Despite her abrupt start, Suzé soon eased into a canter, meaning that Jo could almost run alongside her. Almost being the word since neither he nor Jay had ever caught Suzé when she entered her full stride. You might as well ease to a jog and not burn yourself out.
At least the path, or road, was not submerged in gloom. Lights flowed at intervals up on either side; warm, gentle; without a squawk or a hint of fluorescence. A quick glance at the sky failed to reveal the whereabouts of the floating jellyfish or flying turtle. The ice cube in the stomach on not knowing was not welcome.
"Can see why he might have gone of gone off-track," Suzé said in a return to the present.
"Eh?"
"This path. It stays this wide as it leaps over the river. Whereas the one on the right is more off-track."
"You're right," said Jo, looking at how the current path ploughed straight ahead, with only the line of railings to the right as the sign of a divide. "The right one's more of a branch. You'd be going out of your way to run onto - What's that!?"
He sprung sideways, almost going into the very railings he had been talking about. As far away as he could from the great pony-sized turtle on the ground to his and Suzé's left.
"A bit more earthbound," Suzé replied as she walked over to it. "It's a tortoise."
"Green, pink and the size of a pony at this time of night?" he said, heart pumping like the only up-the-road lights and beat.
"It would have a hard time if its food had flown off," Suzé continued. "It's made of stone."
He looked at Suzé.
"Touch it if you like."
"That's the last thing I'm doing," said Jo, inching over. Was the stone the source of the pink and green, or the combination of base-lights at each cardinal point? A feature shared by the larger pair up the road between the trees.
"Hang on," he said, staring at the source of light - or cluster of lights - coming from the side of a transluce building at the top of the tree-lined path. "That's the Tropira House."
"Fantastica Party House more like," said Suzé, glancing at the bright half-sphere that was the source of the music; then at the flood beams making scrollwork in the sky.
"You don't think-"
Suzé looked at him.
"He's cleared the gate and gone in there."
"Not if he thinks it's a dead-end; which he might if you think a flying reptilian is after you. Plus, it would not explain why I can see a close match yonder."
"What, the tur-" Jo crouched.
"Not the turtle," Suzé pointed.
He followed the direction of her arm; down or rather up, the gentle curve of the main path. Between a seat and lamp, and the rails that bordered the edge of the river, stood the pale jacket and shorts and dark triple-tailed headscarved form of Jay.
"Thank goodness," Jo sighed, all the tensity evaporating with it. "I thought-"
"I know what you're thinking," said Suzé. "They eat jellyfish and what-not. Not people. And tend to be over the lake rather than - No - what's he doing?"
"Going up the next bend," Jo gasped. "Away from the exit."
Suzé was away in that lightning-strike start of hers; already opening a good lead as Jo flung himself forward to follow. Feet faster than one of the dance beats; glad that there were lamps along this stretch, too. No time to wonder at what was creeping amidst the trees to his left. Or take in the soft orbs afloat on the water to his right. Only ahead; around the shallow curve, and up a gentle rise as they reached a second bench.
"Thank goodness for that," said Suzé, coming off her accelerator, "he's stopped."
"He's not even turning around," said Jo. "You're going the wrong way, James."
Not so much as a side glance from Jay, even as Suzé continued past and Jo drew alongside him.
"At least Dolcreige has not made an appearance," she said, looking at Jay, then at another illuminated statue further out towards the sunken river. "Don't worry, you don't have to touch that either."
No response except for the beat.
"Are you okay?" Jo asked. "One of the jellyfish didn't get caught on the headscarf."
"...Not of the Patchwork..." Jay almost whispered.
"Eh?"
"Listen."
"Oh... I know that one," Jo stepped back, feet and hips flowing in sync to the sounds and synth. "Up with their finest."
"Not the party," said Jay. "More opposite."
"The river?" said Suzé. "A small one runs under the path up ahead."
"Beyond it," Jay replied, eyes closed.
Jo didn't close his eyes but put a hand over the ear closest to the music from the Tropira House. Music still flowed into the other ear, but was joined by the aquatic rush of the stream under the arch of trees further along the path. That, the rustle of a breeze as it danced across the canopy, and more synths and water drops; coming not from the Tropira House, but beyond the unseen stream. Synths, claps, water drops and a voice. Clear and upraised. Delicate yet sharp. Dancing across his very being. Making everything else fade as his heart may as well have been the strings of an in-play harp.
"It's...it's that song..."
"I know that," said Suzé, shaking her head.
"You know, the one Fields was playing the morning we watched the city come to life."
"Called Sunrise."
"Yes, but do you remember the voice," Jo continued, closing his eyes. "The voice that clears everything away and makes you want to float... upwards."
"How could I forget," Suzé added. "Although it wasn't this rich; or this delicate."
"Magnetic," said Jay, stepping forward. "Like that day."
"You were sprawled on the grass like a starfish," said Suzé. "Although it took Jo and Delph to get you up so it could be classed as being... magnetic."
"Oh no, it stopped," said Jo, looking at the arch of trees and looking again at why its eaves were almost overheard. "Could have listened to that all day."
"Night more like," said Suzé, also looking up at the trees. "I'm sure we were by the statue a moment ago."
"A new one's started," said Jay, 'Rhapsody' head bowed and hand on chest, "Woodwinds."
Jo closed his eyes again - seemed to help - as he could pinpoint more. Whatever the identity of the woodwind, it had been replaced by a trio of voices. Voices whose warm notes seemed to sail toward the unseen stars; pulling his being in delicate undulations as if he were in the steps of a dance. Or an eagle bourne by the winds of the heavens.
"It's different," Suzé began.
"There's a beat," Jay added.
"But the voices soar above all," said Jo, feet moving; eyes open as they took in the light from the lamppost at the further side of the tree arch; and the stream under the bridge. "I could fly to this."
"I could sleep to this," Jay said from further ahead; pale jacket like a soft-edged pool of light.
"More than worthy of being sung at a concert," Suzé added, stepping out of the tree arch. Not that it mattered to Jo. That or the trail of incoming lampposts that marked the curve of a path coming in from the left. Or Jay pointing at something to his right.
"It's coming from there," he said, although Jo was sure that Jay's lips hadn't moved the whole time. "I can't –"
"Wait," said Suzé, seeming to quicken her pace, but looking as if she were wading through invisible shallows like a heron. "You don't know... who's..."
But he was already 'wading' off to the right. Onto another path amidst the bell-chime voices and deeper notes; only this one flowed in the lake's direction.