Game was 6/20/20, at Andee's.

Several minutes pass as the hunters gather the army of the living and the dead. Josh remains in shock while Silas carries his father Peter, who has lapsed into catatonia. Leta makes sure the hunters get inside first while William focuses on his grandson. Anita counts the dead from the hallway and realizes about ninety percent of the missing ghosts are here. She isn't too familiar with the remaining ten percent, but they do pay rent for the X-Krewe's protection. As the hunters enter the River City, they see many fights breaking out as the covetous dead go after the living to drain them of their Essence and memories. The Ice Magistrates quickly move in to break up the fights, but they overhear the general rumbling of, "Who let the skinbags in?"

Several more minutes pass as the army of the living regroups in the courtyard. The hunters notice a short ghost of a black woman eying them carefully. She is partially encased in ice, clearly marking her as another Ice Magistrate. She gradually makes her way over to them and stops by Josh. Anita spots her but doesn't recognize her, while Josh senses her presence but nothing else. However, Leta and William both recognize her – this is Angela Sykes, Mick's former partner who as far as they knew was still catatonic in a hospital bed! Leta sidles up to Abby and points out Angela. Abby recognizes Angela, but announces to Leta, "I'll bleed while I process this."

Leta pulls out her cellphone and calls Mick. Thankfully, the hell phone works in the Underworld and the signal goes through. Mick immediately answers, "Where are you! Are you alright?" Leta runs down a list of their general problems before asking Mick, "Have you seen Sykes lately?" Confused, Mick responds, "Yes, I saw her a month ago. Why?" Leta replies, "I gotta go." Mick cries out, "What?" Leta jibes, "Don't worry about it!"

She hangs up the phone and Abby hisses, "She's looking right at us. Leta looks over and says, "Oh, hello." Angela eyes her with a 'what a dumbass' expression and growls to Leta, "You are not subtle." Leta replies, "I know. I throw fireballs, that's my jam. I also want to issue a blanket apology for all the crap we put you through and what you saw. Mick says he saw you a few weeks ago." Angela retorts, "I died a few weeks ago. When I woke up here, there were neat squares in my body where my organs used to be." Leta grumbles, "We'll have to look into that."

The Queen of Ice and Blood lurches over to them and the hunters note that everyone parts for her. As they prepare for her arrival, the hunters notice their new allies, Silas, Sadie, and Benjamin. Like all living beings in the Underworld, all three do have auras. For Josh this tells him that they are alive while Anita notices that all three share the same deep violet aura, signifying great secrecy. However, William and Leta note that the auras move with mechanical precision and not the random shifting of a normal person. Looking closer they also notice that the auras do flex and shift almost like gears moving on a machine. They both file this information away, unwilling to start a problem here and now.

Josh murmurs, "Where did Serena go?" Leta replies, "She's not here, honey." Anita adds, "Not at the moment. We'll deal with her when she gets here." Josh pushes himself up but ends up slumped against Silas's legs. He asks softly, "Is this OK?" Silas snorts, "Sure." Josh replies, "Thank you." The Queen of Ice and Blood reaches them, and she looks first at Josh and then to William. She rumbles, "What… are… you… doing… here… so… soon?" William admits, "We were not planning to be back so soon." He and Leta explain the bare-bones of the situation while Josh apologizes. Leta warns the Queen, "There's something greater at play here."

The Queen growls, "I… shall… forgive… you… this… time… as… you… have… disrupted… the… invasion… of… my… city… and… brought… me… their… leader." Leta counters, "He was nothing more than a pawn." The Queen snaps, "A… pawn… who… crucified… my… son!" Leta asks, "And what would make that the most painful for you to watch?" The Queen retorts, "Also… crucifying… my… daughter?" Silas shifts, accidentally hitting Josh in the head, and lifts Peter like a chair to show the Queen. The Queen stares at her husband and screams! Arctic cold sweeps out; luckily, Josh is below the blast. Silas's shirt gets wrinkled while Sadie and Benjamin stumble back. Leta endures the cold although her inner hellfire flickers briefly. William feels the cold sweep through him, and he stumbles back. The dagger appears in his right hand, but he doesn't lift that hand or move in any aggressive manner.

Unfortunately, Anita takes the full brunt of the cold. Her body temperature plunges, and The Witch surges forward to attack. Anita manages to reign The Witch back, so the geist merges with her instead! Anita screams as she is lit on fire, and then whimpers, "Ow, this is not fun!" The hunters watch in horror as her facial features melt and reform, revealing a Caucasian woman. They realize that this is Charity Wingham's face – the face of The Witch's mortal body! The Witch then ejects herself from Anita and the Queen steps back in shock.

William says softly, "He didn't know what he was doing." While Josh lurches towards Abby, Leta adds, "There is a lot of upsetting things in this story. Can we go somewhere else to talk?" Anita mumbles, "Ow. Please don't freeze me again." The Queen recovers her composure and eyes them warily but then concedes, "Bring… him." Silas grabs Josh and lifts him up to carry him alongside his father. William demands, "What are you doing?" Silas stops and looks back at him to reply, "I am following her." William hesitates, and Silas jokes, "Let me guess, like father, like son?" Leta hisses in outrage, but then Josh recognizes his father! Peter Troy is lolling uncomprehendingly, and Josh tries to shake him as he says in a childlike voice, "Please, please wake up!"

The Queen leads them into the asylum through the rent in the wall and into the gymnasium that serves as her court. Josh sees the scars left by the car crash that killed his father as Silas puts them both down gently, The Queen settles into her throne and stares at them all before asking tersely, "What… the… fuck?" Leta explains how she ended up in no-man's-land and how Josh was used as a tool to rile her up. She adds, "He was wearing a mask. Serena was the other one." The Queen cries out, "What?" Anita hastily interjects, "Please don't freeze me again." Leta says softly but firmly, "Serena was not a good person. I do not say this to be rude or insulting, and I don't know if this was trauma, her true self, or the crowd she ran with. But she died last year, and it was her fault!"

The Queen demands, "How?" Leta explains, "Serena went after one of our group then the target's werewolf girlfriend intervened and killed her." The Queen glares at William, but Leta hotly defends William and says, "Serena made her own choices!" She then visibly calms down and asks for the Queen, "What do you know other realms?" The Queen repeats slowly, "Other… realms?" Leta quickly explains the existence of other realms like the Shadow and the Hedge, culminating with Sethic the Hunter. The Queen admits, "I… have… heard… of… a… Huntsman… nearby." Leta says firmly, "He was a True Fae. A being of pure magic. This was engineered to be entertaining for him to watch. Serena serves him willingly. She wanted to hurt you as well."

The Queen tenses and everyone braces for another burst of cold, when a soft voice interrupts, "You know she is right." The hunters turn to see Peter awake. Sadie crouches next to Peter and she has all four hands on him. Peter manages to get to his feet as he looks at his wife and says quietly, "We talked about this. We've known, we've always known something was wrong with Serena." A moment passes, and the hunters hear a strange grinding noise that they soon realize is the Queen crying.

Josh tries to get to his feet but fails and slumps back against Silas's legs. Silas looks down at him and says, "You did not think this one through. Up or down, which one do you want?" Josh points to his mother, the Queen, and Silas points out, "You want to give her a hug? Wouldn't you stick to her? You can barely stand!" Josh retorts, "I can flop by her." Silas sighs and replies, "You make your own bad decisions," in a twisted reflection of Leta's comments about Serena. He then gauges the distance between Josh and the Queen and then grabs Josh by the top of the head and flings him forward on his knees! Josh slides right to the Queen, stopping an inch away!

Leta concedes, "OK, that was impressive." Josh looks up at his mother and realizes she is an absolute agony, so he starts softly singing their song, Dream A Little Dream of Me. The Queen wails as Josh continues singing until she suddenly rockets to her feet and grabs him in a fierce hug! Josh promptly sticks to the Queen of Ice and Blood but says nothing. Suddenly his father joins them in the hug and Peter waves to William. William does not hesitate and joins them immediately. For a few moments, the whole world fades away as three generations of Troys reunite for the first time in over twelve years.

The moment passes and then Silas steps in and says quietly, "I am very, very sorry to interrupt this, but I'm afraid Josh is now frozen to the Queen." The Queen jerks back in anger, and then Josh goes with her. The Queen realizes her son's predicament and concedes, "I… see… your… point." Silas manages to free William from the Queen by brute strength, but the Queen screams in pain as her family is ripped away! Benjamin whispers, "Black! Hands! Use your hands!" Leta snaps, "What, is he going to turn the heat blower on?" Silas flips her off, but Leta replies sardonically, "Our relationship is not at that point yet!" Silas retorts, "Oh I disagree. Flipping you off in anger? We're definitely at that point!"

Flames erupt from Silas's hands and he carefully frees Peter. Josh is still stuck to his mother, so Silas turns back to the others and says, "I'll fob this one off of you two, if you want." Josh interjects, "No thank you. They'd burn me." Leta reluctantly nods and Anita concedes, "You have more precision than we do." Silas turns and carefully – and slowly – separates Josh from his mother. As he finishes, Josh sags backwards and William grabs him. Silas and William step back to regroup and give the Queen some space.

Peter then starts talking quietly, almost to himself. He says, "After we died, I knew the kids were going to be OK. I knew William, my father, would take good care of them. We stayed at the crash site for days, me, my wife, and my mother. A few days passed, and then something made of eyes and ears appeared suddenly, grabbed Jessica and Wendy, and dragged them into the ground!" He goes silent for a moment before whispering, "I ran. I ran away, abandoning my wife and mother because I was so terrified. I hid at my grave site for days before I gathered the courage to return. They were gone, so I stayed to keep an eye out for that thing, and to try and prevent anymore car crashes. I saw the thing a few more times but then as time went on, I just slipped into a fugue state."

Peter lapses into silence again, and Anita mentally calculates their Anchors and that the creature dragged Wendy and Jessica directly into the Upper Reaches. The hunters then realize that their three allies, Silas, Sadie, and Benjamin, have stepped away and are talking softly in a foreign language. They're clearly not trying to interrupt the Queen and remain as covert as possible. Leta listens to their conversation and tentatively identifies the language they are speaking as Turkish. Unfortunately, Leta does not speak any Turkish so she cannot translate.

Peter suddenly speaks up again, "Singing. Singing snapped me out of that fugue. I heard singing, a hymnal. I joined the song and then I saw my father in a cathedral that I did not recognize. But the cathedral was beautiful, and this was in the winter?" William explains, "That was in Milan." Peter nods absently and muses, "So much time seemed to have passed. So many different cars on the road. There was even one that looked like a toaster on wheels." Anita snickers softly as she realizes Peter is referring to a Scion xB or Kia Soul.

Peter continues, "And then Serena showed up. It was in the summer. My daughter found me after her death. She told me that a monster made of ice and blood had captured her mother and was holding her hostage. She also told me that she had made an ally, a powerful ally that could help us free my wife. She brought me into… well, here. Whatever here is. She brought me to her ally, who she called the Huntsman. He was a monster! He was literally twice my size, with skin like bark and antlers like a moose! He only wore green moss like a loincloth. He gave me a mask to wear, telling me that it would make me powerful enough to defeat the monster. Just before I put it on, I saw this thing was building a bridge. The next thing I know though, is that one screaming at me," as he points to Leta.

Anita braces herself for another blast of cold from the Queen while Leta remains uncharacteristically quiet. Josh wiggles between his dead parents and concedes, "This is insane. This whole situation is insane, starting from the accident. Unfortunately, I never got any smarter. but I know you did your best with all the insane things that came your way. You are OK, and you are together now." As Josh talks, the hunters realize that Peter is getting more agitated. Sadly, the more agitated he gets, some more metal shrapnel forces itself out of his flesh. In horror, the hunters see the outline of a steering wheel appear in blood on his chest. Josh continues to awkwardly help, until the Queen shifts back to her royal persona and demands, "You… must… leave… and… take… them… with… you!"

The hunters quickly realize that the Queen is referring to not only the foreign dead but also all the living soldiers. Leta wonders, "Wait, how are they still alive? Wouldn't they have starved to death down here? What did they eat?" Silas replies slowly, "What about those fruits that Doctor Ranjip had? What did you call them?" Leta snarls, "Goblin fruits! He was feeding them goblin fruits. And I bet that bridge is to the living world!" Anita interjects, "We are getting out of your hair!" Peter moves to join them, but the Queen fixes him in place with the glare. Josh says awkwardly, "Be nice to each other." He turns to his grandfather and asks, "Is there anything to say to your son?" William replies, "I will continue to do the best that I can." With that the hunters quickly depart the asylum and as soon as they step outside, they hear the Queen scream and icicles blow out!

Silas points to the Alabama National Guard and says "So how are we getting them out? I can rip open a gate, but I can't hold it open long enough to get them all through." William suggests, "We could use one of the gates we used last time we were here." Leta adds, "There are two gates, one weird plastic one that we didn't take, and the other one." Abby points out, "That other one let us to Cambridge!" Anita adds, "I need to get my people back to the hallway." Silas asks, "Where is this hallway?" Anita admits, "I don't know how to get there from here. I can tell you that there was an Egyptian temple that lead out to the beach by the River, but I have no idea which direction to go or how far it is."

A small voice behind them suddenly chimes in, "I know!" The hunters turned to see a little girl dressed in clothing from the 1930s; she clearly died of polio, and her legs are wasted. Another ghost, a black woman, hovers nearby with a wheelchair, but the little girl bounces up and down as much as she can on her twisted legs. She points in the direction that the army came from and says, "The temple is that way, just follow the River. It's a three-hour walk. I can guide you!"

Most of the hunters aren't too keen at the thought of a three-hour walk and Leta returns to the unknown gate. Silas looks uneasy, and eventually admits, "I know where that one leads. To a hospital." Leta stares at him and guesses, "Cooley Dickinson Hospital? Perhaps, in a space that shouldn't exist?" Silas reluctantly nods but refuses to divulge anything more. Anita points out, "The last time we were there it self-destructed. It's probably not safe to go back, especially since I think that space has vanished. We couldn't get back in." Leta argues that they should at least try, but Silas points out, "Or we walk to this hallway and exit somewhere in Springfield, where all of our cars are." This brings the others up short, and then Anita concedes, "Yeah that's probably the best idea."

Josh says reluctantly, "A wheelchair will be needed." Jordan drifts over to them at this point and exclaims "I can help with that!" Josh and Jordan share a look as The Witch whistles in appreciation, and the others realize they're both pretty but dumb. Jordan exclaims, "You'll be traveling in style! I just need to get a few things, like the hammer. Give me about twenty minutes." He dashes off as everyone turns to look at Anita. She concedes, "He's good with his hands." Leta snickers, and Silas jokes, "Are you just going to softball that one in?" Anita snaps, "Shush!"

As the hunters wait for Jordan to return, they do their best to start gathering the soldiers for departure. They meet the highest-ranking officer remaining, a Sergeant C. Park. Sergeant Park eyes William and asks, "Ex-military?" William admits, "Yes." Sergeant Park concedes to William, "This unit is at less than fifteen percent combat efficiency." The hunters realize this is a polite way of saying that most of his unit has gone insane, but Leta assures him, "We're not gonna be doing any fighting, just marching." Sergeant Park turns to her and asks pointedly, "For how long?" Leta admits, "Three hours, maybe four." Sergeant Park relaxes a fraction and says, "We can do that." The hunters realized that the sergeant is holding on the last threads of his own sanity and only is doing so because he is responsible for the rest of the men.

Leta steps away and calls Mick back. He immediately answers, "The fuck, Leta?" Leta immediately apologizes, and says, "It was worse this time than the last one. Remember those Alabama National Guardsmen that went missing? They are here and they're still alive!" Mick sputters and then growls, "Sethic?" Leta replies, "I don't have a lot of time to explain now, but yes, Sethic. And Serena. We will be exiting from the First Church in Springfield with over two hundred soldiers. Mick sighs and then says, "Put Silas Black on."

Leta waves Silas over and hands him the phone. Silas suddenly starts speaking rapid-fire Italian, but luckily Leta knows how to speak that language. She listens carefully as Silas is clearly explaining to Salvatore or some other Mafioso that they will be coming up from the First Church in Springfield in about four hours. He adds, "You may need to bring in the doctor. Have her on standby." Leta pretends to not have understood anything as Silas Black hands her back the phone. She talks to Mick briefly and he explains, "After you dove in, the Mafia swarmed the house. Luckily Black gave me a token to show them or otherwise they would have killed us all. Right now, they're guarding the house." Leta retorts, "Did they fix the wall?" Mick snorts and says, "Nope, they are guarding the house. However, if you're going to be a few hours, I will have Doctor Ranjip take a nap." He then mutters to himself, "I really don't want to have to call Templeton," and hangs up the phone.

As the hunters gather all the soldiers and the hallway dead, they learn that the little girl is named Eleanor, just like the first lady. Eleanor also introduces her guardian as Miss Jeffries. The hunters decide not to bother telling little Eleanor how much time has actually passed since her death. Anita focuses on organizing and mobilizing the hallway dead while William snaps into military mode and deals with the Alabama National Guardsmen. He ends up counting a total of two hundred and fifteen Alabamans, including non-soldiers such as engineers and logistical staff. They treat him as if he is a colonel, and Sergeant Park is just fine with that! William does learn from Sergeant Park that his first name is Cletus and he was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.

Josh is happy for his grandfather now that he has something to focus on. He checks in with Abby and her injuries and slips into pure avoidance mode. Meanwhile Veltis remains silent as he is conserving energy. Josh turns his attention back to the Alabamians in the hopes of finding someone that can assist him in checking the soldiers' mental health. He soon meets Clarence, a professional counselor attached to this unit of the Alabaman National Guard. Clarence is well spoken and very polite; Josh realizes that he is doing his best to dump the 'Alabaman redneck' stereotype. They hear a cry, and then Jordan returns with his contraption to ferry Josh – a toilet on monster truck wheels! He exclaims proudly, "We harvested this from the asylum! I added the wheels for greater stability." He then bows to Josh with a flourish and says, "Your throne awaits!" as the other hunters smother their laughter.