Demigods and Monsters Read Online Free Page B

to form.
    When the going gets tough, the heroes go shopping. But somehow they never notice until it’s way too close to too late that the only thing the monsters really have for sale is trouble.
    Here’s another case in point: chapter seventeen of The Lightning Thief . That’s when our gang pays a visit to Crusty’s Waterbed Palace.
    Percy’s quest to retrieve Zeus’ lightning bolt has taken him and his companions from the east coast to Los Angeles by this time. No sooner do they set foot in the city, however, than they’re set on by a pack of thugs. And it is while trying to escape from them that our trio decides to pay an impromptu visit to the Waterbed Palace.
    So far, so good. But wait! There’s more. Because once inside the Waterbed Palace, something strange happens. Well, more than one thing, if the full truth must be told. But the specific strange thing I’m getting at is this: Percy and his companions stick around.

    Our hero and his friends have made it all the way across the country and they’re still not much closer to finding Zeus’ lightning bolt than they were when they set out. Time is definitely doing that thing where it runs out. So what do Percy, Grover, and Annabeth do?
    You got it. They shop.
    Unlike the side trip to Aunty Em’s, where he was pretty certain he could smell trouble coming, this time Grover’s the one who lets the trio down. He develops a sudden, potentially fatal attraction to the waterbeds. Almost before the trio knows what’s happening, Grover’s tied to one of the beds, with Annabeth not far behind. Both are in definite danger of being stretched to one size fits all .
    Unless Percy thinks on his feet pretty darned fast, not only will he fail in his quest, but he and the others are going to be extremely uncomfortable—though admittedly more likely to be picked first for basketball.
    Fortunately, by the time chapter seventeen has rolled around, thinking on his feet is a thing at which Perseus Jackson is learning to excel.
    He turns the tables on waterbed salesman Crusty, short for Procrustes, a.k.a. the Stretcher, a real kill ’em with kindness guy. Percy does this by convincing Crusty that those waterbeds look pretty good, so good that Crusty himself ought to try one on for size. The moment Crusty does this, Percy’s in the clear. He dispatches the monster, rescues his friends.
    The shopping trip is over. The quest is on.
    But I’ve still got a question, and my guess is you do too: Why in Western Civilization didn’t Percy walk in then walk right back out the Waterbed Palace door? As soon as the thugs had departed, of course. Fast as our hero thinks on his feet when the time comes, why does it take the time so long to arrive? Why didn’t Percy spot that there was something weird going on right off the bat?
    I mean, come on.

    A guy that Percy himself describes as looking like a raptor in a leisure suit tries to sell three individuals clearly not old enough to have their own credit cards some waterbeds? Get real. Do you have any idea how expensive those things are? And I’m talking before the shipping and handling costs. No salesman is that desperate. No real one, anyhow.
    It’s Aunty Em’s Garden Gnome Emporium all over again, when you get right down to it. Our friends end up walking right into a trap. But the thing that lures them into the trap in the first place is a front. Specifically, a store front.
    So just what is it about monsters and retail? Why would monsters even pick retail in the first place? Why go to all the effort of trying to lure Percy and his friends in to shop, when it would be so much easier to simply jump out from behind the nearest available cover and wipe them out? Percy and his pals only add up to three, after all.
    At least they do in The Lightning Thief . Our hero does get some reinforcements as his adventure moves along. Even so, monsters come in an infinite variety of