Quirky? Yeah, she'd blown right past quirky to dive headfirst into all-out strange. He was beginning to understand that as the rail under his hand licked his palm. Curling his lip in disgust, he jerked his hand away to find eyes watching him instead of the tongue he'd felt an instant before.
Yeah... if this was true insanity, he suddenly felt normal.
"Lyssa, Lyssa," Leta called. "Light and fair, 'tis Leta come to you with words to share."
Well, this was a new side to Leta. That being said, she did have a beautiful voice when she sang out the words. "What are you doing?"
Her smile dazzled him. "Lyssa likes rhymes. She will only speak in them."
"You've got to be kidding me?"
Before she could answer, a swirling blue ball appeared in front of them. The ball moved in a jagged path until it touched the top of the stairs behind him. There it grew until it formed a young, beautiful woman. Her long, curly blond hair shone as if it were made of pure spun gold and she stood with the regal demeanor of a queen. More than that, each feature of her face was so carefully sculpted that she didn't appear real.
Until one looked at her eyes. They were jet black and cold. Soulless. There was no white, or color of any kind. And when she turned them on him, he could feel the chill of madness all the way to his soul.
When she spoke, Lyssa's voice was as light and delicate as the goddess herself. "Leta,Leta, born of dreams,
"Through the centuries you have screamed.
"Now you come to my fair land,
"Only to ask for my helping hand
."
Aidan leaned forward to whisper in Leta's ear. "Nice stanza."
She elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Can you help me, dear cousin?"
A whimsical smile curved Lyssa's red lips.
"Help is all they ever say,
"Even though it seldom stays.
"It'll leave you too you'll see
"And then alone you will bleed
."
Infuriated with her cryptic words, Aidan stepped around Leta. "Look, we don't have time for this. We need-" His words stopped instantly as his lips were sealed shut.
Lyssa shook her head in reproach. "Men will ever speak their way,
"Regardless of those who hold sway.
" 'Tis time you pause to listen instead of hear,
"Only that will save what you hold dear."
Leta placed a tender hand on his arm, before she looked back at Lyssa. "Are you telling me that we can defeat Dolor?"
"Pain is here,
"Sharp and clear.
"Even so, it must fade,
"And a new way should be made."
He saw the relief on Leta's face even though he was having a hard time following the nonsense. And not being able to open his mouth was seriously starting to piss him off.
"How do I defeat him?" Leta asked.
Lyssa lifted her hand so that a bird that was flying backward could rest on her extended finger. Picasso would have been proud of the bizarre image the two of them made. "True pain is born,
"When the heart is worn,
"On the sleeve
"For all to see."
By the aggravated look on her face, he could tell Leta wasn't any more satisfied with that answer than he was. "But how does it end?"
"An ending is a beginning in disguise.
"But it is seen only by those who are wise.
"For pain to be returned to its place,
"You must confront it to its face.
Leta shook her head. "I don't understand, Lyssa."
She gave Leta the same look a kindergarten teacher would give an aggravating child. "In time there is clarity to be found.
"But not now on this most hallowed ground.
"You have the answers you have sought.
"Now it is time for battles to be fought."
And with those words, the bird let out the croak of a frog, then dissolved into dust. Lyssa raised her arms skyward before she sank into the ground.
Yeah...
Aidan sucked his breath in sharply as he was finally able to open his mouth again. He gave Leta a deadly stare. "Interesting woman. Must get tiring though trying to always rhyme everything you want to say."
"Not after as much experience as she's had."
He didn't want to argue that point. He was just glad Lyssa was gone. "Did you learn anything from this?"
"Yes. I learned that we can defeat him before he kills you. That's at least a start."
She was definitely an optimist. He on the other hand... "Call me crazy, then again compared to Lyssa, Sybil was normal, but all I got out of this meeting was a headache. Actual directions on how to kill him would have been nice."
"True, but in this case, I think we got the best we could hope for."
"Then why did we waste our time?"
She patted him indulgently on his cheek. "Who said we wasted time?"
"I do, for the record."
"And for the record, you're wrong. Trust me."
Yeah, sure. He wasn't about to make that mistake. "No offense, but the last person I trusted tried to barbecue me-personally and professionally."