The next morning you were woken up by loud shrieking from the room next to yours. Nico groaned in annoyance and tried to hold you closer to him, but you bolted out of bed, grabbed your knife, and ran into Mary's room. It sounded as if she was screaming bloody murder, and you just hoped it wasn't a monster. Opening the door a little too harshly, you came into the room panting. Looking over at where she was you saw her doing a little dance as she pointed at something. You squinted at what it was and your heart raced. A small arachnid was stationed on the wall. You began to scream also. You ran to Mary and clutched her arms tightly.

"Kill it! Kill it! Someone kill it!" You screamed on the top of your lungs as you had your legs wrapped around Mary's torso. "Y/n! Why don't you kill it!" Mary shouted back as she eyed the spider nervously. "Because it's a vile creature that could harm us more than you could ever imagine!" You shouted back frightened. Mary rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "My hero." The spider startled crawling towards the floor and you screamed louder, almost making Mary's ears bleed.

"What is all this yelling and screaming about?" Nico asked as he drowsily marched into the room. He was still wearing what he had worn yesterday, only his clothes were a little untidy. You fought back a blush as you tried to tell him about the spider when it began to crawl towards you. You screamed bloody murder and started climbing higher up Mary's body. "Kill it!" You shouted as you began to shake violently. You were on the brink of crying because you were so scared.

You buried your head into your cousin's neck as you tried to calm down. You heard Nico chuckle as he went to grab something to get rid of the horrid arachnid. "Shh, it's okay Y/n, really. It's just a spider." Mary cooed as she began to stroke your hair softly. "Not to me it isn't." You answered back as you fought away tears. "Wasn't I the one who called you in here for help and I'm the one who ended up helping you?" She taunted as you squeezed her tighter. "Please don't joke around right now." You whispered hoarsely as you tried to not look at the spider. Your body shook with fear as you felt it crawl towards you. "Oh my gods! Nico please hurry up!" You screamed as you made the mistake of looking at it. It was about a foot away from Mary's toes.

"I'm coming Y/n, don't worry," he called back to you as he entered the room with a cup and piece of paper. You turned your head away as he scooped up the little monster and held it. "Aww, is poor little Y/n afraid of a little spider?" He jested as he held the cup and paper on his hand. You scowled and climbed down from Mary. "No, I just really don't like spiders." You answered as you went to your room to get away from the arachnid.

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"Oh come on Y/n! It's just a spider, come out of your room already!" Nico begged as you sat behind the door with your arms crossed. "No." You responded as you crawled away from the door and shoved random objects against it. "You know I can just shadow travel in there right?" Nico asked. You could tell that he had his boyish smirk on his face by his tone of voice. Darn that grin.

"Darn it!" You muttered as you put everything back in its right place. You quickly ran over to the door and sat in front of it so that Nico wouldn't be able to barge in. You re-thought your answer and shouted, "If you dare come in here I won't talk to you ever again!" Nico groaned and banged his head against the door.

"No you won't." He replied as he placed his head against the smooth wood. "Don't underestimate me Death Breath." You answered with a smirk. A few more nags were heard on the other side of the door. "If I don't bring the spider into your room when I shadow travel will you still talk to me?" He asked hopefully.

"No way! I'm getting dressed!" You shouted back as you ran over to your closet and yanked open the doors. "Sure you are. Open the door." Nico commented as he jiggled the locked knob. "Don't you dare! I'm getting dressed!" You shouted back as you tugged a shirt over your head.

As soon as you finished putting your shorts on Nico emerged from the shadows. "Nico di Angelo! I swear on the River Styx I will personally kill you before any monster could!" You threatened as you put your hands on your hips. Nico laughed and shadow traveled out of the room. "Nico!" You roared as you threw open the door.

A hand appeared out of the shadows and set a jar on the floor in front of you. You screamed as the spider was released out of its container and began to crawl towards you. You heard Nico laughing somewhere and began to run around the house. "Nico di Angelo you are so dead!" You said as you were tugged into the shadows and away from the spider. 'I really hope he killed the spider and was summoning its spirit like he does his chauffeur. . .' you thought to yourself as you felt cold hands grasp your shoulders.

Nico chuckled as he gave you a small smile. "What?" He asked sheepishly as you glared at him. You placed your hands on your hips and glared at him even more. Nico laughed once more and you started to become agitated. "You know what." You stated coldly as you saw him quirk an eyebrow at you. He pulled you into a hug and your anger faded away as you became confused. You cautiously wrapped your arms around his neck, hugging him back gently. Nico never liked physical contact, he only allowed Hazel and sometimes Will to touch him. Plus, he hated hugs. Nico held onto you for about five minutes before you heard Mary call for you. You released yourself from Nico and tried walking out of the shadows and ran into a force field. "What the Zeus Almighty is this thing?" You questioned as you rubbed your face gently.

Nico laughed softly at you and waved his hand across the shield. "It's called being in the shadows, you can only be let in by a child of Hades and let out by one, not the other way around." Nico explained as you stuck one foot out of the shadows curiously.