The Lightning Thief

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, anyway.”
    “Um,” I 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?” I 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 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!”
    The giant looked at Annabeth, then turned toward me and grinned. “Almost, darn it.”
    I tried to step away, but his hand shot out and clamped around the back of my 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 and Grover 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 and Annabeth’s ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling my friends from both ends.
    “Don’t worry,” Crusty told me. “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.
    My mind was racing. I knew I couldn’t take on this giant water-bed salesman alone. He would snap my neck before I ever got my sword out.
    “Your real name’s not Crusty, is it?” I asked.
    “Legally, it’s Procrustes,” he admitted.
    “The Stretcher,” I said. I 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,” I said. “And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!”
    He grinned hugely, but his fingers didn’t loosen on my 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,” I 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 my neck, but before I 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,” I said, swallowing hard. “Sensible.”
    “I’m so glad to come across an intelligent customer!”
    The ropes were really stretching my friends now. Annabeth was turning pale. Grover made gurgling sounds, like a strangled goose.
    “So, Crusty . . .” I said, trying to keep my voice light. I 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?”
    I snapped my fingers. “Ergo.”
    Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress.
    “Hey!” he