Blank saw things starting to move at the Launching Point and got to his feet. He wondered briefly if he should have borrowed a normal glider from somebody as he stepped up to the edge of his own spot, but this was the way he had arrived. The bizarre glider had to have something to do with his past, and somebody on the surface might recognize it.

Blank didn't hesitate after that. As he had done so many times before, chasing after Nikki, he stood on the edge of the cliff with his glider in one hand, looking for all the world like an oversized collapsed umbrella, and faced back toward the castle. He took a breath, closed his eyes, and tilted backwards unafraid, kicking at the cliff face to distance himself from the unforgiving stone.

He plummeted, like he always did, and as he fell he slipped his foot into the stirrup at the end of the glider, a small metal divot in his boot locking it in place. Pulling at the top until it slid out to twice his height. Finally ready, he wrapped his arm around the center pole and released the canvas, the whole thing springing open and bringing him to an almost dead stop in the air, swinging forward faster than most normal gliders could go as his downward momentum shifted to horizontal. He pushed forward on the bar, levering it between his foot and arm to keep it from penduluming backwards. He was much lower than everybody else now, but he knew at least Nikki would catch up to him, just to show off if nothing else. As he glanced backward and up, he could just barely see the island hiding behind his canvas awning, and said a last silent farewell. This could be the last time he ever saw his home.