Abby purses her mouth, shakes her head once, no. She's staring at him in disbelief.

"What am I supposed to tell them?"

Goodbye? Just like that? They're the only people she has left, her last, tenuous link to any of the Fireflies. But she knows, suddenly, with sickening clarity, that they really will try to stop her if she goes alone. She feels pinned under his pitying gaze.