Chasing Death (TMI FanFiction) // UNEDITED

Chapter Twenty-Six

Charlie spent a good half hour trying to get what happened from everyone who was involved, but he knew one of them was lying. He hadn't witnessed the original confrontation between Jocelyn and Jonathan, but he knew it had to have been bad for Beth to step in and do what she did. The only problem was that he had no idea what had started it all of in the first place. Jocelyn had told him some bizarre story of Jonathan being in cohorts with both Beth and Lilith and that they were trying to take down the Clave from inside. Obviously, Jonathan had said he was doing nothing other than training and even Alec had backed him up.

Trying to make sense of the matter only seemed to be making things a thousand times worse than it needed to be. There had been tension between everyone ever since Beth's secret had been let out, then it had grown when Jonathan had arrived. Now it seemed to have escalated out of everyone's hand and beyond anyone's help. There was no way it could be sorted out, but Charlie was determined to help, or, at least, put an end to it at some point. If they were going to defeat Lilith, then they needed to work together rather than become further apart. Only problem was, no one seemed to realise it.

By the time Charlie had spoken to everyone who had witnessed the original fight between Jonathan and Jocelyn and the altercation between her and Beth, he was more confused then perhaps he had every been in his life. He was no step closer to finding out why it all gone down, then he was to finding out why Jonathan had been in the training room so early. Then again, he never asked. At least not directly. He had spoken to him regarding the incident but never asked what he was doing in there. After trying to explain just what he had uncovered, Charlie decided to ask him, well, not after Jocelyn had mentioned it.

"What were you doing in here this morning Jonathan?" Charlie asked. He looked over his shoulder towards Jonathan who was stood with Beth.

"I was just practising. I didn't fancy going through the Hell Fire for a second day in a row so I decided to get my own workout done first," he shrugged.

"That included tearing the head off a dummy with a throwing knife?" Charlie raised his eyebrows at him, curious as to how he had done it. No one had ever torn the head off a dummy with a throwing knife. A sword, obviously, an arrow, once or twice, but never a throwing knife.

"As I have said, over a thousand times already today, I never intended to tear the head off the dummy, it just happened! I was practising my aim and I had only intended to hit the target, what happened next was just a shock to me as it was to anyone else. I could barely hit a target with a bow an hour, let alone destroy a dummy. Just ask Alec, he'll explain." Jonathan had told this story before, but no one seemed to care. The only thing they seemed to worry about was that he had torn the dummy.

"Ask him why he's so determined to get fitter! He wasn't like this when he first arrived. Something's changed! Jocelyn exclaimed, giving Jonathan an evil glare.

"I want to be prepared in case the plan doesn't go, well, according to plan. I mean, who knows whether we can trust the Rune to do what it's supposed to do? Always better to have a backup plan, right?"

"I suppose, but I thought you had total trust in the book and were determined the plan would work. You were, after all, the one who pushed us into agreeing to this and adamant it would work, why the sudden change of heart?" It is Luke who spoke this time. Everyone else had thought it, but no one else willing to say it.

Jonathan wasn't going to tell them the truth. If he did, they would have stopped them from even attempting to take down Lilith in the first place. They also would think he had been behind it as he hadn't gone to them when he realised the consequences in the first place. This was just the excuse Jocelyn needed to prove that he was up to something and that Beth was in on at as well. Then again, they wouldn't really pin it on Beth if she also had no idea that it was going to happen.