Daughter of Neptune, Book one

XXXII

Tori's pov

Mother: The first thing I heard when I woke up.

My eyelids flew open. "Falling!" I grabbed the table. "No—not falling."

"Where are we?" Leo asked.

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

Piper blushed. She was wearing a turquoise dress with black leggings, black leather boots, a silver charm bracelet, and her old snowboarding jacket. She'd gotten her hair done, too.

"It's nothing," she said. "It's my—" She hesitated. "It's nothing."

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

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

I looked down at my outfit. I was wearing a black leather jacket, black combat boots, black ripped jeans, and a purple v-neck. My raven black hair was up in a high ponytail, my washed out dyed pieces of hair were gone. They were replaced with the bottom half of my ponytail that was dyed gold. My glasses were spotless, not a single scratch was on them. After falling from the sky twice, falling from a tunnel, fighting a the son of a guy that could turn stuff to gold by touching it, turning to gold, my glasses were pretty dirty.

I looked up and I saw Leo Valdez staring at me.
Leo was wearing pinstripes 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 top belt."

"Hey, shut up!" Leo turned away from Piper, he looked at me and he just stopped, I swear I saw his checks go pink. "Looking good, Miss Amnesia." Then he winked at me.

"Tha—thanks, Leo." I said, I'm also sure I blushed. I grabbed my ponytail and brought it to my shoulder and played with the ends of my hair. I had to remind myself the Leo was a lost cause, he wasn't interested. I wasn't going to torture myself. He may have hurt me, but I wasn't going to let it show.

"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."

I knew that wasn't exactly true. Jason was dressed simply in jeans and a clean purple T-shirt, like he'd worn 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 need no improvement.

"Anyway," I said, "how did we get here?"

"Oh, that would be Mellie," Hedge said, chewing happily on his carnation. "Those winds shot us halfway across the country, I'd guess. We would've been smashed flat on impact, but Mellie's last gift—a nice soft breeze—cushioned our fall."