Chasing Death (TMI FanFiction) // UNEDITED

Chapter Five

After several failed attempts of Charlie's behalf, he decided to call it a day. He had been trying to disarm Beth since she had taken him down on her first try, unfortunately, it didn't work. Beth had managed to disarm him at every chance she got, leaving him humiliated as a small crowd gathered around them. Beth seemed to be getting quicker every time, but Charlie was still determined. That was, until, Beth had her blade up to his neck whilst his back pressed against the closest wall. "I think that's enough for today," he said. Beth smirked and lowered her blade so the tip was just touching the ground. She shrugged and handed the blade back to Charlie who accepted it with a shaky hand and placed it back in the cabinet where he got it. He replaced his own sword and turned around to face his niece. "So, how was that?" He asked.

"It was fun, I'm a lot better than you now. It makes me happy. At least I'll be able to defend myself if some weirdo off the street decides to attack me," she replied, smirking at her uncle. Charlie chuckled slightly and pulled his phone from his pocket and had a look at it. 

"Rowena's mother text me asking where we are, what do you want me to say?" He asked.

"Family emergency. Say your Canadian cousin got hurt in a weird skiing accident," Beth shrugged. Rowena was a mundane and knew nothing of the Shadowhunter world. They met because Beth still attended mundane school, she did it so that she could live a normal life if she decided that fighting demons was not something she wanted to do. She knew it was possible to escape the Shadowhunter world as Jocelyn had done for sixteen years. Then again, it wasn't long before the world sprung back up and she was practically forced into the life that she tried so hard to ignore. Then again, despite having a werewolf as a husband, she lived a pretty mundane life anyway. 

Charlie had forbidden Beth from telling Rowena anything. That meant that she had to keep coming up with crazy excuses to hide why she was constantly disappearing. Luckily for her, Rowena never asked many questions so she was safe from any type of interrogation, well most of the time. The school hated her disappearing during term time and they were constantly dragging her into the office to talk to her about her abysmal attendance record. "What did you say to the school?" Beth asked curiously.

"I said that you were very ill and that I was not sure how long I would have to keep you off for. They believed it easily enough," he replied as he typed on his phone. He clicked send and slid his phone back into his pocket, looking at Beth. "When you go back, you have to say you had something known as Mononucleosis," he paused, taking in her confused look, "I'll explain what it is later on."

"What if the school asks Rowena?"

"They won't. I made sure that they won't mention it to anyone by saying that you didn't want anyone to worry about you. They understood almost immediately. I just hope we won't be here too long, I don't know how long the excuse will last for."

"You do know that you're setting a really bad example for me, don't you?" Beth asked him, raising one eyebrow up and shooting him a glare.

"He's never set a bad example, to anyone." Beth turned around to see where the voice had come from. She stood looking at a man she had never met before, nor did she ever remember seeing at all.

"That's right Robert, turn my niece against me why don't you," Charlie replied, smirking slightly. So this must be Alec and Isabelle's dad, Beth thought. She had never met Robert and Maryse Lightwood before, she had only heard of them. Charlie had mentioned all they went through when their younger son, Max, was killed by Jonathan during the Valentine's final battle in Idris. He had explained that Max's death had led to some cracks being formed in their relationship, as well as some compromising things being dragged up from the past. 

"So this must be Beth, I haven't seen you since you were a child," Robert said, smiling warmly at Beth, who returned a feeble smile. She never remembered meeting Robert so it must have been when she was very little before her parents died.