After that, it was grueling lesson after grueling lesson. Jay and Sera supervised, trying to 'figure out' who my dad was. Sera warned me beforehand that it'd be a tedious process, since she was going to suggest the craziest gods to try and keep them away from Hades.

So far, I've had to race a nymph for Hermes (in which I actually nearly beat her), shoot a bow for Apollo (in which I ended up accidentally hitting the bulls-eye of a different target than I was aiming for), wrestled with Sera for Ares (in which I was clobbered by my very violent friend), and spent two hours in a forge trying to build literally anything for Hephaestus. (In which I set the forge on fire. Nyssa just sighed, put out the fire, and wished me luck on finding my dad.)

Jay lets out a puff of air. "Yeah, I've got nothing. We could try Hypnos---"

"But you normally would've fallen asleep by now if you were Hypnos." Sera explains.

Jay scratches his head. "Oh, well. We'll just have to hope you get claimed tonight. ANd if not..." he laughs mysteriously. "We'll resume this tomorrow."

"Gods, please let her get claimed." Sera moans, and I laugh.

Jay smirks my way. "Maybe it'll happen tonight. But hey, if it doesn't, you're always welcome in the Hermes cabin."

"And by 'welcome', do ya mean 'welcome to come and stay so we can steal all your stuff'?" Sera asks innocently.

Jay shrugs. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to."

"Hey, guys!" Someone calls, and we all look up from the entrance of the Hephaestus cabin. Kalia stands a few hundred yards away, her wild hair waving in the wind as she shouts, "Dinner bell's about to ring! You wanna miss all the good food?"

"Gods, how did it get that late?" Sera shouts, grabbing mine and Jay's arms. "Kali always warns me so I can get the best food, BTW." Sera explains. Then she sprints towards the dining pavilion, screaming "OUTTA THE WAY! FOOD AT STAKE!"

Campers clear out of the way quicker than the Flash would be able to. We barrel into the dining pavillion just as the dinner horn blares out, and a stampede of marching feet heads our way.

"Food." Sera whimpers happily, releasing us both to start loading her plate with yummy goodness.

"Food." I agree, copying her. We both scrape a bit of food into the fire, and this time I give one plea: Claim me.

I've always thought I wouldn't want my father to acknowledge me. Because if he did, there'd have to be an ulterior motive behind it. He'd want money, or my mom back. And I never thought he deserved to even be in the same city as me after leaving. But now...

It's different. I'm sick of waiting. He's a god, for Pete's sake. He should have more than enough time to send a stupid symbol above my head. 

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I know it's short. Next chapter in... about five minutes.   :) for those of you on top of posting like I am, anyway.