Burning Love

Chapter 20

Dianne's POV

About 3:00 we arrived at a place called Benji's Burgers in Hollywood. We ate our lunch there and soon, we walked our way towards Crusty's Water Bed Palace.

So far, things were going pretty well. We defeated plenty of monsters in just 2 days, although I can tell, all of us were tired.

"So, I've heard the next place where we're going is a Water Bed Store," said Frances. "Am I right?"

"Yes," me and Leo replied at the same time.

"Okay," said Frances really slowly. "Who runs the business?"

"Procrustes the stretcher," said Clarisse. "Have you heard of him?"

Frances shook her head. Of course she hadn't heard of him, she was asleep that time Percy and Annabeth explained things. Plus, Frances is Roman and doesn't know much about Greek Mythology.

"I still don't understand why he sells water beds, yet his evil," said Frances. "I mean, I like water beds, they're comfortable, how can that be an evil thing?"

I was about to tell her the tale of Procrustes when a voice said, "Looking for Water Beds? They're 25% off, 75% when you buy two."

All of us looked behind.

There stood a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit. He was at least 7 foot tall, with absolutrly no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold reptilian smile.

"Good afternoon," he smiled, showing off his yellow teeth. "I'm Crusty and I own the Water Bed Palace right around that corner. Do you want to check those beds out?"

I saw Nico tighten his grip on the black sword by his belt. I can tell Leo's hands were heating up. Clarisse is moving her hand towards the hilt of her sword. Innocent Frances was smiling and I can tell if we hadn't warned her about Procrustes, she'd say yes in a heartbeat. Me on the other hand, was standing there, swaying my arms for no reason.

"Er-" Clarisse started to say.

"Come on now!" exclaimed Crusty, grabbing Clarisse's shoulder as he walked where the Water Bed Palace was.

The first thing I've noticed when we entered the Water Bed Palace was that it was beautiful. It surely does not look the way how Percy and Annabeth described it. The walls were painted a fine gold, the silver pattern was undescribable. The water beds were arranged in a way which made the room look like a royal bedroom. The water beds' designs were also very unique. Only, there were plenty of cables and tubes on the ceiling.

"I can see on the looks of your faces that you are very much surprised to see something that sells water beds designed this elegantly," said Crusty with a big smile. "Well, I worked hard on this with help from my friends of course... But just when I was doing my finishing touches, all of them died, by the hands of half-bloods."

Our expressions hardened, especially Leo's. His eyes were wide big and he was swaying his body in a weird but funny way.

"Anyway, all of you must try a water bed," said Crusty, pushing Frances on a green water bed.

"Hey! Why'd you push my sister?" I blurted out.

"She needs proper measurement," replied Crusty, as if that cleared everything out.

"What the heck does that mean?" said Frances who sat down properly on the water bed. "But I must admit, this feels kind of comfy."

She then lied down on the water bed and soon stretched her arms and yawned.

"Dianne you should try this," she said. "All of you should."

I was about to tell her to get out of the bed because it's a trap but Crusty suddenly snapped his fingers and said, "Ergo."