I am supposed to be working on an essay right now, but I decided to write another chapter instead. Luckily I still have two days to get the essay done.

So I know you guys probably don't even read the author's notes, but I just want to put this down here in case you do. I have never been a reader that writes reviews for stories. I always thought that the author doesn't care that much for my review, but since I started writing this story, I realized how much they actually mean to us. I would really appreciate if you would write a quick little review. It doesn't have to be much.

Okay I'm done. Enjoy the next chapter.

I do not own PJO and HOO.

Percy's POV

Percy was scared. Never had he seen New York so dead looking. Normally there was cars driving by and people speed walking down the streets, but now they were deserted. He assumed everyone was just as scared as him, meaning that there is no way they would be out and about, but it still would have been comforting to see people acting normal.

Just because he was frightened out of his mind didn't mean he was going to show that in front of Annabeth though. Whether he was going to admit it or not, he had development a small crush on the girl. Percy normally didn't go for the smart hotheaded type, but this time it was different. Something about those grey eyes had him captured. If they weren't in a life threatening situation Percy might try and flirt with her a little bit. That was obviously not going to happen any time soon.

"We should probably begin to plan for any other problems the cloud might bring," Jason said. Percy couldn't agree more. He was starting to doubt that The News telling everyone to stay calm before the cloud came was really crossing anyone's mind. There was probably worldwide panic going on.

"Sounds good Jason. Let's go somewhere that has no windows," Percy suggested calmly. Annabeth and Piper were white as a sheet and didn't need to see the horrors outside any longer. He could tell Jason agreed as well from the look of fright plastered on his face. The two boys lead the girls to a room in the basement and they all sat down on the two loveseats. Of course Percy and Jason sat on different ones, so the girls had to sit down with one of them. Annabeth sat down next to him and Piper sat next to Jason. The loveseats were quite small and their arms kept brushing each other. Percy didn't mean to, but he ended up blushing after the third time it happened. Annabeth managed to keep her cool however leaving Percy embarrassed. Jason and Piper were dealing with the same problem, but they were actually enjoying the constant touching.

"So I think we should first talk about what sort of things the cloud will be affecting," Percy proposed.

"Well we know anything that uses any sort of signal is gone. There will be no way of communicating. I wouldn't be surprised if we have no electricity soon as well. Also any stores will be closed. There will be no shopping while the cloud is around," Jason supplied. Piper looked confused at why there would be no shopping.

"Why will the stores not be open?" she asked.

"Well during times of troubled people are going to want to be home protecting their families. Nobody is going to go to work. Everything we depend on in this world happens because of our jobs. As soon as people stop doing their jobs we can no longer depend on things. It takes people to control the machines that make our electricity. Things are going to start breaking and no one is going to fix them. This includes water lines roads, house repairs, roads, vehicles, and everything else," Jason stated. Tears welled up into Pipers eyes.

"That means no one is going to be shipping in fresh food for us either," Piper said. Percy felt awful. His whole world was crashing down on him and there was nothing he could do.

"Hey how about we talk about this more tomorrow, I think it's time for some lunch," Percy exclaimed. He wasn't feeling very hungry, but also didn't think the four of them wanted to hear any more of what lies ahead.

"Great idea," Jason responded, "What do you guys want to eat?" The girls responded with shrugs and Percy took that as a sign that he could make whatever he wanted.

"Okay then, you three stay down here while I go make something." Percy then proceeded to rush upstairs and grab some snacky things. First he went to the fridge and grabbed out four blue cokes. Then he went over to a huge room attached to the kitchen that had every type of food imaginable. He headed over to the chip section and grabbed a bag of nacho chips. He then made his way across the room once again to grab some dips for the chips and then went back to the basement.

The scene he saw when he arrived was nowhere near what he expected. Jason and Piper were sitting closer than ever and Annabeth was sitting there awkwardly being the third wheel and all. It seemed that Jason and Piper were whispering to each other. Percy chose this moment to interrupt.

"Hey guys. I just got a couple of snacks for us. Nothing much." Jason and Piper didn't even look up.

"Thanks," Annabeth said.

"At least one person recognized my presence in the room," Percy exclaimed. He was proud to see that this made Annabeth giggle and Jason and Piper to actually notice him.

"Oh hey Perce I didn't see you there," Jason exclaimed.

"I wonder why," Percy muttered under his breath. This made Annabeth to giggle once again which made Percy beam with accomplishment.

"How about we eat now?" Percy made his way other to the loveseat and sat down. He spread the food out before them and handed them each a blue coke.

"Um Percy, I don't mean to be rude, but why is the coke blue?" Annabeth asked. This broke Jason's dreamy look off his face as he began to roar with laughter.

"Percy happens to have this major obsession with blue things. It is actually what got him started with swimming. The blue water was too perfect to be ignored by his five year old self," Jason explained.

"You're mean," Percy exclaimed, "and I don't just like blue things for any random reason and you know that." This made Jason's laughter stop and his face to become solemn.

"I'm sorry Percy," Jason said.

"That's fine Jason." Annabeth and Piper watched this exchange with wondering faces, but neither of them asked Percy and he didn't want to be asked. Besides this just reminding him of his mom stuck halfway across the city. He felt awful for abandoning her over there, but he wasn't willing to leave the house quite yet. At least she had his step-dad Paul to take care of her.

"Does anyone notice how cold it is?" Annabeth asked with thoughtful expression on her face.

"Yeah I notice it too," Percy decided after a moment.

"It is to be expected with the sky being covered completely like this. No sunlight is able to reach us meaning the temperatures outside are probably rapidly dropping," Piper claimed. Everyone looked at her in shock. She didn't seem to be the type of girl to be making theories like that.

"What, I'm smart too," Piper said when she noticed everyone's face looking at her in amazement.

"That's fine, we'll just turn up the heat," Percy decided. He got up and walked over to the panel on the wall that controls the temperatures of the house. It was very high tech and had many buttons. He clicked the button that would raise the temperature, but nothing happened. As a matter of fact the light that sat in the corner showing the device was turning on was of as well. Percy finally came to a realization.

"Um guys, I think the cloud has messed with more than just signals," Percy said, panic laced in his voice. They all pulled out their phones to check and sure enough they wouldn't turn on. Then, as if matters couldn't get any worse, all the lights around them began to flicker and they plunged into darkness.

The cloud is beginning to cause a little more damage in this chapter. The romance between Jason and Piper is also beginning to show. Yay Jiper!

I'll try and post the next chapter before Monday, but with my essay due, I might not get to it.

-LoveBooks