7 Takeof!

Chapter 7 Takeoff! Yasmin and Min-Jun took up their positions, standing up between the glider's wings. Min-Jun held on with both hands. Yasmin held on with just one. Her other hand clutched the anemometer. "Wait until there's a decent gust of wind," she warned.

"I'm going nowhere until you say so," said Min-Jun. He looked a little pale. The ground was a long way off. There was a sudden gust. The anemometer cups spun vigorously. "NOW!" shouted Yasmin.

They ran forward, holding on tightly. As they reached the railings around the top of the lighthouse, they both jumped, tucked their legs underneath them and landed flat on their tummies on the glider. There was a lurch as the glider dropped over the edge. For one horrible moment, they plunged downward—until, with a bounce, the wind caught the underside of the glider's wings and they leveled out. They'd done it! They were flying!

"Whoo!" shouted Yasmin. "Yeah!" roared Min-Jun. The wind tore at their hair and lashed at their clothes. Yasmin felt like she was catching a ride on an enormous bird. "Cuckoo!" shouted Tempo happily, flapping her wings beside Yasmin's head as she did her best to keep up with the glider. "Cuckoo!" Yasmin had judged the wind direction just right. The nose of the glider began to dip, lower and lower, until the wooden runners beneath met the soft sand of the beach. They skidded down the beach, drifting from side to side, until at last—they stopped.

Yasmin threw her arms in the air, giddy with the thrill of the flight. "That was AMAZING!" she shouted. Min-Jun grinned weakly as he slid off the glider. "Amazing is one way of putting it," he said. They had landed a short distance from the lighthouse. Yasmin ran back toward the warped wooden door, and the curved wall where their bicycles still stood. She raced inside, hoping DeLay hadn't broken the propeller out of spite. No! It was still there!

Yasmin took one end. Min-Jun took the other. They carefully carried the propeller outside, and balanced it on the handlebars of the two bicycles, just as they had earlier. Then they wheeled the bicycles back up to the boardwalk and pushed them toward the hangar. "We need to go faster," Yasmin urged Min-Jun. "I don't want DeLay showing up again and throwing another Time Crunch." "I'm going as fast as I can!" Min-Jun exclaimed.