He made himself stop pacing, leaning his forehead against the wall. The cool plaster did nothing to ease the ache in his head. It was too much. Dragons, he was actually running through the characteristics of dragons. His thoughts were colliding, his heart pumping, pulse as loud in his ears as the absurdity in his brain. If it had just been his uncle. Even just his uncle and the senator, though the latter was harder to brush off. Then Mai, leaving him like that. Instantly, without hesitation, as if he were…nothing.

Or as if he were a threat.

A dragon?

What else? Heightened senses. Now that was something Griffen could relate to. Of course, up until now, he had always assumed that everyone else had the same powers of observation that he had, but never developed them or used them. Maybe he was something special.

Leaning away from the wall, he stood still, trying to calm himself. He let his concentration go out of focus and stretched out his senses to “feel” the hotel around him. The task proving a focus for his calm. It was so easy to do and…

There was someone outside the door of his room!

Now that he was “listening,” Griffen could hear the minute sounds of breathing and clothes rustling in the hall. What was more, they weren’t passing by. They were just standing there.

His first thought was that it was Mai, but he quickly discarded it. Mai would have simply used her key and come in, or, at least, knocked. Besides, it didn’t sound like Mai. It sounded like someone who was trying hard not to be heard.

He never even considered the possibility that it might be someone random trying to remember their room number. With all the other weird stuff that had happened today, that would be too much of a coincidence.