"Don't remember? Like you don't remember anything?" Caleb's eyes are wide in curiosity.

"Yup," I say, popping the 'p', "it's why they call me 'Sev', short for 'Seven' or the seventh sin. I don't remember anything about my past life. Not even my name."

"Dang," He rubs his hands together, lost in thought.

"Anyways, let's get down to the problem at hand," Zach cuts back in, looking at me nervously, "Now we know the backstory to the sins, right? Any questions, concerns, dad jokes, bad puns, or sarcastic comments?"

Caleb raises his hand like an elementary school kid, "Me! I have one!"

Zach points to him dramatically. They're like a bunch of five-year-olds.

Caleb smiles, "So how does the whole contract thing work? You guys, like, sold your souls, right?"

"Pretty much. We signed an enchanted contract, so we're sealed eternally, really. Until Death decides to give our souls back, which I wouldn't count on."

"What's in the contract?"

For a moment, the sins look at each other warily, unsure of what to reveal. I don't remember signing the contract, but the rest of the sins explained the deal to me, so I got the gist of it.

Zach doesn't take long to expose us, "Well, it's really just a list of rules, sort of. Like no telling the mortals, take only who you're told to, obey Death but never actually contact Death --which seems counterproductive to me--. You know. Stuff like that." Then, he shrugs like he's explaining the rules of owning a goldfish; like they were easy.

"But," Kianna glares at Zach, "some rules change based off the sin. Like the way they can use their abilities."

"That's another thing," Caleb says, "what are everyone's abilities?"

"Um," Kianna looks down at her shoes, "I think it'd be better not to know. It's not against the rules to tell, necessarily, we just don't know what you'll do with the information."

He shrugs and pointedly looks at me. Whoops, I mouth with a sheepish smile. He smiles back.

Adrian steps out of the shadows, annoyed, "Let's just get to the point, shall we? We've all told each other our terrible backstories. What does that have to do with the soul sucking demon? The black essence?"

"That's where it gets interesting," Zach tilts his head, "There's got to be something that intertwines through our stories, right? Something different about Sev and my story's that caused the demon to be implanted. But we don't have Seven's memories, so we'll need to base it off my own. If we want to be specific, we need all of the sin's memories. Including Livia's."

The room is thrown into complete silence. I feel like that happens a lot. Like, Woo, awkward silences. Dumb antisocial skills.

"I guess that'll help with our first investigation, too," Kianna sighs. "Speaking of which, Caleb, have you heard of any sketchy activity on the Guardian's side?"

"Define sketchy."

"Like a break-the-rules, trouble-causing, sketchy kind of person."

"Well, not necessarily. Adrian kind of filled me in on what happened with that, um, woman, but I don't think any of the Guardians would do that. I could always ask around, though."

The sorrow in my chest for the old woman was growing faint, but still seemed to squeeze my heart.

"Sweet, thanks. You do that while we devise a plan to find the devil herself. Livia's always been attracted to causing problems," Kianna's words are dripping with venom, and I can almost see waves of bitterness reflecting off her skin.

"Don't be unfair, Kianna. Just because she might be a little self centered, doesn't mean she'd break any serious rules," Rev speaks up, his calm voice stilling the anxious atmosphere.

"A little self centered?" Kianna mutters sarcastically.

"I don't think I've ever even met her," I comment, interested in the conversation. Silence tackles the room, and everyone looks at me, startled.

"She worked with us for four years, Sev," Kianna whispers hesitantly.

I furrow my eyebrows, racking my brain. Four years? That can't be right. I don't even know what she looks like. I always just thought something happened before my transformation that made everyone bitter about Livia.

"You really don't remember?" Zach's voice is filled with concern, again.

I meet his gaze, my heart racing in uncertainty.

"Anyways," Caleb cuts in, trying to ease the attention away from me, "I'm gonna go find the Guardians, ask around, I'll be back soon. You guys find and question this Livia girl." He stands up, and the rest of them begin to follow.

"I'm off to bed," Zach yawns, "We can decide what we want to do in the morning." The heads around him nod in agreement, everyone plagued with exhaustion.

As everyone makes their way out of the room, I'm frozen on the ground, consumed in thought. What happened to me? I don't remember anything. An image of a woman flashes through my mind, shooting an arrow of pain through my head and causing me to wince. No, no. I do remember something. I remember my mom. For now, that's good enough. Better than how much I knew a month ago. No matter how much I try to comfort myself, my mind is working too much, my heart hammering too fast. What else have I forgotten? I remembered Zach being confused earlier. It wasn't a joke, right? No, Zach wouldn't joke about something so serious. And Kianna seemed concerned as well.

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't remember Livia, either," Caleb's confident grin jolts me out of my thoughts. He's sitting against the wall, the only other person in the room, observing my expression.

I attempt a smile, but it fails quickly, "I knew I'd forgotten about my past, but I thought it might've been a glitch in the contract, or something. Now it seems like I've forgotten a lot about this life, too."

He scoots over to sit next to me, crossing his legs and resting his arms across his knees, "What do you mean by this life?"

I shrug, "I kind of separate my life into two parts. The beforelife that I don't remember, and the afterlife. Like the opposite-of-a-second-chance life."

Caleb chuckles, "That's kinda how I feel, too."

"You? You're a Guardian, though. You're literally an angel. You're promised Heaven. What's so bad about that?" I gesture to his massive wings in complete awe.

He smiles weakly, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "I know I should be grateful or whatever, but it's a lot, you know? The responsibilities of this," he pauses, searching for the right words, "this afterlife. They're a lot to carry."

I nod in agreement, meeting his eyes, "It's hard for a few kids to carry the balance of the world. And yet, I wouldn't trade anything to go back. Everything I have now I'm grateful for, even my lost memories. Honestly, I'm not even sure if I want my memories back. Sure, I'm curious," I lean back on my hands, thinking of Death's plea to remember him, "but sometimes I wonder whether it's worth risking what is to salvage what was."

I suddenly realize all the nonsense I'm spouting and my eyes widen. "Oh, I didn't mean to throw that all at you. I just met you, after all," I hesitate, my stomach twisting in embarrassment, "but, I mean, thanks for listening." My face heats up, and I can hear Caleb laughing softly. At how ridiculous I sound, probably. I stand up to escape and let out a huge yawn. How timely.

"You should get some sleep, love," he smiles.

My blush deepens, "But I slept for two days."

"So? There's no such thing as too much sleep."

I fold my arms across my chest, sticking my tongue out, "I can do what I want. I'm a grown woman."

He laughs and mutters something under his breath that sounds a lot like, "Believe me, I know." Then stands up beside me, now towering over me. "If you needed help, you could've just asked.

I knit my eyebrows, "I don't nee- AHH!" Suddenly, Caleb's arms are around my waist and he's hoisting me up and over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I blush again, agitated. "Put me down!"

"I don't trust your legs after you not moving for those two days."

I groan and start pounding his back, "I can walk fine!" He doesn't respond, and I can't see his face, but I can sense his smirk. Finally, he enters my room and plops me down on my bed. "No thank you," I mumble, still embarrassed.

"You are so welcome, love."

"Stop calling me that!"

"Sure, love," his smile is practically glowing.

I groan, and pull the covers over my head. "You're an idiot," I mumble under my breath.

"What was that?" His voice is muffled by the blankets.

"Oh, nothing! Just complementing the strangely large amount of empty space in your brain!"

He laughs loudly, and a spark of joy erupts in my chest. I shove it down as his feet move to leave. "Caleb?" I peek out from behind my blankets. He pauses and turns his head towards me. "Stay safe." Caleb smiles and leaves, closing the door behind him. I let out a deep breath and flop back down onto the pillow, my heart slamming against my rib cage. Stupid boys doing stupid things giving me stupid heart attacks. Ugh.

I roll onto my side, twisting my blankets around me. Eventually, my pulse slows. I drift off to sleep, and right into another nightmare.