Theo wouldn't have heard Niki even if he hadn't been lost in his own fractured mind, caught like Snow White's dress on the grabbing branches, slowly tearing it apart.
He started at the question more than the exclamation, hearing his surname and shuddering at it, the sound like a vine constricting round his heart. His breathing came in quick little steps and he backed up until his back hit a tree, the small impact making him freeze.
"No." he said, stammering and pale. "No, no not Nott no Nott Nott anymore not, not-" he stumbled over the words, panicked. He felt utterly alone and all that flashed through his head was the fact that he wanted Greg.