The Hunter Mage

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Two weeks after Vernon made up with Nevil and his roommates, he was lying on his bed when he heard someone burst through the door. It wasn't too loud but it was loud enough to get his attention.

His eyes flickered open as he checked to see what the reason for the sound was and there was Dev, stumping towards his direction. Vernon bit the insides of his cheeks as he braced himself for the confrontation that he knew was coming.

However, he didn't move from his position; rather he remained sideways on his bed and even closed his eyes with the hope that Dev wasn't heading straight for him even though there was barely anybody else in the room and Dev's eyes were locked in his direction.

He squirmed under Dev's gaze even though his eyes were closed. "I know you're awake," Dev muttered when Vernon did not say anything after he stopped directly in front of his bed.

"Hmm," Vernon groaned, faking a sleeping sound.

"Are you serious, Vernon? Our eyes just met seconds ago." His voice sounded somewhere between pissed and amused. "Nobody sleeps that fast!" As he yelled, he threw the blanket off Vernon's body.

Vernon's arms tried to grab it back but it was so fast, all he could do was yell, "Hey!" in frustration.

"I can see you are awake now," Dev said with a smirk.

"What do you what?" Vernon asked, he was not the least bit amused and he hoped Dev had a valid enough reason as to why he would interrupt his much-needed rest, considering how much training they constantly had to go through.

"Don't sound so grumpy!" Dev frowned and reached for Vernon's hand. "Come with me, I need your help."

He tried to pull Vernon out of bed but he protested. "What do you need my help for?" Vernon asked, pulling back his arm.

"You'll see," Dev replied, pulling back harder. "Besides, you don't have anything better to do, come help me."

"No!" Vernon yelled.

"Yes!" Dev yelled back. "Come on Vernon," he begged. "It will be fun I promise."

Vernon groaned, "Nada! Don't want to!"

Dev's response was shocking and even Vernon could not hide the surprise from his face. "Oh, alright." He replied softly and let go of Vernon's hand. His face was devoid of expression but it looked closer to sad than anything else.

"Hey!" Vernon yelled out before he could help himself.

"Don't worry about it, I understand that you're busy. I will do it all by myself while you can return to sleeping. Sorry, I bothered you." Dev turned around slowly and began to head towards the door.

Vernon took a deep breath and squinted his eyes, a part of him was all for letting Dev go and them trying to get some sleep while the other part could not help but feel like they were betraying a friend.

The worst part was he knew this was a change of tactic that Dev was hoping would be able to convince him into helping Dev. He could watch Dev go and then be reminded of it all week about how he couldn't help a friend or he could get it over with and have a blissful week ahead.

Dev wasn't one to give up and he could tell that somehow this would bite him in the a*s if he didn't address it right now. He groaned loudly, making sure Dev could hear him before he said, "Fine, I'll come with you."

Dev's reaction was instantaneous, he turned around and yelped in excitement, his sad look completely gone and he was smiling from ear to ear. "Really?" He asked when he was close enough.

"Yes!" Vernon replied and sat in the bed. "Besides, I know you won't let me hear the end of it if I don't help you out." He groaned again as he sat upright on his bed.

"Truthfully, if you had not agreed I would have walked out that door and waited for a couple of seconds to go by, and then I'll rush back in here and force you out of bed even if I have to literally drag you out of it," Dev explained, a little too happy in Vernon's opinion.

He rolled his eyes, "I knew it wasn't like you to give you so easily. I suspected fowl play and I was right."

"Foul."

"What?" Vernon frowned.

"Foul."

"That's what I said," Vernon muttered. "Fowl play."

"Foul."

"They sound exactly the same. Are you messing with me, Dev?" Vernon asked, he was getting slightly irritated.

"Nope but somehow, I can tell you're not saying it right," Dev said, pouting a little.

"I am saying it exactly as you are. If this is a joke, stop it."

"Nevermind, are you set?"

"Pretty much," he shrugged.

"Alright, then get out of bed," Dev ordered.

Vernon rolled his eyes and jumped. " Where are we going to?" Vernon asked Dev as he staggered a little from the force of coming down.

"Well, you'll see." He muttered and grabbed Vernon's palm. He then began to pull him towards the exit.

"Just for the record, if I hate it, I am never speaking to you again." Vernon threatened.

"Well, if you want to like it, you will but if you want to hate it, that's what will happen," Dev muttered.

"Just where are we going before you start speaking like Teacher Cavin." Vernon giggled.

"Does she really talk like that?" Dev asked.

"Sometimes yes," Vernon replied.

Vernon heard the noise before they even got anywhere near the source of the noise. He could hear crying, screaming, and other sounds that couldn't be accounted for. This was one thing about this place that he couldn't really get used to, the noise.

It was constant and that was why he hardly drifted to this section of the building except when he had no option like going in and out. Vernon prayed that wherever Dev was leading him to, the noise he could hear had nothing to do with it.

He knew he was wrong the instant he appeared in the hallway and Dev wasn't leading them out of the building rather towards the scene of the crime. "Where are we going?" He asked again but this time around, his voice was laced with a tinge of worry.

"Tada!" Dev announced stopping abruptly.

Vernon's eyes widened in shock at the fact that his worst fear was coming to life. They were at the crime scene. They were toddlers as far as the eye could see and they were of different ages. Some could walk quite well while others seemed to be toddling around but all of them could speak and they made sure to do as much of that as they possibly could.

"You…! What are we doing here?" Vernon yelled as his heart dropped to his stomach.

Before Dev could come up with a good reply, Madame Rebecca got sight of them and immediately set off in their direction. Vernon only had a few seconds to think of his next move and he picked to flee but Dev held him tight just as he was about to make his flight.

Vernon felt the sides of his eyes water as he realized he was doomed and Dev had tricked him. He looked at Dev, silently pleading with his eyes for Dev to let him go but the veil boy didn't, and soon enough Vernon's tearful pleading stare soon changed to a glare.

He felt a firm grip on him and immediately gave up all attempts of escaping. "Dev," Vernon heard Madame Rebecca say but didn't turn around to look at her even with her firm hand holding him tight. "I see you found someone. Now, both of you go and play with the children."

"Yes, Madame Rebecca," Dev replied with a smile. Vernon couldn't help but think Dev looked a little too happy.

Dev started to walk ahead and Vernon had no other option than to follow, especially when Madame Rebecca let him go without any incident except the stare that was burning the side of his face as he walked past her.

"I will never forgive you for this," he whispered into Dev's ear as they walked towards the children.

"Calm down, it's actually fun." Dev tried to explain.

"It's actually fun." Vernon mimicked with a high-pitched tone, the hint of sneer showing.

They soon got to a group of children and one of them cried, "Dev!" Just as he got to his knees. The tiny figure waddled towards Dev and gave him a tight hug. The tiny figure took almost a full minute to let Dev go.

"James," Dev called and giggled in an attempt to free himself from the little child's grasp.

James finally let go to show a huge smile plastered on his face, his incomplete teeth set made him even more adorable. "You came back," he said with a smile, the words sounded a little funny as he spoke them.

"Yes James, I did tell you I would." Dev smiled back while Vernon could only stare in awe as their presence attracted more children.

Suddenly, James threw his head backward to look up at Vernon as if he just noticed his presence. "Who that?" He asked, the verb 'is' disappearing in his rush to speak the words.

"Oh," Dev started to say and glanced at Vernon. "This is Vernon."

"What?" James asked, the name sounded very strange to him.

"Ver-non," Dev said again, slowly this time around.

"Vernorn," the boy tried again, it wasn't exactly it but neither of them saw a reason to correct him again. Vernon thought it sounded like his name quite alright and Dev knew it was better he did not try again, the kid was sure to get it as time went on.

The little kid waddled his way to Vernon. It wasn't like he didn't have a firm grip on the ground but James was a little chubby so, it did look funny and a little cute to see him walk.

Reaching Vernon, he stretched out his hand and said, "Hi, my name is James."

Vernon wasn't expecting that so it took him a couple of seconds to react. It wasn't until Dev nudged him that he snapped out of it and took James outstretched hand. "It is very nice to meet you, James." Whispering to Dev, he asked, "Just how long have you been coming here?"

"Yesterday," Dev muttered under his breath and bent his head, he could feel Vernon's glare on the back of his head. He braced himself for a crude response but none came and from the corner of his eyes he could see Vernon bent to his knees as he began to play with the little children.

He released the breath he had not been aware of holding. A part of him had been scared Vernon would have stomped off. He had told the other boys of course but none of them had been willing to lend a hand, they considered it to be the girls' duty, and truly it was sometimes the boys required someone who could play a little rougher.

The day before, he had volunteered because there was nothing else he had to do but now he could see himself coming here every day. The children were a kind of weird good company.

The children weren't so many but they were at least over twenty-five. Dev tried to count them the first couple minutes he had spent with them but they were moving around so much, he couldn't keep up and had given up almost immediately.

They were all very different and most of them wouldn't stop crying, Dev couldn't blame them. He remembered being a crybaby himself and he couldn't comprehend why his parents would send him here.

This was the least he could do, to try to help the little ones forget how bad it really was and help them laugh again. It was funny that he didn't know how badly he wanted to do this until he started to do it.