"Lou. Lou. Lou. Lou"
" mmmn"

Lou Ellen was asleep. Her head was under the covers, and the breeze was creeping through the ajar door, in her cabin. She was scrunched up into a ball, surrounded by pillows and other comfy stuff.

"Lou. Lou. Lou. Lou."

There is was again. That strange noise. She couldn't work out what is was, so Lou shrugged to herself, and nestled deeper into the quilt.

Something started tapping her face, again saying,
"Lou. Lou. Lou. Lou."

She slapped the hand away, and made a grunting noise, wanting to go back to sleep.

"Lou. Lou. Lou. Lou."

She couldn't work out what it was. It was bugging her slightly, as she wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but something kept tapping her face.

She cracked open her eyes, and screamed.

It was Cecil.

His face was right up close to hers, as he flicked her face with his finger. He was kneeing down, next to her bunk, with a cheesy grin that made Lou want to slap him.

He stumbled back, at the force of her scream, but then came back and put his hand over her mouth, muffling the screeches.

She shoved his hand away, and glared at him.

"What the hell Cecil?!" She whisper-shouted.

She glanced over to her bedside clock

"It's 2 in the morning! What are you doing here?!"

Cecil looked guilty, but still had a huge grin on his face.

"Meet your new cabin mate!" He said, loudly

"SHHHHH" Lou put her hand over his mouth, and looked around checking that none of her siblings had woken up.

"What do you mean, cabin mate?"

"What do you think? I'm sleeping in your cabin now"

"Oh hell no your not!"

"Sorry Lou, you don't get a choice in this"

"Hell yes I do! I'm cabin leader, so get out of my cabin!"

"Come on! That's not nice!"

"I don't care if it's nice. I'm tired, I wasn't having some demented demigod dream, I was comfy, and you woke me up!"

"Jeez oh, calm down. Come on, is that anyway to treat your best friend?"

"If you don't go away right now and let me sleep, Octavian will become my new best friend!"

"Will you two shut up? I'm trying to find a spot!"

"Travis?"

"Well, no duh"

"Right, that's it."

Lou stood up, red in the face, and marched out of the cabin.
Taking the hint, Cecil, Travis and Connor followed suit.

They stepped outside the cabin, forming a natural circle.

"Okay, a few things. First, Travis what are you wearing" Lou said, pointing at Travis' Micky Mouse PJ's

He struggled
"Camp store was empty"

Lou rolled her eyes.

"Second, why are you in my cabin? Third, why do you have sleeping bags? Fourth, please don't tell me that you were actually dumb enough to try and wake me up, and not bring a weapon?"

Cecil shook his head, fingering his bag.

"Look." Connor said,
"There was a flood in our cabin, so Chiron said that we should all take up residence in another cabin for a few days."

Lou folded her arms, and tapped her foot.
"Why the Hecate cabin? Why not the other ones"

Travis answered,
"Well, for starters, you guys have three spaces, and by the time we got all the little ones into the Artemis and Poseidon cabins, they were all full up. Don't worry, we only put girls in the Artemis cabin" he added, after Lou gave a worried look, hoping that the males would survive the night.

"And, seeing as your our best friend Lou, and you're so kind and gracious, we thought that you wouldn't mind us sharing with you."

Lou nodded her head
"So, basically Travis wanted to go to the Demeter cabin, but Chiron said no, and all the other cabins are mad at you because you pranked them." she summarised

All three boys nodded, and Lou rolled her eyes.

"How do you know that I'll let you into our cabin?" She asked innocently

"Because your our friend?" Connor asked, his voice going really high

Lou debated for a moment, knowing that she really didn't have much of a choice.

"Fine" she said slowly "but you have to know the rules first" a grin was spreading in her face.

"1: don't mess up the cabin. I've seen the mess of the Hermes cabin, and I want my cabin to have noting to do with it, okay?"

The buys nodded, still looking fairly confident.

"2) What ever you do, do NOT wake up Louie, he gets really bad nightmares, and will attack you if you wake him up prematurely. 3) Don't touch our cupboards, there is some dangerous stuff in there, and only Hecate kids can control some of those liquids. 4) If you see any of the beds with something shiny over it, DO NOT go near it. There's a force field over it. 5) Leave Ally alone, she's got PTSD and will freak out if you touch her. Also, if Malcolm comes round again, tell him to go away and DO NOT give him a love potion. I don't know who he wants to give it to, and we can't let him near it. It's dangerous."

Cecil's grin started to fade, and he started looking worried.

"6)If you want to stay, you'll have to talk to Amy first. She has anxiety, and doesn't really like new people. DO NOT LET HER SEE YOUR WEPONS, she will have another freak out, and last time I had to stay up for a week with no sleep at all, trying to calm her down. 7)Sally broke her arm last well, but don't ask her why. She's still embarrassed about it. 8) If Gus tells you to do something, please do it. He is OCD and needs to feel like he has SOME kind of order in his life, so sorry if he's a bit bossy. 9) If I find out that you have hurt any of my kids in any way, I will rip your liver out from your throat, and feed it to the harpies. Then I'll take your d-"

Travis laughed,
"Geez Lou, you like a mother hen! Calm down, the kids will be fine"

Lou whipped around and shot him down with a glare to rival Thalia's.

"Do not take this lightly. I love all of the kids in my cabin, but most of them have had horrible lives so far. Magic is not all it's cracked up to be. They have been bullied, abused, pushed aside, and treated like nothing. They are like my own kids, I would gladly give my life for them, or kill for them if necessary"

Cue the glares towards the other boys.

"Just, please be careful" Lou said, her voice becoming more pleading.

Connor, Travis and Cecil all look at each other symotaniously, sigh, then nod.

"We'll be careful" Connor said.

Lou sighed, then started to creep back into the cabin, making sure not to wake any of the kids.

Travis, Connor and Cecil followed.

Lou silently directed them to bed, and was just about to go to sleep herself, when she heard a noise coming from one of the other beds, in the far corner of the room.

"Lou?"

Cecil closer his eyes. In the Hermes cabin, the kid would probably just have been ignored, but...

"What is it Ally?"

Cecil heard shuffling, and the sound of someone lightly walking towards the bed.

"I couldn't sleep, and then I woke up and you weren't there" the kid was crying.

Cecil tried to place the voice. Lou said she was called Ally, and Cecil vaguely remembered a young girl, around 5 or 6 with dirty blonde hair and huge green eyes.

"Shhh. It's okay, I'm here now" Lou's voice was gentile, and was very calming. Cecil felt himself relax slightly, as he let her soothing words wash over him.

"Would you like another story?" She asked the little girl, who's sobbing had quelled slightly.

A tiny "yes" could be heard.

Cecil turned slightly, and opened his eyes a fraction, to see Lou sitting on the end of Ally's bed, tucking her into bed.

"Once upon a time..." Lou started,
"In a land, that isn't very far away, there lived a fearsome warrior, called Ally. She was undefeated in everything that she tried, including eating lots and lots of ice cream"

Cecil saw Lou tickle Ally's stomach, and Ally giggled quietly, the tears all but forgotten.

Cecil relaxed further into his bed, as he listened to Lou's story about the knight Ally, and her quest to defeat the scariest monster of all, the big bad dragon.

Cecil could feel his eyes starting to droop for real, as Lou's hushed story was told. Ally realised that the reason that she couldn't defeat the dragon, was because her heart was too kind, and she eventually managed to help to free the dragon, and they become best friends, and were the best team in all the lands.

Soon, light snores could be heard from the corner, as Ally fell asleep. Lou smiled, and pulled the covers over her again, before sitting at the bottom of Ally's bed.

After another half an hour, Cecil could hear Lou's breathing even out, as her eyes closed, and head lulled.

Cecil glanced at his watch, 3:30 AM.

Slowly, he pulled the covers back, and stood up. He walked over to Ally's bed, and kneeled down.

Lou was fast asleep, her head on top of her hands, which were resting on the bottom of the bed, while she sat of the floor.

Cecil slowly, moved forwards, and wrapped his arms around her back and legs. Silently, he stood up, picked her up, bridal style. He started to walk towards her bed.

Lou turned in his arms, almost causing him to drop her, as she put her head against his chest and gave a faint smile.

Cecil could feel a blush start to appear on his face, so he walked quicker. When he reached her bed, he gently put her down, and pulled the covers over her. She shifted, and turned so that she was almost nose to nose with Cecil. But she slept on...

He didn't move, Cecil just stayed there for a moment, with Lou's face just inches from his.

Then, he sighed, and glanced at his watch.

4 AM

Cecil rolled his eyes, and stood up. But not before planting a soft kiss on Lou's forehead...

Cecil walked back to his bed, got on and fell asleep almost immediately.

Lou shifted again, the smile on her face only growing...