Jason woke up, with his hands and feet tied to a tree.

He was in a forest, he guessed, because if the surrounding thick trees and underbrush. He was in a clearing, and there was a fire blazing in the middle of the clearing. The girl from the gondola was napping against a tree across from him.

Jason tried to quietly tear off the bindings on his hands and feet, but the girl just yawned without opening her eyes.

"I wouldn't try that. It'll give you a nasty rope burn, and your not going to be able to break it. That rope is made up of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold foraged by the Hephaestus cabin, and woven together by children of Athena. You could try for years and never break it. Their perfectionists." The girl said with a snort.

She sat up and stretched, golden blond hair gleaming in the firelight. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce him as they observed him.

"In case you don't remember due to the minor fact that you might have a concussion due to my knife, my name is Melody. Melody Taylor. Daughter of Apollo and seven years in attendance at Camp Half-Blood." She introduced before stretching out to shake his hand.

Then she realized that Jason's hands were tied. Oops.

"I don't know what your talking about. I'm calling the cops and charging you with kidnapping as soon as I can." Jason replied, trying to sound convincing.

"Don't give me that bullshit. You're name is Jason Grace. You're a son of Jupiter. When Piper died, you went off the deep end and ran away from camp. After you left, and your sisters efforts, plus ours and Camp Jupiters, failed to find you, and a vow was taken from every camper, hunter, and legionary that if we found you we would bring you in. By force if necessary." Melody said with a look at the sky like, Why me?

"Just let me go. I can find a monster or something that will kill me instead." Jason said hopefully.

"Uh huh. I'll let you go when Clairesse writes a haiku that doesn't make my ears bleed. So, never." She answered.

"Oh come on! I just had to pick the gondola with the crazy demigod that is determined to bring me back to Camp Half-Hell, right Dad?" Jason yelled to the sky.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Making Zeus angry isn't something you want to do." Melody cautioned as she dug through an olive-colored backpack.

"Ah, I've already tried to get him to strike me down. It never works." Jason muttered.

Melody rolled her eyes and pulled out a granola bar. She walked over to Jason and unbound his hands, though his feet were still firmly bound to the tree.

"Eat it. You're so thin, I could snap you in half with my bare hands." Melody said and reached behind her for her bow. In her hands in morphed into an old, tan guitar.

She started to strum out a tune that was sort of familiar, in a distant kind of way, to Jason.

Then she started to sing, softly, and Jason could see why her mother named her Melody.

"When the days are cold and the cards all fold and the saints we see are all made of gold." She sung, strumming the old guitar in perfect harmony.

Suddenly, it clicked in his mind where he had heard it. It was his favorite song, from so long ago, when he still listened to music.

He could recall the lyrics.

Melody sang on.

"When your dreams all fail, and the ones we hail are the worst of all–"

"And the bloods run stale." Jason finished hoarsely.

Melody looked up, startled.

"You know it?" She asked.

Jason smiled mirthlessly.

"Of course I do. Who doesn't know Imagine Dragons?" He asked.

Melody smiled at him, then continued her song.

And Jason, to faintly to hear, homes along. And for just a split-second, he remember what it was like to be alive.