‘Ugh,’ said Lana. ‘Here it comes.’ Lana, Kate and James started bobbing up and down again as the waves reached us. ‘This is just so stupid,’ said Lana. ‘Our life is ridiculous.’ She said it with an air of dignity, like her natural home was a palace rather than a floating bit of crud. I had to bite my cheeks to stop from laughing, because in truth she did look really silly bobbing up and down.

Over to the right-hand side, Soldier John was now shouting commands, though it was difficult to tell what they were exactly, over all of the noise from everybody else. The crowd were waving and calling to whoever was in the water. But the first tentacle was already rising, and then, with a slap, and then another whack, two giant muscular limbs crashed down, thrusting the sodden people on to the surface near the Big House.

‘I don’t think you can tip it over, can you?’ I pointed out. ‘It’s just oozing itself back into its normal position.’

Kate was kneeling down on to the surface, looking beneath at the jelly. There were a few of those mysterious dark shapes down there this morning. These ones were very hazy and deep – several metres in, at least.

‘Hold on,’ said James, nodding over to the crowd again. He grabbed his stuff in preparation.

‘Ready!’ Soldier John pointed at Pitiful Pete and Stinky. They nodded, crouching down to the jelly on the edge of the creature. ‘Go!’ The rest of the crowd set off towards the opposite side, Soldier John leading the way at a run.

‘They’ve finally snapped, haven’t they?’ said Lana. ‘This is it.’

‘No,’ said Kate, standing up. ‘I think I know what they’re doing.’

We watched, silently, as the Jellyfish started to tip over towards the left-hand side. As the crowd reached that side and the Jellyfish buckled under their weight, water started to lap over the edge. On the right-hand side the creature lifted, so that its tentacles were wildly swooshing in mid-air again. The two men were stranded, high up, and right on the edge. As we watched, Pitiful Pete raised his arms above his head and dived into the water. A split second later Stinky followed.

‘Oh . . .’ said Kate, glancing over the edge. For a minute I thought she was going to jump in too.

There were sudden bellows from Soldier John’s crew. They were stomping on the mesoglea and shouting loudly. At their end there were also a couple of splashes, from other people who had jumped in, or possibly fallen. The Jellyfish was at a very strange angle.