Chapter 10: The Cold Gates
Merrickville, Ontario. Dusk.
The sun died early in the Ottawa Valley, slipping behind the western ridges and leaving the town of Merrickville steeped in a cold, grey twilight. But tonight, the dark wasn't just an absence of light; it was a physical weight, pressing down on the rooftops and the frozen canal like a suffocating blanket.
The town wasn't sleeping. It was arming.
The usual sounds of evening—dogs barking, doors slamming, the distant lau