CORDWOOD (The Darkwood Legacy)

Forty-three cursed objects were carved from the Confession Tree.

No one counted the scraps.

Cal Mercer sees nothing dangerous in the oak piled behind Malcolm Cross’s workshop. It is dry, seasoned, and perfect for a wet weekend at Pine Hollow Campground. When he finds families struggling to light their fires, Cal does what he has always done. He gives them what they need.

Then the smoke settles over the campground.

Old resentments harden into certainty. Private fears begin to feel like memories. Before the weekend is over, a man lies broken beneath a closed trail, lifelong friends turn on each other, and people who arrived together leave carrying something none of them can name.

Owen Vale wants to believe the violence at Pine Hollow was an awful collection of unrelated choices. Then the horrors follow the campers home.

As Owen traces the one thing they shared, every answer leads back to Cal’s truck and the firewood he was so eager to give away.

The forty-three finished objects were found.

No one knows how much of the tree became cordwood.

CORDWOOD is a Darkwood Legacy: Lost Confessions novella.