After going grocery shopping with her grandpa to get the supplies she needed for her audition, Anna called an emergency meeting at the creek.

"Is everything okay?" Taylor asked. Her flies buzzed around them in a thick black cloud, with Mason's termites quickly joining the anxious swarm.

Mason's fingers rubbed against his termites' mounds in a frantic frenzy. "Sweet Surprise isn't shutting down, is it?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it! Look at this." Anna showed everyone the email Sliced had sent her confirming her three mystery ingredients and her audition's date and time.

Jack let out a long, low whistle. "I don't think I could handle baking with cayenne pepper. I've never made anything but chocolate chip cookies and brownies."

His boar snorted its agreement, sniffing Anna's phone as if it could devour the ingredients listed inside.

"Man, it'd be so cool to be on TV," Eliza said. "I don't think my collages would be good enough for Flower Frenzy since people make whole parade floats for that, but I bet Tay would be awesome on a talent show or something. I mean, how many people can paint with flies?"

Taylor flushed. "Aw, shucks. I could barely give Dr. Cross her painting without passing out. I'd be a complete mess if people filmed me painting."

It never ceased to amaze Anna that Taylor didn't take every single opportunity to show her amazing artwork to everyone. Someone that talented deserved to be spotlighted for the whole world to see, yet Taylor was happy to simply show her paintings to her friends and family.

Of course, the thought of being on camera freaked Anna out too, but despite being as nervous as a cat in a room full of tail-pulling kindergarteners, she was also super excited.

"I can't believe I actually got to be so close to everything," she said. "There were so many bakers there, and I even got to try some of their desserts." After she signed up for Sliced, she and her grandpa got to try a bunch of leftovers from different shows. They'd eaten so much chocolate that her grandpa's truck had smelled like a Hershey's factory the whole way home.

"Did you get to meet the judges?" Mason asked. "I've always wanted to see if Ivan's vulture is as big and scary as it looks on TV."

"No, just some of the other folks who work on the show." Thank goodness for that! When Anna was little, seeing Ivan and his enormous vulture on TV was enough to make her hide behind Bertrand until he finished judging the desserts. She wasn't ready to meet him in person, especially since she'd already had enough unpleasantness to deal with lately. "There was this mean baker who really bothered Grandpa, though. He and his fox acted like they owned the whole Craving Channel."

"Hang on, that sounds familiar," Jack said as his boar gnashed its teeth. "Is he old? Real fake smile like he's about to bite somebody's head off?"

"Sounds just like him."

Jack groaned. "That's Mr. Voorhees, alright. He buys milk and butter from my dad all the time. Always whines about his customers behind their backs." He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "I've heard he's real nasty to anyone whose companions act like something's bothering 'em. Throws 'em out, even. Says they're bad for business."

"That just ain't right," Taylor said. "They can't help it if they're having a rough day."

Mason hummed his agreement. "I don't get why anyone would be so mean when they could try to cheer them up instead."

Eliza's hummingbirds whirled around her like tiny green satellites as her cheeks reddened. "People sure can be horrible sometimes," she muttered.

"Mr. Voorhees definitely is. He's one of the worst customers we ever have to deal with." Jack stared at his shoes as Harry lowered his head and oinked quietly. "Not that I've been all that great either, but..."

Anna winced. Back when Taylor first got her flies, Jack and a bunch of bullies had picked on her, and Eliza had started avoiding Taylor as soon as she realized being friends with her made her get treated badly too. They'd both apologized since then and were no longer bugged by her friends' insect companions, but Anna still wasn't the biggest fan of either of them.

Taylor cleared her throat. "It doesn't matter if he's terrible. Well, it does, but that's not what we need to be thinking about right now." She slipped Anna's hand into hers. "We've gotta help Anna get ready for her audition!"

Taylor's touch made Anna's heart hammer so hard that she barely heard the other kids chorus their agreement. "Right, the audition." She gulped. "I've gotta make something with vanilla, lime, and cayenne pepper, and the judges have to be able to taste all three of those ingredients. Those first two should be easy, but the pepper..."

"Could murder somebody's taste buds," Jack finished for her.

Mason grimaced. "We'd better be careful when we help you taste test. I don't want my taste buds to get killed."

"Nobody's will," Taylor said reassuringly.

"Yeah, cayenne pepper isn't the worst thing I could've gotten. At least they didn't give me durians!" Anna tried to force some confidence into her voice, but it cracked like an egg. "I really need help coming up with ideas though 'cause I've only got a week."

Mason leaned against his termite mound, running his fingers over the bumpy tower. "Whenever we watch Sliced, people who use too much spice always get last place because the judges can't taste anything else, so you definitely won't want to use a whole lot."

"Does spice ever help bring out other flavors?" Taylor asked. "I don't know much about baking, but when I'm painting, using dark colors and bright ones together makes them both stand out more."

"I don't know. Sweet Surprise doesn't usually serve anything spicy since most people prefer sweet stuff, but I remember Grandpa made some chocolate snickerdoodles with a little pepper in them once." Anna jotted that idea into her notebook. She couldn't go wrong with chocolate no matter what kind of dessert she decided to make.

Jack squinted, lost in thought. "Maybe if you kept the spiciness in just one part of the dessert it wouldn't—"

"The judges always want to be able to taste all the flavors at once," Anna said.

"Let me finish!" Jack snapped. He mumbled something before letting out a long, slow breath. "What I was trying to say is you won't have too much spice if you don't use it everywhere, and once it's all in someone's mouth, they'll be able to taste everything."

"I guess that might work. I'll have to think about it." Anna hated to admit it, but Jack had a point. As important as it was to think about the dessert as a whole, she had to consider how she'd handle each of the parts, too.

"Maybe you could make the dessert be two different flavors like one of those huge cakes with a bunch of layers," Eliza said.

"That wouldn't work 'cause the judges won't get both layers in one bite if they're too big," Anna said.

"But if you make them thin enough—"

Anna shook her head. "The judges won't think it's cohesive." That was one of the words the judges used a lot. Each dessert had to feel like everything belonged together, with no single ingredient drowning out the others or standing out in a way that made it clear it didn't belong.

"I guess that wouldn't work," Eliza mumbled. Her hummingbirds twittered to each other before roosting in her messy blond mane.

"What kind of dessert were you thinking of making?" Taylor asked. "That might make it easier for us to figure out how you can use all those ingredients."

"I thought about doing macarons, but even Grandpa has a horrible time with those. Whoopie pies could work, but the filling might get too messy. Brownies are too basic..." Anna threw her hands in the air. "Ugh, I have no idea what I want to bake! What do you guys like?"

Since they were her official taste testers, it was only fair for her to make something they'd want to eat. Besides, even if she didn't make their favorites for the contest, it was always good to know what her friends liked so she could surprise them on their birthdays.

Once they helped her narrow down the type of dessert she'd make—cupcakes— Anna and her friends set to work figuring out how she could use her three ingredients. Vanilla was easy since that was a common ingredient in recipes. The other two were a much bigger challenge.

"I can't decide if I want to use lime juice or zest," Anna said. "Zest is a pain to get, but sticking with the juice seems boring."

"The zest might be too gritty," Mason said with a shudder. "I wouldn't want a clump of that in my cupcakes."

"It seems more unusual than using juice though." Eliza absently scribbled on her notebook. "Do the judges base their scores on creativity at all?"

"Taste is more important. Being creative won't do me a lick of good if the judges want to spit out my dessert," Anna said. The only thing worse than a boring dessert was one the judges couldn't swallow. "I think I'll stick to the juice like we usually do."

"Why not use both?" Taylor asked. "I bet the zest would look super pretty."

"That would be a lot of lime," Anna said, "but it might be okay since the cayenne'll be so strong." That was the ingredient that scared her the most. If there was one thing that could drown out every other flavor and ruin a dessert, it was too much spice.

"I dunno what lime zest even is. Let me look that up." Jack took his phone out of his pocket, eyes widening as he glanced at the screen. "Dang, it's late!"

Jack surged to his feet and shoved everything he'd brought into his backpack. Harry squealed and stomped his hooves.

Anna checked the time. "It's only 3. Can't you stay at least a little longer?"

"Can't. I have to, um..." Jack bit his lip. "I have to go help Dad give Bessie a bath."

That lie was as plain as Harry's tusks, but Eliza nodded. "She did get into the cabbages earlier, didn't she?"

Tension eased out of Jack's shoulders. "Right, yeah. You know how cows can get when there's fresh vegetables around." He gave everyone a quick wave. "See you tomorrow!"

There was no way a farmer wouldn't be able to keep his companion out of his crops, especially since Bessie was such a gentle cow. Jack had barely given Anna any suggestions the whole time they'd been by the creek, too. Did he not care about Sweet Surprise, or was he going back to being a jerk who didn't want anything to do with her and her friends?

"What's gotten into him?" Anna asked. "He sure left in a hurry."

"He just said he has to go help his dad," Eliza said.

"If his dad's cow needed a bath that badly, I don't think he'd wait to give it to her." Goodness knows Bertrand wouldn't let her family wait when he needed them to pick burs out of his fur. Something as big as a cow would get washed whenever it felt like it, not on anyone else's schedule.

"Well, maybe he doesn't want to talk about why he really has to go." Eliza crossed her arms. "It's not like you've been listening to either of us. You asked us to help you, but it sure doesn't feel like you want us to."

Anna's bees buzzed so loudly her ears rang. "If you actually said anything helpful—"

"Please stop fighting." Mason's breath came rough and shallow as he curled in on himself and put his hands over his ears.

Anna clenched her fists but forced her bees to quiet down until they made nothing but a dull hum. As if it wasn't bad enough Eliza's suggestions were about as helpful as a jacket in July, now she'd made her upset Mason. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. Do you need a minute?"

Mason nodded mutely. His fingers darted to the termite mound looming behind him, rubbing against the familiar roughness in a regular rhythm.

"Do you know anything about lime trees that might help us?" Taylor asked quietly.

Mason's fingers kept scrubbing the termite mound as he shook his head.

Anna's heart sank. Usually talking about Mason's special interest was one of the best ways to cheer him up, but sometimes even trees couldn't help him calm down.

But she had to keep trying. "What was that thing you told me about lemons and limes the other day?" she asked. "Mr. Woods was talking about how different species can have a lot in common, and you said something real cool. Like a bunch of plants used to be the same thing?"

"Many citrus fruits share a common ancestor: citron." Mason's breathing slowed as he rocked back and forth. "You're supposed to harvest citron before winter because otherwise the fruits get so big they break the branches."

"You know, I've always thought lemons and limes have a lot in common, but I never really thought about why," Anna said.

"They're still pretty different from each other, though," Mason said. "Limes have more sugar and acids than lemons do. You need to be careful if you add lime juice to milk because it might make it go sour."

"Ooh, good point." Anna had seen more than a few otherwise talented bakers get torn apart by judges for letting citrus curdle their milk. "Thanks, Mason! Feel any better?"

"Yeah. I'm glad I could help," he said with a soft smile.

Despite everything getting back on track, Anna couldn't shake off how annoyed she was with Jack and Eliza. Could she really count on them to help Sweet Surprise, or was their support as hollow as the center of a doughnut?