Mara's mouth fell open. "Real souls? I hope I didn't hurt them. I usually screw things up…"
"You didn't. And I never want to hear you call yourself a screw up again, do you understand? The Caretaker's assistant is *not* a screw up."
She nodded.
Rowan smiled at her. He wasn't at all worried about her hurting the souls. She wouldn't be able to affect his magic if it wasn't meant to be. "I'm curious though…can you tell me how you did it?"
She shrugged and smeared her dirt-covered hands on the front of her tunic. "I really don't know. I just closed my eyes and picked one. I was thinking about how I wanted to make you proud, and suddenly I could feel…something. It felt like you, I think. Kinda warm but prickly at the same time. So I just shoved as much of my energy toward it as I could. After that it started growing."
