two should know, but that means more people are milling around. They want to know who did it, and my guess is that you two will draw attention from, uh, the show Katie put on."

Alex looked confused; Percy sighed and explained: "Me, criminal mastermind. Learn it, don't forget it. Katie, Deanna Perjure to you—nice name by the way, with the leader and liar put together—my partner, or sidekick, you could say. We stole from this place, and I know wanna leave, too. So, we'll all get out of here, unforgotten but unknown."

"You always liked to make it big," Katie muttered, a sly smile snaking its way on her face.

"Of course I do. Now, here's the plan."

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie had learned long ago to trust Percy.

Alex, on the other hand, had not.

"This guy is crazy. Do you believe this will work?"

"When Percy says jump, you ask how high," Katie replied dully. Truthfully, they weren't supposed to say anything at all, since they were in the air ducts, but Alex had a mouth like a machine gun—once it starts, there's no stop.

"But—seriously? This plan—or whatever it is—it can't possibly work. We're just going to leave with everything? Everything?"

"Quiet," she hissed. "We can and will. Percy's already gatherin' information from all their computers on all the floors. All we have to do is get everyone out of the store."

"All we have to do? That's impossible! This is insane. You two are insane."

"Tell that to the FBI."

That startled Alex. "Why?"

"They agree."

"Oh."

They lapsed into silence, and Katie wondered how Percy ever dealt with her—at least this guy had thought of thievery before. The first time she ever got arrested, Katie had been the perfect little angel. She knew Percy did illegal things, yes, but she never got mixed in it.

And here comes the mental sigh.

"Here." Katie pointed, and Alex followed her out of the air duct; after climbing out, they balanced on ceiling beams. She tossed Alex some latex gloves one of Percy's special ropes: It was transparent, almost invisible to the human eye, and the ends were equipped with specific magnets that would not ruin electrical objects if directly in contact. "Drop it down in aisles where there're no people, and pull whatever you got up. I'll take it and place it in the net."

Yeah, there was a net also, for keeping everything in the store in.

"This is a rope. Am I supposed to lasso it all?" Alex asked sarcastically.

"No. Just send it down."

"How—?"

"Just. Send. It. Down," Katie gritted out between her teeth.

"Got it." The rope went down, and soon enough, there was a soft click. Alex's muscles strained as he brought up a computer, which looked invisible.

Alex blinked. Again. This guy was in over his head. "How…?"

"Percy tinkers with stuff. This isn't the first time he's stolen stuff. It's probably some reflective cloak wrapped around the rope, and when the magnets attach to something, the cloak floats down to cover it."

"O-okay."

They repeated this several times: Alex sending the rope down. The magnets getting something. Alex pulling the thing up. Alex bewildered. Katie growling for Alex to get a move on as she placed the object in the net.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Then Percy came, grinning a triumphant grin, waving around a bundle of papers so thick they would've made a phone book look small in comparison.

"How're you doin'?" Percy asked as he leaned over to check out the store. He hummed to himself and then said, "I think it's time for the distraction."

"What's the distraction?" Alex automatically asked, worried.

"I got it under control. Stop worryin'." Percy patted his back, and then he was gone again.

To do something stupid and yet ingenious.

It didn't take long to figure out what he did.

"FIRE! QUICK, EVERYONE OUT! THERE'S AN ELECTRICAL FIRE!" Customers mumbled and groaned as they were ushered out by an unseen force while workers rushed to the back to see where the fire was.

"Hey, I don't see a fi—" A woman's voice was cut off as a door was slammed.

There was banging and threats of called the police, Katie guessed, but Percy laughed.

"I cut off everything," he shouted through the door. "No phone service, email, anything. I'll let you all out later."

Katie watched as Percy raced to the front and locked the front door, flipping off the open sign. Then he ran to the elevators, messed with them a bit, and they were off. Next, Percy blocked off the stair door.

No one could enter the store area. They were blocked off.

"Come on down, guys," Percy called to Katie and Alex. She tied the rope to a beam and slid down, Alex with the heavy net following behind. "I can't believe people actually fell for that," Percy chuckled. "But that's not the point. Now, we can clear everything out. And I mean everything."

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie smiled at their work.

Televisions, cameras, computers, even the shelves—everything—was piled in a precarious pile in her backyard behind some fully grown evergreens; the pile was completely hidden unless someone really looked.

The way it got there… it is very complicated, but it was there.

"I can't believe it," Alex muttered, gawking at it all. "You two actually did it. You cleared the whole store."

Percy nodded, cleaning his glasses. "They'll lose money, profits, but I think it'll survive."

"Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

"Nope. There's nothing they can use against me. If police came and found this"—Percy nodded at the pile of electronics—"that still wouldn't be enough. There's no video footage, witnesses, not even finger prints. Besides, we're kids. They think we're stupid, that we would never be able to pull off something like this."

Alex shook his head. "They're obviously the idiots."

Katie nodded and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "You need money?"

"What? Um, yeah, sorta."

"Sell it. Ask a person, maybe once a week, and sell 'em something they want. Wear a disguise and no one will know who you are."

"O-okay. I-I can do that. Thanks, guys."

Katie smiled warmly and Percy rolled his eyes.

She knew he felt good anyway.

0o0o0o0o0o

Katie still got arrested.

She was at the drug store, without Percy, and she decided to give it a try all by herself.

It was only a piece of chocolate, right?

Wrong.

Katie sat in the back of the store as a police woman—the woman she had stolen the four rings off of, actually—questioned her on why she felt the need to try to steal anything.

"Okay, honey, you can call your parents now, if you want," she finally said, and the woman passed Katie her cell phone.

But Katie wasn't going to call her dad. No way.

Brrrriinnnggg, brrrriinnnggg, brrrriinnnggg. "Percy Jackson."

"Uh, hey, I'm at the drug store around the corner—you know the one—and, um, I accidently"—Katie glared at the officer—"stole a piece of candy. Any way you can help?"

"Yeah, definitely. I'll get you in a minute, Butterfly."

Percy was never going to let her live this down.

Katie sighed. At least she had spread her wings and flew to a new place.

Wow… I don't know how this happened, but I hope you all enjoy. Also, I apologize for my updating habits. I'll try to fix that and update more often.

And many of you are asking for more Camp Half-Blood. Wait, and you will see.

Review. Favorite. Follow.

Peace and all that other stuff.

~XxxXGreek GeekXxxX