Lie to Me (Pearl Island Trilogy #4)(26)
Feeling instant empathy for any kid trying to escape laundry duty, he nodded. “Right.”
“That doesn’t matter,” the mother said with gentle authority. “I have chores to do, and after what you did yesterday, I want you in my sights today.”
“Oh, Mom.” Dragging his feet, the kid joined his mother in the doorway. “I really want to play.”
“AJ.” She gave an embarrassed laugh before looking at Luc. “I’m sorry. We’ll get out of your way.”
“Actually…” Luc debated the risk of letting the kid play, and potentially recognizing the portal. Since it only showed at the start of a game, he decided he could control that. “I don’t mind.”
“I can play the game?” AJ bounced on the balls of his feet.
“On one condition.” Luc held up his hand to stop the kid from running back to him. “You have to wait there while I set it up.”
“Cool!” The kid cheered while Luc moved the computer to his lap and shifted so they couldn’t see the screen.
“Hang on,” the mother said. “It’s not one of those games with graphic violence, is it?”
“It has a no-gore parental control,” Luc assured her. They’d installed the option when Luc realized the sight of spewing blood might not be appropriate for younger players.
“Okay, then,” the mother relented. “But AJ, I want you to come straight to the kitchen when you’re done.”
“I will,” AJ promised, looking practically angelic. The minute his mother left, he rubbed his hands with diabolical glee. “All right, let’s do this thing.”
“Wait.” Luc held his hand up again. “I have to set it up first.”
“I wanna see.” AJ practically danced in place.
“That’s my condition. Have you played other games?” Luc asked, to get a feel for the kid’s skill level.
“A few,” AJ said. “Nothing like that.”
“Okay, then, we’ll start you off easy.”
“Na-ah, you can give it to me.”
Luc stifled a chuckle as he hurried through setting up a new game to play at level one with no gore, then entered a programming code to freeze the action the minute the tavern scene appeared with Blade standing before the mirror. “Okay, ready.”
“All right!” AJ raced over.
“You’ll need to stand in front of me.” Unplugging the head set so they could both hear, he moved back to make room and adjusted the laptop so the camera would read AJ’s face. That wouldn’t affect Blade’s appearance, since the computer controlled that. Normally, brand new players had to develop their character before they could begin, but that could take hours. “I’m gonna trust you with my life here and let you be Captain Blade.”
“I wanna be Captain Jack.” AJ insisted.
“All right, we can call me—I mean my character—Captain Jack.”
“He doesn’t look like Captain Jack.” AJ wrinkled his nose. “Captain Jack has a black ponytail like my Uncle Adrian. He’s really cool.”
“Your uncle?”
“No, Captain Jack,” AJ corrected him. “’Cause he can walk through walls and stuff.”
“You mean the ghost?” Luc raised a brow, intrigued. “You’ve seen him?”
“Sure.” AJ shrugged. “He comes to my room a lot. Like the other night, when I got grounded for climbing up the side of the house.”
“You climbed the side of the house?” Luc’s eyes widened.
“Only partway.” The kid’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. “I woulda made it to the balcony, but Marguerite went and got Mom. She’s always tattle-telling on me when I do stuff she thinks I shouldn’t.”
“You don’t say,” Luc prompted, straightfaced.
“Well, not actually tattle-telling, ’cause most grownups can’t hear her or see her like we kids can. They just sorta feel her or something. Mom came runnin’ and made me climb back down. She was really mad and sent me to my room. I hate it when I’m grounded. It’s so boring! Except when Captain Jack comes to hang out with me.”
“That would certainly be less boring.”
“He tells the best stories.” Excitement shone in AJ’s blue eyes. “About being a ship cap’n. And sea battles. And fighting off pirates. Real pirates.”
“I see.” Luc wondered if Chloe found the kid as amusing as he did.
“So, I wanna be Captain Jack.”
“Okay, we’ll pretend Blade is Jack for this game.”
“But he doesn’t look like Jack,” AJ complained.
“Use your imagination,” Luc suggested, since the kid obviously had a good one.
“Okay.” AJ sighed, then took up the hand controls. “Let’s do this!”
Chapter 8
Male screams greeted Chloe as she left the gift shop. Allison had just finished helping her put the dolls on display and headed for the kitchen to see if Aurora needed help, leaving Chloe free for the rest of the day. Hoping Luc hadn’t grown bored while waiting, she’d checked her makeup, then hurried from the gift shop only to draw up short at the metallic clashing sound of an epic battle.