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Briar chewed his lip He knehat Sandry and Tris would say He even knehat Daja, as more practical, would say: "What’s the matter, thief boy? Lost your nerve?"

"I have plenty of nerve," he e sister He hesitated for aher power into thefor hiic around to see if there were vine seeds in the earth The gardeners had cut back the local vines, but if he could get their seeds to grow, there was no risk of exarow fro that he felt the ghost of once-living plants at the level of his face How could that be possible? The only thing in front of him was the marble wall

He shook his hands as if to clear theic he had used, a habit Rosethorn teased him for, and let more of his power flow out directly in front of him Now the entire wall responded with that shadow of life that had once been green

"Evvy, stop," he whispered "What’s in the mortar?"

"Mostly limestone," she replied, her voice as soft as his "There are other things in it that I don’t feel, though It clings like the er over the cracks between blocks Suddenly he grinned "And you think plant round and opened his kit

"Youdifficult on purpose

"Apparently the thing you can’t feel is rice," Briar infore"

"Rice?" she deed

"I know rice in my bowl and I know it in theso, I’ll bet Tell oing to pull out just enough blocks to climb in"

"Then that’s e’ll do But we should h blocks to let Parahan out"

"Three blocks by two blocks?"

"That should do Let et rid of your mortar first" Briar ran his hands over the cracks between the blocks, pouring his hbors He wouldn’t have thought the rice would have re compared to the stone, but it had When he called it to hiht small chunks of the limestone in the mortar with it

"I should have put down a cloth," he said with disround