Eye of Hecate

Piper

I wake at a table at a sidewalk cafe.

For a second, I think I'm still dreaming. It's a sunny morning. The air is brisk but not unpleasant for sitting outside. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sit chatting and drinking coffee.

I can smell eucalyptus trees. Lots of foot traffic passes in front of quaint little shops. The street is lined with bottlebrush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter is a foreign concept.

In other words: I'm in California.

My friends sit in chairs around me—most of them with their hands calmly folded across their chests, dozing pleasantly. Only Ozzy is awake, staring at the photo that Aeolus gave her with so much intensity, she doesn't even notice I'm up. She looks different, somehow. It takes me a few seconds to realize she's in new clothes. In fact, all my friends have new clothes on. I look down at my own outfit and gasp. "Mother!"

I yell louder than I meant to. Ozzy flinches, bumping the table with her knees, and then all of them are awake.

"What?" Hedge demands. "Fight who? Where?"

"Falling!" Leo grabs the table. "No—not falling. Where are we?"

Jason blinks, trying to get his bearings. He focuses on me and makes a little choking sound. "What are you wearing?"

I probably blush. I'm wearing the turquoise dress I saw in my dream, with black leggings and black leather boots. I have on my favorite silver charm bracelet, even though I left that back home in L.A., and my old snowboarding jacket from my dad, which amazingly goes with the outfit pretty well. I pull out Katoptris, and judging from the reflection in the blade, I got my hair done, too.

"It's nothing," I say. "It's my—" I remember Aphrodite's warning not to mention that we talked. "It's nothing."

Leo grins. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best-dressed warrior in town, beauty queen." Then his gaze drifts over to Ozzy, and he catches his breath. "Scratch that, Pipes. You've been downvoted to second best."

Ozzy blushes and looks down at herself. She's in a black linen jumpsuit that suits her figure quite nicely. It's cut fairly low, but still looks classy on her. Her amulets hang around her neck, freshly polished to show off the various hues of gold and silver and precious stones. She has gold armbands that encircle her biceps, and a delicate gold band around her head that makes her look like an Egyptian queen. Her hair is clean and shiny, flowing down her shoulders. I see little braids mixed in, laced with what I'm pretty sure is lapis lazuli. A pair of gold-rimmed round sunglasses sit on her nose, tinted only slightly, so that you can still see the shades of blue in her eyes. Her fingers are adorned with a variety of rings, and even her nails are manicured perfectly. Her eyes are rimmed with black, and her lips are glossy with a perfect natural rosy hue.

"Hey, Leo." Jason nudges his arm. "You look at yourself recently?"

"What...oh."

All of them have been give a makeover. Leo is wearing pinstriped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat.

"God, Leo." I try not to laugh. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the tool belt."

"Hey, shut up!"

"I think he looks good," Ozzy grins at him, and he blushes.

"'Course, I look better." Coach Hedge grunts.

The satyr is a pastel nightmare. Aphrodite gave him a baggy canary yellow zoot suit with two-tone shoes that fit over his hooves. He has a matching yellow broad-brimmed hat, a rose-colored shirt, a baby blue tie, and a blue carnation in his lapel, which Hedge sniffs and then eats.