by Wendy Mass
Miles grinned. “My money’s still on Philip and the cat.”
“C’mon, sis,” AJ said. He put his hands on Daisy’s shoulders and guided her toward the couch. “Sit, relax. Enjoy the three-hour drive.” He wrinkled his nose. “Maybe do a load of laundry and put on some clean clothes.”
A knock on the door made all of them jump. They hadn’t had any visitors yet on this trip.
“Maybe we’re not supposed to park here,” Logan said.
“Maybe it’s the Great Shoudini!” Miles suggested. “She’s decided to tell us where the beans are after all!”
AJ calmly looked out the window. “Neither one. Our pizza just arrived!”
The drive to Ain’t She Sweet felt like forever to Daisy, even though the boys did their best to keep her entertained. Philip read them his fan letters as he wrote the replies, Miles and Logan put on a fashion show with half of the disguises in the closet, and even Aurora pitched in by chasing her tail for a full five minutes. Doing her laundry provided an unexpected laugh, as Logan pulled her Camp Tumbleweed sweatshirt out of the dryer and exclaimed, “You really were at camp!” and she got to tell them about her exciting last day.
After beating the boys at Role with It (Logan didn’t really have a chance—his face had been morphed into a chess piece and could only move in certain directions), she turned to updating The Case of the Missing Chocolate. “Hey, Logan,” she said when she was done typing. “Do you know what Evy might have meant when she said Sam knew he shouldn’t have used the beans to make the Magic Bar in the first place?”
Logan set down his controller. Next time he’d ask to be made into a character that had arms and legs so he could do more than simply hurl himself at the aliens. He shook his head at the question. “The only thing I can think of is that the Magic Bar had failed the quality-control tests, but that’s impossible. I mean, it’s still good after fifty years.”
“If the chocolate in the Magic Bar really had healing powers,” Miles said, “think of all the people they could have helped since then.”
The rest of them nodded. It seemed like such a strange choice to have hidden the beans away, no matter what reasons Evy had given.
Philip finally decided to lighten the mood. “Who’s up for a rematch?”
Although no one said it, they were all thinking the same thing as they grabbed their controllers. As much as Evy had told them, there was a lot more she hadn’t.
When Harvey finally stopped down the street from the next candy store, Daisy got to work immediately, making sure the tests were still running. AJ left to check out the situation at the store. “Good news,” he told Philip when he returned. “No life-sized cardboard cutouts of you outside the store.”
“Bummer,” Miles said. “Then I’d have a matched set.”
“Very funny,” Philip said, checking his hair in the bathroom mirror. “I know you didn’t take that one with you.”
“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”
“Good-size crowd, though,” AJ reported. “But not everyone is there for you guys. The store is holding some sort of mutant-candy contest. There’s a huge display of all these weird-shaped candy things.”
“Weird-shaped candy things?” Logan repeated. “Like NQPs?”
“Am I supposed to know what that means?”
“‘Not Quite Perfects,’” Logan explained. “A Gummzilla with three arms and no hind legs, or a Sour Finger with two colors instead of one. Or an Oozing Crunchorama with the ooze on the outside instead of the inside. Or—”
AJ held up a hand. “I get it, I get it. Like I said, weird-shaped candy things. Now let’s get going.” He pointed at Philip. “You. No speeches about first steps and rubber ducks and all that. Brilliant as it was, I don’t want to leave a second store with everyone in tears.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Philip said innocently as he slipped past AJ and out the door.
Logan felt around in his almost empty pillowcase of candy to see whether any NQPs had slipped in. The closest he found were two Icy Mint Blobs stuck together, but that wasn’t really contest-winning material. As eager as he was to see Harvey’s 3-D printer in action, he knew using it to make one would definitely be considered cheating! His hand closed around one last piece of candy. It was the one from Randall. He held it out to AJ. “Want this?”
“What is it?” AJ asked.
“It’s a Fireball Supernova. Just have a lot of bread handy when you eat it. Most people can’t keep it in their mouths for more than a second or two their first time.”
AJ popped it into his mouth. Logan and Miles—who still remembered his only encounter with that candy, when Max had let him sample one in the lab—stared as AJ continued to suck on it.
“Why isn’t smoke coming out of his ears?” Miles whispered.
Logan only shook his head slowly. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
AJ shrugged, chewed, and swallowed. “No biggie. Now c’mon, we’ve gotta go.”
Miles and Logan backed down the stairs, looking at AJ like he could walk on the moon. “Wow,” they kept saying as they joined Philip, who was already outside. “Just… wow.”
Daisy shook her head at AJ. “Are you gonna tell them someday that you only ate that because you have no sense of smell or taste right now?”
AJ grinned and stuck his fake hair/baseball cap on his head. “We’ll see. Now let’s go.”
Daisy hesitated, reluctant to leave the lab. “Let’s go!” Philip called up.
“Fine!” Daisy grumbled. She grabbed a pink hoodie sweatshirt from the dryer. (She recognized it as belonging to a girl in her cabin at camp. Oops.) A pair of oversized sunglasses later, and she was as disguised as she was going to get.
Aurora sat at the top of the steps as though deciding if it was worth going out. She sniffed at the air, then turned in a circle and lay down. Daisy had to climb over her. Aurora gave a small bark, but it didn’t sound as if her heart was really in it. “I think she’s warming up to you,” AJ said, closing the door behind her and locking up.
Ain’t She Sweet was located in a medium-size city, but to anyone who’d grown up in Spring Haven, the buildings might as well have been skyscrapers! Miles and Logan walked with their heads tilted back, hoping they didn’t bump into anything. Philip tried to act cool, but he kept sneaking glances at all the businesspeople with their suits and briefcases.
The store was on a corner, next to a sandwich shop, which meant they all knew what they’d be having for dinner. “Short and sweet,” AJ reminded them. “Same as last time, try to steer the conversation away from the Harmonicandy.” They could see large groups of kids and parents crowded around a long rectangular table in the center of the store and at one of the many candy counters. Everyone looked like they were having a good time.
Logan took a deep breath and pushed open the door. His nose immediately filled with the most delicious smells. Abe, the owner, came running up when he saw them. “Welcome!” he boomed, opening his arms wide. “We have been cooking for you!” He pointed to a section of the store that had been turned into a mini fudge factory. “Free fudge for everyone!” he said, laughing. “This has been keeping the crowd at bay until they can try a Harmonicandy later!”
“Smart,” Logan said. They shook hands warmly, and then Abe turned to the others. “Abe Sweet,” he said, “but call me Abe.”
“Your last name is Sweet, too?” Daisy asked Abe, looking between him and Logan. “Any relation?”
“Sure!” Abe said. “Logan’s great-great-great-grandfather’s second cousin three times removed married my great-great-grandmother’s half niece.”
“So basically, no relation,” she said.
“Nope!” he replied. He nudged Logan. “I like this one. She’s spunky!”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Logan said, grinning. He’d always liked Abe. “My parents are really sorry to miss seeing you,” he said. “They’ve got their hands full getting ready for all the new Mmm Mmm Good products.”<
br />
Abe rubbed his hands together excitedly. “Do you know which ones you’re getting yet?”
“I think it’s still supposed to be under wraps,” Logan said, lowering his voice. “But one of them is the EnchantMints!”
“Excellent!” Abe boomed. “We love those here, as you can see.” He pointed to a mostly empty display case. Only three boxes remained. “Better hurry up with production!” he joked. “Although I’m sure you’ve got your hands full with the Harmonicandy.” He turned to Philip. “And this must be the man himself!” He shook Philip’s hand vigorously. “Congratulations! So tell me, what are your marketing plans? I have some ideas for shelf displays, if you want to hear them.”
Without missing a beat, Philip said, “I’d rather have a tour of your amazing store. Talking business can wait, right?” He put his hand on Abe’s elbow and steered him away.
“He’s smooth,” Miles said, edging toward the fudge. Logan grabbed his sleeve and pulled him toward the long table in the center of the room. “Let’s check out the mutant-candy contest first.” Daisy flipped up her hood and went off in search of more multicolored licorice.
The contest table was so full of misshapen and miscolored candy and chocolate that Logan literally felt his mouth water. “That’s him!” a young girl at the table squealed. “The Harmonicandy kid! Congratulations on winning!” She was pointing at a tall, dark-haired boy across from her. He could see the resemblance between him and Philip, but this boy looked older by about a year and had a sticker on his chest that read FIRST PLACE! Logan could understand the girl’s confusion.
“Um, thanks,” the boy said. “But I didn’t make the Harmonicandy. I just, um, won this mutant-candy contest.”
“Oh,” the girl said, shoulders sagging. Then she brightened. “But that’s cool, too!” Her mother pulled her away.
A short, red-haired girl next to the mutant-candy winner laughed and poked the boy in the ribs. “Your first fan! Sort of!”
“I guess the contest is already over,” Logan whispered to Miles.
The winner must have overheard, because he said, “It ended last month. You had to send a picture of your mutant candy, and the finalists were invited to show up with the real ones.”
“Congratulations on winning,” Logan said. “Which one is yours?”
The boy pointed at what looked like a whole pack of Starburst blobbed together in one long row. “All the wrappers were missing, too,” he explained. “It’s kind of the pride of my collection.” He blushed a little and said, “I don’t usually talk about my mutant candy collection, but”—he waved his arm across the table at all the entries—“you know.”
His friend laughed and said, “Yeah, these are your people.”
“I think it’s awesome!” Logan said, nodding in appreciation. “The winning entry and the collecting! Once we forgot to let a batch of High-Jumping Jellybeans go through the cooling phase, and a blob the size of my head came out. That was one big NQP!” At their uncertain looks, he explained what it meant for the second time in an hour.
The boy’s eyes widened. “You’re Logan Sweet!” he gasped. “Your dad’s the Candymaker at the Life Is Sweet candy factory!”
“Now you’ve done it,” the girl said to Logan. “You’ve officially blown his mind.”
Since neither boy knew what to say next, the girl took over. She gestured with her thumb to her friend. “This guy with his tongue hanging out is Jeremy Fink,” she said. “I’m Lizzy Muldoun. We’re from New York City. We didn’t come all this way for the contest, though. We’re on a road trip to find my mom. She’s not, like, missing or anything, but last summer I helped Jeremy with this really big project—I mean, really big—so now he’s helping me.”
“I’m sure they don’t want our whole life story,” Jeremy told her. Lizzy pushed him in response, and he knocked over an inside-out Snickers. He scrambled to straighten it as Logan smiled. Lizzy reminded him of Daisy, although Daisy was more of a kicker.
“I’m Logan Sweet,” he said, “as you know already. And this is my best friend, Miles O’Leary. We’re on a road trip, too. Not to find any missing moms, but… well, lots of other missing stuff.” He pointed across the store. “We’re here with the real Harmonicandy guy, Philip Ransford, and…” He felt bad leaving out Daisy (who he could see skulking around a display marked VEGGIE CANDY), but he had to protect her identity. “And our chaperone,” he finished.
“We have one of those, too,” Jeremy said, gesturing at a man in a limo driver’s hat and coat. “We told him he didn’t have to wear that outfit,” Lizzy added, “but he insisted. He thinks it’s funny. Which it kinda is, I guess.”
“So what did you get for winning?” Miles asked. He kept stealing glances at Lizzy, who he thought was really pretty. Daisy was pretty, too, of course, but Daisy was like a sister to him, so she didn’t count.
“I get to choose a month’s supply of any candy I want. I’m planning to choose the Harmonicandy!”
Miles and Logan exchanged a look. “Um,” Logan said, “you may want to choose something else.”
Jeremy tilted his head. “Why?”
“It’s a long story,” Logan said, and he was relieved when Jeremy didn’t push it.
Miles didn’t want the conversation to end, though, because that meant Lizzy would go away. So he blurted out, “We can’t get any more of the chocolate that we used in the contest, and the rules say it has to be the same, even though it still tasted really good, as you’ll see when they get passed out in a few minutes. Also, the ingredients have to be easy to get and ours aren’t. So… no more Harmonicandy.” He swallowed hard. Saying it out loud made it finally sink in. All that work building the machines and the molds, and no one would get to hear his slogan.
“Wow,” Lizzy said after a few seconds of quiet. “That bites.”
Logan nodded, his stomach flipping like it did each time he thought about it.
Jeremy looked out over the table, at all the candy that wasn’t quite right but was still awesome. “What if…,” he said. “What if you could still make it, like if you withdrew from the contest? That way you could use whatever chocolate you wanted.”
Logan and Miles stared at Jeremy, then at each other. “Do you think that’s possible?” Miles asked Logan.
“I have no idea,” Logan said, his mind racing with the possibility. “It never even occurred to me. No one has ever backed out after they won.”
“But maybe it’s possible?” Miles pushed.
“Maybe!” Logan said, feeling the knot in his belly loosen a bit. “It would be up to the Confectionary Association to decide.” He stuck his hand out toward Jeremy. “Thanks for the great idea!” The boys grinned at each other as they shook hands. Logan didn’t even flinch when Jeremy’s hand gripped the scars on his palm. He felt like he’d just made a new friend.
“It’s go time,” Lizzy said, turning them toward the front of the store. The fudge-makers had laid out all the Harmonicandies on a long strip of wax paper. Abe and Philip stood behind the counter, handing them out to eager hands. “Come one, come all!” Abe shouted. “Try the hottest new musical candy before everyone else!”
Abe didn’t make Philip give a speech but suggested he blow the first note. Philip did, and everyone cheered and started blowing into their own. No one led them in a song, but it sounded beautiful nonetheless.
“I’m definitely going for the month’s supply of these,” Jeremy said, holding up his Harmonicandy, which he’d bitten clear in half.
“You’re supposed to play it first, then bite into it,” Miles pointed out.
“With my month’s supply, I can eat it thirty different ways!” Jeremy joked. “I really hope you still get to make it.”
Lizzy—her arms full of assorted candy—dragged Jeremy away. “Gotta go!” she said as they waved goodbye. “Our driver promised to take us to the world’s smallest wax museum. I think it’s in someone’s basement! Gotta love road trips!”
“Make sure not to bring
any matches!” Miles called after her. She gave him a funny look, then a salute. Miles gave a goofy grin in response.
Daisy and Philip approached as Jeremy and Lizzy headed out the door. Daisy pushed her glasses onto her head. She looked amused. “Miles O’Leary, was that flirting?”
Miles blushed. “Maybe. Did you know less than two percent of people in the world have red hair?”
“I did not know that,” Daisy replied.
Philip was gnawing on what looked like a piece of celery. “You’ve gotta try this,” he told them. “It’s candy, but shaped like a vegetable! And it has your daily supply of vitamins!” He handed Logan a carrot and Miles an onion. Miles wrinkled his nose. Even though it smelled like peppermint, it still looked like an onion.
“You were talking to those two kids for a long time,” Daisy said. “Who were they?”
“He’s the mutant-candy winner,” Logan said, chomping on his candy carrot, which had a refreshing orangey-grapefruit taste. “And he had the best idea!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Philip dug another can of tuna out of the storage room and spooned it into Aurora’s bowl. He was pretty sure the cat was eating better than they were. AJ had made them all eggs and sausages for breakfast, but the sausages were dry and the eggs were wet and it didn’t make a good combination.
The others had talked late into the night about the possibility of still getting to make the Harmonicandy even though it would be stripped of its award-winning title. He mostly just listened and nodded occasionally. He didn’t know how he felt about it. They all agreed they wouldn’t be able to tell anyone the real story about the beans—not that they knew much of it anyway—but they knew enough. Without that explanation, why would the Confectionary Association agree to the plan? After a while, he shut himself in the bedroom to practice. He fell asleep on AJ’s bed and woke up back in his bunk. Apparently AJ had carried him there, which was embarrassing.
Daisy didn’t have the same problem with breakfast. She ate every bite superslowly in the hopes of delaying their getting back on the road. It hadn’t worked. Now she was counting down the minutes until they parked again. Fortunately, she didn’t have long to wait.