‘Maybe it isn’t quite midnight,’ Cinders suggested. ‘Maybe he’ll change back at the stroke of twelve.’

‘Or maybe it’s already five past,’ Sparks said, ‘and this is a bit of a magical hiccup.’

‘I should say.’ Cinders grabbed the horse-mouse’s reins and led him into the stable. ‘I’m sorry, Mouse. I promise I’ll find a way to fix you.’

Mouse squeaked happily, flicked his tail and curled up in the corner of the stable as best he could. At least he didn’t seem too upset about his predicament. Though he was trying to clean his whiskers with his hooves, which looked quite awkward.

‘Tell me everything,’ Sparks insisted, following Cinders back across the garden and into the cottage. ‘Was it marvellous? Magnificent? Everything you’ve ever dreamed?’

‘Actually, it was really boring,’ she told him. ‘Everyone was so prim and proper and no one was having fun. But I did meet the prince and he was okay.’

‘Who cares about the prince? I want to know about the food!’ Sparks said. ‘Those sausages were the best I’ve ever had.’

‘The food was easily the best part,’ Cinders admitted, hugging her mother’s shoe. ‘Still, it was rather a fine adventure. Wait, did you see my other shoe outside?’

‘I’ll go and have a look,’ Sparks offered, wagging his tail all the way out of the front door. ‘Sometimes your stepmother is right about you, Cinders. You don’t know how to look after your things.’

As the door slammed shut behind him, Cinders grabbed one of Aggy’s pink dresses from the laundry pile, wrapped a white towel on top of her head and began to twirl round the living room, singing to herself and holding her one remaining glass slipper high in the air.

‘How do you do? I am Cinders, Princess of the Pink Cottage, and I only wear dresses with more ruffles than sense,’ she announced to her reflection. ‘And, don’t you know, anyone who is anyone is covering their hair in talcum powder these days?’

While she was busy spinning round the room, she heard a commotion coming from outside the cottage.

‘Sparks! What are you doing out at this hour? Cinders was supposed to lock you up in the basement before she went to bed.’

It was her stepmother! And she was home far too early. That couldn’t possibly be a good thing.

‘The prince definitely said Cinders,’ Aggy said. ‘We heard him, Mama.’

‘The prince also refused to dance with anyone at the stroke of midnight so there’s quite clearly something wrong with him,’ Margery replied. ‘You must have misheard.’

‘The king seemed very angry,’ Elly added fretfully. ‘Do you think Prince Joderick will be in trouble?’

‘He’s in trouble with me,’ her mother replied. ‘Imagine sending everyone in the entire kingdom home early and without so much as a thank-you for coming. Frère Jacques came all the way from France! And for what? A couple of hours of dancing and a slice of sub-par cake? I don’t know, the prince has proven himself to be quite the spoiled young man.’

Inside, Cinders wriggled out of Aggy’s pink dress, threw the towel down on the floor and ran as fast as she could to her tiny little cupboard of a bedroom, clutching her mother’s glass slipper to her chest. The old wooden door stuck on its hinges, protesting with a loud creak as she tried her hardest to crack it open.

‘Now, now, Margery,’ Cinders’s father said as his keys jingle-jangled in the lock. ‘Prince Joderick is a fine young man. Imagine being presented with a room full of people you’ve never met and being told to pick one to live with for the rest of your life. That’s not how love works, my dear.’

‘Who’s talking about love?’ Margery retorted. ‘I’m talking about marriage.’

‘You old romantic,’ Cinders’s father chuckled. ‘Why don’t you make us some hot chocolate while I go and check on my alleged little gatecrasher? And, for the record, I thought the cake was marvellous.’

Beginning to panic, the gatecrasher in question pushed and pushed and PUSHED on the door, but it just wouldn’t budge.

‘I’m telling you, Mama,’ Aggy wailed, ‘the prince definitely said her name!’

‘Then I’ll be popping in to say goodnight to an empty bed,’ her father replied. ‘Don’t be so silly, Agnes.’

At that second, Cinders’s door flew open and she hurled herself under the covers just in time for her father to poke his head into her room.

‘There’s my little princess,’ he said softly, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. ‘I knew it. Thank goodness you weren’t there this evening. What an absolute palaver.

What a palaver indeed, Cinders thought as she rolled over with a smile on her face. Still holding her mother’s shoe, she fell fast asleep to dreams of brownies and horse-mice and a night full to the brim with adventure.