"Not incidents?" Yizhen asked. "Not fevers or bad fish or slipping on a very dramatic staircase? I'm asking for a friend."
Hattie considered. "You are difficult to kill by accident. The world likes you too much. It would take intent. It would take work. I mean, I am essentially turning you into full blooded demons, even the dude in the corner. But yes… if someone manages to find a way to kill one of you, the string doesn't ask about paperwork. It pulls everything it connects, and you'll all die."
Xinying breathed out. "Fair."
Yizhen put an arm over his eyes. "Of course she thinks that's fair."
Mingyu's thumb tapped once on the table, then stopped. "I am not easy to kill as it is."
"Neither am I," Longzi said, which for him counted as a speech.
Deming glanced at the children's door. "What about them?"
