"And do you have any idea where she is now?" Ally asked.
"I told you . . . Look, if I knew her whereabouts, don't you think I'd do everything I could to contact her, find out how she is?"
"Right."
She reached out and took Stone’s hand as they all moved onto the elevator. She could sense his excitement at finally being inside the Dorian Institute, but at that moment her concentration was drifting and she felt as though she were slowly beginning to drown in a sea of white.
"Stone, please don't leave me. Don't let me out of your sight. Something funny is happening and I don't know what it is."
Van de Vliet bent over. "Alexa, look at me. I want to see your eyes. I think they may be dilating." He waved a hand across her face. "Can you see me?"
"It's the fluorescent lights," she mumbled "There's too much glare. Could someone please turn them down? I think that's what's wrong. They're giving me a headache."
"Ally," Stone said, "the lights are not very bright in here. We're going down in an elevator. There aren't any fluorescents."
Then the elevator chimed and the door opened. They were in the basement now, where the research lab and the office and the examination rooms were. Debra, wearing a white lab coat, was standing there silently looking at her.
Now there really were fluorescent lights, and she turned away and tried to shield her eyes.