" I think that the lady dies not because she leaves the tower for the outside world but because she lets herself float through the world pulled by the current after a dream.

Do you mean she should of paddled Cecily asks.

Miss Moore laughs. In a manner of speaking yes.

Ann stops drumming. But it wouldn't matter whether she paddled or not. She's cursed. No matter what she does she'll die.

And she'll die if she stays in the tower too. Perhaps not for a long time but she will die. We all will. Miss Moore says softly. "

― Libba Bray , A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle, #1)