"Fuck it," he muttered and took her arm.

He Traveled with her to the large living room of Speck's farmhouse. Iggy looked around, dismayed.

"Dusty, I-" Her voice was cut off as he Traveled back to his office. No sooner had he opened his eyes than he heard the voice he least wanted to hear.

"Dusty."

He'd planned on waiting until his anger cooled before dealing with Darian. He faced the man, unable to help but feel surprised to see him without scars. Darian was staring at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Dusty," Darian said.

"Not as sorry as you will be."

"I learned something this time," Darian continued despite the red creeping up his face. "I never meant to put you in danger. I don't think about that part when I do things. I don't care what happens to me, but I don't ever mean to do something that would make you get hurt."

"Then stop doing this shit," Dusty replied. He planted his hands on Darian's shoulders, and the Grey God looked up. "You're my brother, Darian. I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let you happen to you, if I can help it. You can be a fucking idiot sometimes. The rules are there for a reason."

"I know. I love you, Dusty. I don't want anything to happen to my family. I'll try to be better," Darian whispered.

Impressed, Dusty wondered if Darian was beginning to grow out of his insolent teenager stage.

"Can we keep Bianca?" Darian asked. "I like her."

"Yep."

"Can I have a cat?"

"Nope. You can repair the roof of the garage, though," Dusty said and seated himself at the computer to try and contact Damian and Jule through their clandestine website.

"I'm sorry I almost ruined your life," Darian said quietly.

"Don't think that's possible."

"I told Bianca about Jenn. Sofi said not to do that, and I did."

Dusty twisted to look up at Darian, not understanding Darian's concern. The man's face was red with shame this time.

"I'm sorry, Dusty."

"For talking to Bianca about Jenn?" he echoed. "So what?"

"Never mind! You'll never understand!" The moody teenager was back. Darian jerked the door open and stormed out. Dusty wondered what the hell was wrong with everyone around him and rubbed the back of his neck. He logged into the computer and clandestine website, sending Damian an urgent message.

He checked his watch and rose, trotting out of the house to the barracks. Toni was right; the barracks area was packed. He went to the newbie wing, where Jonny was placed, and rapped on the door.

Jonny answered, plainly pulled from sleep. His bleached hair was disheveled, his eyes squinting at the hall light. They widened as he recognized who was at his door.

Dusty pushed the door opened and flipped on the light. Jonny sat on his bed stiffly. His eyes were dark and warm like Bianca's, his frame just over six feet and still lanky, though he showed signs of starting to fill out.

"I've been good," he whispered.

"Good," Dusty said, sitting on the bed opposite him. "How you feeling?"

"B can heal anything. Am I in trouble?"

"You probably should be," he replied. "I'm still trying to figure out what the fuck to do with you."

"Toni said he thinks I have some of the um, Natural ability."

"What's your talent?"

"He thinks its weaponry or something. I can master any weapon without really trying," Jonny said, a touch of pride in his voice.

"Not bad."

"Is B okay?" the youth asked in a hushed tone.

"You mean, after you sold her out to Talon?" Dusty replied. A look of anguish crossed Jonny's face. "She's fine. You'll probably have some explaining to do to her, though."

"I never, ever meant for her to get hurt. Can I see her?"

"Soon. Did anyone ask you about Talon?"

"I spoke to a few people. I don't remember much, though. It's like I was in this weird dream. Everything's fuzzy."

"I'm going to have someone else talk to you today," Dusty said. "We'll put you in the Naturals training program. Welcome to your new life."

"Is B a Natural, too?"

"She is."

"Who's her assigned Guardian?" Jonny asked.

"I am."

Jonny hesitated then looked up finally. "She's a good cook, but she's afraid of spiders, and she always loses things. Don't give her your only set of keys to anything. Or the remotes. She'll lose those, too. She's always happy-I've never seen her upset. It's annoying sometimes. Just please ... be nice to her. I'm a screw-up, but she isn't. She doesn't deserve what I put her through. I gotta make it up to her somehow."

His last words were whispered, his face red. Dusty gazed at him, sensing how much he loved his sister and how hurt he was by his own actions. He understood what it was to lose a sister and hoped the stupid kid before him never went through that pain.

"I'll take care of her, Jonny," he promised. "Get your shit straight and keep it straight. Go see Sofi in the library."

"Yes, sir, I will."

Dusty rose and returned to the main house in time for the intel briefing, expecting another nonstop day. The skies opened once again as he reached the house, and thunder boomed in the distance.

The Oracle Sofia felt the youth enter the library like a cold breeze in a sauna. Bianca's drowsy cat warmed one of her thighs, and it hopped off to hide beneath the table opposite her. Her evolving power told her more than she wanted to know, even before she faced him. Choppy scenes of the boy's past and future blinked into her thoughts.

"Excuse me, ma'am," the boy called out in a quiet, nervous voice.

She wasn't sure what she expected when she faced him, but it wasn't the gangly young man with large, uncertain brown eyes. His memories and thoughts played like home videos, similar to those of her mate, Damian, and his adopted brothers. Only those touched by fate had such vivid memories that entered her mind unbidden. The boy was meant for greatness-and darkness.

"Come in, Jonny," she said. "Sit down."

He hesitated, visibly unsettled by what she knew were her spinning silver-blue eyes. He obeyed and sat across from her, shifting in his seat several times under her gaze.

"I'm Sofi, the White God's Oracle," she started. "I can see parts of the future and more importantly for you, a person's soul."

His eyes widened, and he shifted again. Something flickered in his gaze, and she guessed he had an inkling of what awaited him. Her throat tightened as she looked at him. The fate awaiting the young man was one she wouldn't wish on anyone, even the Black God himself.

"It's bad, isn't it?" he whispered. "I'm bad, aren't I, or I wouldn't have done what I did to B."

"Good and evil exist in all of us," she said, not sure what to say. "You ... you're meant to maintain a vital balance in this world. You're a god-slayer, Jonny, and you must kill a god. It's your fate, but I feel like you know this. How?"

Jonny's gaze darkened, and he rose, pacing to the window. She watched the memories in his head.

"Dreams," he said. "I almost died when I was a child. B cured me, but I felt like I was touched by something then. It makes no sense, but I couldn't ever leave that night behind."

"What do you see in your dreams?"

"Darkness." His voice caught. "Evil. Death. I didn't think it was real until ... until Talon. The dreams got worse, and then I went to Talon's one night. I couldn't remember anything until I saw Bianca again and she fixed me in the hospital. But the darkness was still there, like Talon put something evil in me."

"Talon didn't. You'd been protected by other immortal beings called the Watchers until it was time for your fate to unravel. Talon made you immortal and awoke your gift," Sofi replied.

"What gift?" Jonny asked, facing her again. "What am I meant to do?"

"What you think you're meant to do."

His mouth worked without producing a sound, and his eyes watered. Jonny wiped his face. He took a deep breath and tried again.

"I'm meant to do what Talon said-kill the Black God."

"Yes, Jonny, you are," she said. "Only with you taking the Black God's place can the balance between good and evil survive the week."

"I can't be like Talon. I'm not like Talon!" he said. "I can't be!"

"You must fulfill your role, or humanity is lost this weekend."

"How can you ask this of me?" he demanded, emotions wild on his face.

Sofi watched him, her own transition from human to Oracle causing fresh pain. She still didn't understand the depth of her talents or how to control the visions, and being alone and away from her mate made some days unbearable. Even so, her own fate was nothing like Jonny's, a good kid who would be forced to take on the Black God's mantle and spearhead the forces of evil.

He flung himself down in the chair again and propped up his forehead with his hands. Tears spilled down his face. She braced herself and reached out to him. Unlike touching Czerno, whose dark memories had overwhelmed her just standing near him, Jonny had only one bad memory, that of his first kill that turned him from human to immortal. She felt the same streak of cold within him that she'd felt in the Black God. It was a part of him, just as being an Oracle was a part of her. Their gifts were inseparable from themselves.

"How long do I have to do this?" he asked. "A few years?"

"A few thousand. The next god-slayer won't be born for thirty or forty thousand years."

"Oh, god!"

"You must do it, Jonny." She felt ill the moment the words left her mouth. She was condemning a good person to a fate of darkness and despair, and yet, if he didn't understand the importance of his role, humanity would be annihilated.

"I can't be like him!"

"You don't have to be, but you must fulfill the duties of the Black God. He does them now with no regard for the lives of innocents. You can make your own rules within those duties," she said. Even as she spoke, she saw pieces of his future blink in her thoughts.

There was no such thing as a good Black God, and Jonny would be no exception. Sofi's own eyes watered at the revelation of his fate. He would be nothing like any Black God before him, but he'd be far from the hopeful, kind youth he was now.

"Stay with Dusty this weekend," she continued. "You'll know when it's time."

"No!" he snapped and pushed her hand away. The young man rose and stormed to the library door. "I won't do it! I won't spend my life being a monster! I can choose not to!"

"You'll do it, or you'll watch your sister die at the Black God's hands," Sofi said in a hard voice as she rose to face the door.

"I'll find a way to save her," he said, stopping at her words. He was breathing hard.

"You have a way to save her. One way."

"Why are you doing this to me?" he asked, facing her again. Anger and terror were on his face.

"I only See what fate allows me to," she replied. "I can't change what I See. It is the most likely event to occur. There are two paths for you to follow: you become the Black God, or your sister and everyone else in the mortal realm dies. That's all there is, Jonny."

His anger faltered, and sorrow filled his face. "If what you say is true, the first person I kill once I'm the Black God will be you. If you can really see the future, you could've prevented all of this!"

"Sometimes, death and evil are necessary," she told him. He looked at her long enough for her to see resignation in his gaze. He wrenched the door open and slammed it behind him.

Sofi watched him go and swallowed hard. It wouldn't be an easy weekend for any of them. Worse, she'd lost telepathic contact with Damian a few days before she realized she needed to send a 911 message.

There was a knock at the door; Jenn opened it and froze.

"Sorry, ikira," she murmured. "I was looking for the kid."

Sofi gazed at her, visions from Jonny's future swirling in her thoughts. Gazing at Dusty's trusted Guardian, she felt a familiar ache, the same she felt telling Jonny his fate.

"He's not here, Jenn," she said softly. "Would you do something for me?"

"Of course." The Guardian snapped to attention, expecting a mission. Sofi smiled to herself. Dusty's Guardians were disciplined, unlike her own personal bodyguard, Pierre.

"I just need you to remind Darian of something. Not anytime soon. You'll know when," she said quickly. "Your path is intertwined with Darian's, so you'll be there when he needs to know this. Just tell him the gateway can't be closed."

Jenn's brow furrowed, but she responded quickly. "I'll do that."

"Thanks. It's important," Sofi said. She picked up her book and walked past the female Guardian, who watched her go, puzzled.

Chapter Seven.