I strongly advise that you don't if

1) You're afraid of the shadows

2) Feel as if the speed of travelling through shadows will peel your face off

Unfortunately I was both, I found myself screaming in Nico's ear as I tightened my grip on him as he traveled through the shadows with ease. This must've been mastered by Nico, but clearly not by me!

When I opened my eyes, we were now in an island and I no longer need to cling on Nico for dear life. I hear him cough and I immediately let go, feeling my face heat up. That must've been an embarrassing position. Nico held his head with his hand, and staggered backwards.

"Treya, next time give me a little warning when you decide to scream to death in my ear" He grumbled and sat down on the soft sand.

I crossed my arms, "You give me a little warning when you decide to shadow travel!" I pulled out the canteen with Nectar and poured a little for Nico.

Nico accepted it and drank, "If I had told you, you'd be arguing with me saying you're scared of the dark and all," He mocked as he gave me back the canteen.

"Do all children of the Big Three have extreme powers?" I ask, sitting down in front of him.

He nodded, "Yeah, which is one of the reasons why there aren't a lot of us. Zeus only has two kids, Thalia and Jason. Poseidon only has one, Percy and Hades has three- well, two now. Me and Hazel,"

"Three of you?" I ask, but Nico's mood suddenly shifted, and the air around us dropped. It was a signal for me not to pry any longer.

So I didn't, luckily a voice called out to us, and I was saved from eternal awkwardness.

"Hello there!" A sweet voice called out, and our heads whipped to the direction of the voice.

A lady waved her hand as she walked towards us. I initially thought we landed in an inhabited island but the lady was wearing a baby blue swimsuit matched with a pair of sunglasses, and because I started noticing things, there were actually people here enjoying the beach.

"Welcome!" She said, as she smiled at me. I smiled back but it was a bit hard to look at her because she was beautiful. She had long black hair, as dark as Nico's, skin that seemed so soft I was afraid it was cotton candy and her eyes were bright green, smiling.

I was gonna ask her where we were but Nico beat me to it by unsheathing his sword, he glared at the lady.

"Who are you?" He asked with venom lacing his voice, but as he took a stance, he staggered a little and I caught him by the arm. Nico looked down at me, concerned, his eyes were trying to tell me something.

Don't trust, something like that. I wasn't psychic so I could only assume because his guard was raised but he was tired. He barely got an hour's sleep and he shadow traveled us, here, somewhere wherever this place was.

"Me?" The lady giggled, "I'm no one harmless, come, our boutique's fifty percent off. You two look like you could use the rest,"

I nodded, "Yeah," I say, my mind wandering off to thoughts of getting good sleep and taking a swim at the beach but Nico held my hand, pulling me back to my thoughts. His hand was so cold, it made me flinch. He pulled me back, and continued to give death glares towards the woman.

"No we do not," Nico said with gritted teeth

The lady's green eyes glimmered, clearly amused with Nico "But there's someone here you'd like to meet, she says her name is Kimberly"

I felt like my throat was on fire, "Kim?" I croaked, my voice cracking.

The lady turned to me and smiled sweetly again, "Yes dear, would you like to meet her?"

"But she- she was abducted," I said

She feigned ignorance, "What do you mean? She's inside our hotel, she's having a wonderful time at the tanning machine,"

I look at Nico, asking for answers. He paused, and put on that calculating face on before nodding grimly.

"Alright," He said, and the woman grinned brightly.

"Okay then! Follow me, you two! I can introduce you to our hotel's wonderful management and I could even offer you more discount..." The lady's voice trailed off as she walked ahead of us. I followed but Nico's grip on my hand tightened and he pulled me to him.

My stomach flipped but I ignored it, "I don't trust this place, I believe if I didn't accidentally shadow travel us away, we're still in the sea of monsters," He whispered.

I nodded, "Okay, I'll keep my eyes open. But, these people- Nico, I think they're mortals. I'm not going against your doubt. I doubt this place too, but what are these mortals doing here?" I ask beckoning towards the people who enjoyed the place.

Nico squinted his eyes, "I- you're right. I can easily sense when someone's dead or not, these people are mortals. But please, I'm a bit drained. You really have to be careful,"

"I got it, so-" I was interrupted by the woman who called out for us again.

I gave Nico a worried glance before we followed the woman to the main building of their so called hotel.

When we got inside the main building the first thing I noticed was how new the building looked, and there were just families roaming around, enjoying their vacation. It was really getting hard to believe that this place was suspicious.

"Now, Treya, would you like to wait for Kimberly by taking a swim or do you want to use the powder room and ask the servants for a makeover?" The lady smiled, as she held a clipboard and flipped through it. I nearly took a step back, wary of how they knew my name but I tried to play it cool.

My eyebrows scrunched together, "Makeover?" I asked, looking at myself. It was true I looked a little tattered, but we weren't even half way through our quest.

The lady laughed, "Oh pardon my rudeness, I didn't mean that you looked horrible. Just a little touch up,"

I look at Nico, who was beginning to slowly doze off.

"Um," I hesitated "Okay,"

The lady beamed and clapped her hands, snapping Nico awake. "That settles it, please take mister di Angelo to a hotel room so he could rest and take miss Shaw to the powder room!"

All of the sudden there were servants who grabbed me and Nico by the arm and started leading us away from each other. Nico snapped completely awake, and a murderous aura surrounded him. He then grabbed my wrist to prevent them from pulling me away.

"Why can't I go with Treya?" He asked, glowering.

The lady shook her head, "I'm afraid the powder room is strictly for ladies only but not to worry, you can have your long awaited sleep at our Suite, I can guarantee that much,"

Nico's expression softened, "Okay," He gently said and I was surprised that he could speak that softly, it seemed to me like he was frowning all the time and spoke harshly.

The woman smiled and nodded at her servants, signaling them to take us away.

But before Nico could let go of my wrist, he held my hand and closed it into a fist before he was forcefully dragged away with a soft dazed expression on him like he was going to sleep right now.

As I was brought to the powder room, I stared at myself at the mirror, and I unclasped my hand, noticing Nico had given me his silver skull ring.