Alright. I've decided to change Miri's dad, because someone called me "sick" for suggesting incest. So I Googled some Greek gods, and finally found a perfect parent for Miri. He's so dark...
I had trouble writing this. A few days ago, a boy ripped out my heart and stomped all over it, so I was pretty depressed.

Not that you would care.

Chapter Four- iDream, iWake, iCuss.

Nico's POV

Percy said demigod dreams suck.

Yup. They do.

I was at my dad's place, obviously. I could recognize the dark place anytime. My father was sitting on his throne, but Persephone's flowery seat was empty. Thank the gods it was summer… that goddess hates me.

"Um… My lord?" I asked. "What am I doing here?"

Dad looked down at me from his throne, his fiery eyes burning intensely… as usual.

"Hello, son."

Hmm. He didn't seem to be in a bad mood. In fact, he just looked bored.

I glanced around at the marble walls and the skeletons in the corner. Their jaws moved slightly—they were grinning, I think. I looked back up at my father, waiting for him to speak.

"Well, Nico," he said at last, the bored expression still on his face. "I didn't want to tell you this, but…" He tapped the throne, his fingers scraping across the fused human bodies.

"But what?" I asked tentatively.

"Don't interrupt me!" Hades boomed. The ground shook a little.

I bowed, used to his anger. "I'm sorry, Father. Continue."

He sighed, rubbing his pale temples. "Miri isn't really your half sister."

What?!

"Um… What was that?"

Dad glared at me, the flames in his eyes leaping dangerously. "Are you deaf, boy? Miri isn't really your half sister."

"But… You talked to her! You even gave her a sword!" I stammered.

Hades rolled his eyes. "I was covering for a friend of mine. He… He doesn't want her to find out who her dad really is."

My dad covered for someone? My dad?
Reading my thoughts, he glared at me again. "I can be nice, you know."

I shrugged. "Okay, my lord. So… I'm not Miri's half brother after all?"
Dad shook his head. "Nope. But Charon is."

If I had been drinking some water, I would've spit it out. All over my daddy's bronze floors.

"Erebus?" I choked out. "Miri's dad is Erebus?!"

"Don't tell her!" Dad said, and the scene started to change.

……………………………………………………

I found myself sitting on a cloud. Yeah, a cloud. It was fluffy and pink, and I felt like I was sitting on a Tempurpedic mattress instead of evaporated water. As the cloud floated slowly, I sniffed the air, immediately catching a whiff of some really good perfume.

"Nico!" A voice cooed.

Aphrodite had appeared out of nowhere, standing before me on thin air. She was wearing a shimmery dress, and she looked as beautiful as always.

"H-Hi," I stammered, inhaling her perfume.

The goddess of love smiled at me, and pulled something out of her purse. It was… an iPod. A pink iPod Nano, decorated with little red hearts.

"Um... Cool iPod." I said, although I would've preferred a black one myself.

Aphrodite gave me a stunningly bright smile. "Thank you." She flicked the iPod on, and scrolled through her songs.

"Hmm… have you ever listened to Taylor Swift?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but she answered the question herself. "Nah, you probably don't. Whatever." She carefully stuck her earphones into her ears, trying not to mess up her hair.
"Anyway," the goddess said. She adjusted her dress, then sat down next to me on the fluffy pink cloud.

"You just found out that Miri isn't your sister after all, didn't you?" She flashed another bright grin. "That means that you don't have to follow those demigod rules. You can freely fall in love with her."

I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks, and I spontaneously grabbed one of Aphrodite's earphones. She had somehow expected me to do that, so I (luckily) didn't mess up her hair.

And I said,
"Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess
It's a love story - baby just say 'Yes.'"

Oh. That song. Um, what's it called? Love… Love…

"'Love Story'," Aphrodite said, smiling dreamily as she bobbed her head to the music.
"I bet you're going to have a love story with Miri. You guys are going to be like Percy and Annabeth!"

"Uh… okay," I said, as the country music blared on. It was a little strange to be sitting on a pink cloud with the goddess of love, listening to her iPod.

"So, uh… why are you here in my dream, ma'am?" I looked around uneasily. The cloud (and our conversation) was going nowhere.

"Let's see…" She seemed to have forgotten. After five minutes, she suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh, wait! I remember now!" Aphrodite smiled at me. "I want you to start your own love story. I'm not going to interfere… that much."

"Love story… with Miri?" I squeaked, panicking.

"Yeah. Who else?" She gave me a duh! Look.

"NO!" I yelled.

Aphrodite stared at me for a long moment before rolling her beautiful eyes.

"What, you liked her better when you thought you two were actually siblings? On demigod standards, that's kind of disgusting."

"That's not what I meant!" I yelped. "I'm just…"
Wimpy. You hang around dead people, yet you can't make a move on a girl! I thought glumly to myself.

"Exactly!" Aphrodite exclaimed. Taylor Swift's song was almost over now, and she pulled the earphone out of my ear. "So go out there and confess your dying love, then you won't be a wimp anymore!"

I sighed, wondering why this goddess decided on bothering me.

"No thanks," I muttered.

All gods can look scary when they're angry, even Aphrodite. Her eyes got icy cold as she glared at me, her expression getting hard. Hearts danced in her eyes, each breaking in half with loud crack!

After a few long, painful minutes of immortal anger, she calmed down.

"Okay, fine. Maybe you just don't know how to make a move. That's fine. I don't have enough time to force you two together, anyway."

I sighed in relief, glad she wasn't going to do anything.

"But…" Aphrodite said slowly.

I froze, not wanting to find out what she was planning on doing. Why couldn't the stupid dream just end?

"My children love playing cupid. In fact, one of my kids is Cupid—Eros. But that's not my point. My point is..." Aphrodite smiled. "I can influence my children to force you and Miri together. And I will. Maybe I'll visit their dreams…" Her smile grew, bigger and bigger.

"Bye, Nico! Enjoy your love life!" Before I could protest, the goddess disappeared in a cloud of sweet perfume.

The cloud disappeared, too, and I went tumbling down.

I woke to huge rays of sunlight shining in my eyes. Gods! I thought. If Miri is a daughter of the god of darkness, why does she like the sun so much?

Wait a second… Miri's the daughter of the god of darkness!

The memories of my dream slammed hard into my mind, and my eyes fluttered open.

The first thing I saw was a pair of dark eyes staring down at me. But they weren't my eyes anymore. They weren't Dad's.
They were Erebus's, and they were so different. Some people might think we have the same eyes, that we have Hades' eyes. I thought that, too. But now I realized our eyes weren't alike at all. When I looked in the mirror, I saw mad, fiery eyes; eyes that reflected the dead. Miri's eyes, staring down at me right now, weren't like that at all. They were shadowy black, a never-ending well of darkness.

"Oh, you're up! I've gotta tell you something." Miri said, pinching my cheek. I sat up, glaring at my…"Sister".

"What do you want?" I growled. My eyes focused on the ghost servants standing in the corner. One of them—the skeleton who had once said that Miri had control over them like I did—gave me a nod that clearly said, "I was forced by your father, Master. She is not really our Mistress, as you know."

I sighed, looking back to Miri.

"Alright, what do you need to tell me?" I asked inquiringly.

Her face broke into a grin. "Do you know Antoinette, from the Aphrodite cabin?"

I shrugged; I really didn't want to think about Aphrodite.

Wait.

I froze, thinking about what the love goddess had said.

"I can influence my children to force you and Miri together. And I will. Maybe I'll visit their dreams…"

Oh, no.

Miri continued on, taking a seat on the edge of my bed, oblivious to how stiff and rigid I had suddenly become.

"Antoinette had this idea, and she told it to Chiron. He agreed, so…"

I braced myself. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe it had nothing to do with me at all.

Miri grinned, as if it was a joke. "So… for the first time, Camp Half-Blood is going to have a dance! Everyone has to go, so you can't back out of this, Nico. Plus, you have to ask someone to go with you. Who are you gonna ask?"

I was frozen like a block of ice. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I had to go? I had to ask someone?

"Miri," Aphrodite's voice echoed in my head. "Ask Miri."

Aw, shit.

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