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. rich brats playing at being bad boys.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 Percy with a switchblade.
Percy 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 Annabeth,Blake,Grover and Viviene.
They pushed two kids out of the way and raced down the street, not knowing where we they 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 gangkids ran past outside.
"I think we lost them," Grover panted.
"Lost who?"A voice behind them boomed
They all jumped.
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 something told Viviene 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. He had silver chains around his neck
"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile.
"Sorry to barge in," I 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?"
Crusty didn't wait for a reply,he grabbed Percy's shoulder and pulled him into the showroom.
There was every kind of water bed you could imagine: different kinds of wood, different patternsof 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 blacksatin 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, any-way.
"Um," Percysaid, "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?" Percy asked.
YOU ARE READING
RED ¹ / Percy Jackson !
Fanfiction"I suggest you stop this nonsense." "No. No unless she does as I say, or I swear, I will murder Percy right here right now." "Don't you dare touch a single hair on Percy, do you hear me?" Viviene yelled, taking a step closer to her father. " I fucki...
