The Last Lycan System

Chapter 3: Aria's Distance

Noah didn't sleep that night.

He read the note over and over. *They sealed you. It's time to wake.* No name. No second page. Just six words and an empty hallway.

By morning he'd talked himself into calling it a prank. Easier than the alternative. He shoved it in his desk drawer and went to breakfast like nothing had happened.

His roommate, Dax, was already awake, lacing his boots. "You look like you didn't sleep."

"Didn't."

"Nightmares again?"

"Something like that."

"You should report it to Vess. Sleep issues affect shift stability, or whatever they told us at orientation."

"I don't have a shift to stabilize, Dax."

Dax winced. "Right. Sorry."

"It's fine."

Aria wasn't at their usual table.

He caught himself looking for her anyway, then grabbed a tray alone. She was three tables over, sitting with Priya Sato and two others, all ranked in the twenties. Four years ago she used to save him a seat without being asked. Now she barely looked up when he walked past.

He told himself it didn't matter.

She caught up to him at the tray return, glancing over her shoulder first.

"Hey. You doing okay? After yesterday."

"I've had worse."

"I heard Ferris really went after you." She winced. "That's messed up."

"You could've come," Noah said. "It was open to anyone with a free period."

"I had a study group."

"Right."

"I did, Noah."

"I said right."

"Why do you say it like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like you don't believe me."

"Do you want me to believe you?"

She didn't answer that either.

Behind her, Priya's group had stopped by the door, watching. Aria noticed them noticing.

"I should go," she said.

"Yeah."

She hesitated a second … like there was more she wanted to say. Then Priya called her name, light and teasing, and whatever it was folded shut.

"See you around." She walked off and laughed at something within seconds, like the last thirty seconds hadn't happened at all.

He told himself that was fine. Rank meant everything here. Being seen with the wolfless boy had a cost she couldn't afford.

He told himself all of that and still felt something crack a little further open in his chest.

Second period was theory class, and the seating chart put him next to her … an accident of alphabetical order neither of them controlled. She sat down without a word, opened her notebook, and didn't look at him.

"You don't have to sit somewhere else at lunch," Noah said quietly, halfway through the lecture. "I'm not asking you to."

"I know."

"I'm just saying it."

"Noah." She kept her eyes on her notes. "Not here."

"Then where? You never have time anywhere anymore."

"That's not fair."

"Isn't it?"

She didn't answer. The instructor called on her a moment later, and she answered the question perfectly, like nothing had been said at all.

When the bell rang, she packed her bag fast and was gone before he'd even zipped his own.

Cade caught him in the hallway outside, smirking.

"Trouble in paradise, Gray?"

"We're not together."

"Could've fooled me, the way she ran off just now." Cade fell into step beside him, clearly enjoying himself. "She used to actually talk to you. Now she looks like she's allergic."

"Do you want something, Cade?"

"Just an observation." He shrugged. "Rank matters here. You know that better than anyone."

"Yeah," Noah said. "I know."

"You could always just prove them wrong. Climb a few ranks, watch how fast people remember your name."

"Thanks for the advice."

"Wasn't advice. Just facts."

"Don't take it personal." Cade peeled off toward his next class, still grinning. "Nobody wants to be seen standing next to the bottom of the pile. Nothing personal about survival."

Noah didn't answer. There wasn't anything to say that Cade would understand, and there wasn't anything to say that would make it hurt less either way.

It got worse at lunch.

He was crossing the courtyard when he spotted her again, sitting on the wall near the fountain with Priya and two boys he didn't recognize. She saw him … her laugh caught for half a beat, eyes flicking toward him and away.

One of the boys noticed the look and grinned. "Friend of yours, Aria?"

"No," she said quickly. "Just someone from my year."

"Didn't look like nobody."

"Drop it, Theo."

"Just asking."

"Well, stop."

She turned her shoulder, just slightly, angling away from him without making it obvious.

Noah kept walking. He didn't slow down.

But he noticed. He noticed everything.

He ate alone that day, at the far table near the kitchen doors, half-listening to conversations that weren't his. He thought about the note. He thought about her shoulder turning away. He thought about how much easier it would be to just stop hoping either of those things would change.

He didn't notice the voices behind the pillar until he was nearly done eating. Priya's, low, but not low enough.

"You need to cut him loose, Aria. For real. People are starting to talk."

Noah's fork stopped halfway to his mouth.

"We're not even close anymore," Aria said, too fast. "I barely talk to him."

"You looked pretty chatty by the door this morning."

"That was nothing."

*Cut him loose. Not close anymore. Nothing.* Four years, folded up and thrown away in three sentences.

He should have stopped listening. He didn't move.

"Just be smart about it," Priya said. "You don't want to be known as his friend. Not this year."

"I know," Aria said, quieter. "I'm handling it."

"Handling it how? You still eat with him some days."

"I said I'm handling it, Priya."

"Fine. Just don't come crying to me if placements go sideways because of some rumor."

"There's nothing to be rumored about."

"Good. Keep it that way."

"I heard he even got hurt in the arena yesterday," one of the others added. "Ferris really did a number on him."

"I know," Aria said. "I heard too."

"You should probably just steer clear altogether."

"I said I know."

Noah picked up his tray and walked past the pillar without looking at either of them. He heard his name once behind him … small, almost apologetic … and didn't turn around.

He made it back to the dorms before the cold in his chest caught up with him. Being mocked, he'd learned to survive. This was different. This felt like losing a fight he hadn't known he was in.

He was still at his door, key half-raised, when footsteps came fast down the hallway behind him.

He turned, expecting nothing … and found Aria instead, out of breath, like she'd run the whole way.

"Noah, wait." She stopped a few feet away, chest rising and falling. "I need to tell you something. Before…"

She stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes flicked past his shoulder down the hall, and whatever had been coming folded shut, the way it always did.

"Before what?" Noah asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"It clearly does. You just ran here, out of breath, in the middle of the day."

"Forget it. Please."

She didn't answer beyond that. She just looked at him … like someone standing at the edge of a decision she hadn't made yet … then turned and walked quickly back the way she'd come.

Noah stood alone in the hallway, key still in his hand, staring after her.

Whatever she'd almost said, it had scared her more than anything Priya or Ferris ever had.