The establishment itself was amazingly normal looking, so far as Rector could tell from peeking between the crowd. It had a big wooden bar with a mirrored backdrop, and brass fixtures that appeared to get a regular polishing. A tall player piano sat in a corner, its padded seat occupied by two thin men who stood precariously upon it in order to see over the crowds. Likewise, there were people standing on the wooden chairs that ordinarily went around the card tables.

The lights were a combination of electric and gas, and they glimmered brightly from wall to wall, flickering in the mirrored portions of the serving area and glinting off the metal trim. Maynard’s looked warmer than it felt.

Everyone who pushed, stretched, and strained on tippytoes to see was facing the mirror. Miss Lucy was there, right at home stationed behind the bar, and beside her Angeline Sealth sat on the bar proper, waiting for the room to fill up to her satisfaction.

The boys elbowed through the crowd.

Rector saw the crew of the Naamah Darling, including the captain, Fang, and Kirby Troost; he saw Frank and Willard, who still smelled like the smoke room; and he noted Mercy Lynch standing between her father and a wizened Chinese man whose eyes were very bright and sharp behind a pair of spectacles. “Doctor Wong?” he asked Zeke.

“That’s him. Hey, look—we can climb up on the piano.”

“Will it hold us?”

Zeke shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

They squeezed over to the instrument and shut the cover over the keys, then scaled the tall player all the way to the top. They could barely do so without knocking their heads on the ceiling, but they were pleased with themselves all the same.

Now they could see everything, and everyone.

Houjin slipped inside the door and looked around, scanning the room. He spied Zeke and Rector quickly and waved at them, but he opted not to wrestle through the crowd to join them, or further test the integrity of the piano lid. Instead, he stuck close to Captain Cly.

Briar Wilkes hovered close to the bar’s edge. She wore her full regalia, as Rector had come to think of it—her father’s old badge and hat, and a belt buckle with the zigzag initials MW.

The muttering in the room rose and fell in a curious wave.

Angeline monitored it, and watched the door. When she was confident that everyone important was in attendance, she glanced at Lucy O’Gunning, who nodded. The princess took this as permission to climb to her feet on the bar, high enough above the population that she could be seen and heard by everyone.