The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase

  Then Philip blurted out, “We opened four of the pods!” and broke the spell. They all pulled their hands away, laughing.

  Philip told a surprised Frank how only one bean survived in each pod, and it was one of the blue ones. He described how easy it was to pull them off the tree, but Frank zoned out for a minute, totally lost in his thoughts. He didn’t ask anything else about the beans, just smiled wide and said, “Well. This has been quite a day! Anyone have to use the bathroom?”

  Four hands shot up. They all turned to AJ, who was gnawing on a pizza crust. He looked up and shrugged. “I’m trained to hold it in. I can go days.”

  Daisy shook her head at him. “I’m glad I missed that class.”

  A little over an hour later, Frank waved one last time, closed his front door, and turned the lock. Miles carried away an armful of maps, an expertly crafted replica of one of the world’s most famous globes, and a smile a mile wide. Daisy carried a bag with the four newly picked beans so they could study them, and Philip carried a sleeping cat, which he pretended to be annoyed at having to do.

  Logan and AJ had already returned to the RV to send off the nightly messages to everyone’s families. Frank had given permission for the kids to tell their parents everything if they wished, but they’d have plenty of time to figure out how to approach that in the years to come. For now they wanted to keep it to themselves.

  AJ made them take showers while he planned the route to Philip’s Talented Kid contest. He’d have to drive well into the night, so the coffeepot was on. Daisy joined him in the Control Center, her damp hair pulled back into a braid.

  “Thank you,” she said. “For what you did back there. It’s a huge commitment to something outside of our spy lives, which I know goes against what you believe in.”

  “You made an even bigger commitment,” he pointed out.

  She glanced out the front window at the house. The lights had gone out for the night. “I know.” She turned back to him. “Are we crazy?”

  “Probably. But these kids grow on you, don’t they?”

  Daisy nodded. “They do. But you must have a better reason than that. I know! It’s so you can have a free vacation under a palm tree anytime you want—am I right?”

  “That’s it,” AJ agreed. “You found me out.”

  “Seriously, though. Why?”

  AJ glanced behind them to make sure the boys couldn’t hear. Miles was shouting about Philip hogging the shower, and Philip was shouting back about finding glowing things in places that shouldn’t glow, so Miles would just have to wait.

  AJ leaned closer to Daisy. “I did it for Henry,” he said, registering her surprise. “He told all the parents that he and I have been spending a lot of time together these last few months. He wasn’t lying. After we kept running into each other at different doctors, we decided to start keeping each other company at our appointments. We had some good talks. He didn’t tell me about any of this, of course.” He gestured out the window at the completely invisible slice of Paradise only a few hundred feet from Harvey.

  “Even though he knew I wasn’t really your cousin, he never let on about my job. He treated me as me, and you know how rare that is for us. And he confided in me that he thought of Logan and you and Miles and Philip as his family. I could tell he’d spent his life protecting the people and places he loved. So when he asked me if I would take you all on this road trip, I couldn’t say no.”

  Daisy laid her hand on his arm. “You could have said no. But you didn’t. That’s a big difference.” She gave a squeeze and stood up. “Make sure to pull over if you get tired. There’s one more thing I have to do before I go to bed.”

  AJ held up his giant coffee mug to show he was well caffeinated. “Plus you don’t have to worry. If Harvey senses the driver drifting off, a blast of water sprays up into my face.”

  Daisy smiled. “Why am I not surprised?”

  She waited until the boys had gotten settled into their bunks before she climbed into hers.

  “Look,” Miles whispered, pointing up to the skylight. “You can’t see the aurora from here at all.”

  At the mention of her name, the cat gave a little meow. “Hey!” Logan said, opening his eyes. “The cat made a cat sound!” He’d just finished going through his gratitude list in his head—which had gotten a lot longer in the last few days, with all the new people they’d met and once-in-a-lifetime experiences they’d had. He quickly tacked the cat to the end of the list.

  “Did she finally realize she’s not a dog?” Daisy said, propping herself up on one elbow.

  “It’s not just the cat who’s different after today,” Miles said. “Between the view of the Milky Way last night, and all the amazing things we saw today, and what we know is in our future, I feel more a part of the world now. Do you know what I mean?”

  Philip’s only response was a snore that shook his bunk.

  “I think it’s because now you know places like Paradise exist,” Logan said, his voice slurring with impending sleep. “Or at least that this place exists.”

  “Exactly,” Miles whispered. He lay back on his pillow contentedly. “I feel like a whole new Miles.”

  Daisy took a deep breath. “Hold on to that feeling,” she said, “because I have to tell you something that’s going to be a shock.” She glanced over at Philip and Logan. They were both asleep.

  Miles rolled over and leaned his head over the side of his bunk. “Lay it on me,” he whispered. “New Miles can handle anything.”

  “Okay,” she said, lowering her voice. “Here goes.” She took a deep breath and let it out steadily. It was now or never. “You know your friend Arthur?”

  Miles raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected Arthur to be brought into the conversation. “Sure. What about him? Is anything wrong?”

  Daisy shook her head. “Not wrong. Just… well, to put it bluntly, he’s not just a friend. According to Harvey’s computer and an independent DNA-testing laboratory, he’s also your father’s brother—or, you know, your uncle.” She felt the relief wash over her. “Phew, it feels good to finally tell you!”

  Miles gaped at her and whispered, “Taerg s’oelilaG tsohg! Niaga!” Then he rolled right off his bunk and onto the floor.

  AJ glanced in the rearview mirror. “I knew I should have put seat belts on those things.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  After he recovered enough to climb back into his bunk, Miles made Daisy explain three times how the DNA from where Arthur had licked that envelope matched Miles’s own DNA from the cheek swab. Once the computer found the match, it analyzed it further. Twenty-five percent of their DNA turned out to be the same, indicating an uncle-nephew relationship.

  Further, they shared the same Y chromosome, which is only passed down from the paternal line. That proved Arthur was related through Miles’s dad. Arthur didn’t share any of Miles’s X chromosome, which would have come from his mom’s side. Miles had read a book about genetics a few months ago, so once his brain was able to focus on the explanation, he pretty much got it.

  “Do you think Arthur knows?” he asked Daisy.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation. “He’s probably waiting for the right time to tell your father.”

  Miles thought about how Arthur always invited the whole family on their geocaching outings, and how well the men got along when he visited the house. But now that he really thought about it, Arthur did seem a little nervous each time. Miles had just thought he was shy. “I wonder how he found us in the first place.”

  “Well, I’m only guessing now, but maybe his parents—your dad’s biological birth parents—finally told him they’d given a child up for adoption, and Arthur went through the adoption records and found him. Or maybe Arthur came across some old paperwork and questioned them. Either way, I don’t think it was a coincidence that he moved to Spring Haven. He wants to get to know you guys.”

  “Thanks, Daisy,” Miles said. “For telling me, and for doing the test.” He leaned
over the side of his bunk to see her. “Wait, are you sleeping with the bag of beans?”

  She slid the bag under her pillow. “What beans?” Then she flipped over to face the wall. “’Night, Miles, sleep tight! No falling out!”

  Miles awoke in the morning to Daisy’s face two inches away from his.

  “Yikes!” he cried, groping around for his glasses. “Personal space! How long have you been watching me sleep?”

  “An hour,” Daisy replied casually.

  “An hour!”

  “Quite fascinating, really. All the breathing and the tossing and the turning.”

  “You need to get more hobbies.” He glanced up and down the aisles. He and Daisy appeared to be alone.

  “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” she said. “This is going to change a lot of things for you and your family. Hopefully in a good way, of course. Anyway, it was a pretty big bombshell to drop on you last night. Even in your super-Zen-like state.”

  “Yeah, New Miles seems to have gone away,” Miles admitted. “I’m worried about how my dad will take the news.”

  “I bet Arthur knew it would be hard and figured it’d be easier on your dad if he got to know him first. It was a good idea. And you’ll get your Zen back,” Daisy promised. “When you get stressed, just close your eyes and picture yourself in Paradise, and you’ll start feeling relaxed again. By the way, we totally need to come up with a better name for that place. Calling it Paradise doesn’t do it justice.”

  Miles grinned. The idea of getting to name a place like that would be the highlight of his naming life. It would have to be something ancient and exotic and hidden, like Shangri-La or Atlantis. When they got home, he could ask Arthur to help him with the research. Or rather, Uncle Arthur!

  “How crazy is this whole thing?” Miles said. “I thought I had to go on the road to find my father’s family, but they were right there in front of me in Spring Haven!”

  “Ah, but you wouldn’t have found out about it if you hadn’t gone on the road. So I am officially taking all the credit. Well, most of the credit.”

  “I’d expect nothing less,” Miles replied as he stood up to stretch. “So where is everyone?”

  “AJ’s asleep in his room. He had to drive all night to get here, and after the competition we have a long drive to the last candy store. Logan went inside with Philip to check in.”

  Miles hurried to the window. Sure enough, they were parked in front of a high school. A huge banner above the front door asked,

  Are YOU the Nation’s Most Talented Kid??

  Come find out TODAY!

  “We’ve gotta go!” Miles shouted. He slipped into his sneakers and began running down the aisle.

  Daisy grabbed him by the back of his sleeve. “Um, I think you’re forgetting something?”

  He turned around. She pointed at his superhero pajamas. He reddened. He needed to have a talk with his mom about more appropriate sleepwear now that he was entering the teen years. He quickly dressed and brushed his hair and teeth and was halfway out the door before he noticed that Daisy wasn’t behind him.

  “I’ll meet you in there,” she said. “I just need to finish something up first.”

  The front lobby looked exactly as Miles would have hoped. Everywhere he turned, competitors practiced their talents. He spotted lots of kids playing musical instruments. Identical twins twirled fire-tipped batons. A boy deftly twisted a Rubik’s Cube blindfolded, and another pulled a live rabbit out of a hat. One girl tap-danced, one did backflips down the hallway, and someone in a rainbow wig sang “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” while juggling eggs. Miles hoped they were hard-boiled.

  “Isn’t this great?” Logan asked, appearing at his side. “All this excitement reminds me of the candymaking contest. But without all the candy!” And with a lot more strangers. He didn’t say that last part out loud, though. He didn’t want Miles to worry about him being uncomfortable.

  Miles nodded enthusiastically as he took it all in. “Where’s everyone’s favorite violinist?”

  “He went to practice somewhere he could hear himself think. Those were his words, not mine.”

  “Figured that.” He wanted to tell Logan about the stuff with Arthur, but right now was about Philip. The news could wait until after the competition.

  “Wow,” Daisy said, joining them, “this place is crazy!” She held a large poster at her side.

  “What’s that?” Logan asked.

  She flipped it over and held it up. The poster said GO, PHILIP! in sparkly gold marker.

  Miles stifled a laugh. “You’re not cheering him on at a hockey game.”

  “Good one,” Logan said, giving Miles a high five. “Like Philip would ever play hockey!”

  Daisy rolled up the poster, slid a rubber band onto it, and bonked them both on their heads. “Everyone can use a cheering section. Look around. All the other kids have their families with them. He just has us.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Miles mumbled, feeling stupid.

  “Yeah, sorry,” Logan added.

  “C’mon, let’s just go find him.” Daisy tilted her head, straining to pick up the sound of a violin among all the other noises. She pointed toward the auditorium at the far side of the lobby. “He’s in there.”

  “Hold the door,” an older woman in a blue-and-white-striped dress called out as Daisy swung open one of the auditorium doors. She wore a badge with the word JUDGE on it around her neck. The boys stepped aside to let her pass. The woman nodded at them as she headed inside, carrying a plate covered in aluminum foil. The smell wafted behind her, and they couldn’t help inhaling the chocolate-peppermint dessert that must be underneath. All three stomachs growled.

  “Guess we forgot to have breakfast,” Daisy said.

  When they got inside, they didn’t see Philip, only a bunch of grown-ups running around with folders and microphones and stressed-out expressions. Long tables full of desserts covered in foil, wax paper, and plastic covers had been set up along the back wall. “Philip didn’t eat, either,” Logan said. “We should get something for him.”

  “Everything is still covered up,” Miles pointed out.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Daisy said. She waited a few seconds until all the adults’ backs were turned, then sidled up to the table.

  They expected some covert spy maneuver, but all Daisy did was casually lower her rolled-up poster and slide it up to the first plate. She used the edge of the poster to pull up the foil a bit, then tipped the plate forward until an item slid out and dropped into the poster. Actually, it was pretty impressive. With her hand firmly on the bottom so nothing fell out, she repeated the move four more times on different plates before stepping back like nothing had happened.

  “We could probably have just asked for some,” Logan pointed out.

  Daisy shook her head. “Where’s the fun in that?”

  Logan lowered his voice. “Did you get one from that plate the lady was carrying? The one you let through the door?”

  Daisy glanced back at the table. “I think so, yes.”

  “Well, okay, then,” Logan said, satisfied.

  “It’s almost time for the contest to start,” Miles said. “Where’s Philip?”

  “I know where to find him,” Daisy said. Less than a minute later they slipped through a door around the corner that led backstage. They fought their way through the crowd of kids and moms until Daisy found another door, marked JANITOR’S CLOSET. She opened it to find Philip on a low stepstool in a corner, his violin and bow laid out across his lap. They squeezed in, and Miles closed the door behind them.

  “Are you okay?” Daisy asked.

  He looked up. “I’m missing part of the coda, specifically the last three notes. I thought I’d have them by now, but I don’t.”

  “It sounded finished to us,” Miles said. “Right?” Logan and Daisy nodded in agreement. “I’m sure you don’t have to worry. It’s awesome.”

  Philip adjusted his tie. “I’m not worried. I just k
now it could be better.” Truth be told, his competitive spirit had started to surface. He didn’t think he’d cared about winning this in the slightest, but the realization that he would soon lose his title as winner of the candymaking contest had finally sunk in. Winning this competition wouldn’t do much to soften that blow, but at least it wouldn’t hurt.

  “We can’t help you find your coda, or whatever you called it,” Daisy said, “but we brought you snacks.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” he said, but he held his hands together anyway. Two brownies, two sugar cookies, one fudge-like piece of chocolate, and one carrot stick tumbled into his palms.

  “The carrot stick makes it a healthy breakfast,” Daisy declared.

  He shook his head, and she plucked it from his hands.

  “I’ll take the chocolate piece if you don’t want it,” Logan said.

  “Take them all,” Philip said. “I really can’t eat anything.”

  Miles took the rest and left the chocolate square for Logan, who popped it in his mouth. As he chewed, feeling the ingredients differentiate themselves, a wave of homesickness for the factory hit him. By now his dad and Max would be well into planning where the new Mmm Mmm Good candies would be made. He tried to take his mind off of it by focusing on the taste lingering in his mouth. Out loud he said, “Just the right blend of chocolate, peppermint, and cashew, with a hint of marshmallow.”

  Because Philip was only half paying attention, it took a few extra seconds before Logan’s comment reached his ears. When it did, Philip grabbed his violin and bow and stood up. “I’m such an idiot!”

  The others exchanged worried looks. “Um, what?” Miles said.

  Philip just shook his head. “I always thought my mom had come up with that combination. But the recipe is probably printed on the side of a cashew container! Anyone could make them!”

  “That doesn’t make you an idiot,” Daisy said.

  “It doesn’t make me a genius,” he countered. “Let’s just get this over with, okay? I’ll see you guys out there.” He slid past them and left the closet before any of them could think of how to make him feel better.