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Category: Young Adult/Fantasy
Description: The Curse of Arachnaman follows the events in the first three books in the Masks series, including Masks: Rise of Heroes and Masks: Evolution. Eric is settling down into a near-normal existence. He's learning to cope with a different kind of closet - being kept from talking freely about his relationship with Calais and the other superheroes - as well as an increasingly protective mother, his sister's new squeaky-clean boyfriend, and a bingo-obsessed best friend. Eric also learns that sometimes, being an asset to the forces of good means simply being himself. In the meantime, Vintage City is under siege from a new threat, one who's proving to be much more dangerous than all of the other supervillains the heroes have faced combined. Good people find themselves at the mercy of an angry lunatic who will stop at nothing to purge the city of what he sees to be undesirable elements. Can Eric and his friends triumph over evil again, or will this be their last battle?
eBook Publisher: Torquere Press/Prizm Books, 2010 www.prizmbooks.com
eBookwise Release Date: August 2010

7 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [327 KB]
Words: 73036
Reading time: 208-292 min.

When the street was again safe, Mom and I moved forward. Her mood restored itself, and she was once again humming while I struggled with the two bags of Chinese food. I think we were about a block away from home when Mom suddenly stopped. I had to walk another ten feet forward before I realized that I'd just left her behind, and my wrists throbbed. Irritated, I stopped and turned.

"Mom? What's up?" I said.

Mom didn't answer right away. She just stood there, quiet, as if she were listening for something that only she could hear. She looked up, sweeping her gaze along the top of the grungy apartment building across the street from where we stood. I stared at it, frowning. I didn't see anything unusual there. It was typical lower-middle-class housing, with decaying bricks and some broken windows, the lights all yellow and murky. Nothing looked suspicious on rooftops anywhere, either.

"Mom!" I called. "Come on, these things are heavy! And I'm starving!"

She didn't seem to hear me still, but after several more seconds of standing, listening, and searching, she finally sighed and walked toward me.

"I'm sorry, honey," she replied, taking one of the bags from my hold and gently guiding me back home with a strangely firm hold around my free arm.

"What's wrong? Did you hear something?" I asked.

"Hmm? Oh, no. It was nothing. I thought I saw something move up there, but it was just my imagination." She ended that with a small laugh that sounded a little tight and forced, but I didn't push things. We just fell silent for the rest of the way, and once we crossed the threshold, I suddenly realized that I was panting and a little sweaty. That was because we'd practically run the rest of the way home, or at least Mom had made me pick up my pace for whatever reason. Like we were running away from something.