James turned and raised his arms in triumph. But beneath his cheery grin, his facial muscles still looked taut and tense, his face still pale and with a sheen of moisture on his forehead that was more than just drizzle.

Chapter 16

16

The Big House seemed smaller, and even colder than normal. The walls, without their intricate plastic-bag coverings, were now obviously mismatched, ramshackle pieces of sea junk. The gaps between the strips of wood and warped plastic seemed to focus the force of the wind into fierce lasers of biting cold air which attacked you no matter where in the hut you sat. Most of us were now hunched, silent and dispirited. We also stank. You do get used to the smell of unwashed clothes, which is a mixture of rotting fish and something dirtier: an underlying tangy, vomitous stench. But every so often, when we’re all huddled together, the smell becomes too much. Normally the smoke from the fire covers the worst of it, but today, the feeble sparks emanating from a little, bedraggled pile of sticks in the corner hardly provided even a floating feather of sooty vapour, never mind any warmth.

The room was unusually silent. What were we going to do with the boat, now that we’d got it? It was a tense . . . and frightening . . . subject. Nobody wanted to talk about it yet. But somehow, not talking about it and avoiding the issue meant that nobody seemed to have anything else to say either.

I dug my fingers into the mesoglea, squeezing it and twisting it. You can’t rip chunks out of this central part of the Jellyfish, because it’s too hard, but you can mould it and shape it, so it’s good to play with when you’re feeling stressed or nervous.

‘Good evening everybody!’ Dr Jones came forward and stood at the front, in the space we’d left for speakers. ‘We are lucky enough to have two lectures tonight . . .’

‘Oh. My. God,’ muttered Lana. She looked murderous. Normally her rage would have been the guarantee of a good night, and me and James would have enjoyed playing with her emotions, prodding her during the more boring parts of the talks. But tonight I understood where she was coming from. I looked over at James; his face was resting on his knees. On the other side of me, Kate was also fiddling with the mesoglea.

‘The first lecture will be from Carol and it will be on keeping bees? Is that right?’

Carol nodded, giving a brave smile.

‘Lovely,’ said Dr Jones. She didn’t sound as if it would be lovely at all.

‘And our second lecture tonight will be from Albert. I’m unclear about the title, but it’s a general warning about the future. Is that right, Albert?’

‘Arr,’ said Albert.