Daughter of Wine

Callida

For some reason, the pieces just now start to click in my head. "The Earth Mother? You can't mean-"

"Gaea." He nods solemnly. 

Chills instantly cover my body, sending every hair on my arms straight up. "Oh," I manage. 

He looks at me, with what looks like pity. "As I said, you have a difficult journey ahead of you. I just want you to be okay. You know I have no fondness for heroes, but alas, my favorite daughter has been cursed to be one. My main priority is making sure you get out of this alive. I really couldn't care less about those other kids. You hear me? So please, don't do anything stupid."

"Like go on a quest to rescue the Queen of the Gods by myself?" I ask. 

"Yeah, like that." The image starts to fade. "Good luck, Calli. I told Aphrodite not to give you anything too ridiculous... we'll see what that means to her." 

I wake up at a table at a sidewalk cafe. 

For a second, it feels like I'm still in my dream. It's sunny, the light beating down on me like at the vineyard. I can smell eucalyptus trees. But there's other people at the other tables, and lots of foot traffic passes by us. The street is lined with bottlebrush trees and blooming azaleas as if winter couldn't possibly exist. 

We're in California. 

My friends are sitting in chairs all around me, all of them with their hands calmly folded across their chests, dozing pleasantly. They all have new clothes on. Piper wakes up and looks down at her outfit. "Mother!" 

She yells loud. Jason flinches, bumping the table with his knees, then everyone is 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 Piper and makes a little choking sound. "What are you wearing?"

Pipere blushes. She's wearing a turquoise dress with black leggings and black leather boots with a snowboarding jacket. Her hair and makeup are done up all nice. "It's nothing. It's my... It's nothing."

Leo grins at her. "Aphrodite strikes again, huh? You're going to be the best-dressed warrior in town, beauty queen." He glances over at me and his eyes widen. "Sorry Piper, you've dropped down to second best-dressed warrior in town. Ay mami, you look good!" 

I look down at myself and see I'm wearing a wine-colored jumpsuit, tight on top, loose and flowy on the bottom, with cut-off sleeves, gold armbands, freshly painted nails that match the jumpsuit, and an assortment of dainty gold rings. I pull out my phone and see I have a delicate gold crown of grapevines wrapping around my head, with my hair blown out into big loose curls. "Oh my god." I can't help it. My makeup isn't too much, just enough to make my eyes look bright, with deep burgundy lipstick, and the tiny gold earrings match everything perfectly. 

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

Leo looks down to see he's wearing pin-striped pants, black leather shoes, a white collarless shirt with suspenders, and his tool belt, Ray-Ban sunglasses, and a porkpie hat. 

"God, Leo." Piper tries not to laugh. "I think my dad wore that to his last premiere, minus the toolbelt." 

"I think he looks good." I blurt out. I don't know why I felt the need to say it out loud, but I do think he looks good. He looks like he came right out of a detective show. 

Leo blushes. "Hey, what can I say?" He wiggles his eyebrows. "Leo Valdez looks good in anything." 

"Course, I look better." Hedge announces. He's 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 he sniffs then eats. 

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

He's in a plain purple T-shirt with jeans. 

"Anyway," Piper says uncomfortably. "how did we get here?" 

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

"And she got fired for us." I remember. "Man, we suck." 

"Ah, she'll be fine." Gleeson shrugs. "Besides, she couldn't help herself. I've got that effect on nymphs. I'll send her a message when we're through this quest and help her figure something out. That is one aura I could settle down with and raise a herd of baby goats." 

"I'm going to be sick." Piper tells him. "Anyone else want coffee?" 

"Coffee!" Hedge's grin is stained blue from the flower. "I love coffee!" 

"Um," Jason says, "But, money? Our packs?"

We all look down and see our packs are at our feet. Piper reaches into her coat pocket and pulls out a wad of cash. 

Leo whistles. "Allowance? Your mom rocks!" 

"Waitress!" Hedge calls. "Six double espressos, and whatever these guys want. Put it on the girl's tab."