Ali was fascinated by the room. He stared at the unusual objects.
"What are you doing in here, kid!"asked Iago. "You aren't supposed to be in here!"
Ali didn't pay any attention to Iago.
"You all right, kid? I mean, I'm right here, you know. Hello?"
Ali didn't usually ignore Iago. Usually, he was the first one to point him out, and start torturing him.
"Are you all right, kid? Should I go get Genie, or something?"
"Wow."was all Ali said.
"I don't think you should be in here. Your parents wouldn't like it, you know. Maybe if you just went back to bed?"
"Did you create this place?"
"Um, no. But still, you should be in bed."
"What is this place?"
"Well, we're in the Palace, you see."
"I've never seen it."
"Kid, you better go back to bed, and not tell anyone. Don't come back here, either, you know."
Ali took some of the books on the shelves.
"Shouldn't these books be in the library?"
"You don't want to read them, kid."
Ali opened one.
"No!"
Iago grabbed the book out of Ali's hands.
"Um, they're not for your age group."
"Give that back! I saw it first."
"It makes no difference who saw it first. If your parents find out…I don't want to think about it."
"I'll tell them that you were trying to do something to me!"
"Look, wouldn't it be better to just forget about all this. Go back to bed."
"You can't tell me to go back to bed!"
"Well, guess what, I can! Now go back to bed! Genie'll probably be looking for you."
"I don't care what Genie looks for! Give me my book!"
"It's not your book, kid."
Ali began to throw things at Iago.
"Hey, stop that!"
"Give me my book!"
Iago let go of the book.
"Look, take my word for it, you're not going to like it."
"It's neat. There wouldn't be a way in here to curse you, would there, Iago?"
"Aw, great. Look, that's enough, all right? Why don't we just go down to breakfast? We don't want anyone worrying about us, now, do we?"
"I've got to write to Sabdullah! He will be so jealous, when I tell him about the book. He will never believe it!"
"Jealousy's not good, I think, you know."
"Aunt Aida probably spend a lot of time in here! She probably knows all about these spells and all that! You see, I always knew she told us the truth, when she told us about magic and all that!"
"Kid, your aunt didn't even live here, most of her life. And as for her working magic, well, I remember, she always wanted to learn to cook, so she could learn to brew potions. She used to wonder what kind of potion ingredients they sold in the marketplace."
"Oh, she'll probably know all about this."
"I doubt it, kid. Your aunt's a great believer in magic, but from there, to working it, well, I don't' doubt she can, but I don't think she ever did."
"Yes, she did. This was her book!"
Iago sighed.
"Your parents are probably going to kill me, kid. Not to mention the fact that they might have all this burned."
"No! They can't do that! My aunt has to see these books. Maybe she'll give me a lot of cajeta if I show them to her."
"Your parents will kill us, kid."
"No, they won't. I want to write a letter."
"And to whom?"
"To Sabdullah. He'll tell my Aunt Aida. We'll keep it a secret."
"Kid, since when has your aunt ever been one to keep secrets? How much you wanna bet that the second she finds out, she gets here, and the first thing she does is ask where the magic books are? Without even greeting anyone, or saying good byes or anything. It's about the only thing that connects her to her father's sister. They can't keep secrets, and they have an excellent memory for gossip. Not to mention very keen ears, and both are nosy. Well, kind of like you kids here. You know, you love to get everyone else in trouble. Your aunt always did that. To anybody, her sister, the guards, the servants, anybody. As long as they got yelled at."
Ali shrugged and ran out of the old laboratory, towards his own room.
"He's safe!"exclaimed Genie. "Don't you scare me like that! Where were you? We've been looking everywhere. For a while there, I was sure you'd been kidnapped."
"Genie!"
Genie shrugged.
"Oh, dear!"exclaimed Hamed. "Thank goodness your back. Very well, then, breakfast, I think. Let us put this whole nasty business behind us. After all, my grandson obviously loves to hide. Why, I remember your aunt doing the exact same thing"he chuckled. "She'd always go exploring, she said. Jasmine, of course was always the best behaved, obviously. Aida, always so rebellious, so troublesome, always worrying me and her mother."
"Well, they had to get something from their aunt."laughed Cassim.
"Well, that's that."said Aladdin.
"Adequate punishment…"said Genie, taking out his list.
"There's no need, Genie."said Aladdin.
"Al, proper child education."he said, taking out a book.
"Well, we'll educate them our way."
"Yes."said Iago, on Ali's shoulder.
"Hey, since when did you two become friends?"asked Genie, suspiciously.
"Well, you know, just here and there. Just had a little talk, settled some differences, found some things in common, you know."
"Hmm."
"Well, that's settled."said Hamed, happily.
Ali wrote to his cousin, with Iago trying to talk him out of it.
"And what exactly are you telling him?"
"Just what I discovered this morning."
"You did remember to put in not to tell his mother."
"Yes. I want him to come visit me. Sabdullah likes Agrabah."
"I don't know, kid. You know his mother's kind of nosy."
"My aunt isn't nosy!"
"Whatever you say. I just thought it would be a good idea to not to get your aunt involved. Then your parents are bound to find out, and you know, it would just be a big mess."
"Sabdullah and Aunt Aida know more about magic than I do. Mother doesn't believe in it much, and Father doesn't seem to believe in it much, either. Aunt Aida knows it exists. Sabdullah always tells me about the things Aunt Aida tells him. They're so extraordinary!"
"You have no idea just how extraordinary these things can be, kid!"
Ali ran to find someone who could deliver the letter for him.
"I want it to get to Yucatan as soon as possible!"he said breathlessly.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Do you think it'll take long?"he asked Iago.
"I don't know. Maybe. Are you gonna get a reply?"
"I hope so. Maybe he might come as soon as he gets it."
"And miss the mermaid watching?"asked Iago, rolling his eyes.
"That's only at the full moon, and you know it."
"Well, we'll see. They've never managed to find one, have they?"
"Aunt Aida says they're shy. They're afraid of people, you see."
"Well, that certainly clears everything up. You better go. Genie's calling you. We don't another search party out after you, do we?"