❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝒳𝒳. 𝒞𝓇𝓊𝓈𝓉𝓎'𝓈 𝒲𝒶𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒷𝑒𝒹 𝒫𝒶𝓁𝒶𝒸𝑒

𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 behind them was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He moved toward them slowly, but Zoe had the feeling he could move fast if he needed to.

His suit might've come from the Lotus Casino. It belonged back in the seventies, big-time. The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. The silver chains around his neck seemed endless.

"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile.

"Sorry to barge in," Percy told him. "We were just, um, browsing."

"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. Say, you want to look at a water bed?"

Zoe opened her mouth to reply and Percy looked like he was about to reject the offer, when Crusty put a huge paw on the raven haired boy's shoulder and guided him deeper into the showroom.

There was every kind of water bed you could imagine: different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets; queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size.

"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his hands proudly over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated, so it looked like oil-flavored Jell-O.

"Million-hand massage," Crusty told them. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."

"Um," Percy said, "I don't think..."

"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dove in. "Oh, you guys! This is cool."

"Hmm," Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."

"Almost what?" Zoe asked.

He looked at the girls. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."

Annabeth said, "But what-"

He patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and led her over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter. Right next to it was a queen sized, floral themed bed, with flowers carved into the headboard and a flower patterned comforter. When Annabeth and Zoe didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed them.

"Hey!" Zoe cried out as Annabeth shouted in protest.

Crusty snapped his fingers. "Ergo!"

Ropes sprang from the sides of the beds, lashing around Annabeth and Zoe, holding them to the mattresses.

Grover tried to get up, but ropes sprang from his black-satin bed, too, and lashed him down.

"N-not c-c-cool!" he yelled, his voice vibrating from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"

"Hey!" Zoe yelled, pouring charmspeak into her words. "Let us go!"

Crusty stopped for a moment, then shook his head and snapped again. Another rope shot from the top of the bed Zoe was on, covering her mouth. 

The giant looked at Annabeth, then turned to Zoe, then back to Percy and grinned. "Almost, darn it."

Percy tried to step away, but his hand shot out and clamped around the back of his neck. "Whoa, kid. Don't worry. We'll find you one in a sec."

"Let my friends go."

"Oh, sure I will. But I have to make them fit, first."

"What do you mean?"