Chapter 19: Under the Influence

The key had an old cursed magic that Genie couldn't put his finger on. He felt ill at ease being in the same room with it. Aladdin had it then, but Genie could feel the magic around the room like a bright beacon. No, not really. That was far too light of a term for it. It was more like a cloying smoke, a migraine that threaded through every part of his head.

Sure, the magic in the key wouldn't kill Genie. But having any kind of interaction with it, especially as a being of light magic versus its darkness, wouldn't be pleasant.

"Still nothing," Aladdin said, breaking the silence in the room. The prince set the scroll he'd searched through aside, his hand raking back strands of hair away from his face as he looked up. "How are you guys doing?"

"Nothing over here." Jasmine sat not too far away from Aladdin, across the same table, but going through a stack of books. "I'm starting to think that we aren't going to find anything about cursed keys in Saztou's spell books."

"Books and scrolls alike," Remi added. He stood towards the middle of the room, his eyes scanning one of the shelves. "I've taken out everything that has to do with Saztou. Genie's already gone through a number of them."

Genie gave a short, confident salute that he hoped wouldn't betray his nerves. "Yep, still plowing my way through my stack. I don't see anything on keys yet, though. It makes sense to know what you're looking for. Makes the search go faster."

Aladdin groaned. "Yeah, but not all of us have magic like you." Something in Aladdin's expression changed as he met Genie's glance - more concerned than usual. Genie wondered if Aladdin picked up on his anxiety. But the prince stopped short when Abu started screeching. Aladdin moved over to Abu quicker than anyone else, taking a seat beside the monkey on the floor.

"Looks like Abu found something." Aladdin looked over the monkey's shoulder, reading over the scroll that the monkey held open. Just as quickly as Jasmine was able to reach them, Aladdin whistled. "Yeah, I would count that as being something to worry about."

"What does it say, kiddo?" Genie asked.

Aladdin summarized what he read the best he could. "Saztou knew about a cursed trinket that he'd found washed ashore. He doesn't say key here, but its implied. Seems like the magic inside it contains its own map, which leads to the thing it opens."

Jasmine frowned. "Wait, it contains its own map? How?"

"The magic is the guide," Aladdin explained. "It explains why whenever I hold it in my hand, it feels like it wants to pull me towards something. I've felt it ever since I found it. But that's not the only thing that's weird." He continued reading through Saztou's notes. "Says that he needed to keep the key hidden away because he knew it would lead to a dangerous treasure."

Abu winced, while Iago made an equal expression of distaste. "See, you had me at 'treasure' but I'm out at the idea of any danger."

Aladdin ignored the bird as he continued to read. "The treasure is somewhere along the cliffs and desert outside the city. He was able to trace the route with his magic, so he knew the vicinity of where it was. He didn't have to worry about anyone made of magic being able to touch it. The key reacts badly to 'magic holders'. His words, not mine. But in human hands, Saztou was afraid someone unwitting would find the treasure and end up releasing something terrible. He doesn't say what it is. He wrote about his plans to destroy both the key and the 'treasure' so it couldn't harm anyone, but..." Aladdin trailed off.

Genie's shoulders slumped. "Guessing he never got the chance to?"

Aladdin shook his head. "Right after this, he talks about his worries with the arrival of the 'sea sky demon'. Guessing it wasn't long after that the Deathseeker got to him. So before I found it, the key was in his hidden quarters, among the ruins of the lighthouse. Just sitting there waiting for anyone crawling the ruins to find it."

Jasmine hugged the sides of her arms with her hands. "I wonder what would have happened if you hadn't found the key. Or if you had ended up giving it to Aziz. I'm glad you listened to your instinct to hold onto it, Aladdin. Although..." When she trailed off, Aladdin looked up at her with concern. "I was the reason you almost lost it. Good thing Carpet was able to get it back."

Remi's eyes widened. "It makes so much more since now why Aziz wanted you to find it. He must have learned about it one of the times he went through the archives here. Even after he attacked me."

"There's something I don't understand though," Aladdin said, standing while clenching his fists at his sides, the key still in his left hand. "Saztou said that the key reacts badly to magic beings. Aziz told me to get the key for him. He wanted me to hand it to him, but he's never actually touched the key."

Genie's brows rose. "Wait, can you confirm he didn't?"

"He didn't at all, Genie. Aziz was wearing his disguise, so I didn't know it was him at that point. He was wearing gloves over his hands. He never physically touched the key with his bare hands. Maybe he crafted the thief's game for me to get it, just in case he had any kind of reaction."

Genie folded his arms across his chest, lost in thought for a moment before he spoke again. "That makes sense. But maybe Aziz wouldn't have had a bad reaction to it either way, especially since he USED to be human."

"Carpet didn't have any problems touching it before." Aladdin held out the key to Carpet, who took it gingerly out of Aladdin's palm with one of his knobs. No reaction, though Aladdin could feel the heavy feeling the key left behind fade from him. Carpet was quick to place the key back in Aladdin's palm, as if he expected it to catch fire.

"Might be because of Rug Man's threads? I don't think it'd hurt him to touch anything cursed unless it was made of the same material as him," Genie said. "Though that's just a guess on my part."

Genie should have anticipated Aladdin's next question, but he couldn't help but flinch at the prince's words. "What about you, Genie? I feel like you've been keeping your distance ever since we got back."

Jasmine picked up on Genie's uneasiness just as readily. "If what you're saying's true, then Genie could be affected by it too."

Genie held up his hands, as if surrendering. He'd have to tell them sooner than later, so it might as well be that moment. "Guess I should just come clean about it. That thing has been the bane of my existence ever since you brought it back, Al." At his blunt words, Aladdin, Jasmine and Remi all looked at Genie with surprise. "It's like this - if Iago started shouting in my ear non-stop for several hours, that would be what I'm feeling like right now just being in the same room with the key. It's worse the closer I stand near it."

Iago looked like he wanted to protest, but Abu promptly put his paw over Iago's beak to stop the bird from interrupting.

Aladdin looked so horrified that Genie felt a little guilty at his tone. "Oh no, I didn't realize. You have every right to keep your distance. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise."

Genie shook his head. "But if we're testing out what that key can really do - what effects it has especially when it comes the presence of magic, it makes sense I'd be the one up to the plate." He briefly transformed into a baseball player, swinging a bat and hitting a ball that sailed over Iago's head. The bird squawked, ducking down quickly though it was in no danger of actually hitting him. But when Abu caught the ball, it quickly disappeared.

Genie reverted to his usual form before addressing Aladdin again. "When you were under Aziz's curse during the thief's game, you didn't hesitate on having the same test done as Remi. The whole time I was afraid of it hurting you. Guess I shouldn't be such a scaredy cat to try this to see whether it's true."

Jasmine and Aladdin shared another worried look between each other. They traded nods on something silently before the princess turned, addressing him directly. "Genie, I think you know well enough that none of us would want you to do anything that you wouldn't want."

Iago scoffed. "Just shows that Al has more spine than a semi-phenomenal being. Like, what's the worst that it could do to you, Blue Boy? You're SEMI-PHENOMENAL. Al could've been smooshed to smithereens! I don't think it's gonna make a difference if you get zapped by a key! It's probably no worse than getting a splinter."

"Iago..." Aladdin warned, but Genie interrupted them both.

"Nah, I should be a teensy bit more brave. Though I'm gonna have to ask you kids to buckle down just in case something does go wrong. I'm not worried so much about what it'll do to me, but to you guys." Genie frowned, realizing the lie came out of him in a tone that gave his nerves away. No one in the room was convinced. Iago and Abu in particular gave Genie a side eye glance. "Okay, so I'm worried about what it might do to me, but not as much."

"You're sure you want to do this?" Aladdin asked.

"Let me at 'em!" Even as the words left his mouth, Genie's voice slightly cracked. Nonetheless, Aladdin crossed the room, only stopping when he was an arm's length away. Genie could feel his nerves prickle the closer that Aladdin moved towards him, the dark magic surrounding the key causing his head to swim. He could think of only a few times that he'd ever felt sick, but this particular moment slowly crept up to top them both.

Aladdin held out his hand, the heavy key resting in his palm. "Whenever you're ready."

Genie tentatively reached out his hand, before picking up the key. At first, nothing happened. Not to the key, and not to Genie, though the rush of cold that went through him felt like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over his massive form.

Then came the white hot burn that ran down the arm that held the key. Genie yelped several times, which caused the key to tumble to the floor, dark smoke leeching from it, like it had been on fire.

"Genie!" Aladdin cared less about key and more about his friend. Genie used his good hand to steady his shaking, hurt arm. Both of them were surprised by the fact the key had changed Genie's hurting hand and wrist to a dark, deep black. The panic in Aladdin's voice matched his own sentiments on the matter. "What happened?"

"That might've been the bad reaction to magic we expected," Genie said through clenched teeth. "I was hoping at least to hold it and get a sense of whether I could know where the treasure was. It rejected me. If Aziz tried to hold it with ungloved hands, probably would have gotten the same reaction."

Aladdin watched with wide eyes as Genie's seemingly burned hand slowly returned to its usual blue. The prince's expression softened to concern. "You okay now?"

"Yeah, kiddo. Most of the pain's gone, but it's still a headache." Genie knew as the words left his mouth that it wasn't much comfort to Aladdin. It was only when he'd allowed himself to calm that another panicked voice got his attention.

"Guys! Somethin's up with the key! Look!" Iago cried, pointing a wing to the key on the floor just a short distance away from where Genie and Aladdin stood.

Genie had enough time to realize that the streams of darkness around the key were growing more intense. Carpet recognized what it was and made the quickest motion to fly towards the key. Genie could only yell out a warning.

"Magic trap! Everyone get down and hold your breath!"

Genie was able to shield Aladdin, while Jasmine, Remi, and Abu were a distance enough away to find places to shelter and do as they were told. But as the plume of darkness exploded, Carpet was only able to shield so much of it, taking most of the darkness as it flooded around him in plumes of smoke. A good portion of it though, flooded over in Iago's direction. Iago didn't have time to hold his breath as the dark smoke surrounded him, then made him drop to the floor like a heavy rock.

It wasn't until Genie used his magic to clear the smoke out of the room that anyone saw the aftermath. Carpet lay in a crumpled heap over the key, while Iago lay a short distance away, unmoving.

"Carpet! Iago!" Aladdin said, getting to his feet from where he'd been on the floor.

"I'll check out Rug-Man, you check on the bird," Genie said. "Everyone else okay?"

"We're good over here," Jasmine said, slowly standing while holding out a hand to Remi to help him up. "Oh no, Carpet and Iago got the worst of it."

Abu found his way to Jasmine's shoulder, while also looking over with concern to where Aladdin scooped up Iago in his arms. It looked like the bird was breathing, his chest slowly rising and falling, but he wasn't showing any signs of waking up, even as Aladdin called out to him.

"So, two things," Genie said as he tried to shake Carpet awake. "First thing you guys saw was the key reacting to my magic. I thought it would only hurt me. The second was a magic trap unleashed because of the dark magic that came out of the key. Though it wasn't exactly supposed to happen like that."

"How was it supposed to react?" Remi asked, looking so confused that Genie couldn't blame him.

"If a magic being with ill will witnesses a magic reaction from a cursed object, they can manipulate the dark magic to unleash a trap, a blowback if you will. Which might explain why Aziz didn't come after Al if he knew this was going to happen. He was waiting for me to test it and then act."

"Wait, you're saying Aziz did this?!" Aladdin said. "How?"

Genie's expression was worried as he looked at Aladdin's own frustrated one. "That's a good question. And while that might worry me, I'm a little more concerned on the 'what' he actually did. Unless we figure that out, I don't think Carpet and Iago are gonna snap out of it."

"Blast!" Aziz cursed as he observed the group through his vision crystal. He stood in his makeshift lair in the desert. The magic trap had been meant for Aladdin, or at least the princess if he'd been lucky. He'd hoped that Genie would have fallen under the spell trap too. That didn't happen, Genie had been too quick to pick up on the trick.

It was only the bird and the magic rug that managed to be under his direct control.

"This may not be the worst outcome, though," he mused aloud. "The bird was once an enemy of Aladdin's. It may be that his greedy nature makes him more easy to manipulate. As for Carpet himself - I think I can provide enough of a distraction to get what I want."

Aziz's laugh echoed through the cave, as he clapped his hands together, took a deep breath, and blew on the vision crystal to start the spell.

"Think I'd better take this back and keep it with me," Aladdin said as he picked up the key with one of his hands. The other hand and arm held a still sleeping Iago. "I don't want anything else to happen to any of us."

Genie briefly looked up, a guilty expression crossing his usually cheerful one. "Sorry, Al."

Aladdin shook his head. "This isn't your fault. This is all on Aziz. Just wish we knew what we could do to help them."

Genie's shoulders sank as he turned to look back at Carpet. "So far it's just a sleeping spell. Wonder if we should...oh, look!" The semi-phenomenal being grinned as he saw Carpet stir. But it was short-lived as he saw something was very wrong. Carpet appeared to be looking around in a daze, his motions frantic. "Rug Man? You were out for a spell, literally, but things are good. Don't panic."

None of them expected Carpet to actually panic. As the rug started flying quickly and erratically around the room, it was clear that he wasn't okay. Abu screeched with horror, finding a table to hide under as Carpet narrowly missed running into him.

Carpet then collided with a set of shelves with scrolls and books, but it didn't stop his motions for making a mess of the archive. Several shelves fell to the floor with a crash, spilling all of the contents. One shelf in particular teetered, then fell towards Remi, who couldn't react in time to move out of the way. His panic froze him.

"Remi!" Jasmine cried, using every bit of strength she had to pull him out of harm's way as the shelf crashed to the floor.

Aladdin was glad they were all right, but had no time to say so. He turned his attention to the more immediate problem. "Genie, you've gotta stop him somehow. Carpet's going to hurt us and himself if he keeps going like that."

Genie gave the prince a quick salute. "Got it!" But just as soon as Genie made a motion to grab Carpet by his back knobs, that made the magic rug even more frantic. Genie was not expecting Carpet to pull him along, and the two ended up crashing through the door of the archive and out into the night.

Leaving Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu, and Remi staring after them in silence.

"That was something," Remi said, brushing off his clothes.

"You can say that again. Looks like Genie has his hands full. I don't know what that spell did, but Carpet didn't react to it well," Aladdin said. He'd been about to say more, but Iago began to stir at that moment.

"Iago?" Aladdin asked. Jasmine had been busy making sure Remi was okay, while Abu finally found the courage to crawl out of his hiding space.

Iago blinked a few times, his expression startled at first. But Aladdin could quickly tell something was wrong as the bird started to smile, then sneer. "Finder's keepers..." the bird said, his voice having a dark humor. "Losers...bite." Then the bird dug his claws into Aladdin's arm so hard that Aladdin yelped, dropping the key.

"Iago, what are you...?" Jasmine began at the same moment Abu started screeching frantically. All of them saw Iago dive for the key, clutching it in his claws before he flew quickly out of the archive. Abu was the only one fast enough to react, chasing after the bird with frantic screeches.

"Aladdin, that wound looks bad enough," Remi said, reaching the prince's side before Jasmine did. The prince was kneeling on the floor, clutching the injured forearm that had once held the key. "Iago didn't have to do that just for some stupid treasure."

"Not as bad as it looks. And no, Iago didn't do that on his own," Aladdin said, hissing through his teeth. His eyes flashed with anger. "I've had it with Aziz messing with all of us. That spell Genie mentioned not only affected Carpet, but him too! That was probably his plan all along."

"Abu went after him, but I don't think either of them are going to be good for long," Jasmine said, helping Aladdin to his feet. "If what you said's true about the destination of the treasure, Iago's either headed straight towards it, or to Aziz."

"Then we don't have time to waste. I'm going after Iago and Abu." Jasmine opened her mouth to protest his words, but Aladdin shook his head. "There's no time, Princess."

"Then I'm going with you," Jasmine said. "I'm not letting you fight alone. Not after everything before."

Remi nodded to Aladdin. "I'm going too. It's the least I can do to help after everything."

"Okay, the more the better. Thanks. Both of you." Aladdin was grateful to have them both at his side, though he was nervous about what they would face ahead. "Come on, we should be able to figure out where they went based on Abu. They couldn't have gotten too far."

As the three of them ran outside, Abu screeches from a fair distance away made them aware of where Iago was headed.

"He's going toward the hidden passageway. Probably to meet with Aziz," Remi said. "Should we try to find Genie to help?"

Aladdin could just barely make out Iago's form a distance away. He was glad that it wasn't dark, otherwise it would be much harder to spot them. Meanwhile, there was no sign of Genie or Carpet nearby. "Wish we could, but there's no telling that Carpet won't be out of the spell. Searching for them both will make us lose track." Aladdin looked over his shoulder, first to Remi, then to Jasmine. "Abu might be able to fight off Iago, but there's no telling if Aziz might show up. I don't want either of them to get hurt. If we can at least get the key back, that'll help."

"Okay, getting the key it is," Jasmine said as the group raced after the bird and monkey.