The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

He squeezed his eyes tight as he waited for her angry reaction and probably verdict. However, none came instead she laughed and Vernon raised his head to find her still laughing. The sound of her laughter was as hearty as her appearance.

"I am so sorry about that. I should have said that first. I am Pamela but you can call me Pam, everybody does. However, never call me anything chummy like Pammy or chubby-related. I would sit on you if you do." She showed disgust when she said the name Pammy, Vernon couldn't help but think she really hated it.

Vernon felt himself freeze up at her words. He had heard a lot of threats especially from Captain Robbin and they scared him but this was the first time someone had said they would sit on him and he felt nothing but a genuine fear.

"Yes, Miss Pam." He nodded vigorously.

"What the?! Miss? I am married, just Pam is fine." Pam muttered, showing mock horror and the children burst into laughter. Vernon wished the ground would open and swallow him.

"Yes, ma'am— sorry Pam." His response caused giggles and Vernon could only groan.

"That's fine, Vernon." She returned smiling at him. She then went on to introduce the rest of the group and Vernon listened. He felt himself instinctively tense up when she mentioned Nevil's name and forced himself not to look in his direction.

"That should be everyone," Pam said when she was done calling out their name. "And as you all know this is Vernon and if you didn't know that before now well, now you do. Shall we begin?"

"Yes!" Screeched the crowd and Vernon hugged himself tighter.

She called out a few names and asked them to step forward. They immediately did and she carefully placed an item in front, it was so small that it took a while for Vernon to realize what it was. It was tiny seeds.

"You know the drill, let us see if anyone can do more than cracking the seed today. Good luck!" She grinned and took a few steps back, giving the children more space.

"Yes, Pam!"

Vernon watched five children stare at a tiny seed on the ground for a full five minutes, each of them making weird noises as they tried to do some magic. Vernon wasn't sure what they wanted to do but he figured they were trying to grow the seed.

Suddenly, a seed started to shake as it laid on the ground. It was the seed of a timid-looking little girl, she looked around Vernon's age. However, as much as he tried he couldn't remember her name.

It shook for a few seconds and then a c***k appeared and it stopped shaking. Pam sighed but clapped. "Okay, that's it for this group. Nice job Jane, last time you couldn't even make it do anything. This is quite the improvement."

Jane blushed and grinned widely at Pam's compliment. "Thank you." She whispered.

"Okay, um next step right up," Pam muttered as the first set moved away.

Nevil was part of this bunch and Vernon realized his eyes were glued to Nevil.

He remembered the first time he had met him, they were around three. Vernon's mother never let him out of her sight but that evening she had been exhausted after a hectic day had fallen asleep on the couch. His father wasn't back from work yet and he couldn't resist the urge to explore.

He had slipped out the back door which, fortunately, had been unlocked and slightly open. His mother must have pushed it close but not hard enough for it to latch else his shirt little hands wouldn't have reached the knob.

He knew he shouldn't be going out all by himself because he looked back to confirm his mother was still asleep and tiptoed out like his father sometimes did whenever he pissed her off. He made sure not to close it so he could sneak back in again.

It was dusk, however, the sun had not fully set yet so, one could see and the area had this golden hue because of the rays of the setting sun. It was one of the most beautiful things Vernon had ever seen.

The back door led to his backyard. A huge one with a low wooden fence, there was even a space in the middle for a three-year-old to slip through and slip through did he but only because he had heard a sound.

He couldn't really see into the next compound because it had bushes around and a huge three. His backyard on the other hand was empty and messy. A couple of broken things lying around.

His father often used the backyard as his workshop, so it was no surprise the backyard was this messy. On the opposite side of the next compound, was the stables and Vernon could hear the horse whinnying. His father had taken the bigger one out with him as usual.

He didn't even think as he slid through the space, scratching himself slightly on a chip that had popped out of one of the woods but he was so engrossed that he didn't even feel any pain or realized he had pricked himself.

He slowly stepped around the bushes, careful not to make any sound. He immediately saw a boy his age crouched on the ground, he had his back to Vernon so he couldn't see his approach and whatever he was doing was quite fascinating as he didn't hear Vernon approach but Vernon was also trying not to make too many sounds.

At first, he thought the boy was drawing on the ground but as he got closer, his eyes widened. He didn't need anyone to tell him what this was even though it was his first time seeing it.

He walked closer for a better look, just to be sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. Unfortunately, he did not look before stepping and ended up stepping on a tiny stick. The stick broke on impact and let out a tiny snap but in the quietness of the occasion and the fact that Vernon was trying to be as quiet as possible, it sounded like glass had broken.