Chapter 10: Home Before Dark

A bird began to sing. Everyone opened their eyes. Lily had stopped crying. Lana was still pointing at the picture of the Royal Woods woods.

Lori and Leni peeked out the tree house window. Outside, they saw the exact same view. "We're home," said Lori and Leni. The woods were lit with a golden late afternoon light. The sun was about to set. No time had passed since they'd left. Their Mom began to call their names in the distance. "That's Mom," said Lynn, pointing. The Loud siblings saw their mother far away. She was standing in front of their house. She looked very tiny. She called for them again. "Coming," they all said.

Lincoln felt dazed. He just stared at his sisters. "What happened to us?" he asked. "We took a trip in a magic tree house," said Lola simply. "But, it's the same time as when we left," said Lincoln. Lola shrugged. "And how did it take us so far away?" asked Leni. "And so long ago?" asked Lucy. Lana just looked at a book and said you wished you would go there," said Lisa. "But how?" asked Lana. "And who built this magic tree house, dudes?" asked Luna. "Who put all these books here?" asked Lincoln. "A magic person, I guess," said Lola. "A magic person?" said everyone.

"Oh, look," said Lola. "I almost forgot about this." She reached into her pink bag and pulled out the gold medallion. "Someone lost this back there . . . in dinosaur land," said Lola. "Look, there's a letter M on it," said Lola. Everyone's eyes got round. "You think M stands for magic person?" said Leni. "I don't know," said Luan. "I just know someone went to that place before us," said Lola. Their mother called again. Luan poked her head out the window. "Coming!" she shouted. Lola put the gold medallion back in her pink bag.

Lincoln pulled the dinosaur book out of his pack and put it back with all the other books. Then, he and his sisters took one last look around the tree house. "Goodbye, house," whispered Lucy. Lincoln slung his backpack over his shoulder. He pointed at the ladder. One by one, all of the Loud sisters started down the rope ladder. Lincoln followed them.

Seconds later, they hopped onto the ground and started walking out of the woods toward Vanzilla. "No one's going to believe our story," said Lisa. "So let's not tell anyone," said Lori. "Pop Star won't believe it," said Luna. "He'll say it was a dream," said Lana. "Mom won't believe it," said Lincoln. "She'll say it was pretend," said Lori. "My gym teacher won't believe it," said Lynn. "He'll say you're nuts. Ha, Ha, Ha, get it," said Luan. Everyone groaned after Luan's joke. Lisa sighed. "I think I'm starting not to believe it myself," she said.

They left the woods and got to Vanzilla. As they getting home, the trip to dinosaur time did seem more and more like a dream. Only this world and this time seemed real. Lola reached into her pink bag. She clasped the gold medallion. She felt the engraving of the letter M. It made Lola's fingers tingle. Lola laughed. Suddenly, she felt very happy. She couldn't explain what had happened today. But, she knew for sure that their trip in the magic tree house had been real. Absolutely real.

"Tomorrow, we'll go back to the woods," Lincoln said softly. "Of course," said his sisters. "And we'll climb up to the tree house," said Lucy. "Of course, dudes," said Luna. "And we'll see what happens next," said Lola. "Yeah!" said everyone. Lori parked Vanzilla and everyone got out and carried their backpacks and bags. One by one, they went inside their house for dinner.