When I came to, Finn and Damien were right beside me. The second my eyes fluttered open, they shot each other a panicked look, then immediately started an intense round of silent arguing—gesturing, shaking their heads, pointing at each other.

  “You tell him!”

  “No, you!”

  “You’re his brother! That’s your job!”

  “You’re his best friend! That’s practically a requirement!”

  “Fine! We’ll both tell him, okay?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”

  I groaned and rubbed my temples. “You know I can see you, right?”

  Their faces turned simultaneously red—from embarrassment or terror, I couldn’t tell. Probably both.

  “Uh, Mark…” Finn scratched the back of his neck. “We need to talk about… whatever that was during the battle.”

  Damien nodded. “Yeah. After you blacked out, something came out of you. And, uh…” He swallowed. “It went into the earth.”

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  A cold weight settled in my gut. “Let me get this straight. The thing that ‘helped’ me in the fight—”

  “—was Gaia,” Finn finished grimly.

  Silence.

  I didn’t know what to think. Afraid? No, I was way too afraid to say that I was afraid, I was terrified, no, I was emotionless, the enemy thinks we’d lost, we thought we’d lost, better go out with a bang, now, ‘fear’ wasn’t a thing

  I shot to my feet. “And you told Chiron, right? Please tell me you told Chiron. We are barely holding off the Titans and Giants as it is—we cannot afford Mother Earth waking up too!”

  Finn and Damien exchanged another nervous glance.

  I did not like that glance.

  “About that…” Damien started. “Chiron is…”

  “Dead,” Finn said, cutting him off.

  Alright, fear exists, too much fear, in fact. I blinked. Laughed. Shook my head. “No, No- This is- this is not happening, I- It must have been a decoy! An-an illusion! Anything but that!”

  Damien put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing just enough to make me stop talking. “Mark. It happened in front of us.” His voice was heavy. “The campers already voted. You’re the leader now.”

  My stomach lurched. “That—no. That’s a mistake. They don’t even know me!”

  “They do,” Finn said firmly. “They saw you take down that Giant. Alone. They know you used to be a general. You understand formations, strategy—”

  “Even the Ares cabin voted for you,” Damien muttered.

  That shut me up.

  I let out a slow, shaky breath. “And Chloe? Is she—”

  “Fine,” Finn answered, though his voice was tight. “Because of you. She wanted to come see you, but Aaron put her on strict bed rest.”

  I exhaled, some of the tension in my chest loosening. At least that was one thing I didn’t have to worry about.

  But everything else?

  Gaia. Chiron. The war.

  I wasn’t ready for this.

  And yet, ready or not, it was time for war. And we would have to abandon Camp for it.