The Secret of Zanzibar by Frances Watts

As if they’d paraglided many times before – or as if they were used to trying new and dangerous things.
    She held her breath as her father ran towards the cliff, and as he dropped from sight her heart dropped with him. But suddenly the lines went taut and the wing of his paraglider billowed, filling with air.
    Then Emmeline, a look of concentration on her face, ran and jumped. As the wing inflated she banked steeply to the right, following Rebus. Alice watched with an ache in her chest as the figures of her parents grew smaller and smaller, the blue wings merging with the deepening sky.
    â€˜Alex?’ It was Solomon.
    â€˜I’m ready,’ said Alex. He looked confident, but serious, too, as he ran towards the edge of the cliff and over.
    Alice’s heart began to pound and for a moment she felt so dizzy with fear that she thought she might faint.
    â€˜Alice,’ said Solomon softly.
    On trembling legs, Alice stumbled forward over the uneven ground.
    â€˜Come on, Alice,’ Solomon urged. ‘Faster.’
    Alice drew a deep trembling breath then began to sprint towards the cliff edge. Don’t look down, she told herself. Don’t look down . Instead she fixed her eyes on the billowing wing of her brother, moving steadily through the air about fifty metres ahead. Suddenly the ground beneath her dropped away and her breath caught in her throat. Her feet were still moving, as if trying to reach stable ground, and she felt a moment of panic. Then there was a tugging at the harness strapped around her chest and shoulders as the silk behind her filled with air and began to lift.
    So this was what it felt like to fly. The wind swept through her fur, currents of cool air washing over her like water, as she soared over a patchwork of fields and trees. There was the same weightless feel as swimming, too, suspended beneath the giant canopy. She glanced to the right, but couldn’t see her parents; perhaps they had landed already. What had Solomon said about landing? That’s right: you used the toggles to fold in the wingtips. And she should be using them to steer, too. She grasped the toggles and squinted into the wind to see where Alex was, then adjusted her course slightly to the left.
    She tried to match her descent to his, pulling at the toggles, but she must have pulled too hard, for shecame in so low over the Winns her feet almost skimmed the surface of the river. She hit the ground and half stumbled, was half dragged through a field of wet grass, the momentum of her flight carrying her faster than her legs could move. Finally she fell to her knees clumsily and the wing fluttered to the ground ahead of her.
    Alex, who had already shrugged off his harness, squelched through the sodden field towards her. He had streaks of mud on his white fur, Alice noticed, pleased to know that she wasn’t the only one who had had an awkward landing. He helped her undo the harness and Alice flexed her shoulders as they both turned to watch Solomon’s approach.
    There was nothing awkward in his descent at all. The giant wing seemed like an extension of his body as he floated gracefully to earth, loping across the grass as easily as a long-legged bird, unbuckling his harness as he slowed to a stop.
    â€˜Quick,’ he said, beginning to talk at once. ‘Get your gliders. We’ll carry them with us and hide them in the swamp. We need to get out of sight.’
    â€˜Swamp?’ said Alex, as the three of them hastily gathered silk and strings and harnesses into untidy bundles.
    Alice hugged hers to her chest and set off after Solomon across the watery field towards a forest on the far side.
    â€˜Serpentine Swamp,’ said Solomon. ‘We’re going to cross it. From there we can follow the river north to Cornoliana.’
    They stepped into the forest and it seemed to Alice that they were immediately enclosed in a different world. Instead of arching over open grassy fields, the