Daughter of the Sea || HoO

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Tori woke up at a table at a sidewalk cafe.  

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.

In other words: she was in California.

Her friends sat in chairs around her—all of them with their hands calmly folded across their chests, dozing pleasantly. And they all had new clothes on. Tori looked down at her own outfit and gasped. "Aphrodite!"

She yelled louder than she meant. Jason flinched, bumping the table with his knees, and then all of them were awake.

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

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

Jason blinked, trying to get his bearings. He focused on Piper and Tori and made a little choking sound. "What are you two wearing?"

Tori probably blushed. Her camp t-shirt was replaced with a white crochet crop top. Her jeans were gone and she now wore distressed shorts. A long, lacy, rose gold cardigan was on top of everything and Tori had simple white converses to pull the outfit together. She used the windows of the cafe as a mirror, and saw her hair was in natural beach waves. The only thing that remained the same was Tidal around her neck.

Piper, on the other hand, was wearing the turquoise dress they'd seen in their dream, with black leggings and black leather boots. She had a silver charm bracelet, and her old snowboarding jacket, which amazingly went with the outfit pretty well. 

"It's nothing," Piper said. "It's my—" Tori gently kicked her under the table to remind her of Aphrodite's warning not to mention that they'd talked. "It's nothing." 

Leo grinned. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're gonna be the best-dressed warrior in town, beauty queen. You too little mermaid."

Tori shrugged, "I don't think I really pull this outfit off."

"You look great." Jason told her. Tori slightly blushed at the compliment and remembering the dream she had.

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

"What ... oh." 

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

"Lookin' good Leo," Tori smirked 

"God, Leo." Piper tried 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," said Coach Hedge. "'Course, I look better."

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

"Well," Jason said, "at least your mom overlooked me." 

Tori knew that wasn't exactly true. Looking at him, her heart did a little tap dance. Jason was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like he'd worn when she picked them up at the Grand Canyon.  He had new track shoes on, and his hair was newly trimmed. His eyes were the same color as the sky. Aphrodite's message was clear: This one needs no improvement.