Chapter 14: What is Going On?

"Listen, monkey, I don't want your fleas," Iago stated in a slightly sugary sweet voice. That meant he was about to get way louder. "…SO GET OFF!" Abu screeched loudly and I turned in time to get hit by the both of them in their wrestling. The fact that I was sitting near the edge of Carpet didn't help any and I almost toppled off.

"Cut it out guys, we're almost to the palace." I said and Iago and Abu pouted, sitting back as I readjusted my seating on Carpet. They were getting angry in the heat and I couldn't blame them. It was really hot today.

"'Laric?"

"Yeah?"

"Hey, um, not to alarm you but, err, why are you glowin'!?" I looked down at Iago's screamed sentence gasped.

"Al!" I cried out as an orange-ish magic swirled around my body. "What's happening?"

"Alaric!" I heard Al call out and then my vision went black.

The next thing I knew I was being dropped from the sky right into the middle of a room in the palace. I yelped as I flew through the air and then suddenly jerked to a stop before I could smash into the polished floor below. I tried to move, but the magic was holding my arms down to my sides, though I could still move my legs. Confused, I looked up as I was righted, still airborne and looked around the room with narrowed eyes. I didn't have to guess whose magic had engulfed me.

"Jamal!" I called out and he chuckled coming out of the shadows in the corner of the room. He seemed delighted to see me and that had me a little worried.

"How smart you are!" He exclaimed coming closer and I panicked as memories from earlier flooded my head.

"Don't come any closer!" I hollered out and he paused mid-step. I grew confused at the look across his face. He looked saddened by my reaction.

"You think I'm going to hurt you." he said sadly and I glared at him.

"Why shouldn't I?" I asked angrily. "You-you threw me in that-that pit!" I yelled at him and he actually winced.

"Yes, that was awfully cruel of me now wasn't it? It wasn't my intention to harm you." I froze as he walked towards me again as he spoke and he came to stand before me. I flinched at his closeness. Who knew what he was going to do.

"What-what do you mean that wasn't your intention?" I asked eyeing him suspiciously. He took a hand and cupped my face with surprising gentleness and my eyes widened. What was going on here?

"Don't you see?" Jamal asked gently as if we were old friends. "If I hadn't then that stupid jinni wouldn't play my game. He had to be punished." I turned to bite his hand as he ran a finger along my cheek. He pulled his hand away in time and smiled. I only frowned deeper and he heaved a sigh.

"Don't act like that. I am sorry."

"Is that supposed to make up for what you did? Let me go! Where's Genie?" I demanded.

"Now, now. Please, don't be like that." I struggled harder but I couldn't get free from whatever was holding me tightly.

"What do you want from me?" I yelled at him and he only smiled at me hopefully.

"I want you to come with me."

"What?" I asked in a frown. Jamal nodded encouragingly.

"Yes. I want you to come and live….with me." I frowned and he came close to me again. "I'll take care of you. You can have anything you want."

"Let me go, weirdo!" I shouted and struggled again. "Where's Genie?"

"Stop asking for him! I am going to take care of you now!" Jamal snarled and I glared at him.

"You're crazy! What did you do with Genie?" I demanded and Jamal scowled.

"Oh, he's over there if you must know." He waved a hand dismissively in the direction of the other side of the room, but from where I was I couldn't see him.

"Genie! Genie!" I called and instantly was gagged with a cloth. I shook my head, hoping to dislodge it and I found that a thick rope went around my arms holding them down now instead of magic.

"Now don't do that." Jamal stated wagging a finger at me. "We don't want him waking up, before we leave." My eyes widened and Jamal smiled gently. "Now, don't fret. We'll leave soon enough. But there are a few others that may get in the way." He came as close as he could to me and I struggled to get out of his hold.

"I don't want to hurt you anymore, Alaric. Can't you see that? I promise that I won't." I was then picked up off my feet and carried over to a spot on the other side of the room and I saw a flash of blue where I was. I knew it was Genie. I could see him now and looked over at him. Genie was lying unconscious on the ground with a giant knot on his head.

"Now, you stay here, okay?" Jamal patted my head and I tried to wake Genie up with a tap of my foot. "No, no, no." Jamal pulled me away, so I couldn't reach Genie. "Now, don't go away." He shook a finger at me and then in a puff of orange-yellow smoke he was gone. I tried to move towards Genie and ended up falling onto my back in the floor, unable to right myself. Twisting and twisting, my foot finally connected with Genie and I heard him groan as I kicked his shin.

"..Oh, man what a headache…." I heard Genie murmur and then I saw him sit up. His eyes roamed around as he clutched at his head and when he saw me his eyes widened.

"Shorty?" He instantly helped me upright and then took the gag from my mouth. "What's going on?"

"Genie, he's going to do something to Al and everyone else! You gotta go stop him!" I called out instantly. "You have to go!" I cried when he tried to untie me.

"I don't want to leave you here, kiddo." Genie said, suddenly looking furious. "Jamal's trying to take you from me."

"I know, but he said he was going to stop, Al. Genie, please? You have to go to them." He hesitated for a second and nodded.

"Don't worry. I'll be back real quick." He said, stroking my hair. "Don't go anywhere." I rolled my eyes at the statement.

"I don't think I'll be able too." He gave me a cheesy grin and started off when Jamal appeared again. Genie gasped at his sudden appearance and stepped in front of me protectively.

"Going somewhere?" Jamal smiled.

Aladdin stared at the spot Alaric had disappeared from for several seconds. What had just happened? Slowly he turned to Jasmine, who bit her lip in agitation. Iago and Abu patted the empty spot on Carpet and then looked at one another.

"What just happened?" Iago yelled and Aladdin frowned.

"Jamal." Jasmine gasped and clutched at his arm.

"You don't think that he-?"

"He's taken him. I bet they're back at the palace." Aladdin guessed and then he patted the rug below him. "Come on, Carpet!" Carpet didn't need telling twice and he took off for the palace.

Jamal gripped my arm and gave a tug pulling me towards him. Genie did the same to my other arm and I heaved a sigh. This had been going on for a while.

"One of you is going to rip my arms off." I stated lowly, but neither one responded.

"Give him to me!" Jamal snarled and Genie frowned as Jamal tugged my left arm again.

"He's not yours." Genie retorted, tugging me back and though I really liked that answer, I didn't appreciate the arm tugging!

"You can't even care for yourself!" Jamal snapped and he tugged as hard as he could on my arm.

"Cut that out! I'm not a yo-yo!" I yelled and Genie tugged me back trying to get Jamal off. Frowning I jerked out of both of their grips, stumbling back as they both let go in shock.

"Look, I don't care what you say I'm not going anywhere with you!" I shouted at Jamal and the orange jinni frowned. Genie looked at him smugly.

"Ha! Told ya!" He said and Jamal glared at him.

"He's just going to lose you like he does everything else!"

"I do not!" Genie countered. "And stop talking to him!"

"I'll talk to whomever I want to!" They were acting like kids. Rolling my eyes, I only hoped that Aladdin would hurry up. Sure enough, when I looked up at the window there was Al on Carpet with everyone else. Genie and Jamal were still at it, and Jamal was getting angrier by the second. I waved at Al and pointed at the lower windows on each side of Jamal. He nodded and Carpet lowered out of sight.

I had to think of a distraction and fast if Al was going to try and sneak in.

"Fine. Prove that you can take care of me better." I could feel Genie's gaze on me and I fidgeted the slightest. I couldn't look at him for fear that Jamal would call my bluff. I was only faking interest after all. Jamal beamed in delight.

"I can! I can prove it!" Genie gave me a hurt look and I shifted slightly.

"How?" I asked and Jamal was practically grinning smugly at Genie.

"Like this." He zapped me into a new outfit; one that wasn't at all unlike the one Genie had given me when I was prince Farid. Though this one was itchy and had way more fancy cloth on it than I was used to.

"Impressive." I said faking sincerity. "But what else can you do?" Genie frowned a bit, I think he was wondering where all this demanding was coming from. I was hoping he'd figure it out on his own.

"I made you a better one, right?" Genie demanded of me and my eyes widened. Okay, obviously I was wrong as to why he was frowning. Uh-oh.

"Maybe?" I said and instantly gulped. Genie was giving me the evil eye and Jamal was snickering. Great.

"I can do better than he can!" He zapped me then and I was back in my Prince Farid attire with extra attachments, like more gold weaved into the sleeves. Jamal scoffed.

"Is that the best you can do? I can at least give the boy something else." I looked down to see that there was a dog looking up at me with big brown eyes.

"A dog?' Genie scoffed now and Jamal nodded.

"Man's best friend."

"How about this?" Genie aimed at the dog and made it a puppy. "Way cuter." I really liked the puppy and it must have shown on my face for Jamal growled.

"Oh, who needs a dog, when you can have this?" He replaced the dog with some sort of object with two wheels. "A bicycle."

"Ha! A bike? How about a motorcycle?" Genie made the bicycle bigger and much heavier with fatter tires. It revved up and I found a heavy and hard hat on my head. "Safety first."

"What? You don't think I can make him safe?" Jamal challenged.

"No I don't. I take care of you, right shorty?"

"Well, I-"

"See?" Genie interrupted. "I'm a far better supplier than you are!"

"Oh, yeah? Have you ever even taken him outside the country?" Genie faltered and Jamal smirked. "I could take you anywhere you wanted to go. Anywhere you'd like." Jamal informed me and behind him, Genie was growing steadily angrier. "Japan, perhaps?" Jamal zapped me into an odd looking outfit that must have been from that country and I noticed that I was standing in front of a tall building that was oddly made. I reached out with a hand to find that I was in a large glass object. Genie and Jamal were outside it both hardy looking at me. I think I was in an oversized snow globe, I decided as I slid a hand over the smooth curved glass.

"Hawaii?" Jamal zapped me into a hula skirt and a flowered red shirt and all around me was sand and palm trees. Heat was coming from the miniature sun and I could myself bake under its light. The sounds and smell of the ocean was washing over me as I stood there.

"Alaska?" I was now in a snowsuit and all around me was snow. It was freezing and I had to wrap my arms around myself to keep warm as my teeth chattered. A growling caught my attention and I yelped as a massive polar bear came running at me.

"Genie!" I shouted as the bear got closer in the small environment. "Genie!" I screamed again and dodged the paw that came crashing down near my head. I rolled away from the bear and ran to bang my fists against the glass. "Genie!" He wasn't looking at me, instead he was eyeing Jamal and both of them were in a heated argument and I could barely catch any of it.

"Oh, yeah?" Genie said loudly. "Well I could take him to the moon!" I turned when I felt hot breath on my neck and yelped as the bear swiped at me. Before its claws could connect with my side, it disappeared and the whole scenery shifted.

I was now in a large puffy suit and a large helmet was on my head. I floated above a white rocky terrain and it was inky black in the sky above. I tried to touch the odd looking ground that was filled with craters and such, but I kept floating around. It was actually kind of fun. For a moment I forgot about the fighting djians and started flipping around in the air.

"Or I could take him to the Jurassic era!" I found myself yet again, in another area, though this one was a steamy jungle like environment. Large leafy plants surrounded me and I jumped back as a something crashed above the bushes over head. A large echoing roar emitted from the tree line and I had a strong urge to run. So I did. A large dinosaur crashed after me from the trees and I screamed in terror as it chased me about, jaws snapping inches from my body.

"Genie! Do something!"

"Or even the under the sea!" The next thing I knew I was submerged in water and I was floating down to the bottom of the glass. To my surprise I was able to breath and sighed heavily. What was taking Al so long to sneak in? Neither Genie nor Jamal were paying any attention! I landed on a rock at the bottom and frowned as I sat crossed legged.

"Well, look who it is!" I jumped and turned to see a familiar girl. Oh, no not her! My eyes widened. She was a mermaid with long flowing redish-brown hair.

"Saleen!" She laughed at my expression and swam closer. She was pretty, I'll admit, but she was also crazy obsessed with Al and me too!

"Hello, Ricky." She cooed and I scowled. I hated when she called me that. "How did you get down here? Did Aladdin send you?" I wondered if Genie was actually paying attention now.

"No, I-" I stopped mid sentence as she leaned closer to me. That was another thing, when Al wasn't around she was coming at me! Who knows how old she is!

"You're so adorable!" She squealed and I wanted nothing more than to swim away from her. She sighed then. "If only you were older. Though I would like to keep you for a while…." I backed away as she got that look on her face which meant trouble for me. But I couldn't go far because I bumped into something and that something was not the side of the globe. It was Armand her loyal octopus guard. He made a face of dislike at me as he gripped his tentacles around me to keep me from getting further away. Armand wasn't too bad, he was just insanely jealous of how much Saleen cared for me and Al. So it technically wasn't his fault he disliked me.

"Perhaps if you were something else? A merman?" Armand shook his head. "Yes, you're right. He should be a little fishy." I kicked at Armand who instantly let go to curl around his injured tentacle and I took the opportunity to swim away.

"Oh, he's getting away!" Saleen cried behind me. "Go get him, Armand!" It was then with a sense of dread that I realized that I was really no longer in the snow globe. Great, just great.

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