Chapter 1

Nathan Blake stood in his room-well, it was about to be his old room-with a calm expression on his handsome features. In the ten years that he had been in foster care, this was his seventh home. It had been this way ever since his parents died in a car crash when he was four and he had no relatives to take him into their home.

The room he was currently sitting in was filled with boxes. Ninety percent of them were filled with books. There must have been hundreds of them. He had collected them throughout his seven year stint in foster care. There was damn near a book on everything a person could think of and he had read them all. His favorite was science fiction.

The old couple that he was living with was alright, but they were getting a little too old to put up with him. Nathan really did try his best with this couple, because they were so nice. But he guessed that his best was not good enough. He really didn't see what the problem was. He spent most of his time in his room reading his books and on the computer that his fifth foster care parent bought him. It was boxed up as well.

Ah, his computer. It was his pride and joy, not that he was a hacker or anything. The last thing he wanted was to go back to juvenile hall. However, it was the software on the computer that sparked the fourteen-year-old boy's imagination. It had voice recognition language software for Spanish, French, German and Latin. He had already learned Spanish, French and German fluently, but he was still working on Latin.

Not for the first time, the boy wondered just what the hell was wrong with him. He had decided long ago that most of the horror stories that a person hears about foster care were untrue. He had never been abused. He tried to be polite, he really did. However, the simple fact was that he didn't like being around and talking to people. He would much rather be by himself. That and he had the bad habit of saying exactly what was on his mind at the time when he was annoyed.

About the only time that he went to town was to watch other people have a good time. He could have joined them if he wanted to. After all, he was fairly good looking. Not that he was bragging, but he was rather intelligent. He had jet black hair that always seemed to be untidy and eyes that were so dark brown that they could sometimes be mistaken for black from a distance. Not to mention that he was naturally fit. There were just two problems with Nathan Blake.

He had severe trust issues and was extremely violent if provoked in the slightest.

Some would call him feral if he were an animal.

That was just his nature. It was also what got him put in juvenile hall for a year. A boy at school punched him dead in the face just for the hell of it, and because he was a known bully. The only thing the bully got for his troubles were two broken teeth, a fractured leg and cracked skull, from where Nathan beat his head into the pavement. This was surprising since the bully was twice his size. Nathan didn't know any Martial Arts, he just hit where he knew it would do the most damage. It caused quite a stir at the school.

Nathan got a year and a half in juvenile hall for using excessive force.

Nathan wasn't all that big. He stood about five foot seven and didn't have bulky muscles because he didn't work out. However, what muscles he did have stood out in stark relief. Moreover, this confused the hell out of Nathan because he knew that it just wasn't natural-not without working out anyway. However, he always pushed this detail to the back of his mind and tried not to think of it. He considered himself abnormal enough as it was.

The fourteen-year-old (fifteen tomorrow) just wished he knew who was supposed to come pick him up. Not only that, he wondered why the hell they would want to adopt a fifteen year old, when they could get a baby or a toddler. It made absolutely no sense and it was totally illogical.

Nathan hadn't even met the couple yet. A person from the DHS brought over the adoption papers and strongly urged him to sign them. He did find out their names, though.

Sara and Clyde Walker.

He did learn a few things from the DHS representative. The couple had two daughters, thirteen and fourteen, and were extremely wealthy. Thy lived close to Jasper, New York, which was a pretty big town, and they decided they would rather have a teenager than a baby. That was it. Nothing else. Zip. Nada. But Nathan was feeling reckless that day and signed the papers anyway.

Nathan was brought out of his musings by a vehicle pulling into the driveway of his old foster parents' house. Well, this is it, he thought grimly. Not wanting to seem too eager, Nathan stayed in the small room. It was a tactic he had learned long ago; let them come to him first. Let them show their hand before he showed his.

No matter what, he was still suspicious. Why would they want to adopt me?

Now he heard footsteps coming down the hall. It sounded like only one person, instead of the two that he was expecting. Nathan knew that it was every foster brat's dream to be adopted by rich parents, but he always thought that it was a little late in the game for him. Usually it was that way for any fourteen-year-old boy.

Maybe they want a sire for their daughters, he thought with a bit of lewd humor. He scolded himself immediately, though. If they were nice enough to take him in, then the least he could do was show the proper appreciation.

It was kind of strange that the footsteps just stopped at the front of the door and no knock came yet. Maybe the person is having second thoughts, his mind replied as he walked over and sat on the bed to wait for whomever it was to knock.

Sara Walker was extremely nervous as she walked down the hall where the old woman had said the boy's bedroom was. She and half the Psionic nation had been searching for him for the past ten years. Some wanted to take care of him; some wanted to kill him outright, before his power manifested.

Psionics were a rare breed and there were only about one hundred thousand in the entire world, give or take. They all worked behind the scenes so that the Normals would have no ideas as to who or what they were. They had their own rules. Moreover, if they did find out, Mind Manipulation was something that Psionics were very good at; they could make the Normals forget anything they saw or did very easily.

Sara Walker just stood in front of the door for a moment. She had to admit to herself that she was pretty damn nervous. On the other side of that door was a boy that had the potential to be the most powerful Psionic in the entire world. Moreover, he had absolutely no idea what he was. Therefore, Sara could go about this in one or two ways to break the news to him, because he needed to be told.

She also knew it would be a long road in his training.

Moreover, she was very worried that he would turn her down flat.

She was also very aware that she was going to have to give him some severe proof. With that thought in mind, she screwed up her courage, raised her hand, and firmly knocked three times on the door, hoping like hell that he would not run screaming when she gave him his proof. The Psionic World really needed this boy.

"Come in."

With that, Sara opened the door and walked into the very small room, noticing that everything was already packed and ready to go. Boxes were everywhere. There was one big box with a lid on it that was open and she could see that it was completely full of books, some in French. I guess my sources were right about the fact that he likes to read, she mused.

The next thing she noticed was the overwhelming sense of power that was coming off the boy-and he wasn't even trying to project it. Anyone with even a speck of Psionic ability would know that this boy was already a Master and he hadn't even learned anything about what he was yet. It was almost nerve wracking to be in the same room with someone that was so powerful. A less seasoned Psionic would be scared shitless at this point. However, she had to talk to him and that was exactly what she was going to do.

"Hello, my name is Sara Walker. Do you think that I could sit down so that we could talk?" That's right, start out simple.

"No, go ahead. I have a few questions of my own," Nathan replied, waving at an empty spot on the bed next to him. Sara could not help but notice the severe suspicious glint in Nathan's almost black eyes.

Nathan couldn't help but notice the way Sara looked. She was wearing a snug pair of jeans and a blue t-shirt that showed off a very lovely body indeed, not to mention her lustrous red hair. She was a wet dream for any teenager with half a hormone. However, he wasn't about to let his guard down yet, just because of her looks.

On the other hand, Nathan sensed something about the woman, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was almost as if something was hid in under the surface-something that she was hiding. It was making Nathan more than a little nervous. He didn't know who this woman was, but he knew-although he didn't know how-that she had the capability to be very dangerous if she wished.

However, Nathan knew that she meant him no harm. He knew this for certain. Although, no one knew because he kept it a secret, Nathan had an ability that he didn't understand at all. After a while, he just passed it off to being, maybe, ESP. It was just that if someone meant him harm and were close by, he always knew about it before they even moved. It just seemed he could sense if a person was trouble.

Nathan never told anyone for fear of them calling him a freak.

"Your ability is nothing to be ashamed of, and no one of our kind would call you a freak. You're not the only one with talents." In addition, with a wave of her hand, the door to the bedroom seemed to shut by itself.

Nathan stood up; every muscle in his body was tensed and ready to spring into action. Closing the door with the wave of her hand would not have created such a reaction from him, but reading his private thoughts damn sure would. Although he didn't know it, when he was frightened or angry, his dark brown eyes-that were almost black-went completely coal black. This was the first time it happened, though. In addition, something else happened for the very first time.

A flash of silver went through his eyes for only a split second.