"That was a lame excuse, Ryan," Sydney said quietly as she kept pace with me, her voice low enough not to carry beyond the stairwell while Lucy led us up.
"What excuse?" I asked, though I already had a bad feeling I knew exactly which one she meant.
"The one where you split us up and acted like you were just being practical." She glanced at me sideways while we climbed. "Sending the others downstairs somewhere safer was a nice touch."
"I don't think down there is safer," I replied.
"I do," she said. "Sweeping floors carefully is safer than running straight toward the place where the biggest problem might be waiting."
I didn't answer right away.
