Behind the locked door, one living person died four different ways in Jade's damaged eye.
The first body struck the ceiling when the threshold opened. The second folded around the door frame after Ruvan moved the seventh counter. A third stayed upright while something inside the chest pulled toward the black stake. The fourth lost its shadow through the floor before the body followed.
Jade covered the damaged eye with her palm. White blood pressed between her fingers.
"One person is alive inside, and the current load kills them at the threshold."
Ruvan kept one hand on the crossing table.
"Which counter gives that person a survivable floor?"
"My eye shows where death finishes. You still have to build everything between."
Meya drew Jori's cord away from the private door and tied it around her belt beside the arm that remembered the nursery's old floor.
"Move the house onto public stakes in thirds."
Ruvan shook his head while his floating knee pulled toward the table edge.
