The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

It was finally time for the first dinner and they finally left the child to go eat. "Goodbye Vernom. Goodbye De-vil. Goodbye Dev." Could be heard from all angles and the boys waved back.

"Hey, how come they got your name right?" Nevil asked, obviously still annoyed that he had been called the Devil.

"Because it is easy," he smirked.

"Nevil is easy." He protested. "James," he muttered under his breath. "You would think he would mess up his own name but nope, he says it quite well, too well."

"Don't sound so pissed, Nevil. It is just a name, I am sure they will get it eventually." Dev replied.

"It is my name!" He exclaimed, he was not really annoyed but he hated being compared to the devil and that was the part that bothered him. Thankfully, they did not know who the Devil was yet else it probably would have turned out worse than it did. "Besides, I don't want to hear that from a guy whose name is said perfectly."

Dev chuckled and smiled evilly, obviously enjoying Nevil's discomfort. Nevil scoffed and wanted to say more but they were at the cafeteria at this point and it was time to join the line up.

They weren't among the first to get there but they sure as hell weren't the last. Vernon sat with the group and Dev and Nevil told them what Vernon sneaking around was all about.

They laughed at him for thinking they could not see him or noticed his absence on various occasions where he would give lame a*s excuses when asked. Vernon was no longer pissed at the mockery and even laughed with them.

The first dinner was soon over and they all left the cafeteria but Vernon and the boys did not return to play with the children instead they hung out in their room with the rest of their roommates.

Soon enough, the last dinner came, and not long after that Vernon went to sleep feeling super exhausted. He had had to work extra today as they both wanted to finish making the toys in time and he didn't even realize how tired he was until he had laid on bed after dinner.

He had slept without waking even once until the morning when the loud bell had gone off. He wasn't too excited to leave the bed but he did not exactly have any options and there was training. He dressed, ate, and made his way to the courtyard.

Barely two minutes into the training, his teacher Pam already had a full description of all that he and Nevil had engaged in the past weeks. It did not come as a surprise when she wanted a demonstration.

Vernon had glared at Nevil as he had enthusiastically told the tale of how they had figured out how to make the toys, of course, Pam would have wanted a presentation and she said she was not satisfied with just Nevil showing her how they did it. She wanted both of them. At these words, it was hard not to glare very hardly at Nevil as Vernon stepped forward alongside him for the demonstration.

He was slightly irritated because aside from the fact that he did not want to do any of those heinous activities again, there was also the fact that he was not as good as Nevil who had absolutely no problem making ten of the toys in a roll while Vernon just wanted to go sleep after one which of course he had spent hours trying to perfect.

He could feel every single eye on them and it was hard to keep a straight face. Nevil started first, briefly taking the attention from him and Vernon felt himself sigh a little. It had slightly taken the edge off but he knew their attention on Nevil was not going to last forever and that they would soon turn to look at him.

He braced himself for when they would return their gaze as he got to work. It was not easy but he was determined to get it over with as fast as he could. Nevil was already on his fourth toy by the time he finished one and one glance at it and he could tell there was no way in hell this was his best work. A lot of the shape was sloppily done but he did not care and was just glad he was done.

The crowd clapped for them, however, things then turned around for the worse as Pam wanted them to teach the rest of the students. This time around Vernon's displeasure showed on his as bright as the daylight but he did not complain and did exactly as Pam had asked.

The training took up the entirety of the day with Nevil and Vernon as the teachers. Nevil seemed to be having fun with it whereas Vernon could not wait for it to end.

He did not hide his relief when it was finally over and he was one of the first to leave. He skipped, he wanted to go straight to bed but he had been spending less and less time with the children, and as weird as it may seem he actually enjoyed their company. It was a distraction that he knew he desperately needed even though at the time he did not know this exactly.

Not long after Dev also joined him, after a couple of minutes it was clear to the both of them that Nevil was not coming. “Do you want me to go get him?” Vernon asked.

Dev shook his head, “I will do it, I know just the trick to use.” He smirked and rubbed his fingers together, obviously enjoying himself.

“Okay then,” Vernon returned and then resumed playing with the children.

Dev stood to his feet and headed in the direction of their room. He immediately found Nevil on his bed chatting with the few people that were in the room. “Nevil,” he called as soon as he set eyes on Nevil.

“Yeah,” Nevil replied, slightly worried.

“I have been looking for you everywhere,” he said hurriedly, almost regretting his words as the first place anyone looked for anyone was their room but it was too late now and he rolled with it. “Madame Rebecca is asking for you,” he added with a straight face even though the urge to snicker was pretty strong.

“Why?” Nevil asked but he had already jumped out of his bed. Madame Rebecca instilled that much fear in the children especially the words she was not in charge of, she tended to be exceptionally cruel to them.

The first time Nevil had seen her with the little children, he had found it had to believe it was the same woman he had had nightmares about. Dev already knew this as Madame Rebecca had been one of the people who raised him and as soon as she was out of his care she had gone all evil witch on him it was hard to believe she was the same person.

Years later, he was totally used to it and found that he still found her to be one of his favorite people. There was also one thing he was sure of, no matter how mean she was, she always went out of her way for the children even those not in her care.

“I don’t know,” he shrugged, trying to act nonchalant as he quickly turned around because his face was about to fail him and Nevil would totally realize that it was a prank and not come along. He began to walk slowly to the door even though he was not sure if Nevil would come along but he did not have to worry about that for too long.

“Wait!” Nevil cried out rushing towards Dev.

Dev smirked but did not turn around instead slowly opened the door as he made his way out. Nevil was beside him before the door shut. “Do you have any idea why she would want to see me?” Nevil asked again when he was close enough but this time he asked with more words and a softer tone.

Dev shook his head, “I really don't know, she just said to go call you. I am sure she will tell you when we get there.” Dev replied and kept his head down. There was no way he would be able to keep a straight face if he dared a glance at Nevil and he was too close to flop now.

“Oh, okay.” Replied an antsy Nevil. His worries were slowly oozing out and Dev almost started to feel bad for tricking him but soon enough they arrived at the children's zone and every atom of guilt evaporated.

“Nevil!” Vernon cried excitedly when he caught sight of both of them but waited until they were close enough before he asked Dev, “What did you say to him that made him come along with you?”