Days passed as we drove across the country. They were pretty uneventful. Nothing was on the news about us. The only thing bothering me was the fact that no matter how many times I tried, I couldnt get Nana Kat to answer my calls. Whenever I called Lily it just went straight to voicemail. Something in the back of my head was telling me there was a bad reason but I did my best to ignore it.

When we finally arrived, I tried calling Lily's phone from a payphone.
"Hello?"It was Nana Kat. Why was she answering Lily's phone?
"I- What the hell is going on? Why havent you been answering my calls? And why are you answering Lily's phone?"I spluttered out.
"Frank! Goodness. What number are you calling from?"She asked, ignoring my questions.
"I'm at a payphone. Now answer my questions. What the heck is happening?"

"Frank, I'm sorry but I want Lily and Claire to stay away from you. Lily understands why you had to go of course, so I told her not to expect you to come back. But Claire, I wasn't sure what to do with her. I mean, she saw you shoot that bastard. She asked me if it was one of the men trying to kill you so I said yes and she seemed to accept that. I told her that you went back to kill the people that killed Mummy and tomorrow I'm going to tell them both that you were shot and didnt make it."

I couldnt believe the words coming out of her mouth. I was so shocked that I didnt know what to say.

"I'm sorry Frank. You're a lovely boy, you really are. I'm proud to call you my grandson. Jesus, if your grandfather could see you now he would be there with you. But after losing my daughter and seeing the look on Claire's face when you shot Malcolm, I realised that they need to have a proper childhood. With family. If you stay in their lives you're only going to put them in danger. Goodbye Frank. I'll tell them you called to say you love them."

My mouth was hanging open with no noise coming out. Very slowly I came to my senses and hung the phone up. I turned around to see Gerard pacing the sidewalk impatiently. I stepped out of the phonebox and somehow managed to walk over to him.
"Frank are you okay?"
"I- I- I-"And then the rage set in,"She cant fucking do that! I am their fucking family! How fucking dare she! Oh my fucking god! And I cant even stop her cause I'm across the country and she has Lily's phone! What the fuck?!"

"Frank what the hell happened?!"Gerard grabbed me and made me look at him. When I told him he just stared at me. Neither of us could figure out what to do. As we drove to the bean it actually hit me what it meant.
"Claire's gonna think I'm dead tomorrow... Lily's going to think I'm dead... They- if I dont get to see them for a long time... I cant just waltz back into their lives... They're gonna grieve me and- and move on..."I whispered.
"Frank, do you think they're gonna just sit there and take it? No. If they get told that you're dead, they're gonna want to come to a funeral. When Nanna Kat refuses, Lily will figure it out. And if not then we'll send her a letter. Dont worry okay? She wont get away with it,"Gerard took one hand off the wheel and gave my leg an affectionate squeeze.

Two minutes later we were walking inside to a very weird atmosphere. It was thick with anger and nerves and fear.
"Whats going on?"I asked, clocking everyone's grim faces.
"Cole's demanded that we meet him for battle,"Mikey said.
"What?"

"He said, and I quote,'I was watching that Troy movie and was inspired by the battle and how they went out to meet him. I want you guys to meet me. I'm getting tired of this and I want to fight you guys. If you dont, I'll give the word to have the bombs planted around town to go off.' He's gone completely nuts,"Ray groaned.
"Right well... What did you guys say?"Gerard asked as we sat down.
"We said we had to wait til you guys got here. By the way, did you contact them?"Ray looked at me.

"Yeah uh Nana Kat is telling them I'm dead tomorrow and wants me out of their lives so... Thats another small problem I'm gonna deal with... Traitorous bitch,"I sighed. It was then that I noticed there was someone new at the table,"You're- Dylan right?"
"Yes."
"Oh my god! How- what- dude!"I shouted.
"Because it seemed me and Dewees were the only ones interested in rescuing him, we grabbed some weapons and went to get him. Cole let him go before we even got close. We found him wandering around the forest looking nearly dead two days ago,"Di glared at me,"And before you go bombarding him with questions, no. He doesnt know where the entrance his. They kept him blindfolded the whole time."

"I'm glad you're back,"I smiled at him. He looked up at me finally, smirked at me then got up and went to the bathroom.
"He resents you for not trying to rescure him sooner,"Di sighed, watching him go,"And so do I."
"Di I-"
"I dont care what you have to say. I'm done with this,"She threw her hands up in the air and went out back into the store room.
"So are we meeting Cole?"Pete asked.
I took in a deep breath,"Yes."