Together, we drive the ice into the ground. There’s a thudding sound as the sharpened edges drive into the dirt, followed by the sound of glass breaking as cracks form rapidly in the ice and begin to spread. All in all, the ice doesn’t get driven very far into the earth, about four feet at most. Marina seems pleased with the result, though.

“Okay, okay! Hold on a second!”

She races around the box of ice, its four walls now embedded in the ground, and begins to reinforce the walls, thickening and hardening the ice as she touches it. When the cracks in the ice are sealed up and the broken chunks filled in, Marina kneels down at one of the corners and puts her hands on the ice, as close to the ground as possible.

“All right, I’m not sure if this part will actually work,” she says. “Here goes.”

Marina closes her eyes and concentrates. Adam and I exchange a look, both of us pretty confused. Still, we stay quiet for what ends up being more than five minutes, watching Marina work her Legacy. I want to put my forehead on the cold ice, but I worry that might screw up whatever she’s doing.

“I think I got it,” Marina says at last, standing up and rolling her neck. “Six, let’s lift the ice back up.”

“Now you want it out of the ground?” I ask.

Marina nods excitedly. “Quick! Before it melts too much.”

So, we concentrate on the cube again. It feels much heavier this time and as we lift it, I realize why. Marina spread the ice under the ground, connecting the four walls of her cube. When we lift the ice, it comes up with a ripping and crunching sound, as the remaining roots of the grass are torn apart. The ice cube floats up on our telekinesis and, inside it, sits a four-foot deep cross section of the earth, perfectly maintained.

“Gently now,” Marina says, as we transport the ice and earth off to the side. “I got in there pretty deep, but it could still break apart.”

“Brilliant,” Adam says, grinning at the floating mound. “We won’t have to cover the hole with, like, really big branches. Once we’ve dug it the rest of the way, we can just lay that piece back on top. It’ll look normal when Setrákus Ra steps on it, but you should be able to cave it in from a distance with your telekinesis.”

Marina nods. “That was my thinking.”

We lower the immaculately shaped box of dirt and grass to the ground with a gentle thump. Without Marina constantly augmenting it with her Legacy, the ice soon begins to melt away. The edges of our pit’s lid get a little muddy, but that’ll dry quickly considering the heat.

Adam strides forward, kneeling in front of the thirty-by-thirty hole in the ground.

“My turn,” he says.