"What do you think is causing it?" Percy asks looking at the night sky.
"I have no idea," Annabeth replies. "I've never seen anything like it before. It's been a couple of nights since we defeated Gaea. You don't think Uranus is causing it do you?"
"You don't think he still cares for her do you? I mean, after everything she's done to him."
"I guess stranger things have happened," she says as someone walks up behind them.
"That doesn't look good," Jason say as Percy turns and takes his hand.
"That's what we were just saying," the son of Poseidon agrees.
"I was really hoping we were done with challenges for a while," Piper adds.
"We all were," Annabeth agrees as she takes a seat in the sand pulling Percy down next to her. Jason and Piper follow suit and join them on the ground.
"Everything looked fine last night," Jason says stopping short of telling Percy and Annabeth about he and Piper spending the night on the roof of Cabin One.
"Maybe there's just a layer of clouds that we can't see," Percy offers.
"There's not," Jason say dejectedly.
"Well, I for one refuse to worry about it," Piper finally says. "Sometimes there are perfectly good reasons for things like the stars disappearing from the sky that don't mean the end of the world."
Percy, Annabeth and Jason all look at her for a second with matching you're kidding looks on their faces.
"No Piper's right," Annabeth finally says with laugh. "Even if someone in our family has something to do with this, it doesn't mean it has anything to do with us."
"So we all agree not to worry about it?" Jason asks looking at Percy for agreement.
"Worry about what?" his cousin says with a grin.
"Percy, I've been meaning to ask if you'd help with the shrines for the sea gods," Jason now asks changing the subject.
"Yeah, of course, but I haven't met a lot of them. I don't really know how they would want to be honored," the son of Poseidon tells him.
"How many are there?" Piper asks curiously, as she snuggles closer to her boyfriend.
"Well that all depends on who you want to include," Percy answers. "Some of them sided with Gaea till the very end. Are you including them?"
"Part of me wants to say no, but then that's what got us into this mess in the first place. Alienating any of them will put us right back where we started," Jason says putting his arm around Piper's shoulders.
"I'll make a list," Percy suggests. "I'll even run it past Dad to make sure I don't forget anyone. We can start with the loyal deities first."
"It must be nice to actually have a relationship with your father," Jason tells Percy thinking back to his brief few minutes with his own father.
"Your Dad is proud of you," Piper tells her boyfriend.
"Until I called in unwise in front of his siblings," Jason says with a grin. "Still, he told me we could never have relationship like Percy and his dad."
"Don't get the wrong idea," Percy says. "It's not like Poseidon invites me over to watch football on Sunday afternoon."
"But you've met your dad several times. He even made a point of coming to see you, at least that's what Annabeth said," Jason tells him.
"One time, on my birthday," Percy agrees, "but he just wanted an update."
"That's not totally true," Annabeth now reminds him. "He gave you a gift."
"That's true. I almost forgot since I don't have it any longer," he says as he looks off toward the sea.
"What was it?" Jason asks. "I mean if you don't mind me asking."
"It was a sand dollar," his cousin replies. "I spent it during the Battle of Manhattan to get the Hudson and East rivers to help my dad fight Typhon."
"We'll have to spend some time swopping stories," Jason laughs.
