The urge to answer instantly, as if speed might help them here, is somewhat mitigated first by the set of Tony's thumb and fingers about her wrist and then by that fleeting point of contact from Ellis on the step below hers. It's fine to pause and think a moment; to make sure she's certain of what she knows.

"They're in our way," she eventually decides, considerably more measured than that first warning hiss that had accompanied her snatching fingers. "But there will be an alcove directly across from us once we reach the landing. I think it's there." It's been such a long time since she'd last been in the corridor in question, but she is nearly positive.

"We might sneak across," she says. "And see if they could be coaxed to go down the stairs somehow."