Auden Heller is a classmate of Lia's. He is a smart, sensitive person and is the only one at school who is willing to accept what Lia has become and be friends with her. Auden has always been different from the other people at school - dressing in unfashionable, poorly fitting clothes, and wearing glasses even though his eyes could be easily fixed - and it is the fact that he has always been an outcast that allows him to accept Lia. Auden tells Lia that his late mother had chosen not to get him any of the genetic enhancements that most other people got before they were born which helps to explain to Lia why he is so different.
