"Melody!" Nico cried, frantically shaking her, "Mel, wake up! Please wake up!"
Will put a comforting hand on Nico's shoulder.
"Nico-" He tried.
"Help me, Will! Help me wake her!"
"Neeks, we can't. You heard what it said, 'Poseidon's daughter shall never wake'."
"No! She will!"
He continued to furiously shake his cousin until Will pulled him back. The distraught son of Hades sobbed into the calm son of Apollo's shirt.
"We'll find a way," Will soothed, rubbing soft, calming, circles on his boyfriend's back, "Don't worry. We're going to fix this, Neeks. I promise. We're gonna fix it."
"Nico…" Melody breathed.
"Mel?" He asked hopefully, pulling back from Will and turning towards her.
"Nico…" She repeated. "Nico?"
He smiled. She was asking for him, so he picked her up and placed her back on the bed, gently stroking her cheek. His smile faded as she started to thrash and cry out.
"Nico!" She screamed, "No! Percy! Leave them alone! Stop! Leave them be! It's me you want! No! Nico! Let him go!"
Any calmness Will had instilled in Nico disappeared as the boy became just as frantic as before, shaking his cousin desperately.
"I'm here! It's okay! Melody please listen to me! I'm okay!"
"I doubt she can hear you, Neeks," said Will sadly.
"She has to, Will! She has to wake up!"
"Neeks, stop and think before we forget, it could be important to helping Melody. What did she say before she collapsed? I can only remember the first line."
That wasn't true, Will remembered the whole thing, but he needed to distract the son of Hades from his cousin.
"Um. She said, 'Poseidon's daughter shall never wake'," he began, "Which is her and this nightmare I can't wake her from."
"Then what?" Will urged, writing down the first line to take to Chiron.
"Next was, 'the Sea God's son we shall take', which I know is definitely Percy. Remember how he disappeared when you guys were fixing up Melody? He barely leaves her side when she's healthy, let alone hurt."
"Uh-huh." Will nodded.
"After that was, 'and then shall his children meet their fate', which must be what's happening to them happening, and 'unless a child of death can their lives save', which means either me or Hazel has to save them, although I doubt it's referring to Hazel because she's Roman, and Pluto is more about riches than death."
"Good, and then?"
"Then there was, 'from each child's ruthless cage', and 'one in the mind and one under the waves'. So 'one in the mind' must be Melody's never-ending nightmare, and 'one under the waves' must mean Percy is somewhere underwater."
"Let's take this information to Chiron. I'll tell one of my siblings to watch over Melody specifically, so she doesn't hurt herself."
Nico glanced at his cousin and flinched when another scream and his name flew from her lips, followed by more pleas and the name of her brother.
"Are you sure they can handle the screaming?" He asked quietly.
"If they can bear to listen to me sing in the shower," said Will, pecking Nico's cheek, "They can stand Melody's screams, babe. Let's go to Chiron."