I slammed back into my body like a falling star hitting earth.
The impact was violent. Brutal. My spine arched off the marble floor hard enough that I heard vertebrae crack. My mouth opened in a silent scream and water exploded from my lungs in a torrent.
I choked. Gagged. Coughed up what felt like gallons of black water mixed with blood and something that tasted like starlight and copper.
Hands grabbed me. Turned me on my side so the water could pour out instead of drowning me again. I convulsed, my body rejecting everything inside it, trying desperately to remember how to be alive.
"Breathe." A voice cut through the chaos. Astro. "Come on, Haven. You know how. Just breathe."
I tried. Gasped. Pulled in air that burned like fire after being filled with water for so long. My lungs screamed in protest but I forced them to work. In. Out. In. Out.
Each breath hurt. Each one felt like dragging glass through my chest. But I was breathing. I was alive.
