Cole spoke little as he led Simon back to the hall where he'd found River. He moved through the crowd with a smooth purposefulness, as if following a trail that was clear to him, but invisible to everyone else. The people they passed — those who were upright and on the move — stepped past or around Cole without looking. It might have seemed like he wasn't part of the real world at all, if not for the raindrops spattering and rolling down the brim of his hat, or the mud on his shoes.

"She won't let them in," he said, after a time. It was a reminder to himself as much as promise to Simon. "They see her, and she sees them, but she'll sing them away. She always does."