Convoke

Chapter 15

Tom first felt the freezing water engulfing him like the jaws of some giant ice beast. He held his breath when his head submerged, but the icy pond shocked his senses, and he gasped a mouthful of water. When his head surfaced, he spluttered before he sank again. Tom desperately kicked and flailed his arms around, splashing his way back up.

He was too panicked to figure out how to stay afloat. Each time his head bobbed up enough to inhale a sharp breath, fighting was underway at the edge of the pond. Tom saw the tall demon's leg snap in a gut-wrenching way before he sank down again.

He kicked, reaching out for anything, but his arms were tangling in the weeds. When he surfaced again, the tall demon was gone and the one who had pushed Tom into the water was pinned to the ground.

Ezra was taking her soul.

Tom sank underwater once more. This time, his ankle tangled in the weeds and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't surface again. His lungs were burning, his skin was numb, his eyes stung from the murky water, his muscles ached, and his heartbeat wrang loud in his ears.

He was running out of time, until Ezra was suddenly grabbing him around the waist and pulling him up with enough force that the weeds snapped around his legs. Tom wheezed an inhale when they broke through the surface, still panicking. He grabbed onto Ezra's shoulders, needing nothing more than to be on dry land.

"Calm down," Ezra said, trying to swim with him to the side. "Calm down! You'll drown us both!"

Tom clung to him, realising Ezra wasn't going to let his head go back underwater. They reached the side and Ezra hauled him up first. Tom crawled away from the water, coughing until he could breathe with ease. He rolled onto his back and Ezra was crouched beside him, watching with uncertain fright. His hands hovered in the air, hesitant of what to do.

"Can you breathe?" he asked.

Tom nodded. His heart was thumping, and he was breathing heavy, but at least he was safely out of the water. He was too stunned to say anything, and focused on the tree canopies above them, and the occasional star peeking through.

Ezra took off his wet jacket and it hit the ground with a wet slap. He sat down, waiting patiently until Tom finally calmed down enough to sit up too. He held a hand to his chest and gasped as deeply as he could manage. "I'm so sorry for summoning you," he said, pausing to cough. "I didn't know what else to do. I've broken the contract."

"You did the right thing by summoning me. You would have died if not," Ezra said, reaching out to untangle some of the weeds from around Tom's ankle. "You didn't break your contract. You promised not to say my full name in front of humans. They were not humans."

"Thank you so much for saving me . . . again. I swear I'm not usually in situations like this."

"Lately you've been in nothing but situations like this."

Tom managed a smile. Water dripped down the back of his neck and he shivered. His jeans and coat felt twice as heavy. "Those demons were so sure we were up to something. They kept talking about you as if it was expected for you to do something like that."

Ezra turned to stare at the pond behind them. The water had settled as if Tom hadn't just fought for his life. "Other demons are always hateful of soul strippers." He then looked up to the sky. "Angels."

As soon as the word left his mouth, one angel landed beside them. His glorious white wings rustled the earth, blowing mud over Tom's wet jeans. "Two demon souls were taken without angel supervision, explain yourself," an old angel demanded, looking down on them with drooping old eyes. Tom had once seen the elderly angel in the library. His presence was just as tranquil.