𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫. ── 𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞

𝐱𝐱𝐢𝐱. 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 (𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚: 𝐣𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐭!)

title appreciation here (i know, it's so good)

ANDY WOKE AT A TABLE AT A SIDEWALK CAFÉ.

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. Andy 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 Andy and made a little choking sound. "Wow... um. I think—um. What are you wearing?"

Andromeda probably blushed. She was wearing a mid thigh, form fitting shimmery golden dress with thin straps wrapped around her shoulder, and a pair of chunky golden heels. She had on golden cuff bracelets and a simple golden pendant that Travis and Connor had stolen for her for her birthday, even though she'd left that back home in Manhattan. Piper handed her Katoptris, and her brown hair shimmered like it was blonde, and hung loose in curls framing her face. "It's nothing," she said. "It's Aph—" She remembered Aphrodite's warning not to mention that they'd talked. "It's nothing." Piper nodded knowingly. She herself was dressed in a teal dress with leggings (leggings!) and combat boots, and Andy felt herself feeling jealous. 

Even with a simple makeover, no way she could be as gorgeous as Piper was.

Leo grinned. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You guys are gonna be the best-dressed warriors in town: Starfire and beauty queen."

"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.

"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.

"Coach!" Andy giggled silently, "I think that flower wasn't meant as a snack."

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

Andy 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 with a fleece jacket, like he'd worn at the Grand Canyon. He had new track shoes on, and his hair was slightly longer, now almost as long as Percy's, from what Aella could remember. His eyes were the same color as the sky. Aphrodite's message was clear: This one needs no improvement.