Had they traveled two rooms farther or taken the left corridor from the dog-creatures' body, they would have found it sooner—a fountain, its crystal-clear water flowing into a round pool. Even better, as bright artificial stars glowed from the ceiling, illuminating the chamber, Jason realized there was no need for the crystal rod.

  As he slipped the rod into its pouch, Annabeth, with her weapon ready, gave him a nod before cautiously approaching the pool.

  "Is it really water?" she questioned, looking down with a frown.

  Jason just walked past her, putting his hand into the running water. There was no way he was going to let her try first.

  "Wait, are you stupid?"

  "Probably," he showed his hand. "It's fine, cold though."

  Pausing for a moment, he scrubbed his hands together to remove the dirt before pulling up a handful of water to his mouth.

  "Yeah, this was probably stupid," he thought, then drank.

  "Oh God."

  "Are you okay?" Annabeth began to panic.

  "So good," he murmured, paused for a moment, then took another handful.

  "Careful, don't drink too much," she said, before washing her hands to join him.

  "This is incredible," Annabeth said afterward, the two sitting against the fountain.

  Jason reached around and opened the backpack, pulling out a couple of ftbreads.

  Chewing slowly, he said, "Water's taken care of for now, but we're going to run out of food eventually."

  Annabeth nodded, taking the bread offered. "A problem for ter us."

  Brushing herself off, she stood up and kicked off her sneakers.

  Jason looked up, "What are you doing?"

  "I'm cleaning this filth off of me," she said, pulling off her shirt. "Looks like the fountain's being refilled there, and old water goes out there."

  She didn't dunk the shirt in but spshed it with cold water; soon, it was soaking wet. Cleaning off most of the muck, she wrung it out before leaving it to dry. Immediately afterward, she began to scrub away yers of filth from her body.

  "You just going to sit there and wallow in your own filth?" Annabeth stood nearby, running her fingers through damp hair.

  Jason studied his reflection in the water. "I need to clean this wound first."

  He almost threw up, as more chunks of bckened flesh peeled away, thankfully revealing fresh pink skin beneath. Scrubbing it, he shuddered. There was no way this type of healing was natural.

  Annabeth watched grimly as he discarded the ruined bandages on the other side of the room. "We got lucky."

  Jason exhaled and nodded. "We need to be more careful."

  God knows what else lurked in this pce.

  "You really need to clean yourself now," Annabeth said, dropping her pants.

  "Wait," Jason called out.

  "Don't be such a fuckin prude, it's not like you haven't seen this body before." With a frown, she peeled off her underwear, leaving her totally in the nude. “That’s gross.”

  "They're monsters down here," he insisted.

  "And we are covered with dead flesh and fluids," she kneeled, scrubbing her jeans, flipping them over before setting them aside. Then, with a frown, she washed the underwear and socks.

  Jason turned away from the sight. Their transformation was undeniable, yet disturbingly natural—as if magic had forced their two souls into these bodies so seamlessly that resistance felt pointless.

  "I should be freaking out more," Jason murmured uncomfortably. Truthfully, at times, he thought he was losing his mind.

  "Feels almost normal, doesn't it?" Annabeth's ughter filled the room as she settled down on the ground.

  That was worse. Annabeth just seemed to go with the flow like nothing happened. With a reluctant sigh, Jason began unbuttoning his blouse.

  As their clothes dried, the two sat silently at the edge of the fountain, bare-skinned but unconcerned, letting the stillness settle over them.

  Now clean, Jason felt he could breathe for the first time in what felt like forever. The night before, sleep had been restless; every noise and creak jolted him awake despite the ck of immediate danger.

  "Come over here," Annabeth called out. "You're shaking."

  "I'm fine," he insisted, scooting further away.

  "Jason, your lips are blue. Trust me, I get it, but you're cold. I'm cold, too. Let's share some body warmth. We can cover ourselves with the bedroll and maybe doze a little."

  Reluctantly, he moved across the room and sat down.

  "Jeeze, I'm not going to do anything," Annabeth rolled her eyes, shifting to cover them both.

  With a shudder, he leaned against his old body and moments ter fell asleep.

  Something pulled him out of slumber. Jason didn't know how long he had been asleep, but soon realized what was happening, which caused him to almost jump out of his skin.

  "You're poking me."

  "Sorry," Annabeth murmured with a grunt, sitting up. "Thing has a mind of its own."

  Ignoring that his girlfriend had been grinding herself against his butt, he moved out of the way, yawning.

  "So, so you think," Annabeth leaned over with a grin. "I mean, we're already undressed."

  Jason turned over and looked her dead in the eye. "Absolutely fucking not."

  "Oh, come on, you can't tell me you're not at least interested. Sure, the situation's odd, but it's not like we haven't done it many times before," she reached up, only to have her hand swatted away.

  "No, or did you forget what happened right before we ended up here?"

  Annabeth sighed, leaning against the wall. "I know, and I said I was sorry. But everything is different now. And don't tell me, if this happened a month ago, we wouldn't be going at it like two little bunnies."

  "Can't tell you either way, but it still feels wrong. Anyway, you lied to me for four years, Annabeth."

  "I didn't."

  "You sure as hell did," Jason angrily ran his hand through his hair. "If I knew about your little friend at home, maybe it would be different. Or not, either way, it's not going to happen, okay? You'll just have to deal with it yourself, like every other horny guy. And if we did do it, my first time wouldn't be on some cold dungeon floor."

  "God, you're such a girl," Annabeth ughed.

  "And if I got pregnant?"

  She just rolled her eyes. "You still have seven and a half months on that parvo-shot."

  Standing up in frustration, Annabeth checked the clothes, then asked, changing the subject, "How long have we been waiting for everything to dry?"

  Jason exhaled. "No idea. Slept through most of it. Apparently, this body desperately needed it."

  Although he wouldn't say anything, his ex's antics had woken him up from disturbing dreams. Waking with her poking him with his own dick was bad enough; those nightmares had been worse, full of twisted fragments of images blessedly forgotten upon waking.

  "What are you doing now?" He then asked.

  "Taking care of it as you suggested," she grinned.

  "Just," Jason turned away, wanting to rid himself of the images of his former girlfriend stroking herself.

  "You can help," she called out with a grunt.

  "Fuck you!" Jason growled before rolling over, covering herself with the bedroll.

  “You only have to ask,” she groaned, getting into the spirit of things.

  Later, now clean and refreshed, the two felt remarkably better, even if certain adjustments remained frustrating.

  For Jason, the unfamiliar thong was an irritation, and the struggle with the bra had been a humiliating ordeal. Annabeth had made it look effortless, and now he understood the battle firsthand.

  His ex, standing nearby, watched in amusement. "Bra troubles?"

  Jason shot her a look. "Let's just say your body came with its own set of complications."

  She rolled her eyes. "You'll get used to it."

  Jason sighed. "Not sure that's a good thing."