Val Pov(first person point of view)

  That morning, I received a letter in front of our house. Well-three letters, actually. The first one was made of fancy paper, sealed with an elegant emblem, and addressed in beautiful cursive handwriting to 'The Residence of Val and Eclipsara.' The second was a pin envelope, written simply with our home address-no fancy markings, but sealed tightly. The third? Just an unmarked, undecorated envelope. No title. No hint of the sender. Huh... Now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever officially filed any paperwork that says Eclipsara and I live here. Did I? Sylvarius must’ve taken care of it behind the scenes. Knowing her, she probably registered the house under both our names and even handled the expenses too. And we’ve only known her a short time…

  I got to thank her the next time I see her.

  “Eclipsara!!” I called out.

  She shuffled in, clearly still half-asleep. Her hair was messy, and she let out a huge yawn she tried (and failed) to hide behind her hand.

  “What is it, Val?” she mumbled.

  “I got three letters.” I held them up for her to see.

  Eclipsara raised a sleepy eyebrow. “Does it say who they’re from?”

  “Nope. That’s what we’re about to find out.”

  I handed them to her. “Wanna pick which one we read first?”

  She blinked, then a mischievous grin slowly spread across her face. “Alright, Val... how about we make a little game out of this?”

  I blinked in surprise, then returned the grin. “Ho ho ho... What diabolical pn have you cooked up now?”

  Without answering, she took the three letters and walked off. A few moments ter, she came back with three rge bowls.

  “Val, no peeking!” she warned as she disappeared into another room.

  I had a feeling I knew exactly what she was doing.

  “Val! Come in here!” she called.

  I stepped into the room and found her sitting on the floor, with the three bowls lined up in front of her-left to right.

  I crossed my arms and asked, “Sooo... what’s the game?”

  “Simple,” she said, grinning. “Guess which letter is in which bowl. If you guess correctly, you win a reward.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “What kind of reward?”

  “The winner gets to make the loser do something-anything-they want.” Her grin widened.

  My stomach dropped.

  She definitely knew I had something pnned for her. Something thoughtful. Something I was going to do in secret.

  “Eclipsara... You wouldn’t-”

  “Oh, I would,” she cut me off with an evil little ugh. “This is the only way to stop you from trying to do everything for me. It's my turn to take care of you.”

  “You’re evil as heck!” I cried, pointing an accusing finger at her devious smirk.

  She ughed again, full of triumph. “And you love it.”

  I sighed, dramatically flopping down in front of the bowls. “Fine. Let’s py.”

  Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Bring it on, letter detective.”

  “Oh, I’m winning this,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “And when I do, I will carry out my secret pn.”

  “You’re welcome to try.” she teased. “But just know-if I win, you’re getting the full treatment. Spoiled. Cared for. No arguments.”

  I stared at the bowls.

  This just got serious.

  "Alright, Val." Eclipsara said, her grin sharp and dangerous, "if you guess which bowl has the elegant letter, you get to do that one thing you were pnning for me, like you intended."

  I narrowed my eyes. "And if I guess the other two correctly too?"

  She chuckled, brushing some hair from her face. "If you get more right than wrong… then you win. Simple as that."

  "Simple, huh?" I muttered under my breath.

  She was sitting like a smug cat, calm and confident. The three bowls were pced neatly in front of us. Somewhere underneath them were the letters. I had no clue which was which. But I had to win. I couldn’t let her be the one spoiling me-even if a small part of me didn’t entirely hate the idea.

  "Alright then." I said, cracking my fingers and my neck. "Let’s start the game."

  I stared at the bowls. Eclipsara leaned back, watching me with her usual deadpan stare, her one visible red eye like a ser focused on my soul.

  I pointed at the middle bowl. "Is that the elegant letter?"

  Eclipsara gave a faint smirk. “Is that your final answer?”

  Her eyebrow arched-barely noticeable, but it told me everything and nothing at once.

  "...No. No, it isn’t."

  Dang it! She was unreadable. That calm face, that hint of a smile-she could’ve been bluffing or genuinely amused. There was no way to tell.

  This was going to be hard.

  I kept stalling, trying to read her. I scratched my chin thoughtfully and gnced at her again. Nothing. No blink, no twitch. Just a calm gremlin in human form.

  Then, fate gave me a golden opportunity.

  Eclipsara reached up, humming faintly to herself as she straightened out her hair. For one brief moment, she closed her eyes.

  Now.

  I slowly shifted the rightmost bowl-just a millimeter. Just enough to glimpse the tiniest corner of a letter underneath. I see the features of an Elegant letter.

  Bingo. I felt myself give a huge grin inside my head.

  By the time she opened her eyes, everything was exactly as it had been. I put on my best poker face.

  "I choose the right bowl." I said with fake look of stating that I am guessing at this point.

  Her eye narrowed. “Final answer?”

  “Final.” I said, nodding and sighed as if I was guessing it all and definitely not cheating.

  She slowly lifted the bowl… and revealed the elegant letter.

  “Oh-ho?” She blinked. “Well, look at that…”

  I make a fake suprised face. “Oh? I acutally got that one right? Dang...I must be lucky.”

  One by one, I guessed the other two. I got them both right. Three out of three.

  Eclipsara sat silently for a second, then let out a long sigh. "Huh. Well... Looks like you win, Val."

  I blinked. "Wait, seriously? That’s it? I win?"

  She tilted her head and gave me a toothy smile. "Yep. You win. And I never said not to cheat."

  My stomach dropped.

  "And since I never said it was against the rules..." she continued, standing slowly with that same smile, "I’ve decided to punish you anyway."

  I backed up. "Whoa-wait. No no no. You can’t just-!"

  Her smile widened into something absolutely devilish.

  “Oh, Val…” she cooed(soft gentle voice), her voice dipped in mock sweetness. “You thought you could out-gremlin me?”

  My eyes widened. “NO.....Eclipsara. Don’t you dare-!”

  She lunged.

  I turned to bolt, but she was faster. Like a blur of absoulte gremlin energy and revenge, she tackled me to the floor, pinning me effortlessly. How is she so strong?!

  “No escape for the sneaky boy!” she cackled, grinning maniacally. “Now you get the Eclipsara Gremlin Special!”

  "WHAT KIND OF NAME IS THAT?! WAIT-NO! NO-!"

  She dug her fingers mercilessly into my sides and under my armpits, tickling like a demon possessed.

  I shrieked. "STOP! NO-THAT'S ILLEGAL! ITS SUPPOSED TO BE ILLEGAL! I’M SENSITIVE THERE-!"

  Eclipsara ughed like a maniac, full of unholy joy. “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR CHEATING!!”

  My limbs filed uselessly, but she had me completely immobilized.

  “I CAN’T-BREATHE-ECLIPSARA PLEASE-!”

  “Oh, now you wanna py nice?” she said sweetly, grinning ear to ear. “Too te. Now it’s time for... EXCESSIVE PAMPERING!!”

  "NOOOOO-!"

  She hugged me tightly, squishing me into a forced cuddle while I was still trying to catch my breath from the tickle torture. She cooed and rocked me back and forth like I was a baby, her tone dripping with mock affection. How embarassing. My dignity...gone just like that.

  “There, there- Such a precious little Val… Needs to be spoiled for being such a bad boy-”

  “You’re insane you crazy girl!” I groaned, trying to free myself.

  “I’m your problem.” she said with a wink with her visible red eye. “Forever.”

  “I regret everything.” I muttered.

  “Too te, you little letter-thief,” she ughed, holding me even tighter. “You messed with the devil. Now accept your fate.”

  And that was how I, Val, ultimate pnner of surprise acts of kindness… ended up held hostage by a gremlin girl with a heart of gold and a mind of chaos.

  Honestly?

  …I probably deserved it. Karma got me in the end.

  Dang it!