The Candy Shop War

Expecting retaliation from the bullies, the four children stick close together for the next several days, but nothing happens. As they walk home together, they come across an old ice cream truck owned by kindly Mr. Stott. He serves them all treats, and they strike up a conversation. Stott has noticed the new candy shop and jokes that Mrs. White will put him out of business one day.

By 3pm, the children check in with Mrs. White, who says the pocket watch contains a clue to the treasure. She now tells her assistants that they must dig up a grave in the cemetery because another clue is buried inside a coffin. To help them, she gives them a three-foot-tall wooden figure named the “Forty-Niner.” He can do the actual digging if one of the children uses Proxy Dust. Summer is given a treat called Flame Out that will shoot flames from her mouth if the grave robbers are attacked. They also receive some candy corn known as Sweet Tooth. Mrs. White says, “While a Sweet Tooth is in your mouth, others will find it difficult to disobey or disbelieve your suggestions” (129).

After leaving the shop, the children convene a meeting of the Blue Falcons Treasure-Hunting Society. They have misgivings about Mrs. White’s motives, but nobody is ready to quit yet. They agree to rob the grave the following night at midnight. The next afternoon, Trevor shops at the Colson General Store with his mother. While there, he is shocked to see the man in the fedora sitting on a bench outside, reading a newspaper. He is also eyeing people as they enter and leave the store. Luckily, he doesn’t recognize Trevor.

Late that night, the children assemble and ride their bikes to the graveyard. Nate once again uses the Proxy Dust and controls the Forty-Niner as he digs up the grave. When a cop arrives in the cemetery, Pigeon uses a Sweet Tooth candy to convince the cop that he’s doing a Cub Scout project. After the policeman leaves, the children open the coffin and find an ivory box inside. Wasting no time, they fill in the hole and leave.

Inside the box is a little golden spyglass. However, it functions like a kaleidoscope when a person looks through the lens. The following afternoon, Summer rushes to meet the others at the Nest to discuss this find. In a hurry, she uses a Moon Rock to jump the creek and is seen by the bully named Denny. Summer denies any magical abilities, but Denny warns that he’s going to keep an eye on the four adventurers. Then, he leaves. Unable to take the spyglass apart to see what it does, the children turn it over to Mrs. White. She explains it is a teleidoscope, which is “a hybrid between a telescope and a kaleidoscope” (159). It is used to find secret messages hidden in objects.

Mrs. White has a new assignment for the children, but this one worries them. She wants them to use a candy called Clean Slate to permanently wipe the memory of one of her enemies, Mr. Stott, whom Mrs. White claims is an evil magician. Summer and Pigeon back out of the assignment while Trevor and Nate agree to stay on. After the other two leave the shop, Mrs. White says that Trevor and Nate can slip the Clean Slate into a beverage at Stott’s home because he must drink the potion voluntarily. To gain access to his house, they will use Mirror Mint candies. These will allow them to walk through mirrors into a shadow realm where all mirrors are connected. With much foreboding, the boys agree to the assignment and leave.

The next day at school, Nate tells Summer about Mrs. White’s new plan. He says he won’t go through with it but will alert Stott instead. The four children agree to meet at the old man’s house after dark. That evening, they explain everything to Stott. He admits that he is a magician like Mrs. White, but she has a very bad reputation in the magical community. She is seeking a powerful talisman and will do anything to obtain it. To that end, she uses children because her magical candies only work on the young, and she can’t use them on herself. Stott is afraid to let the talisman fall into Mrs. White’s hands.

He shows the children his collection of teleidoscopes and a stone slab. A secret message is inscribed in the slab, and Stott believes Mrs. White’s teleidoscope is meant to reveal it. They will have to steal the object back from her if they hope to beat her to the talisman. Stott says that magicians are confined to their lairs: “A magician cannot leave his or her lair. The lair is empowered with magical defenses and spells that keep them safe and postpone their aging” (180). He must stay in his house or ice cream truck, and Mrs. White must stay in the candy shop. Just because they are physically restricted doesn’t mean magicians can’t spy on people magically. Stott fears the children might be in danger if Mrs. White suspects they betrayed her. Nate proposes turning the Mirror Mints against Mrs. White and breaking into her lair to get the teleidoscope. They only have a few days to try this desperate plan before she grows suspicious.