Page 57 of Laid Bare

“I’ll meet you there, cor meum.”His end of the call cuts off, leaving me with Luka still on the line, though he hasn’t said anything after my explanation.

“Lu?” I question, worried this might be what kills our relationship.

“Fuck. I’m here, goddess. It’s just… dammit. Where are the others who attacked you?”

“In the cells.”

“I’ll handle it. I love you, goddess. Never forget that, and I’ll see you later.”

“I love you, too.”

My thumb quivers as I hit the end button, taking a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. When I feel I’m semi-succeeding, a knock sounds at my door, ratcheting them right back up. The concerned faces of Bane and Zane greet me as I open it, but it’s the grimaces that follow after that make me grit my teeth.

Yes. I look like shit. I’m well fucking aware, thank you very much.

“Are you ready to go? Zane asks, spinning a set of car keys on his finger.

“Yeah, just give me a minute. We’ll portal there. It’ll be quicker than trying to drive.” I pass by the couch, silently begging Aero to follow me into my room. He gets the message and joins me, stopping just inside the door while I close it.

The one thing I don’t want is to bring him with me. Cassian, nor the other council members, need to know about him. If he is somehow aware, I can just tell him that he’s my transmutation like I originally thought, and I had finally figured out how to put him back. But that’sonlyif I can shrink him down.

No guarantees.

Dropping to my knees, I clutch Aero’s face, pressing my forehead against his. I gather my will just like I did every other time I’ve attempted to change his size, but this time, I infuse my will with my intentions, my fear of him being discovered. The worry I have over him being injured. Once I’m bubbling with it, I squeeze my eyes closed and push it all through the physical connection I have with him.

His bulk quickly disappears from between my hands, making my eyes shoot back open. Aero, my trusted Pegasus companion, is nowhere to be found.

“Aero?” I whisper, panic thick in my tone.

The squeeze in my soul tells me he’s okay, but I won’t truly believe it until I set my sights on him.

A flutter, something akin to a butterfly's wings, sounds below me, dragging my attention to the floor. There, in the very place Aero was, is a tiny version of my pink Pegasus. And I can’t seem to stress just how tiny he is. It feels like I completely overdid it when I shrank him down. Because shit, I can barely see him as it is.

I scoop him up into my hands, but Bane’s voice filters through the door before I can make sense of just how badly I screwed this up. “Bailey, we need to go.”

“Coming,” I squeak, hiding the alarm that would no doubt come out if I spoke normally. “What the heck do I do with you now? I thought this was supposed to be easy, little man.”

Aero tilts his tiny head to the side, regarding me as if I’m stupid. And maybe I am, because what the absolute fuck. Aero starts flapping his wings until he’s hovering above my hands, then he zooms away, swooping around me a few times before he disappears into the space between my hair and neck. Every wisp of his wings tickles the sensitive skin there, but I do my best to ignore it, knowing we’re going to be late if I stall any longer.

“Bailey!”

“Jesus.” I throw the door open in exasperation. “I’m coming. Hold your freaking panties for a moment.”

Bane stifles a laugh, but one look at the dumbfounded shock on Zane’s face makes him lose it. It’s the same, hearty laugh he’s done before in my dorm, the one that makes me feel all good and gooey inside.

Such a great sound.

But there’s no time to relish in it. Without their prompting, I conjure a portal right in the middle of my living room. Bane goes to step through but stops, looking around with a furrow in his brow. “Where’s Aero?”

Ahhh shit. Think, Bailey, think.

“I talked him into staying here. I told him the two big, bad demons won’t let anything happen to me, and he relented. Plus, he’s exhausted. He missed his afternoon nap.” I mentally pat myself on the back for the good—and believable—lie.

I flash him an award-winning smile to sell it a little more and wave my hand toward the awaiting portal again. “Chop chop.”

Bane shakes his head then goes through. Zane waits patiently for me to go next, him extremely close on my heels as I step inside. We pop out on the other side to the sight of Jasper, Professor Simmons, and Axel waiting for us.

By the set of Axel’s brow, I can tell that whatever they were discussing before we got here has him upset. No doubt he’s been recounted of the details by the professor, learning more than I had the chance to tell him over the phone.

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