Book Cult (New and Improved)

Piper XL

"Piper XL," Jake read.

Piper woke at a table at a sidewalk café.

The readers looked confused at that.

"Out of all the places they could've gone to, they end up there." Will said. "Where even are they?"

For a second, she thought she was still dreaming. It was a sunny morning. The air was brisk but not unpleasant for sitting outside. At the other tables, a mix of bicyclists, business people, and college kids sat chatting and drinking coffee. She could smell eucalyptus trees. Lots of foot traffic passed in front of quaint little shops. The street was lined with bottle-brush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter was a foreign concept.

"California." Annabeth told the son of Apollo.

Percy gave her a look of disbelief. "You could tell just from that?"

"If you've ever lived there, you could tell." she replied with a shrug.

In other words: she was in California.

"See." Annabeth smiled.

"It could've been Michigan, for all I knew." he muttered.

Her friends sat in chairs around her... dozing pleasantly. And they all had new clothes on.

"Aphrodite beautified you too, huh?" Travis asked with a grin.

"Kinda, but that outfit's long gone now." Leo sighed. It's too bad, I actually liked those suspenders.

Aphrodite frowned. "You didn't like what I picked out for you?"

"It's not about liking it, a lot of my clothes don't last very long. I always end up burning them into a pile of ash."

Now Lacy looked confused.

"But you were on fire a couple times before and your jacket's still fine. How'd you even get it back if Mom took it away from you?"

Although he tried to fight it, Leo couldn't stop the fond grin.

"Oh, this isn't the original, this is a hundred times better than the first one! I never have to worry about burning outfits again!" he bragged. "Not only is the fabric fireproof, the jacket is also able to stay fresh and clean without having to wash it!"

"Wow, that's pretty cool." Connor admitted. 

"Right?! She'd make an awesome seamstress!" Leo responded without thinking. His voice carried a sense of vicarious pride that caused eyebrows to rise and an intrigued expression to light up on Aphrodite's face. He didn't notice as he sighed, thoughts drifting. Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters with Fruits, Vegetables, Cider, Stew, and Magical Clothing. Geez! We should just change the name to Leo and Calypso's Big Bodega: We Basically Have Everything!

He was smiling to himself, when he noticed the odd looks he was getting. Leo quickly dropped the dopey expression and pushed away his thoughts. He brushed his hair back.

"So, yeah, the jacket's pretty cool. Blah blah blah. Next sentence please." he said hastily, trying not too look to embarrassed. I really need to get that girl out of my head.

"No wait! I want to hear more about this mystery seamstress!" Aphrodite squealed.

Leo sent his brother a pleading look.

Feeling sympathetic, Jake kept reading. 

The goddess pouted.

Piper looked down at her own outfit and gasped. "Mother!"