This is my first FanFic! Basically this is a story about a girl who becomes BFF with our fave son of Hades, Nico di Angelo, who is doing a seeker job. This chapter is sort of a prologue (the main character's dream). Enjoy and comment! Chapter Two preview included!

Chapter One: A Very Strange Business Meeting

When I opened my eyes, I was in a huge stone cavern. It stretched for miles in all directions. Around me, poplar trees shivered. The ground was all cold dry soil. A river rushed somewhere.

I felt my legs moving, walking. As I got closer to the sound of the river, I smelled hot milk…with honey? Even if I didn't know much about my surroundings (basically none at all) I knew this wasn't a place to keep a warm comforting drink like that.

I pushed through the last of the poplar trees and scrambled up a small rise. The edge fell away to a gray sand beach, which rolled up to the side of a milky white river.

The hot-milk-and-honey smell was overpowering. I jumped down, sending a spray of gray sand flying, and was walking to the edge of the river when I heard voices. Quickly I threw myself behind a sand dune and listened.

Peeking my head out carefully, I saw a skeleton. I hadn't noticed it till now, but I had the feeling that it had been there the whole time. Dressed in the ripped remains of a black tunic-like clothing (an Ancient Greek chiton) and bleached bones clacking, it was quite a sight.

"Clack-he-is-clack-so-clack-ing-LATE!" the skeleton huffed. It glanced around and don to its wrist like checking an invisible watch. What was it waiting for?

Sighing impatiently, the skeleton yelled, "Ares!"

In response to his call, a boar burst from the sand. The beast was covered in bright red shaggy fur, and from the sand to its withers was about three feet. Ivory tusks extended from its muzzle, approximately a yard and a half long. I wondered what you'd have to do to turn it into pork chops.

It pawed the ground, tossed its large head, and snorted.

"Yeah, mock me. But I've got news, and you'll like it," the skeleton said, but it wasn't a skeleton anymore. A man stood beside the boar. A man with long oily dark hair framing an olive-pale, malicious face and glinting dark eyes surveying its companion. A man wearing a black pinstripe suit and shiny, fancy shoes.

"Can you transform?" asked the man. "Speaking stupidus piggus gives me a headache."

"Chill, Hades," the pig said. It shimmered into a muscled man wearing a tight red shirt, a black leather jacket, deep blue jeans, and motorcycle boots. Stubble covered the lower half of his scarred, tanned face. Half-melted wraparound shades hid his eyes and a black leather scabbard hung on his right hip.

"He has walked into the trap," Hades announced proudly.

Trying to appear disinterested, Ares unsheathed a huge double-handed sword and began sharpening it. "What did you use as bait?"

Hades' mouth curled into a sneer. "That mortal girl-Dare, the Oracle. Nico has been a huge help."

"Your son, the di Angelo boy?"

"Yes. Naturally, though, the boy has no memory of his treachery. The Lethe comes in handy. And your mission?"

"I convinced Aphrodite and Eros to shoot the blond and your son with arrows. Eros will do it at camp. Nico is a seeker at a private school."

As I crouched there, listening, I tried to remember where I had heard the name Nico di Angelo. All this stuff about mortals, the Oracle, what the heck was that? And something about Aphrodite and arrows?

"Let us be off. His powers have been greatly weakened. We must take him now and return Dare to those pesky half-bloods." Hades insisted.

"Perfect. Now let us leave." Hades said.

"Wait. Before we go," Ares interrupted, "tell me-why did you have me ask Aphrodite to tell Eros to shoot Annabeth and Nico di Angelo with arrows?"

Hades grinned, and this might sound really corny, but he really looked like a cat who ate a canary.

"Simple. Jackson is dating-what's her name?-Annabeth"-Ares' eyes widened in surprise-"and we want poor little Perseus to be preoccupied with his love life, not investigating why he is absent. Jackson seems to be involved with every scheme the half-bloods discover."

"But why can't we just kill him?" Ares whined. "It would be so much more easy and highly satisfying."

"I know, Ares, but if we killed him, Poseidon would turn against us. They would investigate us. All of Camp Half-Blood will be searching for his killer."

"Oh. Okay. I knew that. One more thing-"

"Wait," Hades said, and my chest clenched. "Someone is here, listening."

"Huh? You're hallucinating."

"Gods don't hallucinate, you idiot! And I'm surprised you know a four-syllable word anyway. There! Behind that sand dune!"

"The grayish-sandy one?" Ares questioned.

"They're all gray sand! Oh, why did I choose you as my partner?" Hades snapped his fingers, and I felt a wave ripple out. The dune crumbled and I backed away slowly, back toward the rise.

"It's just a girl. Not Jackson," said Ares, squinting.

"Still." Hades insisted. "She's a half-blood. Maybe age twelve, maybe even thirteen. Jackson's promise shall bring her to camp. The girl must not remember." The black-suited figure waved a hand, and a column of white Lethe water bubbled up and shot toward me. I scrambled back, screaming. I knew somehow that the water must not touch me. The world flickered.

Before I blacked out, I caught a glimpse of a glimmer of blue water—protecting me?

Ok, here it is! Please comment. Chapter Two preview below.

Chapter Two: Family History

I sat up in bed, choking on my scream. The white water and the trees stretching up to a rocky cavern ceiling dissipated.

I swung my head about frantically, but there was nothing to see. I was in my room. Teal walls with white-painted swirls and a huge picture window and seat. White curtains spread across the window, turning the dawn light milky—like the Lethe.

I had to forget about that. Swinging my legs out under the black-and-blue comforter, I rubbed my eyes. Seconds later I almost had a heart attack when my IPod alarm blared, playing the intro of a popular song.

I hit the OFF button wearily and walked to my walk-in closet. I chose a pale green-and-silver tunic with green cap sleeves, dark-wash skinny jeans, and glittery gray ballet flats with cute red bows.

I dressed mechanically, still analyzing every detail of my dream. So preoccupied was I, that when I walked out the door, I didn't hear my phone ring. I didn't see the picture of the olive-skinned, dark-haired boy that popped up on the display, didn't notice the Caller ID reading the name of my best friend for the past year, NICO DI ANGELO.