Pez got out the lighter from his back pocket to light up their surroundings. It was still quite dark and dreary, but now they could see how much crap Lamia eats. There were pizza boxes, shells, a dead shark, bones, chicken legs, pieces of boats and rafts, and much more lying on the floor of her stomach. There were spider webs hanging from the ceiling, and a live rooster clucking around. Strange, unidentifiable liquids were dripping from unidentifiable objects, and the stench was just plain awful. Lying in the corner was a small girl. Was she alive? No idea.

Annabeth raced over to the body with Pez right behind her.

"Is she alive?" he asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," she said as she bent over to try and hear a heartbeat.

"Yeah, I'm alive." The voice startled both of them.

"Hi," Annabeth said.

"Hi," she said back. Her long brown hair covered most of her face, until she pushed it out of the way, revealing startling, bright, purple eyes. Her skin was completely covered in blisters, cuts, and terrible rashes. The sight of bone made Annabeth's stomach flop. "I'm Dana. Dana Dawson, daughter of Dionysus."

Annabeth smiled. "That explains the eyes. I'm Annabeth Chase, Athena. And that's Pez-"

"Dude! This is just like in Pinocchio when they're in that whale's stomach!" he said as he stood up and looked around, holding the rooster and petting its head.

"-obviously not Athena," Annabeth continued, making Dana laugh. "How old are you?"

"12."

"What happened? How'd you end up here?"

"My mom thought that I needed some bonding time with my step dad, so we went on this fishing trip. The boat stopped working all of a sudden so we washed up on some island, and there was Lamia, ready to eat us. I didn't have a sword or anything so I couldn't fight it. She got to us, swallowed me, and here I am. I have no idea what happened to my step dad." She looked like she was about to cry.

"How long have you been here?"

"I don't know. A few days. Maybe weeks. Possibly even months. You can't really tell when the sun rises or lowers in here."

Annabeth swallowed. They didn't have that much time. "What happens . . . you know, later? I mean, there must have been more kids than just us."

"Oh there were. After a while, when she has to . . . go, her stomach acid gets going."

"Stomach acid?"

"Yeah. It burns away at your skin."

"Ouchy," Pez said from the corner, still holding his rooster. He was trying to comb its feathers with a dead fish bone. Wasn't working out too well.

"After too many times, you just wither away into nothing."

"Nothing?" Annabeth asked.

"Nothing. Then you travel out her small intestine and all those other tube things and then you're out the other end."

Annabeth didn't really know how to ask this, but she had to know. "How . . . how much longer do you have?"

She saw Dana bite her lip and watched as a small tear ran down her cheek. "I don't know. I'm guessing about only one or two more times."

"That's it?"

She nodded her head.

"So there's no way to get out?"

"Not that I know of."

"Can't you just like cut through her stomach or something?" Pez asked, now trying to brush the rooster's teeth with a small brush that used to be used to apply eye shadow.

Dana shook her head. "I don't have any weapons." She looked at Annabeth hopefully.

She sadly shook her head as well. "I dropped my dagger before we started running. Pez?"

"Huh?"

"Will you stop playing with that rooster for one minute? Our lives are on the line here."

"That rooster has a name, you know?"

Annabeth sighed while Dana giggled, getting over her tears. "What's his name?" Annabeth asked between clenched teeth.

"Trevor."

"You named the rooster Trevor?"

He nodded his head proudly. "Thought of it myself."

After rolling her eyes, and mumbling, "I can tell," she repeated her earlier question.

"You wouldn't even let me touch my sword earlier!" he accused. "I don't have anything except my prison shank."

Annabeth gaped at him as he took out a strange weapon made out of a toothbrush from his back pocket. "You have a prison shank?" She was astonished.

"Yeah." He was astonished as well. How could she have known him this long and be surprised by a prison shank?

"Why?"

"Just in case I need to shank someone while I'm in prison. Duh."

She rolled her eyes. "I just shouldn't even ask anymore."

"Really. I thought you would've learned by now."

"Yeah, but-" Annabeth started, but was suddenly cut off by the loud sound of rushing water. She covered her head and felt the blisters forming immediately.

Duh, duh, duuuh!

Acid.

The stomach kind, to be exact.

Pez raced over, leaving Trevor in the open, and grabbed onto Annabeth, covering up as much of her as he could with his own body. The acid was coming down fast and hard. Blisters and rashes were popping up quickly on their skin. They grunted in pain as the acid sank in, right to the bones. After three minutes of the terrible pain, the acid finally stopped rushing out of the esophagus, and drained out into Lamia's intestine. Pez and Annabeth separated from each other, but not by much seeing as it hurt to even move. Annabeth gaped at her boyfriend. He had covered her body as much as he could, and she could just guess that he looked much worse than her.

"You saved my life," she said as she stared at him in awe.

He shook his head as much as he could. "No. You wouldn't have died." He took off his shirt to let the blisters have some air and the sight made Annabeth gasp, and it wasn't only because of how red his back was or how many blisters he had.

"Whatever, but thanks anyways. You saved my face."

He laughed, but quickly regretted it when he cringed in pain. "No problem."

"Hey, Dana, are you alright?" Annabeth asked before looking over her shoulder, searching for the small Dionysus girl. "Dana?" She looked around frantically for her, but she was nowhere to be found. "Dana?"

"Annabeth," Pez said softly before she collapsed in to his arms, making him cringe once more, but he truly didn't mind.

They sat there for at least half an hour in each other's arms. They both needed a break from trying to save the world for just a little while. Sure, they really didn't know Dana all that well, but just knowing how young she was and that they might be next was enough to make them crack.

"Hey," Pez said, eventually lifting Annabeth up to eye level when her sniffles stopped. "You gonna be alright?"

She wiped her nose with her sleeve before answering, "I think so."

"I think it's getting kinda late. How 'bout we take a little nap?" She nodded and watched him gather items for a make-shift bed - an old picnic blanket, a potato sack filled with a giant hair ball filled with various types of fur and hair, and a very damp rug.

"That doesn't look like a very comfy bed, Pez," Annabeth told him with a small smile.

"Hey, it's the best I can do." He laid down on the picnic blanket and covered himself with the rug. Looking over at Annabeth he patted the spot next to him. She smiled once more and followed instructions.

They were both cuddled up - Pez was lying on his back, absently stroking Annabeth's hair while she rested on his chest, head placed right in the crook of his neck, circling a small blister on his stomach - and enjoying the peace and quiet when Annabeth spoke. "How are we going to do this, Pez?"

He paused before speaking. "Now," he said, "before I go and answer, please explain what you mean by 'this' cuz last time you got pretty pissed, and-"

She laughed. "I mean this as in getting out of Lamia's stomach, and finishing this quest, and saving Percy, and having this relationship, and just everything."

"Oh. I'm not too sure about those." She laughed once more. "But actually, I think I may have an idea of how to get out of here."

Annabeth stopped laughing and stared up at him. "Really?"

He nodded slightly. "I don't really think you'll like it too much, but-"

"No, no, no. I'm sure I'll love it."

"I wouldn't say that yet."

"What's your plan?"

"She needs to poop us out."

There was silence for a while except for the sound of Trevor sloshing around in a puddle in the corner.

"What?" asked Annabeth.

"I told you you wouldn't like it."

"You want to be . . . pooped out?"

"Yep. Just like my lucky marble out of Aunt Jody on chili day."

She stared at him.

"There's really no other way, Annabeth. I mean, we don't have any weapons so we can't cut ourselves out, and her throat seems too long for us to climb up and touch her hangy balls-"

"Uvula."

"Whatever. She can't throw us up, we can't cut through, and you don't seem to have any other plan."

"Yes, but Pez . . . that's just so gross."

"I'd rather be dirty than dead."

She paused for a bit. "Let me just think about it, okay?" He nodded and they went back to their silent state. Annabeth was so close to being asleep, when she heard Pez clear his throat and say her name. "Hmm."

"I - I love you."

"What?" She said it more out of shock than lack of hearing, even though he said the three words in a soft mumble. They had only been going out a few weeks, and she most definitely was not expecting him to say that. After an entire year with Percy, it finally took Calypso and Pez to make him say it.

"Uh . . . I said . . . bless you."

Annabeth smiled. "I didn't sneeze."

"Oh, silly me."

They sat in silence for about another minute before Annabeth opened her eyes, looked up at Pez, and kissed him softly. "Bless you, too, Pez."

Have you missed me? Well, duh, it's me. Of course you have!

So, sorry for the long wait, isn't Pezzabeth just adorable, blah, blah, blah.

But GUESS WHAT! I met, yes met, the PJO cast! Ahhhhh! I had an entire (30 second) conversation with Logan Lerman (Percy) and I shook Brandon T. Jackson's (Grover) hand! Ahhhhh! The two of them along with Alexandria Daddario (Annabeth) and Jake Abel (Luke) were at a Borders a few hours away from where I live, so my dad took me to see them, and oh my god, it was amazing! I got like a million pictures, and all of their autographs, and Logan Lerman confessed his undying love for me, and we are now getting married on July 15th, and are having five children named Pez, Sinclair, Axel, Soda, and Nova.

Ok, maybe I lied with those last few, but the rest of it did happen!

I don't own anything! (Except Pez, Dana, and Trevor! Yay! Trevor!)

All the cool kids review!

:) Jordan