Chapter One: The Shadow Man The second hand raced around the clock with a steady urgency, yet the boy's movements were deliberately slow, calculated. The wainscotting of the hallway reflected the shine on the floor as his mop travelled in lazy arcs, doing its best to polish floors dulled down by a decade of foot traffic spills, and bodily fluids. The latter is how he ended up with extra chores. The boy’s eyes flicked from his pathway to the wall clock and back again. His pr