Cinders and Sparks: Fairies in the Forest. Lindsey Kelk

      Sparks let out a strangled woof in support of the baby bear’s request.

      ‘Please don’t eat us,’ Cinders said. ‘We’re good people … Well, I’m good and Hansel is all right most of the time and—’

      ‘I’m going to interrupt you there, young lady,’ the mummy bear said, wagging a finger at Cinders. ‘This is not a hotel. What kind of person lets themselves into someone else’s home in the middle of the night and sleeps in their bed?’

      ‘And eats their porridge and breaks their chairs?’ added the daddy bear.

      ‘Um. We didn’t eat any porridge,’ Cinders replied, a little puzzled.

      ‘I did use quite a lot of toilet paper, but I definitely didn’t break any chairs,’ Hansel said.

      The mummy bear shook her head. She was clearly very annoyed. ‘My sister told me not to build a holiday home in the Dark Forest, but I wouldn’t listen, would I? It’ll be peaceful, I said. No one bothering you, I said. But here you are, full of excuses, just as bad as that Goldilocks. I know she said she only came in to charge her phone, but she certainly found time to do a lot of damage. And who paid for the new chair? Muggins here, that’s who.’