It started with Claire.
She was waiting outside the library when I got there—not unusual. We'd planned to meet. But the timing felt off.
I'd texted her twenty minutes ago saying I was running late. She'd replied no worries and that was it.
Now she was here. Exactly here. Like she'd known when I'd arrive.
"Hey," she said, straightening from the wall. "You're earlier than I thought."
"Am I?"
She smiled. Checked her phone. "Yeah, I figured another ten minutes at least."
Maybe I was reading into it. Maybe she'd just guessed right.
We went inside.
The second time was in the food court.
Zoe appeared while I was in line for coffee—slid into the space beside me like she'd been there the whole time.
"Fancy seeing you here," she said.
I glanced at her. "You don't usually come here."
"Neither do you."
True. I'd changed my routine three days ago. Different building, different time. Deliberate.
"Just felt like it," I said.
She grinned, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Same."
We got our drinks. Sat at a table by the window.
The conversation was normal. Classes, deadlines, someone's terrible group project. But the whole time, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was... waiting.
For what, I didn't know.
When I left, she stayed. Watched me go.
I looked back once.
She was still watching.
The third time, I was sure.
Sienna called while I was walking back to the dorm. Not texted. Called.
"Where are you?" she asked.
"Headed back. Why?"
"Turn around. I'm at the east gate."
I stopped walking. "How did you—"
"Just come here. I'll explain."
She hung up.
I turned around.
She was exactly where she said she'd be, leaning against the fence with her arms crossed. When she saw me, she pushed off and walked over.
"Lucian's people are mapping you," she said, no preamble.
"What?"
"They've been tracking your routine for at least a week. Maybe longer." She glanced past me, scanning the path. "Claire, Zoe, probably others. He's positioning them."
"Positioning them for what?"
"I don't know yet. But they're not being subtle about it anymore."
I thought about Claire. The timing. Zoe in the food court.
Too many coincidences.
Too many.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.
Sienna looked at me like the answer was obvious. "Because you're not paying attention. And if you don't start, someone's going to get hurt."
She wasn't wrong.
The system pulsed—faint, background-level.
SYSTEM NOTICE
Operator interference: possible.
Monitoring active.
No details. No explanation. Just a confirmation that I wasn't imagining it.
"What do I do?" I asked.
Sienna's expression hardened. "You stop acting predictable. Change your routes. Change your schedule. Stop answering calls from people you weren't expecting to hear from."
"And if they ask why?"
"Make something up. You're good at that."
It wasn't a compliment.
She left before I could respond. Disappeared around the corner without looking back.
I stood there, phone in hand, trying to decide if I believed her.
The problem was, I did.
I changed my route.
Took the long way back to the dorm, cut through the arts building instead of the main quad. Kept my phone on silent.
No one appeared.
No one texted.
It felt like winning and losing at the same time.
When I finally made it back to my room, I locked the door and sat on the edge of the bed.
Pulled up my messages.
Claire: Hey, you around later?
Zoe: Missed you at lunch today.
Both sent within the last hour. Both perfectly normal.
I didn't answer either.
Instead, I opened the system interface. Scrolled through the logs, looking for anything that would explain what Sienna had said.
Nothing.
Just the usual tracking. Traits, triggers, proximity alerts.
But then I saw it—buried three pages down.
Resonance Event Detected
Source: External operator.
Distance: 200–500m.
Duration: Ongoing.
Ongoing.
Someone was running their system near me. Close enough that mine had flagged it.
I checked the timestamp.
Two hours ago.
Right when I'd been at the food court with Zoe.
I didn't sleep well.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the pattern. Claire at the library. Zoe in the food court. Sienna at the gate.
All of them exactly where they needed to be. Exactly when.
By morning, I'd made a decision.
I wasn't going to confront them. That would tip my hand, let Lucian—or whoever—know I'd noticed.
Instead, I'd change the game.
Stop going where I was supposed to go. Stop answering when I was supposed to answer.
Make myself unpredictable.
It wasn't much. But it was something.
I grabbed my bag and left early—an hour before my first class.
The hallway was empty. The quad was quiet.
No one was waiting.
Good.
I made it halfway across campus before I felt it—that same background hum the system had flagged yesterday.
Resonance.
I stopped. Looked around.
No one obvious. Just students walking to class, a couple sitting on a bench, someone on their phone by the fountain.
Any of them could be watching.
Or none of them.
The system pulsed again.
SYSTEM NOTICE
Proximity alert: Multiple operators detected.
Interference probability: High.
I forced myself to keep walking.
Didn't look back.
But I knew.
They weren't just watching me anymore.
Someone was watching them.