One year later...

When Melody Taylor went to the Pennsylvania state fair, she didn't expect to find a suicidal blond boy trying to jump off a ferris wheel.

Actually, when her best friend ditched her to go to the fair alone, she figured it would be a boring day. But no.

She was in line to get on the ferris wheel when she first noticed the boy in line in front of her.

He was wearing dirty, ratty, torn black clothes and was so thin, she had seen thicker toothpicks. His blond hair was disheveled and was so dirty it was grayish, and his blue eyes were ringed with red. He was tan, which you didn't see in Pennsylvania much unless it was fake, which the boys wasn't. A faint white scar was on the boy upper lip, like he had tried to eat staples.

Melody didn't know why, but the boy stuck out. He was... different.

Then it was her turn, and it was just her luck that she got into the same ferris wheel gondola as the blond boy.

He said nothing as the ferris wheel slowly made its rounds. They sat across from each other, and Melody noticed him holding a picture fondly.

She caught a glimpse of it.

It was of a girl, and the blond boy. They were holding hands on what looked like... a boat? The girl had pretty tan skin, dark hair that was braided with an eagle feather, and eyes that seemed to change color. Pink, brown, green. Like a kaleidoscope. They both looked happy, and were laughing. Their eyes were sparkling.

Nothing like the blond boy was now.

Melody wondered what happened to the girl. Did she break up with him? Did she die?

They were at the very top when the ferris wheel stopped to let the occupants of one of the gondolas out. Suddenly, the blond boy jumped up and perched dangerously on the edge of the swaying gondola.

"Holy shit! You're going to kill yourself! Get down from there!" Melody shrieked.

"Oh, I can't kill myself. My friends made me take a damn vow that I couldn't. But can I ask a favor of you? Will you push me off? They didn't say anything about getting murdered, even if it was murder by hire." The blond boy said with a mirthless laugh.

"What? Hell no! I'm not pushing you off! Look, I don't even know your name!" Melody yelled.

"My name is Jason. Now will you push me?" Jason asked.

Melody took a deep breath and tried to not flip out for the sake of the suicidal boy. Jason? This wasn't the same Jason that she was thinking of, right?

"Okay, Jason. Why do you want me to push you? What's wrong?" She asked, mind racing.

"I need to see Piper again. The sooner I die, the sooner I can be reborn. Or maybe I'll wait for her in Elysium. If I have to, I'll go see Hades myself." Jason declared.

"I don't know what your talking about. Where's Elysium?" She asked, faking innocence. Piper? Hades? Elysium? Oh gods no. It was the same Jason.

The leather bead necklace under her shirt seemed to glow with heat and her bow, disguised as a backpack, seemed to grow heavier.

"I suppose it's what you'd call heaven, being a mortal. Will you push me now?" Jason asked.

I sighed.

"Sorry Jason. But I already swore on the Styx to Chiron with the other campers that if I found you I would bring you into camp. And by the way, my name is Melody Taylor, daughter of Apollo." She announced before leaping forward, grabbing Jason by the front of his shirt and yanking him back into the gondola.

Then she hit him on his head with the but of the dagger at her waist and Jason's vision went black.