On The Other Side

This time Raven answered the door to the Gingerbread house, wearing knitted blue pyjamas emblazoned with little yellow rabbits; they were a little too small for him. His hat was nowhere to be seen, and his hair fell in a messy mop on his head. He had clearly just woken up. Chariot eyed his pyjamas with mild amusement. “Wow, those are hideous,” she remarked, not particularly bothered about making a good first impression. “If you must know,” Raven said, feigning offense. “These are very important to me.” “Sure...” Chariot muttered, a sarcastic undertone entering her voice. “Max, who’s the fairy?” “Pixie!” Chariot corrected him firmly. Shrugging to indicate he didn’t really care, Raven stepped aside to let them in. “We’re open today,” he said as he led the way to the room of marshmellow chairs. “Are you two here to help out?” “I needed somewhere private to tell her about...that,” Max admitted, watching Hanson and Areta attempting to catch Bruno, who had decided he didn’t want to spend the day in his cage. They managed to corner him by a chocolate fountain, but, at the last moment, he chose to hop through it, splashing them both and trailing molten chocolate behind him as he leapt into the next room. Letting out a simultaneous cry of anguish, the twins raced after him. Max tried not to laugh. “Too many ears in the market.”