𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧.

twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY
crusty musty

WHEN SOMEONE LOVES YOU, the way they talk about you is different. you feel safe and comfortable.

percy opened the door to the mattress store, immediately being greeted with some kind of retro music, aurora and annabeth followed behind him— but they weren't visible, they had their hats on.

"welcome, weary traveler!" a man's voice greeted. "come on in and take a load off. these beds will change your... life." the man sighed upon seeing that it was a young boy. "well... hello there. missing our mommy, are we?"

"i know who you are." percy nodded. "you're procrustes, son of poseidon, and murderer of travelers."

"crusty please."

"he does look crusty," aurora whispered, luckily no one heard cause it would've been very weird hearing a voice when no one was there.

"and you," crusty walked closer to percy. "you've got dad's eyes. take a load off. relax for a minute" he pointed to the beds.

"the beds are a trap." percy replied, annabeth had told him about this before they entered. "that's how you do it, how you murder your guests."

"i do?"

"i know there's a secret passage to the underworld here. i know you were left to guard it." percy raised his brows. "but i need you to let me through. please?"

"in addition to being incredibly comfortable," crusty turned back, walking away from percy. "these beds are great for your self confidence."

"i'm really not interested—"

"they show you how to fit." procrustes spoke slowly, aurora was so over this she just wanted to push him and get this over with. "fitting's not easy for guys like us, am i right? our parents make it so hard, stretching us and twisting us and hacking off pieces to make us seem more like them." he put a hand on percy's shoulder. "anywho... these beds take all that away." he hit the bed, making a sloshing sound since it was a water bed. "with these beds you just... fit." procrustes pointed to the bed, "try it, i think you'll feel much better."

"you first." percy spoke, giving aurora and annabeth their cue.

the two girls pushed the man onto the water bed as the blankets wrapped around him tightly so he can't escape.

"you okay?" aurora took her hat off first, followed by annabeth.

"yeah i'm fine." percy responded as procrustes struggled on the bed.

"you won't save her." procrustes grumbled, trying to free himself from his own trap. "you won't be the first to try bringing someone back from the underworld— you won't be the first to fail."

"hey!" annabeth fumed. "you're lucky we're letting you keep your head dummy. don't push it."

the store doorbell started ringing as grover opened the glass door. "is it over?"

the four stood in front of a wooden door that said 'do not enter', perfect this was the door they were looking for.

"are we sure this is the right way?" percy questioned.

grover went up first, opening the door and the second he opened it, wind began gushing. the satyr coughed and took a step back. "it's either the realm of the dead or someone left a carton of milk there in the 1990s.

aurora looked around the room for something that might calm grover down, noticing a red squeaky ball on the counter. she took it, handing it to him. "better?"

the ball began squeaking as grover squeezed it. "much."

"if we get into trouble..." percy rummaged in his pocket, pulling out five pearls. "these are our tickets out."

"no one's turning back till we all come back." annabeth spoke, looking down at the pearls in his hands.

"no one comes back!" crusty exclaimed.

"dude! don't make us come back out there." annabeth shouted, pointing to her and aurora as if the man could see.

"shut up crusty!" aurora used charmspeak, one thing was for sure that man was truly a crusty one.

"we have no idea what's down there." percy said, grabbing the girls' attention as grover continued playing. "i just think it's safer if i'm not holding them all."

the three of them took a pearl, aurora looked at in her hand, it was so pretty— it would look great on a necklace but now is not the time for that. "let's go get your mom." she nodded to percy, she would do whatever it takes to know that percy had his mom back.

annabeth walked up first, grover and aurora both waited on who will go second. "you can go," grover motioned to the door.

"no, no," aurora shook her head, no way she was going second. "ladies first."

"but you're—" before grover could finish his sentence aurora pushed him in front of her. "well thanks, i guess."

author's note, okayy first of all i'm sorry for not uploading yesterday i was too tired from school and second i'm sorry about the short chapter but i want to write them before going to the underworld as it's own chapter