a mindless need for speed

East of Deadhorse, Alaska, and Robert and Marigold are dog-sledding through the freezing cold. Marigold can hear Styles in her mind all the time now, but they are still heading north. Styles is going into a zone where things go fuzzy, possibly because the CIA put something up. Styles still has the mask and could be very destructive. Natalie and Alexander were in a deep sleep for a day, but Marigold was out of range and can follow Styles using her thoughts. Natalie and Alexander can communicate with Marigold. They're flying up as quickly as they can. Styles is heading into the mountains and the sled can't follow. You need to continue on foot.

You follow Styles's tracks through the mountains. You can see the unmaintained trans-Alaskan pipeline below. Robert says the only good that came from it was that Congress finally dealt with land claims. The Indigenous people would probably have drilled some of the oil, but slowly and sustainably. Maybe they can build something better now. Finding the tree could help, but Styles might end up killing it. You need to keep moving.

Styles's footprints in the snow suddenly stop, and there's no sign of how. Marigold knows that she's close, but can't sense a direction. Robert examines the tracks, and realises that she walked backwards in her own tracks. Roberts has been thinking about the tree, and thinks its difference is reason enough to keep it safe. Styles will have taken a long time making this backwards trail so you might be able to catch up.

You find the place where Styles stopped doubling her tracks. There are holes bored into the ice and Robert spots the half-covered tracks below, skirting the edge of the valley. Robert says he thought he saw and felt something, but there's nothing there. He lowers Marigold down the cliff on a rope, and follows after her. Styles is skirting the edge of the ice, afraid to go on the frozen river, but Robert knows they'll be okay.

The river is frozen solid and there are zombies. Marigold is amused by the tree's displeasure at the idea. It says that it remembers time before the last ice age, but not a time before humans. Robert recognises the zombies as more former CIA agents. The tree tells Marigold that it likes minds, and likes difference. It couldn't live inside a zombie mind. It likes the differences between Marigold and Natalie and Alexander. Robert notices that some of the zombies are throwing themselves off the cliff to get to you. Keep moving.

The tree says it was in a place of beauty, drawn in by the singing, and this is the first time it has seen this place from the outside. When it was caught, it was like being inside a shell, everything smooth and inescapable. Marigold and Robert walk through the mountain pass and see a carved place in the mountainside, spirals of glass and ice. The prison. And James is here too. He must have hidden his thoughts, stopping everyone from seeing him. He's so strong. And he is here to end you.