Author's note: Hey! This chapter should be LONG, so I won't wastes too much of your time. This was requested by Daughter Of Poseidon, it' Waterland from Annabeth's point of view. I would like to thank xoxomega and piperrenesmeeclary2010 for bugging me so much that I have to get off my lazy butt and write this. So, on with the chapter, hopefully it doesn't suck too much!

Secret

We were searching the Tunnel of Love, and I had the suspicious feeling that this mission was not going to be as simple as we previously thought.

"So Ares and Aphrodite," Percy said, "they have a thing going?" Maybe his head is full of kelp.

"That's old gossip, Percy,: I told him. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know," I said. Though knowing him, he probably didn't. "Hephaestus. The black-smith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers."

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?"

"Oh sure," I said. "He caught them together once. I mean literally, caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like . . ." I stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."

In front of us was an enormous empty pool. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl.

Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Eros stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!

Grover crept towards the edge. "Guys, look."

Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze.

"This is too easy," Percy said, stating the obvious. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

Well, that seemed to be all there was to it. I ran my fingers along the base of the nearest Eros statue. "There's a Greek letter carved here," I said, trusting this place even less. "Eta. I wonder . . ."

"Grover," Percy said, "you smell any monsters?"

Grover sniffed the wind. "Nothing."

"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

Well, that was a little harsh. Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Good, I'm glad he apologized. "I'm going down there." Now what was he thinking? He couldn't just go down there alone; we all knew it was most likely a trap!

"I'll go with you." Grover volunteered, not sounding very enthusiastic, but he was probably trying to make up for the arch thing.

"No," Percy told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup in case something goes wrong." I approved of his tactics. Making Grover feel important, but also trying to keep his friend safe.

Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?" Gods. Was I the only one who found this suspicious?

"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"

"Are you kidding?" My face was burning.

"What's the problem now?" He demanded.

"Me, go with you to the . . . the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?" It's not like I would really mind. But what if my mother found out?

"Who's going to see you?" He said that, yet his face resembled a tomato. "Fine," he told me. "I'll do it myself."

But to his surprise, when he started down the side of the pool, I followed him. I muttered something about how boys always mess things up. Well, they do, especially Percy, but really, I just wanted to keep him from getting himself killed.

We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf. Aphrodite's silk scarf. I looked around; there were mirrors all around the rim of the pool, all facing this spot. Of course, the perfect place for two of the most self-centered gods to make out.

Percy, the idiot, picked up Aphrodite's scarf. He smiled like an idiot, probably about to do something really stupid. So, of course, I snatched it away from him and stuffed it in my pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic." I warned. Seaweed Brain didn't even seem to know what he was doing.

"What?"

"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."

Oh, just great, a trip wire, why couldn't I have noticed that earlier? "Wait," I said.

"Too late."

"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap." Oh, a trap, now if only someone had considered that earlier.

Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding. The whole pool is a trap. Great, just great. Grover yelled, "Guys!"

On the rim, the statues of Eros were drawing their bows. Then they fired, but not at us. They fired at each other, golden cables trailing behind them. When they anchored, smaller threads began to weave together. Perfect, a golden net. If two powerful gods can be contained in this, the time for sarcasm is over, we're so dead.

"We have to get out, " Percy said.

"Duh!" What an idiot. Of course we have to get out!

He grabbed the shield, and we ran. But of course, climbing up the slope was definitely not as easy as going down. "Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was attempting to keep a section of the net open, but the golden threads were wrapping around his hands.

Then, the Eros' heads popped open, and out came video cameras. Spotlights rose around the pool, a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute . . . fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight . . ."

"Hephaestus!" I screamed. Wow, so obvious, I really should have seen that. "I'm so stupid! Eta is 'H'. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!" I could have figured it out, if only Percy hadn't been talking.

We'd almost made it when the mirrors opened like hatched and thousands of tiny metallic . . .

I screamed. Thousands of tiny spiders, all coming towards us. "Spiders!" I was in complete shock. "Sp-sp-aaaah!" I fell backwards, almost being overwhelmed by spiders, but Percy pulled me back in. I would have thanked him, but all I could do was scream. There were millions of them. This trap was meant to capture gods. We were surrounded by millions of killer spiders, and no plan could change that. We were doomed. Percy and I climbed into the boat. I think Percy told me to help, but I just couldn't. The loudspeaker continued counting, and the spiders began spitting golden thread. One alone was easy enough to break, but there were so many. He kicked a spider away from my leg.

My brain wasn't working right; I could barely register what was going on. This is why children of Athena fear spiders. We do not fear the creatures themselves, but the effect they have on us. It takes away our most powerful weapon, our ability to think clearly and form a plan.

The loudspeaker counted down, Percy yelled at Grover. I think he had a plan, but I wouldn't hold much hope. I was screaming my head off,. Not literally, but close enough. Grover was in the control booth, pulling levers and hitting buttons. The loudspeaker continued counting. Percy closed his eyes, was it the end?

What if these were our last moments, what if we were about to be eaten alive by hoards of metal spiders? All the things I should have told him, but was unable to now flashed through my mind. The voice on the loudspeaker got to zero, and water roared into the pool.

Wait. Water? Percy pulled me into my seat, fastening my seatbelt. And then the tidal wave hit. We were completely soaked, or at least I was, but the spiders were gone. My mind cleared, and I saw the cameras filming us.

Percy seemed to be controlling the boat, so weren't crashing into the sides of the pool. Then we turned. The boat rocketed through the tunnel, both of us screaming. We twisted and turned past a bunch of romantic valentines junk, and then we were out of the tunnel. We were barrelling towards the exit.

If this ride was actually working, we would have sailed through the golden Gates of Love and down into the exit pool. One problem, there was a chain on the gates, and a lock on the chains. Two boats had gone out ahead of us, they were now piled against the gate. One was submerged, the other cracked in two.

"Unfasten your seatbelt," Percy yelled to me.

"Are you crazy?" Seriously, what was he thinking?

"Unless you want to get smashed to death." He strapped the shield to his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." Oh, I think I got it. When we hit the gate, we'd use the force to jump the gate. If we were lucky, we'd land in the pool.

But I wasn't feeling all that lucky. I grabbed his hand. If we were going down, we'd be going down together.

"On my mark," he said.

"No! On my mark!" I knew how to do this. I could get us maximum lift, and we'd need a fair bit to make the gates.

"What?"

"Simple physics!" I yelled. "Force time the trajectory angle-"

"Fine!" he shouted. "On your mark!"

Alright, I could do this, it's just simple physics. I waited, hesitating that extra second, then I yelled, "Now!"

Crack!

I got us maximum lift, we went straight over the gates. But then, we went over the pool, we were heading towards solid asphalt.

Something grabbed my arm, "Ouch!" That hurt.

It was Grover. He had me by the arm and Percy by the shirt. He was attempting to stop us from crashing, but we had all the momentum.

"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"

We were spiralling towards the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall.

We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight through the hole tourists would normally put their faces in. We tumbled to the ground. We were both pretty banged up, but at least we were alive. Ares shield was still on Percy's arm.

Once we caught our breath, Percy and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving us.

Looking back, I saw our boat totally smashed, and the Eros statues still filming. Then Percy seemed to notice as well, and he yelled at them. "Show's over! Thank you! Goodnight!" Then the statues turned back to their original positions and the lights shut off. The park was dark and quiet once again.

Percy hefted the shield and turned to us. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."

On the way back to the diner, all I could think about was the moment when I thought we were doomed. I had wanted to say so much, but I couldn't. If that ever happened again, I would tell him. But not now, maybe not for a long time. But I would tell him eventually. I would tell him all the things I had wanted to say ever since I first looked into his eyes. Those things would not remain a secret.

Author's note: Wow, this is my longest chapter EVER! So, I'll be staying up all night this new years, and I would LOVE to spend that time writing some of your requests, some please give me some. I always love to hear from you guys, I want to make you all happy. This chapter took hours to write, but if you guys like it, then I'll consider it time well spent. I hope you all have had a great year! Love ya!