Melody's POV

I was floating.

Floating in a dark, murky pool of black. It was like floating in space; peaceful, calm, and deadly silent.

I was so sleepy. All I wanted to do was close my eyes. Just a little nap wouldn't hurt, right? Just...a...nap...

"No, my daughter. Keep fighting."

I had never knew my father before, never heard his voice. But somehow, I knew it was his. It reminded me of sunrises and sunsets, of brilliant smiles and golden light. Happy, carefree days spent in the warm sun's embrace.

Why? Why must I keep fighting? I wondered out loud.

" Remember who you're fighting for."

An image of Jason flashed across my mind, his wild blonde hair and electrifying blue eyes that made my heart race. His laugh, which I had heard only a handful of times.

It gave me the strength to fight on, to fight against death's welcoming embrace.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. Will, my half-brother. He was singing a hymn. A powerful one, too.

" Ο Κύριος, Λυκία είναι δική σας και υπέροχο Maeonia και τη Μίλητο, γοητευτική πόλη από τη θάλασσα, αλλά πάνω από το κύμα-μηκίδα Δήλο βασιλεύει σε μεγάλο βαθμό τον εαυτό σας."

It was an ancient, powerful hymn to Apollo. I translated it easily.

"O Lord, Lycia is yours and lovely Maeonia and Miletus, charming city by the sea, but over wave-girt Delos you greatly reign your own self."

Suddenly, I saw a light.

Not the light of the Underworld, but a bright, fluorescent light. I walked towards it, and suddenly I was engulfed in it.

Third person POV

Jason was sitting by Melody's bedside, exhausted to the point that they feared he was delusional.

By 'they' he meant his friends, who he had been reunited with. And all of Melody's siblings in the Apollo cabin, who were ready to diagnose him with a mental disorder.

Jason wanted to believe Melody would wake up any time now, perfectly fine.

Will Solace had informed him that the cost of the fortune cookie wasn't her life. It was something almost as bad, though. Melody was strong. She would overcome this, right?

She didn't look strong now, though. Her golden blonde hair was limp and dull, and her tan skin was a chalky pale. A white strip of cloth bound her eyes.

Speak-or think-of the devil, the door swung open and Will walked in.

After the war, Will Solace had been appointed as head of the infirmary, and he took his job very seriously. He wore a doctor's lab coat over a Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and jeans. His leather necklace, which held six beads, was tucked into his shirt and a clipboard was in his hands.

It must be sun-up, if Will was here. Will came every sun-up and sun-down to sing a hymn to his father.

Jason had asked him why he came at these precise points in the day.

"Apollo, in his sun chariot, is closest to the mortal earth then. The hymns work best at those points in time." Will had answered.

It also ment this was Melody's third day in a coma-like unconsciousness.

"Here to sing, Will?" Jason asked horsley.

Will nodded.

"Same routine as always. Vitals, then a hymn." Will answered, setting the clipboard down and taking Melody's pulse, and so on.

After doing so, he scribbled something down on his clipboard and sighed.

"No change. I'm sorry, Jason." Will said quietly, already knowing what Jason was about to ask.

Jason swallowed hard as Will began preparing his hymn, and he decided to do.something he hadn't done in a very long time.

He prayed.

Jason prayed to every he could think of. His father Zeus, his uncles, Poseidon and Hades. The Fates. Tyche. Nemesis. Apollo. Dionysus. Even Hestia, and Artimes, and Athena. Every single god that popped into his head.

Will started to sing, in a perfectly clear, harmonious tenor that reminded Jason of Melody's voice.

" Ο Κύριος, Λυκία είναι δική σας και υπέροχο Maeonia και τη Μίλητο, γοητευτική πόλη από τη θάλασσα, αλλά πάνω από το κύμα-μηκίδα Δήλο βασιλεύει σε μεγάλο βαθμό τον εαυτό σας."

Jason translated that as, O Lord, Lycia is yours and lovely Maeonia and Miletus, charming city by the sea, but over wave-girt Delos you greatly reign your own self.

Suddenly, Melody let me out a gasp and sat bolt upright.

Will tripped backwards, but Jason scrambled out of the chair and pulled Melody into a tight hug.

"Oh Gods, Melody." He whispered, unable to say more due to the fresh wave of tears.

"Jason? Are we dead?" Melody asked.

Jason laughed, a bright, unexpected laugh.

"No, Mel. We're alive, all thanks to you. We're at Camp, in the infirmary."

Suddenly, Melody's hands fumbled at her head, at the strip of white cloth that bound her eyes.

"Jason? Why is there a blindfold on me?" She asked, fumbling with the knot.

"Mel, the fortune cookies price wasn't your life. It was-" Jason was cut off as Melody managed to pull the blindfold off, revealing her eyes.

Her stone grey eyes.

Her once sky-blue eyes were a cold, unseeing grey.

Jason waved a.hand in front of her face, but Melody didn't even blink.

"Jason? Why are all the lights out?" Melody asked.

"Melody, the cookie didn't take your life. It took your sight." Will said quietly.