I came back to my body in pieces.
First, the cold. The marble floor beneath me, hard and unforgiving, its chill seeping through my soaked clothing and into my bones. Then the wet. Water still in my lungs, but less now. Draining. Leaving. Each breath rattled like loose stones in my chest, and I could taste copper and salt on my tongue—blood and the strange mineral tang of the Pool.
Then the pain.
My hand burned like someone had set it on fire. I tried to move it and agony shot up my arm, through my shoulder, into my chest. The blood bond. The bite. The merging of silver and red. The wound throbbed in time with my heartbeat, each pulse sending fresh waves of heat radiating through my fingers.
It had followed me back from the void.
"Haven." Astro's voice, desperate and close. His hands on my shoulders, pulling me upright. His palms were rough and warm against my frozen skin, his grip almost painfully tight. "Haven, can you hear me?"
