The Tokyo safe house was a traditional Japanese mansion hidden in the middle of the city by layers of magical wards. Kai and Magnus flanked me as we approached the entrance, both tense with protective energy.
"She's in there," I said, sensing the new spirit elemental's chaotic power like a beacon. "And she's scared."
"Can you blame her?" Kai muttered, shadows swirling anxiously around him.
The door opened before we could knock, revealing a middle-aged Japanese woman with silver-streaked hair and knowing eyes.
"Tanaka-sensei," Magnus said with a respectful bow. "Thank you for sheltering her."
"Yuki-chan is barely holding on," Tanaka-sensei replied in accented English. "Her power manifested during a panic attack. She's been afraid to sleep or eat since."
My heart ached for the girl. I remembered my own awakening, how overwhelming and terrifying it had been. At least I'd had immediate support.
"Let me talk to her," I said.
Tanaka-sensei led us through the mansion to a small garden room where a girl about my age sat huddled in the corner. Her black hair was disheveled, her eyes wide with fear, and spirit magic crackled around her in unstable waves.
The moment she saw me, her power reached out instinctively, recognizing kindred magic.
"You're like me," Yuki whispered in perfect English.
"I'm like you," I confirmed, sitting down slowly across from her. "And I know how scary this is."
"I broke things," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I was having a panic attack about my university exams, and suddenly everything around me just… exploded."
"My first manifestation short-circuited every magical ward at my school," I said gently. "And that was just from fainting."
A tiny smile tugged at her lips. "Really?"
"Really. And these two behind me? They're going to help us both learn to control what we can do."
Yuki's gaze shifted to Kai and Magnus, and I felt her power respond to their supernatural presence. But instead of fear, I sensed curiosity.
"Vampire and ice elemental," she said softly.
"Very good," Magnus said, stepping forward slowly. "You can sense our natures."
"It's like… colors," Yuki explained hesitantly. "You're silver and blue, like winter sky. And he's…" She looked at Kai. "Deep purple and black, like shadows at midnight."
"Spirit elementals can see the true nature of other supernaturals," I explained. "It's one of our abilities."
"What color am I?" Yuki asked.
I looked at her with my spirit sight, seeing past her physical form to the power beneath. "Opal," I said in wonder. "You're every color at once, shifting and changing."
She smiled—her first real smile since we'd arrived. "What color are you?"
I'd never thought to look at myself with spirit sight. Closing my eyes, I turned my perception inward and gasped at what I saw.
"Gold," I breathed. "Pure gold, like sunlight."
"The color of the first spirit elemental," Magnus said quietly. "The one who ended the First War."
Before I could ask what that meant, alarms began wailing throughout the building. Tanaka-sensei burst into the room, her face pale with terror.
"They've found us," she said. "Void Hunters. Three of them, approaching from the east."
Through the bond, I felt Asher and Zephyr's distant alarm as they sensed our danger. But they were half a world away, unable to help.
"Get Yuki out of here," I told Kai and Magnus, spirit magic already rising to defend us.
"We're not leaving you," Magnus said firmly.
"I'm the one they want," I protested. "If I lead them away—"
"No." Kai's voice was absolute. "We fight together or not at all."
Through the garden's paper walls, I could see dark shapes moving in the night—tall, wraithlike figures that seemed to absorb light itself.
"Yuki," I said urgently, "I need you to trust me."
She nodded, her own power beginning to stabilize as mine called to it.
"Hold my hand and don't let go, no matter what happens."
Her small hand gripped mine tightly as the Void Hunters reached the garden walls.
"Now," I whispered.
Spirit magic exploded out of me like a supernova, white-gold light flooding the garden. But instead of the chaotic burst I'd feared, the power was focused and controlled, strengthened by Yuki's presence and channeled through my bonds with Kai and Magnus.
The Void Hunters shrieked as the light hit them, their shadowy forms beginning to dissolve.
"Impossible," one of them hissed in a voice like breaking glass. "Two spirit elementals cannot exist in harmony."
"Watch us," I said, and let more power flow.
Kai's shadows joined my light, not fighting it but dancing with it, creating a barrier of living twilight around the garden. Magnus's ice formed protective walls, beautiful and deadly. And somehow, Yuki's opal magic wove through it all, strengthening and stabilizing everything.
The Void Hunters fled, but not before their leader turned to look directly at me.
"This is not over, little star," it promised. "We will have what belongs to us."
Then they were gone, leaving only the scent of ozone and burned shadows.
"That was incredible," Yuki breathed, her eyes shining with amazement instead of fear.
"That was just the beginning," Magnus said grimly.
Through the bond, I felt Asher and Zephyr's relief and pride, but also their worry. We'd won this battle, but the war was far from over.
"Come on," I said, helping Yuki to her feet. "Let's go home."
But as we prepared to leave Tokyo, I couldn't shake the Void Hunter's words. What did it mean by "what belongs to us"?
And why did I have the sinking feeling that I was about to find out?