Riiiight, a mountain lion would come in handy. Why did Ryusei keep running across this? Was he simply at a statistical disadvantage?

More importantly, he thought as they passed the Sun Room—had this hallway always been this long? And this... dusty? Ryusei stopped and lifted a foot, shining his flashlight down. That was definitely dust. If the hallway had been like this in the morning, he would have noticed something.

"Hear what?"