Convoke

Chapter 17

Ezra stepped back quickly, as if he didn't mean to appear so close. He looked around, focusing on the unmade double bed by the left white wall, the clothes which were mainly socks and t-shirts on the floor, the random papers, and notebooks all over the desk on the right wall, the randomly stacked books and dead plants on the shelves, and the fairy lights that draped back and forth across Tom's ceiling. "Don't call me a twat again," Ezra said bluntly. "And your room is a mess."

"I would have left you in the bushes if I knew I was going to get judged." Tom smiled when Ezra looked down at him, so he knew he was joking. "But you're right, it's messy." As he rushed around, tidying what he could, Ezra stood awkwardly in the corner of the room. Tom should have expected the discomfort from someone so socially awkward. "You can sit on the desk chair if you want."

Ezra sat quietly and linked fingers together, until he noticed the large book on Tom's desk, the one about demon crimes in Wileshire. "Oh, I got that for you from the library. I haven't had a chance to give it to you yet. I don't know if it'll help," Tom said, making his bed, "but looking through it couldn't hurt I guess."

Ezra's hand reached over to pick it up, but someone knocked on Tom's door and started opening it before he had the chance to shout at them to leave him alone. Tom froze as his sister entered with a smile. There was no gasp in horror or a hand slapping her mouth and a trembling finger pointing to the demon at his desk because when Tom looked, Ezra was gone.

Tom relaxed and threw his hands up into the air. "Don't just walk in like that!"

"Sorry, Dad just said you've been a bit quiet today. I was just making sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, just tired." When she didn't leave the doorway, Tom picked up a cushion and threw it at her. "Bye then."

Neasa rolled her eyes and left. Tom listened to her footsteps thumping down the hallway before he summoned Ezra again. He appeared in the same spot as last time. Tom was almost standing exactly where he appeared, and he stumbled back when Ezra's body forced him out of the way.

"Sorry," Ezra mumbled, nervously glancing around.

"That was just my sister. Everyone else in the house knows how to knock and wait, everyone but her."

Ezra sat back on the desk chair, which was a wooden dining chair with a cushion on it for comfort. It creaked under his large frame. "Do you have many siblings?" Ezra asked.

"No, just Neasa. She's five years older than me. She has a daughter called Catherina. She's five. My sister's husband also lives here." Tom didn't bother giving him a name. He doubted they would ever meet, let alone talk to each other. "My parents also live here too."

"A full house."

"Yeah, but my sister is hoping to move out soon." Tom started tidying his shelves to make them look a little neater. A demon was sitting in his room, and he didn't want to suffer through the embarrassment of having nothing to say and nothing to do.

"Would you ever move out?"

"One day, hopefully." Tom could feel Ezra's eyes following him to the other side of the room as he turned on his lamp. "I don't want to work in the pub forever."

"What would you do instead?"

"I don't know." Tom flopped onto his bed. His room hadn't been so tidy in months. "But I want to stay in the village, I just- I guess I just . . ." Tom shrugged. "There are not many opportunities here. I should really be thankful that I've got a job." Ezra nodded silently along to his words, but he had nothing to add, so Tom asked, "If you had a different job, aside from being a soul stripper, what would you be?"