Alan felt his cellphone ringing in his pocket, and answered it and the voice that blared in his right ear was something very familiar to him. "Al, it's me." said a man's voice thay Alan seemed to recognize all too well. His heart was pounding and he was feeling a large amount of joy fueling up inside of him. "Is it really you?"

"Barry?" Alan said. "My God, it is you." The writer was more than happy to hear the voice of his own best friend after two long years of being separated from him.

"I can't believe you came here to Royal Woods, my next place on the venue for the Old Gods to play at. This- this is probably the luckiet day of my life hearing your voice and talking on the phone with you again after all this time of being separated I fell like I'm gonna cry."

Alan smirked and said: "get yourself together, Barry. I promise it is me. But, how did you know?"

"Many of the people who live in this city believe they have seen you and word gets around fast."

"Ah. That makes total sense." Alan admitted. "And what about Alice? Do you know where she is?"

"Nope. Unfortunately, I don't Al. I haven't talked to your wife in about three months now. "She said she wanted to be alone, and she really thinks you're dead."

The poor writer was slowly feeling his heart break into a million pieces just hearing that. Alan never meant to hurt Alice and he never meant for any of this to happen to her either. Blaming himself for all the damage the Dark Presence had caused in tbe world, he bowed his head, not saying a word for a few long seconds. Just thinking about Alice makes him sad and depressed, and he felt like he hurt her in every possible way.

His deep thinking was cut short by Barry's whiny voice. "Al? Al?"

"Sorry, Barry." Alan replied, coming out of his train of thought. "I was just thinking about Alice. I just... I just want to hold her right now. I want her to know that I'm okay. And, I understand if she's mad at me for being gone fore two years. But I want you to know that I am getting closer to getting out of the hellhole, the dark place. As long as I keep relying on dream logic, i am one step closer to get my way out of hell."

Barry was a little silent in reply, but he at last, said to him: "Oh Al, Alice misses you too. Besides, she is coming to Royal Woods, too. You can see her again when she comes. I still have her number and i can call her right now to-"

"No, no, it's okay Barry. I want to meet her myself. I want to... surprise her. Besides, I'm sure that if you called her and say i am still alive and i am here in Royal Woods, she'll think you're batshit crazy, or think you are playing the cruelest joke or prank on her."

"Oooh. True. But hey, at least my Old God friends are here with me if you want to talk to them."

"Yeah, i'm good Barry. I'm good. Besides, I prefer to meet them face-to-face."

"Okay. It's so good to have you back, Alan. I'll talk to you later. I gotta get breakfast with the boys, bye."

"So nice to hear your voice again too, Barry... i can't believe I just said that. Bye." Then Alan hung up the phone to look outside the window of the Loud living room. Birds were singing and chirping and je took off his jacket, revealing a white t-shirt underneath.

It was just then Lincoln came in the living room. "Alan, I heard voices. Were you on the phone?"

"Yeah. I was. My friend Barry was calling me, and he wanted to know if it is really me here in your home city."

"And, what did he say?"

"Well, he said he was in town with the Old Gods of Asgard and I plan on meeting Barry again after two years of being separated. And..." he then sat on tbe couch. "I'm worried about what Alice will think once she finds out I'm not dead."

"You said she was coming here, right?"

"To Royal Woods, yes. But it was my fault that Alice was rescued in tbe Dark Place. I was too stubborn on her."

"Come on, Alan." said Lincoln. "She's still your wife."

"I know."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Luna said with the sisters going downstairs.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Alan said. "I was talking with my childhood friend on the phone and I told you that my wife: Alice is going to be here in town. But, I'm worried she might hate me or won't recognize me after being gone for two years. What can I tell her? She thinks I'm dead and I haven't been there for her for the last two years."

"Well, come on." said Lori, "Alice will undersyand what is going on."

"Besides, you said that she was trapped in that dark, creepy place." Leni added.

"True." Then he got up the couch again. "Listen, tonight, I am going to l9ok for kore manuscript pages for a way to defeat the Dark Presence. One of my pages said that Shelby National Park has one or two on there."

"Why not just do it now since it's broad daylight?" Lucy asked

"Unfortunately," Alan sighed, "it's not that simple. These pages mostly come out at night and it's... it's a game Thomas Zane and the Dark Presence play. So I have to get most of these pages by night. And I think... yeah, i think you guys better come with me so I can have some backup."

Looking scared, the kids looked at one another and began to protest against this idea. "Well, we don't even have any weapons with us." Lana said. "No guns, no knives, nothing like that."

"Not to worry, guys." Alan said, "i'm on top of that." The writer pulled put what seemed to be a large fun case made out of black leather. Undoing the buttons, and removing the locks, he opened tbe case to reveal many kinds of weapons he has with him. "I know it sounds very dangerous and risky, but these pages involve you a as well. And Lisa, do you have any flashlights?"

"Affirmative." The child prodigy replied. "I have made a little help in trying to annihilate the Dark Presence. Shelby National Park is one of the largest in all of Michigan."

"Well, feel free to grab a weapon you want. It can get really messy."

"Well, I never thought i would actually kill a person with a gun before."

"The Taken are no longer people as I have said before, Lola. So you would have to kill them to save your life."

"Got it." The kids said in unison. Grabbing weapons for themselves, most of them got pistols and Lynn got a Remington 87p shotgun in her hands for extra firepower.