Twelve-year old Atina pushed back her long red hair with a sigh of satisfaction. She had just finished baking her pumpkin pie for the Neightassel Fall Bake-Off. The Neightassel Fall Bake-Off was a baking competition in October, and the judges would be tasting Atina's pie and other desserts tomorrow! She was using her grandmother's special recipe for the Bake-Off.  
 
   Neightassel was a small town which not many people knew about, even though it was right next to Albany, New York. Horses were trusted more than cars, and anyways, cars were too expensive, so the few cars here were slower than turtles, as they had been bought at very cheap prices.  
 
   Atina was a tall girl with shoulder length red hair, bushy bangs, and sky blue eyes. She wore a pair of overalls over a bright yellow shirt.  
   Noticing that the fridge, where her pie was cooling for the night, was open, Atina stepped over to close it. She froze. 
 
   Her pie was missing! Atina let loose a cry and inspected the fridge more closely. It was definitely gone. Then she heard footsteps. Her brown-haired friend Aiden emerged from the dark with his cocker spaniel, Honey. Aiden had gotten Honey when he was six years old. He was a tall boy with brown hair, wore blue glasses, and had emerald green eyes. He was currently twelve.  
 
   "Aiden, have you seen my pie? It was right here!". Aiden seemed uncomfortable. "I, um, I think Honey escaped and ate the pie," he whispered. Atina gasped. 
 
   "But I don't think she'll do it again. Honey's really sorry. I'll help you make another one." 
    "Okay," Atina said after taking a deep breath. "But first, let's put Honey on a leash." 
 
    "Good idea," Aiden said, and dug a shiny red leash with watermelon stickers on it out of his pocket. Atina guessed that Aiden's little sister, Ruby, had put on the stickers. Then, remembering that she needed the secret ingredient that her grandmother always used, Atina dove into the cabinet. Then she yelped and dove back out. In her palm was a little crab.  
 
   "Crouchy-grouch!" yelled Aiden. Aiden liked to take in injured animals, and had so far rescued and nursed a falcon named Mathbook, a swan named Soap, a fox named Operawilly, Crouchy-grouch the crab, a cygnet named Washwipe, and a turtle and frog, both named Fimeddalionna. Only Aiden could pronounce the last one correctly. Because of his passion for helping animals, Aiden had been allowed to adopt Honey, a gerbil named Hamburger, and two horses named Spaghetti and Meatball. Atina only had three cats named Tigerstripe, Violetshimmer, and Willowshine.  
 
   "I'll take him home afterwards," said Aiden. "Now, let's bake!" 
 
   "But we don't have the secret ingredient, and you can't get it from anyone but my grandma, and she lives miles away. I used it all on the first pie," 
 
   "The horse barns are closer. I'll get Spaghetti, since Meatball will be asleep already. You can get another horse,"  
 
   Atina and Aiden rushed to the horse barns. Honey stayed behind.  
   "Come on, already," said Aiden. He was already sitting on Spaghetti.  
 
   "Patience," Atina said. "I'm trying to find Syrup." Syrup was an Arabian horse who loved riding with Atina so much, she would do anything for her.  
 
   After Atina found Syrup, she saddled up and they set out to gather the secret ingredient. After Atina's grandmother, Mariam, handed her a black velvet pouch, they rode back and started baking. Soon it was time to add the secret ingredient.  
 
   "It's beautiful," breathed Aiden. The secret ingredient looked like shiny red tinsel."Let's add it in." Very soon, the pie was ready. 
 
*** 
                                            
   The next day, Atina and Aiden waited nervously. The judges were about to announce first place. 
 
   "And in first place... Rebecca's apple spice cake!" 
 
   Atina sighed. Aiden patted her arm. "It's okay," he said. "We can enter again next year. It isn't the end of the world." 
 
   "But this year we have a new category, Most Creative Dessert. The winner's dessert had a rich flavor and golden color.  And the winner is...Atina's Golden pumpkin pie!" 
 
   It's because of the saffron, the secret ingredient, thought Atina. 
    
   Aiden screamed and gave Atina a hug. "See, you did it!" he cried. 
 
  "No, we did it," corrected Atina. "Now, let's go taste that pie before Honey eats it all. Again. I think she likes the saffron."  
 
   Sure enough, the energetic cocker spaniel was already charging towards the pie.