Shadow Game
Chapter 1
Raul Booth felt a storm brewing even though the day was hot and sunny and the blue sky held not even a wisp of clouds. His face was damp and his bare chest sweaty, the faded old blue T-shirt he had pulled off resting over the edge of the rusty wheelbarrow. He lifted the ax and brought it down hard, splitting another round of birch, then reached for another. The echo of the sharp thud in the hills was oddly comforting.
“You want to tell me what you’ve got stuck in your craw? Because I’m getting tired of watching you, and as much as I appreciate the wood, I can’t see myself burning all that,” came the voice of his older brother, Asher, who was sitting in an old wooden chair on the porch beside Raul’s dog. “Suppose I could sell some, but it doesn’t seem fair, taking a
