(Nico)

I was stunned. I thought Thalia and I were the only ones who knew about the secret under the tree!

(Thalia)

"It's not what you think! Nico and I- we're just- we-" I stuttered.

"I see. You two are dating," Annabeth said. I sighed and hissed in her ear, "You can't tell anyone."

(Nico)
The tree!

(Annabeth)

Why didn't Thalia tell me?!

(Piper)
I was watching all of this unfold from the window and I hopped out of it. The window I mean. I jumped out of the window.

There was a thick bush that caught my fall and I took Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico to the secret under the tree.

"Look, you three, none of you can tell anyone about this," I warned. I took them through a whole big enough for us to fit though and down rough steps. "What is this place?" Thalia asked. "This is what I made," Annabeth breathed.

"I made underground tunnels years and years ago. My parents took Matt, Bobby, and me camping here. There was a forest. We stayed for a week and I came back the next week to finish the tunnels. There are 12 in all," Annabeth said.

She ran down to the opposite end of the tunnel and disappeared. She found one of her secret passage ways. "No. There are 13. Someone made a new one," Annabeth said when we caught up to her. She went down the hall of me and Jason. That's what I called it.

"The Hall of Carvings," Annabeth muttered. She ran her hand along the wall and felt the branch. She pulled it out and up. A door opened.

"Annabeth! Please explain!" I called after her. She stopped in her tracks and Thalia ran into her.

"When I was 8 I made a tunnel. I came back the next three years to continue it. When Piper took me down the tree I felt carvings in the wall and I had made 12 tally marks and 4 different carvings to signal the openings and the triggers. I felt a 13th tally mark."

"That was me," I said quietly. "I thought that was the couples that had found this place, so I made another one." Annabeth ran off, looking for something.

"But there is another room!" She yelled.

She found a doorway and stopped in front of it. It read in Greek, Enter And Be Cursed.

"Don't go in there," she said.

I looked into it and it looked inviting. I felt something jerk in my mind. "I think I should go in there," I said. "No, Piper," Annabeth said.

I started to go in and Annabeth held me back. "NO!" she said firmly.

I felt her hand on my shoulder and the urge to go in was gone.

"We have to get out of here," Annabeth said. I nodded and she led the way.