Death and Shadows

Ch.3 First Theft and First Lesson

A/N. On a completely unrelated note, I have never shoplifted or stolen anything from any store, so the contents in the first part of this chapter will probably seem very unbelievable. Also, the picture above is the kind of daggers Lia has, just the way they they are described in the story with the different material and additions and stuff. That's all. Enjoy! -Anna

~Lia's POV~

I woke up before Nico. When I looked over at him, he was sleeping so peacefully and looked so relaxed. The kid must've not hd a decent sleep in a while. After I got up, I stretched and looked inside my bag for something to eat. Guess Nico and I would have to settle for some granola bars and the last of my water bottles. As I got the supplies out of my bag, I heard Nico yawn and sit up.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," I said while I smirked.

Nico scowled, but then looked down shyly when his stomach growled. "Uh, got anything to eat?"

I chuckled and tossed him a bar and one of the water bottles. He looked at them weirdly, but started to eat anyway.

"You good to move?" I asked. Nico nodded. "Good. 'Cause I need a new lighter and batteries. Also some more food. You're gonna help me get them."

"How?" Nico asked.

I stood up. "I'll show you how. May take you a while to get it right, but you'll get it eventually."

Nico nodded and finished the last of his breakfast.

I shouldered my backpack. "Ready to go?"

Nico and I walked to the nearest grocery store from the warehouse.

As we walked I explained to him what we needed to do. "Okay, so, what we're gonna do is go in there and get the stuff we need. Once we do, we'll meet up somewhere and run out as fast as we can."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? We're just going to shoplift and run out of there?"

I shrugged. "That's what I usually do. Unless you have a better idea."

"I could probably shadow travel us out."

"You can shadow travel?" I asked.

"Yeah. Can't you?"

I facepalmed. "Right. Son of an Underworld deity. I forgot. And I can. It's just...I don't like to do it a lot. It leaves me drained, and I don't like that. It's not the way I travel."

"I know the feeling," Nico said. "First time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week."

I cracked a small smile. "Really? First time I shadow traveled it was accidental, and I passed out for days. Woke up in a dumpster in the back of a diner."

Nico snorted. I could tell he was trying to hold back a laugh.

We arrived at the store just a few moments later. Upon entering, we could see the store had quiet a lot of people inside. Getting out might be hard, but we could deal with that when the time came.

"Okay, grab what you can carry and meet me by the bathrooms," I told Nico.

He nodded and we split up.

Trying to look as casual as I could, I walked around the store and found a new lighter and batteries. Plus, some water bottles, protein bars, and a few apples. I put everything into one of the store baskets customers could carry around the store to make me look like a regular shopper. Quickly, I snuck around the aisles of the store to get to the bathrooms. Nico was there already with some energy drinks and granola bars.