The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase

  Philip walked very close to Henry as they made their way through the fields toward the front of the factory. He was angry and confused, but he wouldn’t let Henry fall. He kicked an ear of corn out of the way right before Henry would have stepped on it and maybe pitched forward onto his face.

  “Are you all right, Philip?” Henry whispered.

  “No,” Philip replied. “You?”

  Henry shook his head. “I’m sorry about all this. So, so sorry.”

  Something about the way Henry apologized brought back a memory. Philip had been in his cubicle in Max’s lab and had all the ingredients laid out on the table. He was totally panicking about not knowing what to do, when Henry stopped by to check on how things were going. Henry made some waving gesture and knocked over a small bowl of chocolate that was on the table. He kept saying how sorry he was, over and over, as he replaced it with a new bowl he just happened to have with him. Philip hadn’t given it a second thought at the time, nor in the four months since that day. But he was giving it a second thought now!

  They reached the front of the building before he could find the words to question Henry about the incident. Whoever would be taking care of them for the next week would be waiting. Philip had a momentary hope that maybe it would be Reggie after all. But a battered old minivan sat idling in the driveway. Reggie would never drive a minivan. If it couldn’t be someone from the factory—like Randall, or even Avery—then who could it be?

  Philip’s eyes widened when he saw AJ step away from the car, swinging a set of keys around his finger.

  “Who’s up for a road trip?” AJ called out.

  Miles and Logan gasped in surprise, then raised their hands like they were in class. “I am!” they shouted at the same time, running toward the car. Henry smiled after them like an amused grandfather. Philip faced the man who had been the one person in the factory who really knew him, the man he had trusted with his secrets, who had always looked out for him. He tried to keep the shaking out of his voice as he said, “I remember where I got the chocolate from.”

  Henry took off his glasses, wiped them on his shirt, and put them back on. Then he patted Philip on the shoulder. “You can thank me later.”

  PART FIVE

  ALL

  CHAPTER ONE

  It wasn’t easy for Logan to pry his parents away from all the guests at the Kickoff, but he finally got them to come with him. “This is AJ,” Logan said when they reached the front hall. “He’s Daisy’s cousin and our friend.”

  “You look familiar,” Mr. Sweet told AJ as they shook hands. “Have we met before?”

  “I don’t believe so, sir,” AJ replied. “I must have one of those faces.” He flashed a grin that managed to look both charming and sincere at the same time.

  Logan tried not to squirm. If his dad recognized AJ from the candymaking contest—when he’d pretended to work for the Confectionary Association—it would be hard to convince the Candymaker that AJ was, in fact, Daisy’s cousin. Which, of course, he wasn’t. Oh boy, this was confusing. Logan looked around for Miles and saw him dragging his parents by the hands toward them.

  “Since no one at the factory can take us, is it all right if AJ brings us on the tour?” Logan asked. “He’s very mature. And, um, dependable.”

  “And you know that how?” the Candymaker replied, finally turning away from his examination of AJ’s face. “Being a chaperone is a huge responsibility to take on.”

  Miles and his parents joined the group, and Miles echoed Logan’s claim. “Yeah, AJ’s totally responsible and an excellent driver. I would trust him with my life. I mean, not that my life would be in danger in a car with him. No, sir. Heh-heh, I mean—”

  Logan threw him his best “stop talking” look. Miles clamped his mouth shut. He couldn’t help his nerves. They had to go on this trip!

  Mr. O’Leary placed his hand on Miles’s shoulder. “Son, I know you want to go very badly, but we can hardly send three kids out on the road for a week with someone we don’t know.”

  Mrs. Sweet squinted at AJ. “I’ve definitely seen you before,” she said. Logan and Miles exchanged a worried look. But she only said, “You’ve dropped Daisy off a few times when she came to visit. Right?”

  Both Logan and Miles relaxed a bit. AJ’s cover was still intact.

  “Yes, ma’am. I did.”

  “Why didn’t you ever come inside?” Mr. Sweet asked, tilting his head at him. “Most people can’t pass up a chance to see the inner workings of a candy factory.”

  Without missing a beat, AJ replied, “Daisy’s parents aren’t around a lot, and her time at the factory is so important to her. I didn’t want to get in the way of that.”

  Whether the whole truth or not, AJ’s response seemed to have the intended effect on Logan’s mom, who patted AJ’s arm kindly.

  “You may well be an excellent cousin,” Miles’s mother said, “but that doesn’t mean you’re an excellent driver, or responsible enough to make sure that these kids are safe and fed and rested and that they get where they’re supposed to go.” She looked worriedly at Miles’s father, who nodded in agreement.

  “Maybe these will help alleviate your concerns,” AJ said, pulling a large envelope out of the bag he had slung over one shoulder. He opened the envelope and slid out a stack of official-looking papers and badges. At a glance, Logan could see they were made out in the name of AJ Carpenter.

  The parents began to look through them. “Very impressive,” Mr. O’Leary said, nodding his head.

  “You’re only twenty-two?” the Candymaker asked. “And you’re a black belt in three martial arts and a licensed mechanic and have a double graduate degree in child psychology and history?”

  “According to this, he speaks six languages!” Miles’s dad waved a page titled Lists of Accomplishments in the air.

  “Five, really. My Klingon is a little rusty.” AJ admitted this with a wink.

  “That’s the made-up Star Trek language,” Miles whispered to Logan.

  “Ah,” Logan whispered back.

  Henry stepped forward for the first time. “I think we can all agree that AJ is a fine lad. We’ve gotten to know each other over the last few months, and I trust him wholeheartedly.” Miles risked a glance at Logan, who also looked surprised at that information.

  Logan’s father held up a finger, then gestured for his wife and the O’Learys to join him inside the Cocoa Room with Henry. Philip thought about following them but went over to the pile of suitcases and grabbed his notebook out of his briefcase instead. For the first time in weeks he felt the need to throw notes down on the page. It wouldn’t complete his violin composition, but it would bring him closer.

  Miles and Logan barely glanced over at him. As soon as the door closed behind the grown-ups, they crowded around AJ and eagerly peppered him with questions.

  “Slow down, my young friends. One at a time.”

  “Speaking of young,” Logan said, “I thought you were only eighteen.”

  AJ shrugged. “I’m whatever age I need to be for the assignment.”

  “So none of that other stuff was real, either?” Miles asked, disappointed. He’d been looking forward to helping AJ brush up on his Klingon.

  “That information is classified,” AJ replied.

  Logan glanced back to make sure the door was still shut. “When Henry told us he found someone to take us, I never thought it would be you. No offense, but you didn’t seem to like us too much since the contest.”

  “True, but it’s nothing personal,” AJ said, checking his watch. “Just because Daisy is willing to risk hanging around with people who know her true identity doesn’t mean I am. Except now, I mean. And I’m only doing this because Henry begged me.”

  “He did?” Logan asked. He had a hard time picturing Henry begging for anything.

  “If it makes you feel any better,” Miles said, “I don’t know your true identity at all. I don’t even know if your last name is really Carpenter.”

  “It
isn’t,” AJ said.

  The door of the Cocoa Room swung open after what felt to all of them like a full day. The grown-ups came out and, one at a time, shook AJ’s hand. The Candymaker was last, and he held on tight. “Against what is probably our better judgment, we are giving you permission to take the kids on the trip. There are rules we will need to trust you to uphold. Henry is vouching for you, and I expect you will not let him, or us, down in any way.”

  “Yes, sir,” AJ said. “No, sir. I mean, I’ll guard them with my life.” The Candymaker gave a grunt of approval at that and finally let go of AJ’s hand. The moms then spent ten minutes giving the boys instructions on how to behave in the car, at the hotels, and at the candy stores, where they would now have to represent Life Is Sweet.

  While the boys loaded their suitcases into the minivan’s trunk, the dads grilled AJ on how he would handle various situations if they arose—everything from a flat tire to the stomach flu. When the grown-ups were finally satisfied that AJ would send a full report every night, wasn’t going to speed or let them subsist on only candy, and would remind them to shower once in a while, they were free to go.

  Logan held on to his mom even longer than Miles held on to his. Over his shoulder, he saw AJ hand Philip some papers and Philip give them to Logan’s dad. Logan watched curiously but then figured it was a copy of AJ’s driver’s license or some other travel document. Hopefully his dad wouldn’t look too closely at it! After Logan’s mom finally let go, she walked right over to Philip and hugged him tight, too. Philip stood very still, but he closed his eyes.

  “Woo-hoo!” Miles shouted as the minivan pulled out of the factory’s long driveway. “We’re officially on the road, baby! No parents, no rules!”

  Logan forced himself to turn away from his waving parents and quickly wiped his eyes. He’d accepted the idea of leaving the factory behind, but leaving his parents behind was a lot harder than he thought.

  Philip—still feeling warm from his hug from Mrs. Sweet—glanced back at Miles from the front passenger seat. “We haven’t even gone one block. Are you going to be like this the whole trip?”

  Miles grinned. “I’m just excited. But I’d also like to point out that this van would have had plenty of room for Whaley.” He gestured at the empty third row. “He would have made an excellent mascot.”

  Philip was about to tease him about still sleeping with a stuffed animal, but AJ suddenly swerved off the road into the parking lot of the old Spring Haven High School, and Philip forgot about teasing Miles. Was the girl with the horse going to be here again? Were they here so he could return the spy gadget she’d given him?

  AJ drove past the school toward the overgrown field in the back. “Why are we here?” Miles asked. He waved the handout Mr. Sweet had given each of them. “The itinerary says we have to drive almost two hundred and fifty miles today to reach the first hotel by nighttime. And that’s not factoring in stopping for meals and bathroom breaks.”

  “We won’t need to stop for meals or bathroom breaks,” AJ said. “You didn’t think we were going to drive halfway across the country in this tiny thing, did you?”

  Miles replied, “Um, yes? You know, considering we’re in it right now? And it’s not really tiny…”

  AJ shook his head. “That’s our ride.”

  Before them loomed the largest RV any of them had ever seen up close. Even Philip’s jaw fell, and he wasn’t easily impressed.

  Logan and Miles gasped. “Are you serious?” Logan asked, not taking his eyes off the huge machine. The question came out more like a squeal, but he didn’t care.

  Miles began bouncing up and down in his seat. He’d never dreamt of riding in an RV! He couldn’t even imagine what it would look like inside.

  AJ stopped the car alongside the giant house-on-wheels. Miles and Logan immediately jumped out their respective doors while Philip hesitated for a second, then followed. As embarrassing as it was to admit, he’d been waiting for someone to open the door for him. Old habits died hard.

  The RV had three doors—one by the driver’s seat, one by the front passenger seat, and one in the middle that looked more like the door to a house than a vehicle. There was even a doorbell next to it! AJ rang the bell and stepped back, like he expected someone to answer.

  “Um, why aren’t we going right in?” Logan asked. “Or is this a big joke and it’s not really yours?” He tried to peer in the windows, but they must have been made of some special glass, because all he could see was his reflection.

  “It’s mine, all right,” AJ assured them. “I’m just being polite.”

  The door swung open and there stood Daisy, wearing baggy sweatpants, an oversized T-shirt, and a towel wrapped around her hair. “Can’t a girl take a shower in peace?” she asked. The expressions on the boys’ faces were priceless. Whenever she was in a bad mood in the future, she’d remember their shock and delight at seeing her standing there in AJ’s hand-me-downs.

  “Daisy!” Miles shouted, throwing himself up the stairs at her. She laughed and let herself be pulled into a hug. “Daisy, it’s you! It’s really you!”

  Logan bounded up the stairs and joined in the hug. “Does this mean you’re coming on the tour?”

  She nodded. “AJ pretty much kidnapped me. First he lied to my grandmother and told her we needed to head out to a gig a week sooner than we did, and then he fed me the same line. I’ve been away from home for weeks, and he didn’t even give me time to pack clean clothes.” She pulled off the towel and combed her damp hair with her fingers. She suspected none of the boys would notice that her hair was brown now, and sure enough, none of them did.

  Logan couldn’t stop smiling. He felt so much better knowing that the four of them were together again. He wouldn’t want to admit it out loud, but having Daisy there made him feel safer. “We have so much to tell you!” he blurted out instead.

  “First, what’s with him?” She gestured down the stairs at Philip, who stood alone outside the RV, looking up at it with a wary expression.

  “You coming?” she asked. “No wait, you’re actually a vampire and have to be invited into someone’s house, right?”

  “Funny,” he said. “You’re sure this thing is safe? Looks too big to fit on the road, in my opinion.”

  “It’s very safe, I promise,” AJ replied. “If I ever lose control of the wheel and we go careening off a bridge, the RV will turn into a plane and we’ll fly to safety.”

  Miles’s jaw fell open. “Really?”

  Daisy kicked AJ in the shin. “It’s not nice to tease the boys.” She turned back to Philip. “C’mon. Trust me—everyone else on the road stays out of your way. Plus there’s about two million dollars’ worth of high-tech spy gear installed on it, so yeah, it’s built to pretty much stand up to anything.”

  She clapped her hands. “This is going to be fun!” She grinned at the boys, who were listening with open mouths. “Who wants a tour?”

  CHAPTER TWO

  AJ looked at each of his passengers in turn. He’d instructed them to sit in the large kitchen booth, since confining them to one spot was his best chance of keeping their attention. “Okay. If you guys are going to be living here for the next week, we need to get a few things straight.” He held up one finger. “First, what I say goes, no exceptions.” He held up another finger. “Second, as big as Big Bertha is, everyone has to keep it clean so we’re not tripping over every—”

  “I’m sorry,” Miles interrupted, “but you named your RV Big Bertha?”

  “You have a better idea?” AJ asked.

  A name popped into Miles’s head right away. “Harvey!”

  “Harvey?” AJ repeated.

  Miles nodded. “Harvey is a good, strong name, and it has RV right there in the middle!”

  “I like it,” Logan said.

  “Me too,” Daisy agreed. “Although it would be nice if it was a girl’s name.”

  “Boats are named after girls,” Miles said. “Cars are boys. Right, Philip?”

/>   Philip abstained from comment. His parents used to have a boat named after his mother, but after she was gone, he never saw it again.

  “Fine,” AJ said. “As I was saying, Harvey is big, and even bigger when the slides are out, but that doesn’t mean I want to see your stuff lying around everywhere. Number three—” He stopped and sighed. “What is it now, Miles?”

  Miles lowered his hand. “Like a playground slide?” He hadn’t gone down a slide in a long time, but he’d put many of them in the playgrounds scattered throughout the afterlife. He didn’t know you could turn an RV into a playground, though.

  AJ sighed. “Not that kind of a slide. Large sections of the vehicle slide out to make more space when we’re parked.”

  Miles and Logan began chanting, “Tour! Tour!”

  AJ ignored them and held up three fingers. “And last, Harvey is not a toy. Do not play with the shiny buttons and knobs. I know that will be hard for some of you.” He stared pointedly at Miles, who flashed a “who, me?” face.

  “All right, then. Now, this is what I meant by slides.” He directed everyone to get up and stand in the center of the aisle while he walked past them to the climbing wall. After a last peek out the windows to make sure they were still alone, he reached for one of the plastic footrests—a blue one—and gave it a gentle but firm tug. “You may want to hold on.”

  A low hum filled the air. Then the booth where they’d been sitting began to move. Not just the booth—the whole side of the RV was sliding out! It was happening on the other side, too.

  “Whoa!” Logan shouted. “Look at the roof!”

  “Look at the floor!” Miles shouted.

  The interior of the RV had just doubled—no, tripled! The ceiling, once only a few feet above his head, was now so high he couldn’t reach it even if he climbed on the table!

  Before they could fully absorb the fact that the RV had gone from basically a bus to an enormous one-story house, AJ pulled another toehold on the climbing wall. The cabinets along the top—the ones Daisy had assumed were for storage—opened up, and beds slid out of the walls! A rope ladder unfurled from each one, and the kids all had to jump out of the way to avoid being bonked on the head.