The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER EIGHTY-SIX

"You can't be serious! I am touching nothing but air." Vernon yelled, he was finding it very hard to believe Boy's words.

Boy laughed some more and Vernon felt a presence. It was not skin, it was not soft, it was not strong but he knew he was touching, something, someone. His hand was not sure they were touching anything but his brain for some reason was very sure.

"You see," Boy replied at the surprised and confused expression on Vernon's face. He laughed some more. "See what I mean," he replied and took a step back.

Vernon's mouth fell open, he caught himself and yelled, "That's freaking amazing."

Boy chuckled awkwardly, "You think so?"

"What? Of course, I already knew it was amazing. I didn't even think it could get any better but it did. Wow!" Vernon jumped in bed and laid down. "Have you ever tried to make yourself visible before, like not just your presence but people can see you?"

"Yeah," Boy replied. He sounded pretty sad.

"And? How did it turn out?" Vernon's eyes were wide open in excitement as he waited for Boy to complete his story.

"Not very successfully, years later and the most I can do is uncover only my right palm." Boy explained.

"Oh, can I see?" Vernon asked.

"Yeah but it takes a lot of Mana so I can only show you in a flash else I would have to immediately cease to exist." Boy said.

"What? What does that mean?" Vernon frowned, the realization that there was still a lot about Boy he did not know bothered him. However, he knew when to draw the line and stop his curiosity. He was fine with Boy just telling him what he was comfortable with.

"Don't worry yourself about it. Come on, place any of your palms on the bed, it can be any one of them." Boy ordered and Vernon did as he asked. "I will place my palm on your palm, make sure to keep your eyes on your palm, I will signal you before I try to make my hand invisible, so you won't blink at that exact moment." Boy said, laughing a little. "Imagine how funny that would be?" He laughed some more.

Vernon was too serious and excited to laugh. He couldn't find it funny, his curiosity was all he could think about. He wondered if Boy's skin would be any different from his. He nodded and said, "I am ready."

"Alright then," Boy said and Vernon immediately felt pressure on his palm. "Feel that?" Boy asked.

"Yes," it wasn't cold or warm but Vernon could tell there was something on his palm.

"Alright, I will go at the count of three, okay?" Boy asked.

Vernon started to get worried, Boy was warning him vigorously. He wondered just how much Mana it took. He didn't need anyone to tell him Boy could not do it more than one in a roll and if he knew what was good for him, he better not miss it the first time around.

"Yep, I am ready!" He yelled and widened his eyes.

"Okay, one, two," Boy started to count, giving each number a reasonable number of seconds before he called out the next one.

At the count of one Vernon closed his eyes tightly, watering his eyeballs just in case they decided to feel dry the instant Boy called the number three. He was not risking it. At the count of two, he slowly opened his eyes.

"Three!" Boy yelled.

Vernon felt it before he saw it. The nothingness on his palm immediately became warm and a palm appeared, it was approximately the same size as his was, if it was bigger it was definitely not noticeable and just as it had appeared, it disappeared, the warmth went with it.

He had not even had time to take note of anything else about Boy's palm except the fact that it was warm and way fairer than his was. He couldn't even remember what Boy's nails looked like.

He was not even sure if he saw five fingers or more but it had looked like a pretty normal palm to him. One thing was sure if he had so much as blinked he would have missed it. It was so fast, he had only seen it because he had been staring hard, waiting for it to happen.

Vernon looked up with admiration in his eyes. "That was amazing! It was so fast if I had blinked I would have missed it. That was awesome!" Vernon could barely contain how he felt.

Suddenly, the door pushed open, and everywhere went silent. Before the door completely opened, Vernon realized he could no longer sense Boy, it was like he was not in the room. It happened so fast that it was enough for Vernon to doubt what had just happened to make him feel like had been delusional and he had been having a weird conversation with himself.

The door opened to reveal Madame Rachel, she was holding a tray. "Who were you talking to?" She asked as she closed the door with her leg without turning around to look at the door or if she had it right but Vernon figured the bang of the door closing was more than enough to let her know the door was indeed closed.

"Nobody," Vernon shrugged. He did not want to give a reason as he did not know how much she had heard else his reason may sound stupid. He could already tell that if she asked further questions he had no answer to give.

"Hmm, children." She murmured and placed the tray on the table and handed him the mug.

Vernon accepted it and regretted his decision instantly. Where was Bess? The cocoa was hot. Hot enough that he knew better than to sip it.

As she gave him the mug, she stepped up even closer and checked his temperature, she smiled in satisfaction. "I am glad something is finally working even though I don't know what it is. Make sure to drink every drop of the cocoa and don't leave the bed. With how sick you were yesterday, I doubt it would be okay to let you start moving around immediately. We don't want you to relapse, do we?"

He shook vigorously even though he did not agree with every word she said. He was sure he felt better enough to walk around, even eat in the cafeteria but he knew he was not healed enough to return to training, and even if he was, he would disagree with every bone in his body. Still, he responded accordingly and that seemed enough for her.

"Good, I have asked Bess to check on you when she's done with dinner." Madame Rachel announced proudly.

Vernon did not see why she had to bother Bess but he knew even without Madame Rebecca telling her to come by, she still would have. However, he answered as it was pretty obvious Madame Rachel was waiting for a response.

"Okay, I hope she can come by soon enough." He smiled weakly knowing the words that he just spoke did not make any sense but it was either that or he would have said nothing at all and he was certain Madame Rachel would not like that.

"Yes. Anyways, I am going back to the cafeteria. If anything comes up tell her to let me know because I don't know when else I would be able to check on you but you are not allowed to leave the room. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Madame Rachel!" He replied but he was only keeping to her words because he knew better than to stress himself not because she said so.

"Good," with that she was gone leaving nothing but silence in her wake.