Sneeze the Day part 2
"A-a-ah-" Abu and I ducked behind one of the many plush pillows we had setup as a protective fort against the onslaught of sneezes. Genie had been right to say they would get worse. He had already made a ceiling high pile of random objects of all shapes and sizes and some of his sneezes had done things to us. It was a false alarm thankfully so we relaxed. Abu and I sighed with relief, until Jaz walked into the room. Genie got that look on his face again.
"Hurry, Jaz! Take refuge!" I yelled at her, but it was too late. Genie began to sneeze rapidly over and over again. The last time he had done that, Abu and I had turned into about ten different animals. This time, Jasmine got the worst of it. She turned into a tree, a koala, a carrot, a painting (I think it was called the Mona Lisa), then back to normal. Abu had enough and ran over to stop the attack, slapping his paw over Genie's mouth.
"Genie, cover your mouth!" Jaz told him and Genie did, but it did little to stop the sneezes. At least now they weren't aimed at us. The sneezes just affected him. With each sneeze he turned into a pig, a block of Swiss cheese, vacuum cleaner, a cat, something really loud, and then a sheep. However that was not the end of the sneezes.
Now there was even more stuff in the room and it was getting crowded. There was an airplane, a crane, a straw shack (Abu and I played in it for a while), and a cow which was now eating the straw shack.
"Achooo!" Genie sneezed again and a large piano appeared. It looked like the ones that were in the western movies that Genie had show us before. However, the piano was screeching.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Genie apologized.
Jasmine climbed over the other piles of objects to reach inside the top and pull Abu out.
"Are you okay, Abu?" She asked gently and the monkey nodded weakly. Genie had that look on his face again and in a flash, the monkey was back inside the piano, figuring that it was the only safe place to be. Genie sneezed and Jasmine screamed. She flung something off her neck and with a grimace I saw a snake slither away from her.
"Gross." I moaned and clutched my stomach. I hated to be around snakes, but I had never felt nauseous before. I felt sick like the time I was inside Mechanicles' machine the first time I had met him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Jas." Genie said, looking saddened and she shook her head.
"It's not your fault, Genie. It just startled me."
"No, it is my fault. This cold is putting you all in danger."
"Well, you have sneezed up a few….problems." She murmured, unable to completely tell him that nothing bad was sneezed up. I smiled a little a seal went back balancing a basketball on its nose and I laughed. Genie sneezed again and to avoid anymore reptilian jewelry, she ducked her head.
"Nothing happened." I said and glanced around. Genie frowned.
"Hm, must'a been a dud."
"Or maybe you're getting better." Jasmine stated and smiled at Genie. "See, we'll get through this!"
A hissing noise caught my attention and I turned my head and froze.
"Um…you might want to take that back…." I stated and ran to hide behind Genie and Jaz as the product of Genie's sneeze lifted its ugly scaly head. Abu screeched and clung to Jasmine as the snake opened its mouth at us. Fire erupted from its open jaws and Genie jumped in front of us to block the flesh-searing flames.
"Okay, Genie, I believe you now." I said quickly and he looked at me over his shoulder.
"What?"
"You know when you said that if I didn't see the magic happen, then it could still have done something?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I believe you now." He only shook his head at me and turned back around. The giant serpent finally stopped breathing fire at us.
"Stand by kids!" Genie called to us. "I can handle a fire-breathing serpent! Achoo!" I groaned and slapped my forehead before groaning. I shouldn't have done that to my already sore head.
"You were saying?"
Genie grinned sheepishly. "Well, um….a two-headed fire-breathing serpent? That's another matter."
"Oh, great!" I said and then we had to run for it. The snake chased us down the hall and I looked at Jaz. "This is not going so great. I thought staying with Genie was the safer bet. Maybe I should have gone with Al."
"We can do this." Jasmine said determinedly. "We don't need Aladdin. Right Abu?" The monkey shook his head.
"See?" I stated and Jaz shook her head.
"To the garden!" Genie announced and we turned towards the open entrance to the courtyard. The giant serpent followed us, slithering down the steps directly behind us.
"Okay, we need a plan!" I said to Genie and Jaz. "What do we do? You know I don't like snakes!"
"Um, we could uh-"
"Anytime, Jaz!"
"I'm thinking! Genie!"
"I don't know! Al usually comes up with this stuff-Ahh!" He cut off his sentence with a shriek and we all turned to see the two-headed menace hissing above us. Screaming we took off to find a safe spot. Abu took off at a run in the opposite direction as we ran to hide, taking refugee.
"Okay, whose idea was it to let Abu run off?" I asked and then saw rocks falling down from the sky around a large tree that the serpent had gone towards. "And when did it start raining rocks?"
"It's Abu!" Jasmine said, pointing him out at the top of the tree. Sure enough the little monkey was drawing the snake's attention from us and towards the rain of rocks he was tossing. Once the snake's two heads were looking at him, he waved and then grabbed a vine. Swinging down between them, he waited until the two heads were eyeing him and then dropped down. He had timed it just right. The two heads breathed fire at each other thinking Abu was still there and ended up frying themselves. Instantly the two charred heads disappeared, leaving the garden without a danger.
"You did it, Abu!" Jasmine cried happily and ran to hug the little simian who chattered happily. "You are so brave!"
"Way to go, Abu. Al will be proud." I said grinning at him. Abu smiled back and let Jasmine hug on him some more.
"You are the smartest, bravest monkey ever!" Jaz gushed and I had a feeling that Abu was going to have a swelled head for the rest of the week. "Father will probably want to give you a medal." I shook my head and then frowned.
"Genie?" I called and looked around the garden. "Genie!?" I saw a paper on the ground and frowned.
"We got it!" I heard Al yell, but I was busy reading the parchment I had found. "We got the Orb!"
"Genie, we can cure you now!" Jasmine said happily. "Genie?"
"Where'd he go?"
"He's…gone." I said swallowing the lump in my throat. How could he just up and leave me like that?
"What do you mean he's gone?" Al asked and I handed him the paper. He began to read aloud:
"My faithful companions, I have gone someplace where I cannot hurt you anymore. Please, don't try to find me. (And that includes you shorty). You are the greatest friends ever. Love, Genie. P.S.: Iago can have my golf clubs."
"Pebble Beach here I come!" Iago exclaimed and Abu glared at him. "Uh, I mean, how tragic." He came to rest on my shoulder. "Sorry kid." I ignored him for the comment and went up to Al.
"Al, we have to find him!" I said desperately and Al smiled, taking my shoulders.
"We'll find him, Rick. We can't give up yet. Come on, Carpet."
"But we don't even know where to begin. He could be anywhere."
"Let's just look for a giant pile of junk." I stated and Al nodded.
"Good thinking, Rick." He ruffled my hair and we jumped onto Carpet. "Let's go find Genie, Carpet!"
We flew across the desert eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary in the desert.
"We might have to comb the entire desert." Al muttered. Suddenly there was a loud sneeze and I grinned as large fume of smoke filled the sky ahead.
"I think it'll be easier than that…" Iago trailed off and I laughed.
"There he is!" Jaz spotted him, sitting in the middle of an extremely large pile of objects and he was still sneezing.
"Genie, we got the Orb!" Al called, standing up on Carpet. "We can cure you!"
"That's great, Al! I'm saved!" Genie grinned and I narrowed my eyes at him. The grin slid off his face. "Err…hey, shorty…" I opened my mouth to reply when he sneezed three times in a row. On the first sneeze, he magicked up the Al-Muddi Sultan, on the second, Fashoom and one the third was the mechanical bug that Al and I had rode in the first time we met Mechanicles. Oh, joy.
"Uh, nice to see old friends…." Genie waved sheepishly at the monsters and I gasped when we caught something's attention.
"Carpet!" I yelped, but it was too late. The Al-Muddi Sultan flicked mud on us and we ended up crashing to the sand below. Luckily, Iago saved the Orb and Al took it from him, while the rest of us tried to get untangled.
"Genie, the Orb!" Al called out and I yelped as Mechanicles' bug stomped towards him.
"Al, look up!" I cried out and Genie saw it too.
"Al!" He yelled, but he was suddenly grabbed by Fashoom. "Whoa!" Al ran out from under the giant bug and I ran to help him. He tossed me the Orb and then gripped my arm. I looked over to see the giant Al-Muddi make a swing at us. I tucked the Orb against my chest and rolled out of the way. Unfortunately, something cold and metal got under the back of my vest.
"Aladdin!" I yelped as Mechanicles' metal bug lifted me high in the air, dangling me above the ground.
"Alaric, get ready to throw the Orb!" Al yelled. "Trust me!" I sighed and nodded.
"Okay, just say when!" I readied my throwing arm, not really sure where to aim yet.
"Genie, open your mouth!" I heard my brother shout. I realized then what he meant to do so I chucked it towards Genie.
"Why?" Genie asked, but in went the Orb. Instantly, Genie turned back into his normal blue color. "I'm baaack!" He announced and dressed as a fairy he went over to each monster and tapped it with his wand. "Goodbye," There went the Al-Muddi. "Goodbye," There went Fashoom. "Goodbye," I laughed as the mechanical bug began to shrink and I was back on my own feet. "And hello." He stated and pulled me into a hug before grabbing everyone else. "I'm cured!
"Euck! Get away, you might be contagious!" Iago protested and I snickered.
"Not a chance!" Genie beamed and flew up in the air. "I am a hundred percent double-A-okay picture of health!" He flexed his arms. "I couldn't feel better!"
"I'm so happy for you!" Jasmine smiled at him and then I groaned.
"You okay kid?" Iago whispered in my ear and I swayed.
"Um…yeah…I think so…" Al sneezed and we looked over at him.
"Al, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just-Achoo!" He sneezed again and Genie gasped.
"Al! you've…you've caught a cold!" He poofed into a nurse's outfit and wagged a finger at him. "And no wonder! Wandering around that drafty Cavern of Machana without a shirt!" He wrapped Al in a blanket and shoved a thermometer into his mouth. "Oh, you kids will be the death of me!"
A few hours later…
"Genie!" I whined from under the blankets. "Am I going to die?"
"No, shorty." He laughed and patted my head. "It's just a cold. You'll be better soon." I moaned and ducked back under the covers.
"Just so you know, I blame you and Al for this." Genie just laughed.
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