Just Trust Him

The demigods walked down to the edge of the surf. They took a taxi and used the Lotus Casino credit card to reach Santa Monica. During the ride, Percy told them everything about his dreams. There were a lot of pieces that felt missing, but one thing was clear: they were hurtling toward the Underworld at ninety-five miles an hour, betting that Hades had the master bolt. If they got there and found out they were wrong, they wouldn't have the time to correct themselves. The solstice deadline would pass and war would begin. The taxi dropped them off at the beach in Santa Monica.

"What now?" Annabeth asked.

The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. Percy thought about how long it had been since he'd stood on the beach at Montauk, on the opposite side of the country, looking out at a different sea.

He stepped into the surf.

"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"

Percy kept walking, water rising up to his waist, then his chest.

She called after him, "You know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic-"

That's when his head went under.

Annabeth tried to rush in but Y/N stopped her, holding her wrist. "He's the son of Poseidon remember?"

"But that-" she tried to reason but got interrupted again.

"I know, but you gotta trust him in this. He feels the best when he's near water," she looked forward at the setting sun and smiled, "Just trust him."

Annabeth stayed quiet for sometime and said, "Hey, I forgot to thank you earlier. I'm sorry we didn't listen to you earlier, but I guess you were right. Hades might not be..."

"-the one behind this?" Y/N said looked at her, "Yeah I know. I felt that too."

Annabeth sighed, "Sorry, I just...if it isn't Hades, then we're in a lot more trouble."

Y/N chuckled, "Yeah no shit...Also, I didn't tell anyone but I knew about his mom."

"Wait what?!"

"I wasn't sure and it was just a guess. I mean, why would she just burst into some golden light if she's dead? Death isn't like that when it comes to mortals."

"Oh..yeah," Annabeth said.

"You think he'll be pissed after I tell him this?"

"I mean, yes. Haven't you seen what he's like?" Annabeth looked around the sea, "Where is he? Why is he taking so long?"

Y/N chuckled, "Grover was right."

"Huh?"

"About you and Percy," she looked at Annabeth who was blushing, "Be in denial if you want but make up your mind at the end of the quest please."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah sure, that blush is for me then?" Y/N said, "You...like him don't you?" Annabeth stayed quiet, and Y/N continued, "Look, we don't exactly have luck to live that long. Treasure your time. Do what...your heart wants."

"I wish I could...." Annabeth muttered, "I'm not sure."

"Well, I'm here for you when you need me okay?"

Annabeth smiled looking at her, "I know you are."

Percy kicked upward toward the shore after some time.

When he reached the beach, his clothes dried instantly. He filled in about what had happened, and showed them the pearls from Nereid, a spirit of the sea.

Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."

"They were free."

"No." She shook her head. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."

"I think we already got a dose of how easy tasks were earlier." Y/N said.

On that thought, they turned their backs on the sea.

[ TIME SKIP ]

With some spare change from Ares's backpack, they took the bus into West Hollywood. Percy showed the driver the Underworld address slip he'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios.

"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told. "You a child actor or something?"

"Uh ... I'm a stunt double ... for a lot of child actors."

"Oh! That explains it."

They thanked him and got off quickly at the next stop.

They wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book.

Twice, they ducked into alleys to avoid cop cars.

It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. L.A. had a totally different feel from New York. Back home, everything seemed close. It didn't matter how big the city was, one could get anywhere without getting lost. The street pattern and the subway made sense. There was a system to how things worked. A kid could be safe as long as he wasn't stupid.

L.A. wasn't like that. It was spread out, chaotic, hard to move around. It reminded of Ares. It wasn't enough for L.A. to be big; it had to prove it was big by being loud and strange and difficult to navigate, too. They didn't know how they were ever going to find the entrance to the Underworld by tomorrow, the summer solstice.

They walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at them like they were trying to figure if we were worth the trouble of mugging.

As they hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."

Like an idiot, Percy stopped.

Before they knew it, they were surrounded. A gang of kids had circled them. Six of them in all-white kids with expensive clothes and mean faces.

Instinctively, Percy uncapped Riptide.

When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either really stupid or really brave, because he kept coming at him with a switchblade.

He made the mistake of swinging.

The kid yelped. But he must've been one hundred percent mortal, because the blade passed harmlessly right through his chest. He looked down. "What the ..."

"Run!" Percy screamed at his friends.

They pushed two kids out of the way and raced down the street, not knowing where they were going. They turned a sharp corner.

"There!" Annabeth shouted.

Only one store on the block looked open, its windows glaring with neon. The sign above the door said something like CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPACE.

"Crusty's Water Bed Palace?" Grover translated.

They burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside.

"I think we lost them," Grover panted.

A voice behind them boomed, "Lost who?"

They all jumped.

Standing behind 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 it felt like 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.

"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?"

He was about to say No, thanks, when he put a huge paw on his shoulder and steered 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 us. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, any-way.

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

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

"Hold on Grover, don't just-" Y/N said and tried to pull him out but got pulled in instead.

"Just relax a little Y/N!"

Y/N smiled and sighed at the feeling. Oh it was relaxing actually.

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

"Almost what?" Percy asked.

He looked at Annabeth. "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. When Annabeth didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed her.

"Hey!" she protested.

Crusty snapped his fingers. "Ergo!"

Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress.

Grover and Y/N immediately tried to get up, but ropes sprang from the black-satin bed, too, and lashed them down.

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

"F-fuck," Y/N shouted, "W-why d-do y-you g-guys n-never l-listen t-to m-me?!"

The giant looked at Annabeth, then turned toward 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 got to make them fit, first."

"What do you mean?"

"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."

Annabeth, Grover and Y/N kept struggling.

"Can't stand imperfect measurements," Crusty muttered. "Ergo!"

A new set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover, Y/N and Annabeth's ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling his friends from both ends.

"Don't worry," Crusty told, "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live. Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"

"Percy!" Grover yelled.

"God I wanted to be tall but not this way!" Y/N screamed.

"Shut up girl!" Crusty shouted, "You have one irritating voice!" Ofcourse, in panic Y/N's voice hurt their ears. She realized that her voice won't be a way to escape when her friends were tied up. They won't be able to stand her offensive strength.

Percy's mind was racing. He knew he couldn't take on this giant water-bed salesman alone. He would snap his neck before he ever got his sword out.

"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked.

"Legally, it's Procrustes," he admitted.

"The Stretcher," Percy said. He remembered the story: the giant who'd tried to kill Theseus with excess hospitality on his way to Athens.

"Yeah," the salesman said. "But who can pronounce Procrustes? Bad for business. Now 'Crusty,' anybody can say that."

"You're right. It's got a good ring to it."

His eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely," Percy said. "And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!"

He grinned hugely, but his fingers didn't loosen on his neck. "I tell my customers that. Every time. Nobody bothers to look at the workmanship. How many built-in Lava Lamp headboards have you seen?"

"Not too many."

"That's right!"

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Don't mind her," Percy told Procrustes. "She's impossible."

The giant laughed. "All my customers are. Never six feet exactly. So inconsiderate. And then they complain about the fitting."

"What do you do if they're longer than six feet?"

"Oh, that happens all the time. It's a simple fix."

He let go of his neck, but before Percy could react, he reached behind a nearby sales desk and brought out a huge double-bladed brass axe. He said, "I just center the subject as best I can and lop off whatever hangs over on either end."

"Ah," he said, swallowing hard. "Sensible."

"I'm so glad to come across an intelligent customer!"

The ropes were really stretching his friends now. Annabeth was turning pale. Grover made gurgling sounds, like a strangled goose. Y/N just stopped screaming and was breathing heavily.

"So, Crusty ..." Percy said, trying to keep his voice light. He glanced at the sales tag on the valentine-shaped Honeymoon Special. "Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?"

"Absolutely. Try it out."

"Yeah, maybe I will. But would it work even for a big guy like you? No waves at all?"

"Guaranteed."

"No way."

"Way."

"Show me."

He sat down eagerly on the bed, patted the mattress. "No waves. See?"

Percy snapped my fingers. "Ergo."

Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress.

"Hey!" he yelled.

"Center him just right," Percy said.

The ropes readjusted themselves at his command. Crusty's whole head stuck out the top. His feet stuck out the bottom.

"No!" he said. "Wait! This is just a demo."

Percy uncapped Riptide. "A few simple adjustments ..."

He had no qualms about what he was about to do. If Crusty were human, he couldn't hurt him anyway. If he was a monster, he deserved to turn into dust for a while.

"You drive a hard bargain," Crusty told. "I'll give you thirty percent off on selected floor models.'"

"I think I'll start with the top." Percy raised his sword.

"No money down! No interest for six months!"

Percy swung the sword. Crusty stopped making offers.

He cut the ropes on the other beds. His friends got to their feet, groaning and wincing and cursing him a lot. Y/N wasn't though. Well, she was trying to breathe properly, she wasn't exactly in a good condition to cuss him out.

"You look taller," Percy said turning to Annabeth.

"Very funny," Annabeth said. "Be faster next time."

Y/N groaned, "She's literally taller than you, shut up."

Percy looked at the bulletin board behind Crusty's sales desk. There was an advertisement for Hermes Delivery Service, and another for the All-New Compendium of L.A. Area Monsters- "The only Monstrous Yellow Pages you'll ever need!" Under that, a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. "We are always looking for new talent!" DOA's address was right underneath with a map.

"Come on," he told his friends.

"Give us a minute," Grover complained. "We were almost stretched to death.'"

"Then you're ready for the Underworld," Percy said. "It's only a block from here."

"Let's get going then," Y/N said, "I'll give you guys a performance."

"Wait, really?" Percy turned towards her enthusiastically.

"Not you," Y/N said, "You weren't stretched to death."

He stomped his feet and grumbled under his breath, probably a bit sulking for missing the opportunity. Annabeth and Y/N looked at each other with an amused smile as they left the area.