The problem with letting Regan get going was that the longer she went the more difficult it was to stop her, though under the circumstances Lilliana hadn’t worried about that. With no other options and no other way of shutting out her ex-fiance, she had wanted Regan to keep going until there was a change in their circumstances. She counted on that change, whatever it was, to provide the needed interruption.
Lilliana had been hoping that this interruption would consist of some form of metaphorical cavalry riding over some sort of metaphorical hill… or some sort of god emerging from some sort of machine, metaphorical or otherwise. She wasn’t that picky, really… though she really wouldn’t have chosen a high-pitched blast of sound that took Leo out and left her reeling, deafened, and still trapped in the same tiny, featureless room.
The pain was so bad that her vision actually blurred from it, and the sound seemed to on and on… it was hard to tell whether the it cut off or just tapered a bit because of the way it echoed in her ears. The pain, like a pair of metal spikes being driven right into her brain, made it kind of hard to focus on that.
As her head cleared, she realized that Regan was saying something. The Hibernian was bent over, her eye squeezed shut and her head in her hands. Her mouth was moving, but Lilliana couldn’t her what she was saying over the ongoing ringing.
“What?” Lilliana asked. She realized she couldn’t hear herself, either. “Regan, I can’t hear you,” she said, putting her hand on Regan’s shoulder. “Face me when you’re talking, please.”
Regan grabbed at her hand in a panic, but when she turned to face Lilliana she relaxed a bit.
“The Gypsy, I don’t mean to alarm ya but I think I’ve been struck mute, like,” Regan said.
“Regan, it’s not you… we’ve been deafened,” Lilliana said, taking the time to form each word slowly and distinctly.
“Now is not the time to panic, the Gypsy,” Regan said. “Fortunately, I can read lips. If ya’ll stop makin’ faces at me, maybe we can figure out…” She turned away from Lilliana as she was speaking, stalking around the room, gesturing dramatically, and pointing to random spots around the walls and ceiling. “…that for a plan?” she concluded, after whirling around to face Lilliana with a flourish.
“You get right on that,” Lilliana said, stooping down to check on Leo, who had been floored by the sonic attack.
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