She ran faster, bypassing the second landing without bothering to look for any sign of danger. The stairwell dead-ended at the fourth level, indicating the palace was three stories tall. The voices drifted off, as if the dealers had exited on the second floor.
Deidre crept down the hallway. There were muffled voices from behind the closed doors of the room nearest her, and she hurried by them and trotted down the hallway. Light poured in from windows in the center of the hallway, and she paused, startled by what she saw outside the palace.
The forest was alive. Deidre stared at the trees with snake-like branches. They hissed rather than rustled in a chilly breeze, and some large creature with six legs was disappearing into the brush. She'd thought it early morning by the weak sunlight and was surprised to see the two suns full up in the grey sky directly overhead.
And I thought Hell looked weird. She couldn't take her eyes off the tree branches. The sound of some strange birdcall came from the forest.
"I need to get out of here." She eased back from the window and started down the hallway again. There was only one intersection on this level in the middle of the long corridor.
Deidre turned down it, hoping she was following the directions. This hallway was much shorter than the other, but it was lined by two doors on either side, spaced far a part, and one door at the other end.
She paused to listen then opened the door closest to her. It was a guest bedroom with everything covered in white sheets. Uncertain what past-Death's room would look like, she decided to open all the doors before beginning to search in depth.
The other three on either side were identical: massive chambers with sheets covering all the furniture. Deidre hurried to the door at the end of the hallway and opened it.
This one felt different, as if she should know it.
It was completely trashed, the petrified wood and stone furniture shattered, the white drapes and bedding shredded. Souls littered the floor, and she closed the door behind her, not at all certain what she sought.
Deidre nudged green gems aside with a grimace, guessing Gabriel's wasn't among them, or it would've been picked up already. She sought out the jewelry box. It was nowhere in sight. Deidre walked carefully through the soul-covered room and searched it once.
"Under the furniture?" She eyed a massive stone block that appeared to have formed the base of a dresser. There was no way she'd be able to lift the destroyed pieces of furniture.