Salvatore picked up the axe Teo had been using and leaned it against the woodpile.
The boy hadn't made much of a dent in the log in front of him, but he'd kept at it for a solid ten minutes without complaining once. The wood had a few dents in it and a shallow crack running along the side.
Salvatore hadn't expected anything more. He'd given Teo the axe mostly to keep his hands occupied. Just to keep the boy busy.
Teo stared at the log, then at the neat stack of split wood beside Salvatore's block.
"You cut all of it?" Teo said.
Salvatore reached over and took the axe from his hands. "Yes. Now go inside."
"Why do you need that much wood?" Teo ignored Salvatore; he looked around at the pile. "We don't have a fireplace."
He was right. The mansion had electric heaters for winter, and it was too warm now to need them. There was no obvious reason to have this much chopped wood sitting in the yard.
