Ash snorted at his words. "You don't deal with anything, Savitar. You sit out here in the sun, catching waves, spewing bullshit philosophy you don't follow."

"You're right. I gave up trying to affect my destiny a long time ago. But that's because every time I tried to change the future, I fucked it up worse. Eventually the rat gets tired of pulling the lever and sits down in his corner to lick his wounds. So if you're ready to hang it up and come sit on the beach with me-"

"I'm stuck fighting."

"You're stuck fighting." Savitar lay back down on his board. "But you're welcome to come share my beach any time you get tired of the brawl."

Ash let out a long sigh as he considered it seriously. "Save me a spot. If this blows up in my face, I'll be back with my tail forever tucked between my legs." Because deep inside he knew the truth-he'd been through enough ridicule. He couldn't stand to see the people he loved look at him the way Ryssa had when she'd found him in the stew in Didymos. Even though she'd loved him and had forgiven him, the disappointment in her eyes was still seared into his soul.

He couldn't take that again.

"Wave's coming," Ash warned his mentor.

He didn't move as Savitar popped up on his board with one perfect flip.

The moment the wave struck, Ash returned to New Orleans. Water sports had never been his thing. He preferred freefalling through the air or speeding on the ground.

And he hadn't been a spectator in over eleven thousand years. If he'd learned anything in his godhood, it'd been to fight until they dragged him down.

Even then, he didn't know how to not keep battling.

There was another journal out there. Fine. He was going to find it and make sure no living human or other being ever read it.

Ash paused as he entered the house to find the three women lined up and… singing to… dear gods, anything but this.

"Fergilicious."

All he needed was for Simi to be here and off-key with them since it was her favorite song and he'd spent the better part of the last year cursing whoever was dumb enough to introduce that song to a hormonal teenaged demon. Worst part? Simi wanted him to call her Similicious.

Yeah, like that would ever happen. He'd sooner become a Calvin Klein underwear model.

"C'mon, Ash," Kim called. "Join us."

He looked at her with horror filling his soul. "Oh hell no. Not enough beer in the world to make me sing 'I'll put your boy on rock, rock.' "

The women laughed so hard, Kim collapsed on the couch while Pam and Tory roared.

"So did you find anything?" Tory asked after she finally sobered.

"A broken headlight on the car across the street and two street-lights that are out." Ash picked up Tory's cell phone and held it out to her. "I actually need you to call your people and ask them if they found another journal."

Tory gave him a droll stare. "Believe me, if they'd found something as monumental as that they would have told me immediately."

"Even if they'd done it right before they were taken into custody?"

"Then the government would have it."

"Tory, please, just humor me. I've got a bad feeling."

As she reached for the phone in his hand, it started ringing. By the tone and the look on her face, he could tell she knew who it was before she answered.

"Hey Bruce, what's…"Her voice trailed off as her face lost color.

Ash put his hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"Oh my God. No…"

He exchanged a confused look with Pam until he listened to the other end of the conversation.

"It was awful, Tory. We'd just been released maybe an hour when I got the call that he'd been mugged-just like Nikolas-on his way into his flat and was in surgery."

"What are the doctors saying?"

"They don't know. It's not looking good. But what's scariest is that the guys who ran him down, rifled through his bag and pockets… like they were looking for something in particular. They didn't take any money or his watch. Nothing… Harry said they were asking him questions as they beat on him, but since his Greek isn't fluent he couldn't understand what they wanted. They just kept beating the shit out of him until he lost consciousness."

Tory glanced up at Acheron, becoming suspicious about all of his "feelings." They were so unerringly accurate that she wondered if he might not be a part of them. "Did any of you happen to find another journal during the dig?"

"Earlier in the morning, just before the police arrived, we'd hit the mother lode of artifacts."

"But was there another journal?"

"It wasn't as well preserved as the one you have, but yeah, there was another book and get this… it wasn't wet. It'd been sealed in an airtight container that was inside a wood chest inlaid with gold. It looked like someone had stashed it there out of fear or something."

"Where is it now?"

"I don't know. Last I heard, Dimitri had it."

"I need you to find Dimitri and get that book to me."

"Why? It's not like anyone can read it."

"Yes, they can."

"Who?"

She looked up at Ash and wished that she could see the eyes he kept hidden from the world. "A man here in the States."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. He's the one who told me that there were probably more of them to be found and he's the one who got you guys out of jail. Now listen, my house was broken into and it appears they were looking for something, too. My friend says it's the journal. I don't know the truth, but until we do, you guys be really, really careful and keep me posted on Harry and Niko."

"Will do, Doc."

She turned off the phone and looked up at those dark sunglasses that she suspected hid a lot more than just his eye color. "What's going on, Ash?"

He rubbed his thumb over his bottom lip. "You've found a crucial piece of history and there are factions out there who are willing to kill for it."

No, it had to be more than that. It had to be. "Look, this isn't the Mummy. It's not like a teenaged girl's diary could resurrect the dead or anything. It's just the story of her innocuous life. What on earth could an ancient girl have known that would be worth killing someone over?"

He scoffed at her. "You're asking me that question? People kill each other over a pair of shoes or for wearing the same jacket."

Pam nodded. "He has a point there."

"I still don't understand it. I don't."

Ash shook his head. "There's a lot of things about this world, and people in particular, that I don't understand." And considering the fact he was an eleven-thousand-year-old god, that pretty much said it all.

He looked at Tory, wishing he could trust her enough to tell her why that book was so important, but for all he knew the reason he couldn't see her future was because she'd end up being the one to destroy him or the world.

I'm the Harbinger. Only I can bring about Telikos.

Or maybe not… His prophecy was to bring it about. By teaching her to translate his native language, he might have already set it in motion. If only he'd known about the second diary. It'd all seemed so harmless-a way to make amends for embarrassing the granddaughter of an old friend. Now it could be a disaster.

Feeling suddenly ill, he sat down on the arm of her couch. What had he done?

"Are you all right?" Tory asked. "You look really pale all of a sudden."

No, he wasn't all right. He was sick to his stomach at the thought of what he might have inadvertently done. Just like with Nick Gautier. In the heat of anger, he'd cursed his best friend to kill himself. Unfortunately, Artemis had then brought Nick back from the dead and created a nasty situation for Ash. Now his best friend was out to kill him in revenge.

Be careful what you say even in passing. Your word is law. His mother's warning rang in his ears and now that he thought about it, his mother had been eerily quiet for the past week.