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Category: Erotica/Gay-Lesbian Erotica/Mystery/Crime
Description: While his friends continue to develop their newfound powers, Eric begins to feel the effects of being the odd man out. Around him, things go from bad to worse for Vintage City as the Shadow Puppet, a new super-villain, steps into the Devil's Trill's shoes and wreaks havoc with his army of killer mannequins. Magnifiman, Calais, and Spirit Wire have their hands full, with the Puppet proving to be much more slippery than the Trill and leaving the good guys scrambling for clues. Work-related stress begins to creep into Eric's relationship with Peter, which reaches the breaking point when Peter takes a new superhero under his wing, a fire-wielding teenage girl, whose awesome powers could make her a better match for Peter. To make matters worse, there are the strange headaches, sleepwalking, and nightmares that haunt Eric, as well as the Devil's Trill's call for him to take his place as a super-villain sidekick. There's also Brenda Whitaker, her mysterious past, and her sudden desire to help Eric as he struggles to figure himself out and make the right choice before his parents ask him again about his awful Geometry and Chemistry grades. Can Eric handle the stress? Find out in this second book of the Masks trilogy.
eBook Publisher: Torquere Press/Prizm Books, 2008 http://www.prizmbooks.com
eBookwise Release Date: March 2009

18 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats: OEBFF Format (IMP) [294 KB]
Words: 60790
Reading time: 173-243 min.

It was time for Peter's "tennis lessons." I stared stupidly at the stopwatch he handed me and scratched my head. "Um--what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Time me."

"Doing what?"

Peter stepped aside and waved a hand around the room. "I'm supposed to cover every room of the house from top to bottom. You know, literally run around each room without knocking over furniture and knickknacks or breaking anything valuable. I end my run here."

I stared at him now. "That's it?" I scratched my head again when he nodded and shrugged, a sheepish grin forming. "Don't you and Trent have something like a secret underground hideout where you play with your superhero toys and dry clean your costumes and stuff?"

"Eric, my parents might be rich, but they're not billionaires. Besides, I think that having a special underground lair for superhero training and stuff is cheating. We've got a lot more obstacle courses above ground. I mean, you've seen my mom's antiques. She lives for those things. I use them for agility training," Peter replied with a faint blush and a devious little chuckle. "Gives her a coronary every time, but what can I do?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "Do you vary your start and finish lines? After a while, I'd expect you to memorize every inch of each room. You'd be flying through your house without much of a challenge."

"The rooftops," he answered quickly and confidently. "I go way above ground and make use of the neighborhood or any given area in the city--well, outside downtown, anyway. If you happened to look up and catch sight of a weird blur flying from one rooftop to another, that'd be me. As far as maternal coronaries go, that's even worse."

I was impressed. "So--who used to time you before I found out about your powers?"

"Whoever happened to be at home. Sometimes I'd just leave the stopwatch on the mantle over there," he said, pointing at the polished mahogany mantle behind me, "and then stop it once I end my run. The results when I did that weren't as accurate as when someone else was keeping time, but there wasn't anything I could do."

I continued to stare at him, not only feeling impressed, but moved and downright proud.

"It's really not as high-tech as you think, Eric. I'd give my soul to have all the gadgets we see in all those comic books, but life doesn't work that way." He cleared his throat. "Trent's not too happy with the lack of comic book awesomeness, actually. Even with a tricked out bike and the swanky bachelor pad he owns, he still whines about the 'lack of proper facilities.'"

"Magnifiman goes all EMO over this? Seriously?" I nearly doubled over in laughter but checked myself when I saw how serious Peter was.

"Everything about being a superhero around here--"

"Or a supervillain?"