There was no warning – no click, no hesitation, just sudden, violent noise and pressure and heat. The force threw me backward, a wave of superheated air lifting me off my feet before gravity reclaimed me with brutal efficiency. My back hit something solid – the ground, I realised distantly – driving the air from my lungs in a painful rush.
For a moment, the world was nothing but noise and confusion. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out everything else. Smoke filled my lungs, acrid and burning. I tried to blink, to clear my vision, but everything was a blur of too-bright light and dark shadows.
"Emma!" Theo's voice reached me as if from underwater, distorted and distant.
I tried to respond, but my lungs refused to cooperate, still spasming from the impact. Inside my mi
