The London spirit elemental was nothing like Yuki.
Where Yuki had been scared but cooperative, Arabella Thornfield was furious and defiant. We found her in the ruins of what had once been an elegant townhouse in Kensington, now reduced to rubble by her uncontrolled power.
"I don't need your help," she announced the moment we arrived, her posh accent cutting through the air like a blade. "And I certainly don't need some American girl telling me what to do."
She was beautiful in a sharp-edged way—all platinum blonde hair, ice-blue eyes, and aristocratic features. Her spirit magic manifested as silver flames that danced around her like living jewelry.
"Arabella," I said carefully, "I know this is overwhelming—"
"Overwhelming?" She laughed bitterly. "I've just discovered that everything I thought I knew about the world is a lie, my family estate has been destroyed by my own power, and now strange men are telling me I need to go to some mysterious school. 'Overwhelming' is rather an understatement."
I glanced at Zephyr and Asher, who had taken point on this mission while Kai and Magnus remained at the Academy with Yuki. Both looked like they wanted to shake some sense into the hostile girl.
"The Void Hunters will find you," Asher said patiently. "They're drawn to spirit magic, and your power is still unstable."
"Void Hunters?" Arabella's defiance flickered with uncertainty.
"Ancient creatures that feed on spirit elementals," Zephyr explained bluntly. "They'll drain your magic, your life force, and leave you a desiccated corpse."
"Zephyr," I said reproachfully.
"What? She needs to understand the stakes."
Arabella paled but lifted her chin defiantly. "If these creatures are so dangerous, how do I know you're not working with them?"
"Because," I said, stepping closer despite the silver flames writhing around her, "I can do this."
I let spirit magic flow out of me, not the overwhelming wave I'd used against the Void Hunters, but something gentle and welcoming. My golden power reached toward her silver flames, and instead of fighting, they began to dance together.
Arabella gasped, her hostile expression melting into wonder. "How are you doing that?"
"Spirit calls to spirit," I explained softly. "We're connected, Arabella. All of us who carry this power."
"All of us?"
"There's another girl, Yuki, back at the Academy. And somewhere in Brazil, there's a fourth."
"Four spirit elementals?" Arabella's flames settled into a steady glow around her hands. "But the legends say there can only be one."
"The legends say a lot of things," Zephyr said dryly. "Most of them wrong."
Arabella studied us for a long moment, her sharp intelligence evident in those ice-blue eyes. Finally, she nodded.
"Very well. But I have conditions."
"Conditions?" Asher raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not some damsel in distress to be rescued," she said firmly. "If I'm coming to your school, I want to learn to fight. Really fight."
"Deal," I said immediately, earning surprised looks from Asher and Zephyr. "Trust me, learning to defend yourself is non-negotiable in our world."
Arabella's smile was sharp and pleased. "I think we're going to get along brilliantly."
But as we prepared to leave London, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched. And when I caught a glimpse of shadow moving wrong in the reflection of a broken window, I knew the Void Hunters weren't done with us yet.
"We need to move fast," I told the guys quietly. "They're already tracking her."
"How can you tell?" Zephyr asked.
"Because they're here," I said, pointing to the shadows that were beginning to move with unnatural purpose around the ruins.
Arabella's flames flared brighter. "Let them come."
"No," I said firmly. "We run. Fighting draws attention, and there are innocents nearby."
"But—"
"Trust me," I said, grabbing her hand. "Sometimes the bravest thing is knowing when not to fight."
As we retreated through London's winding streets, shadows following us like hungry wolves, I realized that gathering the spirit elementals was only the beginning of our problems.
The real question was: what did the Void Hunters really want, and why were they so determined to claim us?