The Candymakers

The contestants fill out their information and set their candies on the table for review by the contest judges. Daisy decides she can stay in the contest because she has no chance of winning with her bad candy. Logan and Miles talk about the pain they’ve experienced in life, and Miles concludes that it had purpose in his life. Logan has the epiphany that his parents have kept him sheltered for fear of other people treating him differently because of his scars. He has never seen himself as different because of his scars, but he realizes that other people focus on them.

The judges taste-test the candy entries. The four contestants are thrilled that Philip’s chocolate harmonica actually plays notes like a real harmonica. Their excitement is dampened when AJ lets them know that the judges are really enjoying another entry. They decide that maybe that contestant broke the rules somehow. After the judges leave to deliberate, Philip creates a diversion so that Daisy can grab a sample of the favored candy for Logan to try. Philip plays the violin in front of other people for the first time. Everyone is mesmerized by Philip’s music. Meanwhile, Logan tastes every ingredient, and they all match up with what the contestant wrote down. However, there’s something in there that Logan can’t quite place.

AJ, who has entered the contest undercover, tells Logan that the judges want to let him win if he’ll change his candy’s name. Logan feels sick because he realizes that they only want him to win because of his scars, not because his candy is the best. He declines. The judges are about to declare the rival contestant the winner when Logan realizes that caffeine was the ingredient he couldn’t place: an ingredient that isn’t allowed in the competition. AJ tells the judges before they can announce a winner.

Philip is announced the winner. His father shows up, but before he confronts him, he and the other contestants take the Candymaker into the hallway to talk privately. Philip hands him the secret ingredient. The Candymaker is thankful for their honesty and opens the lid for them to see what’s inside. There is no actual ingredient. Instead, there’s a mirror at the bottom of the tin.

The Candymaker says the secret ingredient to their chocolate is that they “put a little of ourselves into the chocolate” (436). The next day, Daisy finally has the courage to tell her parents that she wants to take a break from spying. They are supportive and accidently tell her that she has a brother she never knew about. The four friends meet at the pond for a rowboat ride. Logan writes Philip a note explaining that he recognizes him from that day in the factory all those years ago, when Phillip dropped his toy in the boiling chocolate, and Logan dove in to retrieve it. Logan assures him he doesn’t blame him for this accident, which caused his scarring. Daisy gives Logan the photo from her case file with a note that reads: “If nothing ever changed, there’d be no such things as butterflies” (452).