Chapter 1

       Looking around the Christmas market, I can't even begin to choose what I want to check out first. Not only are there an abundance of stalls with all sorts of things on sale, but there are so many different activities; ice skating, photo booth, even some carnival games.

       Christmas is my favourite holiday, so being at this market is already lifting my mood a whole lot. Even more so that I'm here spending time with my boyfriend.

       Jerome can tell I'm struggling to decide what I want to look at, so he says, "How about we get some hot chocolate while we walk around to check out the booths? I know how much you love the hot chocolate here, especially the hazelnut flavoured one."

       I smile up at him. "Sounds good." In all honesty, I'm happy Jerome remembers how much I love the hot chocolate at the annual Christmas market. We haven't come here together since right before our friendship ended. However, we still remember the little details of our friendship before then. Like our friendship has always mattered.

       Right after we get hot chocolate, we walk around to look at all the stalls, mainly to see if there's anything I want to buy to decorate my bedroom back at home. I absolutely love decorating my bedroom. My siblings like to describe it as 'Christmas threw up in there'.

       I fully embrace and accept the description.

       Even though my bedroom is considered fully decorated, I always look forward to finding new decorations. It's one thing that makes me very happy during the holidays, anyway. Just waking up and seeing all those beautiful decorations there, remembering that Christmas is one day closer.

       I only find one decoration I end up buying; a snow globe with a golden reindeer inside, the podium of the globe being a rose gold colour. Engraved in gold across the podium is It's the season to sparkle.

       I can't stop shaking it as Jerome and I continue to walk around the Christmas market. I've always been so mesmerized by snow globes. 

       "You're going to end up dropping it if you don't pay attention to where we're walking," Jerome says. "You've already slipped five times since we've gotten to the market."

       "None of those five times have been after I got the snow globe," I say, though I know I should be carefully. I place it back in the gift back I received it in. I'll probably burst into tears if I end up dropping the snow globe and breaking it.

       "Hey, would you look at that," Jerome says, stopping in his tracks. Since my hand is in his, I end up stopping as well. He looks up, so I follow his gaze to see a mistletoe hanging on the branch of the tree we're standing nearby. "What a coincidence."

       "You're tone of voice makes me thing you've planned this whole thing," I say.

       "What? Like you think I've placed the mistletoe here, knowing that we would end up walking by?"

       "Did you?"

       "Nah. I just saw it not too long ago so I knew I just had to take you here."

       "You know, if you ever want a kiss, you can just do what any normal boyfriend does and ask for one."

       "Yeah, but we're not normal, are we?" 

       Jerome leans down to kiss me, but before our lips connect, we're interrupted by the sudden ringing of my cell phone, more specifically of the ringtone I assigned for my best friend. He doesn't call me often. We're more of a texting kind of best friends.

       I sigh and pull my cell phone out of my jacket pocket as Jerome laughs. "He has impeccable timing, doesn't he?" Jerome says.

       I accept the call before holding the phone up to my ear. "Hello?"

       "So we've got a problem," Ollie says on the other line. "Well, I don't know if I would call it a problem since I don't know exactly what it is. It's the weirdest thing ever. Kind of ominous. Grant told me to open it already but that's just because he's impatient."

       "Ollie," I say. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"

       "Oh, right, sorry. So there's this envelope that was in my mailbox. It didn't have a return address, and it had all six of our names on it. Me, you, Grant, Jerome, Orchid, and Clarissa."

       I hesitate for a bit, pondering why an envelope would be delivered to the six of us but only at Ollie's house. Only one reason comes to mind. "You think it's about... You know?"

       "I don't know. Could be. You free to come over?"

       "Yeah. I'm with Jerome. We'll head over right now."

       Once I hang up, I put my cell phone in my pocket as Jerome asks, "So what's going on?"

       "I don't exactly know," I say. "Just that Ollie got this envelope addressed to all six of us. He didn't open it yet so he doesn't know what it's in it but..."

       "It sounds like it has to do with the treasure and all that?"

       "Exactly..."

       "Hey..." Jerome gently places his hand on my cheek. "Whatever it is, we'll deal with it."

       I nod, though I'm not sure if I believe it. Even though someone clearly tried to stop us from getting the missing treasure of Pinemore, nothing really happened after we found the treasure and moved it. I thought we put it behind us, but maybe not.

       Jerome and I leave the Christmas market to head to Ollie's house. Everyone else whose name is on the envelope is already there, waiting for the two of us to arrive. The moment all of us sit in the living room, Grant reaches for the envelope that Ollie has placed on the coffee table. "I dib opening it," Grant says.

       No one bothered stopping him. If he wants to open it, he can open it. I would actually rather not open it, but I guess it's good to see exactly why we were sent something.

       Once Grant opens the envelope, he pulls out a few smaller envelopes as well as a piece of paper. Looking at the paper, he reads it aloud, "Do what I say, or your sins will be revealed to the world."

       "Sins?" Orchid asks. "What sins?"

       This time, Grant looks at the smaller envelopes. "There's one for each of us." He hands each of us our envelopes.

       Everyone opens theirs, but I hesitate. I don't want to see what's in mine. Maybe I can do what I normally do whenever I have a problem; ignore it until it goes away.

       Jerome is the first to open his, pulling out a paper inside. "Jerome Roy. The sin of envy." He flips the paper around. "That's it. That's all it says. You think whoever is behind this knows something about these so-called sins that we've been trying to keep a secret?"

       "Maybe," Clarissa says. "Mine is Clarissa Burke. The sin of wrath."

       "Oliver Asher," Ollie says. "The sin of gluttony."

       "Orchid Prince," Orchid says. "The sin of pride."

       "Okay, I'm going to be honest," Grant says. "If anyone gets the sin of pride, I thought it would have been me. This may come as a surprise, but some people do call me too prideful."

       "Wow, really?" Ollie says. "I had absolutely no idea, Mr. I'm Going to Boast About Myself Whenever I can."

       Grant swats his hand as he looks at his paper. "Blade Simms. The sin of sloth. Yeah, the real sin is my name. And the fact that whoever is behind this knows my real name. Wait, how come I got sloth? It's not like I don't do my homework or don't study or sometimes show up late to school or... No, I see why I got sloth."

       "I don't think it's going to be something like those reason, though," Orchid says. "It's not that much of a threatening thing to do. Like imagine if someone goes up to you and says 'If you don't do what I say, I'm going to let the whole world know that you don't do your homework'."

       "Fair point," Grant says. He leans back into the couch. "Okay, well I can't think of anything I've done that would be considered a sin of sloth."

       "Yeah, same here," Orchid says. "But for my sin of pride. Does that sound bad? Like maybe I'm too prideful and don't even know it?"

       "Orchid, as your absolute bestie, I can assure you that you're not too prideful," Clarissa says. "I don't think you're even the slightest bit prideful, so I can't even think something that can be considered your sin. As for my sin of wrath... It can be when a lot of things. Nothing I would care about getting out, though."

       Jerome looks at me. "What's yours?"

       I still don't want to look at mine, but I don't feel like I can exactly tell them that I don't want to. I open the envelope and take out the paper. If it's following the other five patterns, mine is also going to be one of the seven sins. There are only two left; lust and greed.

       "Nolan Prince," I read. "The... sin of lust."

       Grant snorts a laugh. "You? Lust? No offence, but you're pretty much the opposite of lust."

       "...Thanks?" I say. "I... I think?"

       "So what are we going to do about this?" Clarissa asks. "They said we have to listen to them or our sins will be revealed, but they didn't even tell us exactly what our sins are."

       "I don't even think any of us have the slightest idea of what they are," Grant says. "I just think they're trying to scare us. I vote we ignore them."

       "Sounds good to me," Jerome says.

       It definitely does not sound good to me.

       Just because we can't think of what our sins are, it doesn't mean they don't have any dirt on us. There has to be something blackmail worthy, otherwise they won't even bother with this.

       And it's not until I really think about why I would have the sin of lust that I realize they truly have something blackmail worthy. If I'm right, if I got lust for the reason I'm thinking of, then I definitely don't want this to get out there.

       But everyone else seems to agree with Grant. They also want to ignore this. I don't, but if I tell them I don't, then I'm going to have to explain why. I'll have to explain what I think my sin is.

       And I just can't tell them.

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(not gonna lie, i'm still figuring out exactly what their sins are lol). i have nolan and ollie's for sure, and possibly jerome's. i wonder what it is??????

anyway, i hope you enjoy this book!