-- CRUELTY WITHIN AS WITHOUT -- Eddie's having what can only be called a troublesome year. His natural intelligence is keeping him from getting anything other than passing grades in his senior year of high school, and his social life can safely be called a shambles, and even that's making it sound hopeful. Still, there are things that even Eddie takes solace in; a handful of close friends, a lover, and a secret that lets him rewrite aspects of reality in ways that he doesn't fully understand. It all seems a little much, some days, but he's coping as best as he can -- or trying to. There is a force that is trying to take these things from him, for reasons beyond imagining. Eddie is going to have to look up from the doldrums of his life, as he is about to be caught up in events that are larger than anything he could have ever dreamed of