As soon as they reached the steps leading up to the hotel, Luke mumbled something about how nice it had been meeting them both and rushed ahead, scanning the lobby for Penelope. She and Vijay were no longer on the second-floor balcony but had moved to the concierge desk on the main floor. His sister’s eyes widened when she caught sight of him making his way toward her.

Without preamble, he grabbed her hand and pulled her behind a decorative screen.

“What are you doing?” Penelope demanded, as Luke crowded into the space behind the screen with her. “And where’s your shirt?”

“Yeah, dude,” Vijay said, cramming in next to Penelope on the other side of the screen. “What the hell are you doing walking around like that? You’re going to blind the guests with your pasty chest.”

“Hush,” Luke growled, peeking around the screen. The girls from the beach hadn’t made it up the steps to the lobby yet. These long legs of his were good for something.

“What are you doing?” Penelope asked again.

“Trying to be inconspicuous.”

Vijay snorted. “Right. A six-and-a-half-foot half-naked pale-ass white guy. Totally not conspicuous.”

“That’s why we’re behind the screen,” Luke said quietly between gritted teeth.

“All right, big brother, enough with the cloak-and-dagger. What’s going on?”

“A cloak might come in handy right about now,” Vijay muttered. “An invisibility cloak.”

Penelope silenced Vijay with a baleful glance.

Luke smirked. Pen always could keep Jay in line. He turned his attention back to his sister. “Change in plans.”

“You ditch us to take off with your little notebook for almost an hour and come back telling me there’s a change in plans?” Penelope stiffened, voice rising. “I thought you don’t like sudden changes in plans.”

“I don’t. Which, if you’ll recall, is why I took off with my little notebook in the first place.” After another quick glance around the lobby to make sure the coast was clear, Luke tugged on his sister’s hand and made a break for the control room.

“Who’s the impulsive one now?” Pen grumbled under her breath as she hurried after him, Vijay on her heels.

Luke knew his sister understood him well enough to know that whatever he was doing, no matter how strange it seemed, he had a good reason for it. She trusted him. Now he had to trust her. “I need you to take over as game master.”

“What?”

“Did you just say you want Pen to be the GM?” Vijay asked, closing the control room door behind him.

“Yeah.” Luke caught his friend’s eye above his sister’s head. “And I want you to help her.”

“What are you going to be doing?” Pen wondered

“I’m going to be part of the game.” Luke slid into his chair and began opening files on the computer.