She looks at Ash curiously, nodding. She looks at Seedlit, saying a quiet 'Thank you'.

He clearly doesn't like seeing another pixie.

This was it. This was the last leg of their journey. At the end was Machina and Ethan, or death. "All right, then," Ash said. "Lead on." The bobbing light that was the piskie led them towards the banks of the river, where the cold, slow waters of the Mississippi churned under a slate-gray sky.

He follows them.

She weaves a bridge of vines, thick and strong for them to walk on.

The piskie led them over the vine bridge.

Ash walked beside Claire, their shoulders almost touching.

He follows.

She continues on silently, seeming sad as she looks down at the ground, thinking.

After a while of walking, a corrugated-steel building squatted behind a chain-link fence, a dark smudge against the sky. Seedlit jabbered something to Ash, who nodded gravely before she zipped away out of sight. She had brought them as far as she could go; now they were on their own. As they approached the gate, Ash hung back a little, a pained look on his face.

Something has changed with his expression. He seems almost scared.