The Secret Ingredient — Allyson Black

Scarlett & Crimson bring more Darq style to tweens across the world in the third installment of Spotlight's original fiction series! Everyone at Vincent Price Memorial Middle School is excited for the annual harvest charity fair, which always takes place the week before Thanksgiving. But poor Crimson is in a funk. See, it's also the week before her birthday. It's making her miss her mom, Lenore, even more than usual, and knowing that she'll never eat her mom's famous organic birthday fritters again makes her special day one she'd rather forget than celebrate. To help ease Crimson out of her birthday boycott, Scarlett suggests the girls have an organic baked goods booth at the fair, and sell Lenore's famous birthday fritters. Thanks to her best friend, Crimson soon finds a way to remember her mom and enjoy celebrating her big day. In this heartfelt story, Crimson realizes that although things in this Darq world may not be perfect, sometimes all you need to turn things around is a little comfort food and a lot of help from your friends.