“Thank you. I’m excited by it myself. Yaozu brought up the idea; he thought it was possible, but he didn’t know how to make it happen. But that’s Yaozu’s kind of genius,” he said as an afterthought. “He doesn’t know how to do everything, but he knows who to ask.”

A knock on the door made everyone jump, but it was only a Chinese man in a rounded hat. He said something to Houjin, who nodded quickly and made a brief reply. The other man left, leaving the boy to explain. “Angeline is outside waiting for us. We should go.”

They backtracked through the Station, and Rector marveled again at how beautiful it all was—practically the inside of a mansion, or how he’d always imagined a mansion must look. Every surface gleamed and glowed.

Maybe that was it. Everything was made out of something that shone. Brass, glass, marble … it all conspired to toss the electricity and gaslight around the echoing space, making them look warm and bright without being harsh.

They didn’t go all the way back to the Pullman car. Instead, they exited in a different direction, and Houjin led them straight to Angeline, who they found reclined on a bench with her hat over her face.

“Napping on the job?” Zeke greeted her with a grin.

She pulled the hat aside and whapped him with it. “Didn’t realize you three would turn up so fast. I’m old and I’m tired, and I can close my eyes if I want to.”

Rector fished around in his bag for a mask, suspecting he would need it. “So what happens next? You’re back, and looking for us. Did something interesting happen?”

“Yes and no, by which I mean I have an idea where the sasquatch might be hanging about. I don’t know what you boys have done all morning, but I’ve been near the tower, keeping my ears open. It’s a good way to learn things.”

“And what did you learn?” Houjin prodded politely.

“I learned that them fellows don’t have the faintest idea we’ve been snatching their dynamite,” she said. Rector noticed that she’d lumped herself in with the Station men, courtesy of her word choice. “They’ve been coming and going, reporting back, telling their boss what they’ve been up to. It’d be more helpful if we didn’t already know.”

“Do you know when they plan to blow us up?” Houjin asked, doing the same thing, and siding with Yaozu’s people.

“They’re still deciding, but leaning toward tonight around dark-thirty. At some point, they’ll need to coordinate better than that, but for now all I have is their general idea.”