Blackjack and Piper followed the man down a hall, leaving Jason and Goater on the bed, still unconscious.
"So, uh, sir, what's your name?" asked Piper.
"Oh! How rude of me! The name's Crusty, owner of Crusty's Water Bed Palace. I used to own a shop up in Los Angeles, but, uh, a little problem forced me to relocate the business," answered the man, a small glimmer of anger appearing in his eyes as he said the word 'problem'.
Probably a rivaling business or something like that.
"Relocate...underground?" asked Piper, surprise evident in her voice.
"Business ain't as good here, but I still get a couple customers every now and then."
During the whole conversation, Blackjack remained silent, too tired to even think about participating.
Crusty led the demigod and the pegasus past a kitchen and into a large room filled with beds of all sizes.
"Why don't you try one out, little girl?" he offered.
"Uh, no thanks. I don't have any money on me," said Piper.
"Oh, no worries. Just try one."
Piper shrugged and lay down on a nearby bed. Blackjack was tempted to take a nap on one of them, but he didn't think Crusty would appreciate a pegasus lying on his beds.
"Well, it is pretty com–oof!" That last part was because a bunch of heavy-looking straps wrapped themselves around Piper.
Blackjack whinnied and reared back, taking a few steps back. Large arms wrapped around Blackjack's middle, dragging him down towards the ground.
Exhausted, the pegasus was unable to fight back, and went down without much of a struggle. He did, however, have the energy to whinny and neigh loudly, hoping to wake up Goater or Jason, or even better, both.
"Stop!" Piper's commanding voice brought Blackjack, as well as Crusty, to a halt.
"Release me!" she charmspoke.
Crusty slowly got up and reached forward to grab the straps, but stopped himself. He chuckled.
"Nice try, girl. But I have more self-control than th–"
Crusty looked down at the javelin protruding from his chest, golden ichor slowly flowing from the wound.
The javelin was pulled away and he clutched at his chest, trying to stem the flow. Soon, he was pile of gold dust on the floor at Jason's feet.
"Thanks, Jason," said Piper, still bound to the bed. "Now, could you get me out? I got an itch on my nose."
Here, take it. I don't know why, but my head keeps hurting recently. It's really annoying. Plus, I'm always really tired, even though I have a good night's sleep every night. Almost every night, anyway.
-Destiny