Chapter 2
DELILAH
Floor Greed looked like a place straight out of Disney’s Aladdin: a dark cave with gold piled against the curving walls.
The only light came from the lichen glowing on the stalactites, casting greenish shadows across the golden statues, jewelled archways and chests overflowing with treasures. A damp, mouldy scent filled the air.
While Delilah’s jaw hung open, a pair of disembodied black gloves floated over and handed her a stack of gold coins.
‘Oof!’ She barely kept her grip. What was the test? Not to steal the treasure? Delilah felt offended. She’d never been a thief. Was it acceptable to keep the stack of gold coins or should she find some poor orphan to give it to? Did Aladdin and his monkey lurk around here requesting handouts?
‘Excuse me, can I have a clue about the test?’ Delilah called. The hands floated away.
Delilah pursued, walking carefully across the scattered coins.
Each step made a metallic tinkling sound.
Her heel caught between coins, and she shook her foot free.
In the middle of the cave, a spotlight shone over a round green table with a deck of cards on top.
The backs of the cards had an Impressionist-style drawing of the yellow hotel with The Purgatory Hotel for Wayward Ghosts written underneath in cursive.
A poker game! Delilah’s foot tapped on the ground eagerly. Did she need to win in order to pass the test? That would be too easy. Poker was her passion. It had been her very first game of luck and skill, learned from an old man at the public park.
Placing the coins on the table, Delilah grinned like a pirate spotting a merchant galleon with a broken rudder. ‘Deal me in.’
The familiar snap of cards calmed Delilah’s nerves for the first time since her death – bar the pumpkin-spice candle, of course.
She felt as if she’d returned home. The hands served as both dealer and her opponent.
They appeared to be playing Basic Texas hold ’em rules.
She’d always naturally been able to do large maths sums in her head and memorise long lists.
Based on her hand, she calculated the outs, i.e.
the cards still in the deck or in the opponent’s hand that might help her win.
Probabilities flashed across her mind with each tap of her fingers on the table.
Her mouth felt dry, her senses heightening until she could smell the ink on the cards.
This would be the ultimate high-risk game, with her eternal fate at stake.
The trembling in her legs should have been fear, but she mostly felt excitement.
Three games in a row, she won easily. No one in this strange miniature casino cared if she counted cards. Clearly, those hands could have used a brain, because they didn’t play very well. Her joy for her favourite game was starting to be replaced by boredom.
Delilah grew bolder in her bets. Five games later, she’d doubled her stack of coins. Surely that must be enough?
‘This was fun, thank you. You’re quite skilled.
’ Hopefully, a white lie would not be a sin.
She pushed the coins at the dealer. ‘I would like to donate all my coins to this hotel. Please fix the lights in reception. Then could you replace the lift with a new one? The lever seems easily stuck and hard for Damien to pull.’
The hands did not reply, but they took the coins, which Delilah believed meant her request had been accepted.
She left the cave with a spring in her step. By giving away all her winnings, surely she must have proven her generosity.