The Academy felt different with four spirit elementals in residence. Power hummed in the air constantly, and everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells around us.
"It's like having four nuclear reactors in one building," Zephyr muttered as we made our way to the training grounds.
"Nuclear reactors that are all emotionally volatile teenagers," Kai added unhelpfully.
"I'm twenty," I protested.
"Emotionally volatile young adults," he amended with a grin.
The training session Headmistress Nyx had arranged was unlike anything we'd done before. All four of us spirit elementals stood in a circle in the center of the arena, with our various mentors and guards positioned around the perimeter.
"Today, we're going to attempt something that's never been tried," Nyx announced. "A four-way spirit bond."
"Is that safe?" Yuki asked nervously.
"Probably not," Nyx admitted. "But if the Void Hunters are growing stronger, you need to be stronger too."
Arabella's silver flames flickered with excitement. "What do we need to do?"
"Join hands," Nyx instructed. "Luna will anchor the connection since her power is the most stable."
I took Yuki's hand on my left and Arabella's on my right. Isabella completed the circle by joining hands with both of them. The moment our connection was complete, power exploded between us.
But instead of chaos, it was harmony. Four different manifestations of spirit magic—my golden light, Yuki's opal shimmer, Arabella's silver fire, and Isabella's golden butterflies—wove together into something completely new.
Through the new connection, I could feel all of their emotions, their memories, their fears and hopes. Yuki's quiet strength, Arabella's fierce determination, Isabella's protective love for her family. We were separate but connected, individual but unified.
"Incredible," breathed Headmistress Nyx.
But through our original bonds, I felt my guys' sudden alarm.
"Something's wrong," Magnus said sharply.
The arena began to shake, and hairline cracks appeared in the protective wards. Whatever we'd just created was too powerful for the Academy's ancient defenses.
"Break the connection," Nyx ordered.
But we couldn't. The four-way bond had taken on a life of its own, spiraling beyond our control. Power built between us like a rising tide, threatening to break free and devastate everything around us.
This is what happened before, I realized with growing horror. This is how the last spirit elemental went mad.
Through the chaos, I felt my pentad bonds like anchors in a storm. Kai, Asher, Zephyr, and Magnus—their love and strength flowing into me, grounding me, reminding me who I was beyond the magic.
Help me, I called to them through our bond.
They didn't hesitate.
Four different types of supernatural power flowed into our circle—shadow and solar, storm and ice. Not to fight the spirit magic, but to support it, to give it structure and purpose.
The chaotic energy settled into something beautiful and controlled. The arena's wards stopped cracking and instead began to glow with renewed strength.
When we finally released each other's hands, all four of us were glowing softly, and the entire Academy felt more magically stable than it had in years.
"Well," Nyx said into the stunned silence. "That was unexpected."
"What just happened?" Isabella asked, staring at her hands where golden butterflies still flickered.
"You created a spirit network," Nyx explained, wonder in her ancient voice. "Four separate elementals connected but not consumed. It's never been achieved before."
"And my bondmates?" I asked, looking at Kai, Asher, Zephyr, and Magnus with new understanding.
"Are now connected to the network as well," Nyx confirmed. "Congratulations. You've just revolutionized supernatural magic theory."
But through our enhanced bonds, I could sense something else—a dark presence retreating from the Academy's borders, frustrated but not defeated.
The Void Hunters had been watching, waiting for us to lose control.
Instead, we'd become something they'd never encountered before: four spirit elementals working in harmony, supported by a pentad bond that amplified rather than drained our power.
"They'll be back," I said quietly.
"Let them come," Arabella said, silver flames dancing around her fingers.
"We'll be ready," Yuki added, her opal magic steady and strong.
Isabella nodded, golden butterflies forming a crown around her head. "Together."
I looked at my three sister elementals, then at my four bondmates, and felt something I hadn't experienced since this whole journey began: confidence.
We were no longer just a group of individuals learning to control dangerous magic.
We were becoming something new, something powerful.
Something the supernatural world had never seen before.