The Wargod's Apprentice

At fifteen, Lex, who has been homeschooled his entire life, begins attending high school. Although he is gifted and ahead of his peers academically, he's awkward and uncomfortable socially-that is, until he discovers football and its violence, and it seems he has a gift for both. When Lex's family dies in a fire, Lex goes to live with his fabulously wealthy grandfather who apprentices him to an eccentric named Dr. Bernard Polemarchos. Bernie is a Wargod, one of a race of aliens who travel in time, refighting the great battles of history to protect earth from the evil Others-who, Lex discovers, are responsible for his family's death. As Bernie teaches Lex how to be a warrior, soon the time will come for the young man to avenge the murders of his loved ones and take his place in history. In this novel, a boy whose family is murdered goes to live with his grandfather and learn the art of war from a member of an alien race who fights to protect the earth.