Brightpath2: Hello! You may have noticed that my co-writer and I have started writing another story. It's for an anime called Kuroko's basketball, and if you like that anime you should go read it ;) otherwise, just ignore me I'm babbling.

We have it set up where we are both the main writers for one story. This one was my idea, and therefore I do the majority of the writing and she edits and adds things where she sees fit to do so. The opposite is true of our other story.

No reviews :/

My updates might be slow or nonexistent over the next few weeks because of a couple of youth camps I'm going to (also my co-writer's sister is getting married and she's moving so . . . . yeah)

Disclaimer: Same as earlier chapters

Leilani

Leilani was quite relieved when the midnight fuss over the new girl was over. Not just because it was midnight, and way past time for bed, but because the poor girl looked overwhelmed. So she and Drake left as soon as Chiron gave the order.

Drake'd found her as soon as the alarm had been sent through the camp, his dark eyes interested as Chiron explained about the missing demigod. The centaur seemed a little bit uncertain about the girl, as though he didn't know all the details, but Leilani knew that even so, they couldn't just let one of their own get killed by a monster.

It was good that Riann had been found, Leilani mused silently, but she didn't seem happy. There was no hint that she loved anyone, or that anyone loved her back. In fact, for once in her life, Leilani wasn't sure if this girl wanted to love anyone.

"Lei?" Drake's soft, deep voice came like music to her ears, jerking her out of her thoughts, and the daughter of Aphrodite turned to smile at her boyfriend. He was watching her and smiling, looking just as handsome as ever. There was a streak of paint on his face, and his hands were greasy, and he smelled like smoke from working in the forge, but that just made him even better.

And he smelled nice after a day at work, which was always a plus. Although most of her siblings didn't seem to agree. Piper didn't seem to mind, probably because she and Jason were always in and out of the forge to see Leo, but the others got disgusted looks on their faces every time Leilani came in smelling like smoke, or with a smudge of grease on her from helping Drake with something.

It didn't matter though. She was happy, he was happy, and that was all that mattered to her. Leilani squeezed Drake's hand and leaned her head against his shoulder. They'd stopped walking, but did it really matter? They could always sleep in a bit in the morning to make up for the late night.

"No Lei, time for bed," Drake said, amusement in his voice. He leaned down and kissed her quickly, before escorting her to Aphrodite cabin door. "You sleep, and tomorrow we'll see if we can meet the new girl like you want to," he added, smiling at her before he headed back to his cabin.

Leilani shook her head in amusement. Trust Drake to know exactly what she wanted to happen. And it was true that she'd probably be up at the crack of dawn, so to bed it was.

When she woke up the next morning, the first thing she realized was that Keren wasn't in her bed. In fact, her bed didn't look even remotely slept in.

Leilani sighed. She supposed it shouldn't surprise her. It was a good thing she knew where Keren liked to go when she wanted to be alone. Piper knew too, but that was kind of her job as head counselor, and even if it wasn't really, she made it her job.

Leilani dressed in skinny jeans and an orange camp shirt, making sure that her necklace was on, and that all of the beads were still there. She fingered it, letting herself linger on the one from two years ago, after the giant war, before she returned to what she was doing.

She snuck out of the cabin through the secret back door that they'd made after some of the girls realized that their mother's powers sometimes attracted unwanted attention from some of the other campers. Just because they liked the idea of love, and even unrequited love, it didn't mean that they were willing to be followed around by all the guys who thought they were attractive.

Leilani thought she was pretty lucky to have such a great boyfriend as Drake. He was also intimidating enough that no one else even tried to approach her. Some of the others girls weren't so lucky.

Leilani went to the tree that was the closest to the Aphrodite cabin and began to climb it quickly. Once she was level with the roof, she swung herself over and landed lightly. She knew that any thumps, or banging on the top of the roof would bring the rest of the cabin upon her, and then they would discover Keren's secret place.

Leilani walked carefully across the roof until she neared Keren's secret spot. It was quite clever really. There was a spot on the front of the roof that created a sheltered alcove, which was perfect to sit in and just watch the camp go by. Once, when Leilani was looking for Keren after she discovered that the younger girl hadn't gone to lunch, she'd looked up on her way towards the cabin, and seen a flash of red hair.

Leilani soon discovered (yes, by spying) that Keren liked to hide up there when she wanted to be alone. When the older girl investigated while Keren was at an activity, she discovered some books, a stash of snacks, a blanket, and a flashlight.

Apparently Keren also broke curfew more than she should.

Leilani crept up silently, and peered around the corner, just to freeze. Keren was wrapped in a blanket, fast asleep. It looked like she'd fallen to sleep reading, because the flashlight by her feet was still on, and she was loosely clutching a book in one hand.

Leilani froze, and crept forward, quickly switching off the flashlight, and tugging the book out of Keren's hand, making sure not to lose her spot. She placed the book next to Keren and then snuck away.

After climbing back off the roof, Leilani headed towards the Hephaestus forges, knowing that Drake was probably already awake and at it.

Her suspicions were correct. Unsurprisingly he was also the only one awake, and in the forge at all. He wasn't making any swords, or weapons, instead just tinkering.

Drake was wearing a black t-shirt with cutoff sleeves that showed off his muscular arms. There were smudges of grease on his face, and he looked like he'd stayed up all night working on some sort of project.

"Drake, you do realize that if you keep pulling all nighters you'll be too tired to keep working like this, right?" Leilani said, sliding onto the bench next to him and leaning her head on his shoulder.

He grunted, and finished screwing something into his contraption, which was a twist of bronze wires and plates. He'd been working on the automaton for a few years, and yet every time Leilani thought he was done, he would take it apart and start over. It was as though he was the only one who could see the missing piece of the puzzle.

"I'll stop when I'm done," Drake said. "Sorry about that Lei." He smiled at her gently, his dark eyes warm. Even though he was obviously tired, he didn't seem to care much.

Leilani sighed. "Great. Now I can't argue with you about this anymore. But your smile is beautiful," she added softly, kissing him quickly and pulling away. She never knew how much sleep he'd gotten in a night, and his attitude certainly didn't help with that. He didn't seem to see the problem with staying up all night every night, and he never seemed tired enough to have it affect his work.

Leilani was pretty sure that no one else even knew he stayed up all night. Drake generally snuck back into bed before dawn, (which was when Leo woke up usually) and made it seem like he'd been sleeping there all night.

"Come on rule breaker, let's go get breakfast," Leilani said, grabbing Drake's hand and pulling him away from his work. "Making a dragon automaton can wait until tomorrow."

or can it?

Anyways. Please REVIEW! :)