18
“Halli? Can you hear me?” The doctor shined a light in my eyes.
I moaned.
“Halli? Miss Markham?” she tried again.
It was too much trouble. Too much trouble to climb out of my fog, to stay awake, to open my eyes and deal with whatever was going on.
“I think she heard you,” Jake said.
“Halli,” Dr. Rios repeated more sternly this time. “You have to wake up now. I need to examine you. Look at me. Right now.”
The woman was annoyingly persistent. Clearly she wasn’t going away. I slowly pried my eyes open, just barely enough to squint. Even that hurt my head. The room was so bright the light almost felt noisy. I groaned and shut my eyes again.
“Halli?” Jake tried. “It’s me. I’m right here.” He sounded worried. Good. Served him right.
“Where’s...Daniel?” I asked. Three syllables that f
