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 Jake tried to hold his breath as they dived below the surface, but he couldn't help gasping as the soup closed over him.
 He panicked as he felt the thick liquid rush into his lungs, but then something wonderful happened - he found that he could breathe the soup.
He relaxed, drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. He felt fine and the soup was delicious, rich and spicy but not too strong. The taste made his insides feel warm and tingly.
Jake opened his eyes and looked around him. The soup glowed with its own murky light. He could make out the shapes of trees and bushes whizzing by below him.
The serpent dived headlong into a tangled copse of trees and for a horrible moment Jake thought that they were going to crash. Crooked branches rushed up and clawed at his clothing, but the serpent swept through them and, before Jake knew it, they were underground and the walls of a tunnel were flashing past.
Pollapopawibble darted one way and then another, diving down through a maze of underground passages, until the walls vanished and they shot out into a huge cavern.
Jake saw other serpents, twice Pollapopawibble's size, loom out of the soup to swim alongside them. Streams of bubbles poured from Pollapopawibble's mouth, mixing with those from the other serpents and Jake realised that they were talking to each other.
Then the other serpents disappeared again as Pollapopawibble darted back into the tunnels, weaving swiftly through the tight twisting passages until they burst out into the air.
 Sweat poured from Granny's brow as she struggled to move the makeshift canoe around the kitchen. It was getting more difficult by the second. The soup had risen so high that she had to paddle with her head squashed up against the ceiling.
She brought the canoe alongside a cupboard, collected a jar of sugar and then set off back towards the hall.
That was the last ingredient - and not a moment too soon!
There was only a few centimetres left between the boiling soup and the top of the doorway. A minute later and the gap would be too small to squeeze through.
She was almost through the door when she heard a noise coming from the larder.
It was a cat meowing!
'Delia!' gasped Granny.
She pulled the canoe out again and paddled round into the larder.
The cat had fallen asleep on the high shelf and had woken up to find itself lying centimetres above the scalding soup.
'There, there, my little dumpling,' said Granny comfortingly as she picked the cat up and tucked it into the canoe. 'It's all right, Granny's here.'
She pulled out of the larder and paddled back towards the hall doorway.
But it was too late!
 The soup had risen and there was no longer enough room to squeeze through.
'Fishsticks!' said Granny. 'Trapped again. What am I going to do?'
She glanced desperately around what was left of the kitchen.
The windows and doors had all dropped beneath the surface.
There had to be another way out. Otherwise, she'd be boiled alive!
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