The tentacles of the Jellyfish were moving from side to side in their normal, irregular fashion. They might swipe over to the left with a swoosh, then waggle a bit, before swiping back to the left again. But then the next time they might do a waggle before swooshing to the right, or maybe a quick wiggle somewhere in the middle. It was pretty difficult to work out a pattern.

‘Pete, why don’t you come back from the edge?’ said Kate softly. ‘I can fetch you a nice cup of hot water and we could play bottle-top chess.’

Pete didn’t respond.

‘There’s a lovely driftwood fire going over by the Big House,’ she added, putting her hand on Pete’s shoulder. ‘And it’s such a beautiful day. You’ve got so much to offer us here, and we’d be sad if you died. I’d really miss you.’

‘Kate, what the . . . ?’ James glared at her. ‘The man wants to jump in. Can’t he even do that in peace?’

‘I respect everybody’s decision,’ said Kate. Lana rolled her eyes. ‘But I’m just not sure that he’s happy. I think Pete might feel more like himself after a nice chat.’

‘I think feeling like himself is what’s got him into this situation. I think it’d be totally rubbish to be Pete,’ said James.

I felt like I had to step in at this point. ‘James!’ I said. ‘Rude!’

‘It’s true though, isn’t it, Martha?’ he said. ‘The man’s stuck on a giant jellyfish, for whatever mysterious reason. He hasn’t eaten anything other than bony fish and seaweed for ages and he has to sleep in a crappy shack with a load of miserable, smelly people.’

Pete gave a big sigh and lowered his head.

‘Some of those people are my best friends!’ I said, loudly.

‘The loveliest people in the world,’ said Kate. ‘Who care for you deeply, Pete.’

‘Some of your best friends are complete losers,’ said James to me. He took another large bite, picking out a couple of bones before he chewed. There was only the head of the fish left now. Its eyes were glazed and crusted over with salt.

Lana nodded. ‘I know how Pete feels. Almost everybody on here is a loser, Martha. Especially you.’

‘And some of your best friends are the smelliest in the shack,’ added James.

‘No!’ I said.

‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘I pride myself on it. My farts last night were amazing.’

‘Seriously, Pete,’ said Lana, smoothly steering James away from one of his favourite topics. ‘What’s your plan?’ Pete sighed deeply again, but didn’t reply. ‘I think if you stand up to do it, you’ll get further when you jump in,’ Lana said.

‘Yeah, that’s a good idea,’ said James. ‘And if you want to stand on my back, that might give you an even better chance?