The Silent Deal (The Card Game #1)

Ch 15 - New Year's Eve

“This is your great secret? Syrup!”

“No more questions,” Romulus pleaded. “Just trust me.”

Viktor was tired of being cynical, so he swore to keep his mouth shut and help Romulus in his task—even though it seemed irrelevant and useless. Over the next hour, the boys carved V-shaped gashes in the bark of the trees, kindled small fires at the trees’ roots, and collected the flowing, heated sap in glass jars.

Back at the den, Romulus whipped up some blinipancakes. Then he poured maple sap into a pan over the fire, every few minutes draining the watery liquid that rose to the top. Slowly the sap became syrup; Romulus used half of it to drench the pancakes in sweetness.

The food was delicious, but Viktor’s annoyance peaked as he finished eating. Was there a secret or not?

Finally, Romulus spoke: “After Miss Dimovna broke your fingers, I felt guilty. See, I should have made these for you earlier, but my pride got in the way.”

“Made me what—pancakes?” Viktor asked, watching Romulus put the remaining syrup back over the flames.

“Not quite. See, I couldn’t do this after your hands were beaten up. They had to heal first. But I figured it would make a good present, seeing as your birthday fell a few weeks ago.” He chuckled at Viktor’s expression. “Yeah, you’re mother reminded me when I came over.”

“Hold on, what’s ‘it’? What’re you making?”

“Okay, we’ve only got one chance at this,” Romulus muttered, watching the syrup begin to steam.

“Maybe you should let me in on the plan,” Viktor said.

“Then you might back out …”

“What?”

“Never mind. No time,” said Romulus, grabbing the pan of syrup off the fire. “Just put your hands flat on that desk, palms down, and keep very still. Close your eyes and think of something very happy.”

Viktor got to the “palms down” part when he felt fire course over his hands. Romulus had poured the hot syrup on top of them! Viktor yelped and tried to pull his hands away, but Romulus held his wrists down.

“Just count to ten!” Romulus barked.

Viktor winced and shut his eyes tight. After a moment, it was over. His hands felt cool, almost pleasant. “I—I can’t feel my fingers! Did you burn away my nerves?”

“No, just hold on.” Romulus grabbed a knife and used its point to trace around Viktor’s hands. “Done. Go ahead, see for yourself.”

Viktor looked down at his hands. His fingers felt trapped, as if in a mold, yet at first glance, nothing seemed different. Then he realized it: There was a fine layer of hardened, clear sap across his hands. He yanked his hands off the table and peeled the invisible molds off his hands. The rubber-like material was flexible, yet retained its form. The sap had crystallized!

“This is how you’ve been doing it,” Viktor murmured, holding the molds like they were priceless. “This is why you can’t feel Miss Dimovna’s raps!”

Romulus pulled his own pair of sap molds from his pocket. “These do more than get you out of raps. These give you free reign to do whatever you want at school.”

At noon, the blood brothers met up with Arseni, Rover, and Roksana to spend their boxing winnings at Prospekt Street’s specialty shops. Andrei and the twins would have come, but they were still healing from the boxing match. Meanwhile, Belch was off alone, hatching some new scheme.