Chapter Six

"This is interesting, Xerxes," mused Mozenrath as he watched Aladdin through the portal. "Where do you suppose he's taking the princess now? He's already been in that late sorceror Jafar's lab. Let's see and find out."

Aladdin was in the menagerie, holding Jasmine in his arms. He placed her on the ground behind a thick patch of bushes and brushed some stray hairs out of her face. Pulling a vial out of his vest from an unseen pocket, he poured its contents into her mouth. She swallowed in reflex, and a wicked smile crept across Aladdin's face.

"You will continue to sleep well, dear princess," he mumbled.

He picked her up again, forgetting about the empty vial he had left there and snuck toward the back doors of the palace. Making sure no guards would see him, he darted across the lawn and through the doors, barely making a sound. There was a storage room on his right, so he opened the door and went inside, hiding as two guards walked past.

"Well, that was interesting," Mozenrath said with amusement in his tone. "The street rat would make an interesting alley if his tactics develop well enough. Still a little sloppy in his actions, but with any luck on our side, which we do have, he'll be completely evil by night fall."

Meanwhile, Genie racked his brain for any idea or hint as to where Aladdin and Jasmine could be. His head was starting to hurt from thinking too much, and he groaned in agony as the pain caused him a splitting headache.

"Ow!" he whined like a little kid.

"Oh, how typical," muttered Iago, his wings folded across his chest. "Head hurting from thinking too much?"

"Very funny," retorted Genie. "No, it's just that, uh, I'm worried, so yeah, that's causing my head to hurt."

"Listen," Iago began, "didn't you in on of your crazy antics install something called a 'video monitor' in the palace to keep track of things that happened when no one was looking?"

Genie had completely forgotten about that. "Oh, yeah!" he nearly laughed. "That's right! Yeah, I knew all about that. That was the next step of my plan."

"What do you mean your plan?" asked Iago. "I was the one who thought of it, not you!"

"Whatever," muttered the genie. "That's not important. What's important is finding Al and Jas. Now, if I recall, the main controls should be in the dungeon."

With a snap of his fingers, they disappeared from the room they were in and reappeared in the dingy, dreary dungeon beneath the palace. In front of them were many monitors, each one displaying a different room. Genie found the one that viewed Aladdin's room and pulled out a video tape, which Iago and Abu thought was just a rectangular box. They had no idea what this stuff was, but to them, it was just part of Genie's magic. Genie examined the tape and decided it was the right one. He placed in back into a larger black box, one with buttons, and pressed one of them. He waited a few seconds and then pressed another button. An image of Aladdin lying on his bed appeared on the screen. He stood up from the bed and headed toward the doors. Suddenly, watching the movement by the entrance, Jasmine's foot came into the room. Once she entered the room, Aladdin grabbed her, and she fainted. They continued to watch as he placed her on the bed, spoke to her, kissed her ravagely, and then picked her up and left the room through the back door.

"Well, that really tells us a lot," Iago remarked. "We already knew he left with her. But where did they go after that?"

"That's what these other tapes are for," Genie smirked, feeling smarter than Iago, since the parrot didn't know what this strange kind of technology was.

Iago rolled his eyes and muttered something to Abu, but Genie wasn't paying any attention to them. He repeated the same actions with another tape, and they saw Aladdin walking down the hallway, headed toward the room that lead to Jafar's lab.

"Okay, okay, stop that thing now," Iago suddenly interrupted. "It's obvious he's in Jafar's lab. I mean, why else would he have gone that way?"

"How can you be so sure?" Genie asked. "I think we should watch the next tape to double check."

"What makes you think you're right?" Iago blurted out. "I know I'm right!"

Abu chattered at them, noticing that this arguing was becoming a trend. Genie and Iago didn't normally like working together on anything, especially without Aladdin around to keep things in balance. Abu finished chattering incoherent monkey language and said sadly, "Awaddin..."

Genie felt guilty for arguing over who was right and who was wrong. He sighed, looking at Abu and then at Iago. "You know, guys, this bickering we've been doing is pointless. Al and Jas are missing, and Jas could really need our help right now, but here we are, wasting time."

Iago hated to admit it, but he knew Abu was right. "Okay," he gave in. "Put the next tape in, Genie."

Without gloating and smirking at Iago, Genie started the next tape. Sure enough, it showed Aladdin walking straight across the room and toward the secret door that led to Jafar's lab. There were no cameras in Jafar's lab, so Genie's monitoring system was at a loss there. Wasting no time, they took off for Jafar's lab. Once they arrived, however, they found it empty.

"I would have thought maybe they would have stayed here," mumbled Genie. "Where would they go after being here?"

"I dunno," began Iago, alarm in his voice, "but look here." He pointed at an open book on the table. "Looks like Al's been playin' with magical potions. This page has the ingredients for a sleeping potion."

"But Al would never mess with dark magic!" Genie blurted out, defending his friend.

"Al's not exactly himself anymore," Iago insisted. "Remember, he's under a magical spell."

"Well, we don't know that for sure," Genie refuted. "He's innocent until proven guilty."

"What more proof do you need?!" Iago yelled, getting right up into the genie's stunned face. "You've used your wacky magic tricks to lead us this far, what with the fingerprints and those silly tapes, and now you're tellin' me that he's innocent?! You saw it for yourself on those tapes of yours! The kid practically wrestled her down and then left with her to who knows where! I don't care what you say, but I say that he's guilty, guilty, GUILTY!"

"Will you hush?" Genie barked. "Someone's bound to hear you."

"So, what if they do?"

"Look, birdie, is there another way outta here? A back door, perhaps? You're more familiar with this spooky lab than any of us."

Iago sighed, rolled his eyes, and finally spoke, "Yeah, there's a door that leads to the menagerie. Follow me."

Mozenrath realized that Aladdin was beginning to bore him. Aladdin had been hiding in that storage closet for an hour now, just lying there, practically asleep.

"Stupid street rat," muttered Mozenrath. "You'd better start doing something soon before you're caught." He stopped and thought for a moment, realizing that it had been a while since he had spied on the good guys. "Let's see what the goodie-goodies are up to, shall we, Xerxes?"

"Yesss, let'sss," hissed the eel, drooling his disgusting, slimy saliva.

Mozenrath waved his right arm in front of the portal, changing the view so it was on Genie, Iago, and Abu. They were out in the menagerie, looking around for any sign of Aladdin or Jasmine. Mozenrath hadn't been paying attention to them at all as they had come to this point in their search, so he didn't know they knew about Jasmine's kidnapping.

No doubt, though, Mozenrath knew they were searching, searching for their dear Aladdin. He watched with intent as they looked through some bushes.

"They're not gonna be hiding in some scratchy bushes," Iago complained. "If you ask me, this is a complete waste of time."

"Well, they couldn't get too far," Genie reasoned. "If Al tried to leave the palace grounds, he would surely be spotted by someone, the palace guards or a citizen."

Iago had to admit to himself that Genie wasn't as dense as he seemed at times. He was actually making sense now. Abu scampered off behind a bunch of thick bushes in the corner of the gardens. Meanwhile, Iago and Genie were flying around, searching the trees. They suddenly heard loud squeaking coming from the bushes where Abu was. The two of them flew immediately over to the alarmed monkey.

"What did you find, Abu?" asked Genie intently.

Abu held up an empty glass vial. Upon closer examination, Genie noticed it wasn't completely empty. There was a tiny bit of blue liquid at the bottom, just a couple of droplets.

"Iago," he began, "what color was that sleeping potion in the book?"

"Blue, I think."

"This has gotta be it," Genie continued, eyeing the vial under a magnifying glass. "We'll place this with the rest of the evidence." Turning into a police man, Genie put the vial in a plastic bag and sealed it shut, labelling it "vial Al used to poison Jas with sleeping potion."

Mozenrath was outraged when he saw this. "You blasted genie!" he yelled, bringing his arm up and smacking Xerxes out of anger. "You've come further than I would have wagered! No matter," he mused, calming down, "it will be most entertaining to see what happens when you confront Aladdin."

After failing to find them in the menagerie, Genie suggested they return to the palace. "But not through the front doors," he said. "Al wouldn't have made it through them without being caught. Let's take the back route."

With no disagreeing, Abu and Iago followed. Once they had entered the palace again, they stood there, wondering where they should look next. All of a sudden, a noise came from the room to their right. They went over to the closed doors and listened. Somone was breathing heavily, as if he were asleep. The door creaked as Genie turned the knob, and as the light from the hallway swept into the room, it poured itself right onto the sleeping Aladdin and Jasmine.

"They're here," Genie whispered to the animals.

"No kidding," remarked Iago sarcastically.

Genie tip-toed up to Aladdin and glanced at his face. It was twisted into an uneasy expression, as if he were in some kind of pain as he slept. Aladdin had his arms firmly wrapped around Jasmine, so Genie decided he would try to lift one of Aladdin's arms carefully. Very delicately, Genie grabbed Aladdin's lower arm and began lifting it slowly. Suddenly, the motionless arm sprung to life and grabbed Genie's hand with a strength Genie didn't think Aladdin had. Aladdin opened his eyes and glared with pure and utter contempt at the genie, those black, empty eyes piercing right through him.

"Al, little buddy," Genie peeped, "how nice to see you're awake."

"Going somewhere?" Aladdin questioned harshly, squeezing Genie's hand tighter.

Iago and Abu tried to run away, but Aladdin lifted his free hand up and something very strange happened: Red beams of light were emitted from his fingertips, and they seized the parrot and the monkey in electrical shackles. Aladdin immediately did the same to Genie, who tried to escape the strange trap, but he failed.

"Anti-magic," Aladdin coolly said. "Now, on to the next step."

He smiled that same wicked smile, and from the portal, Mozenrath laughed, cheering Aladdin on. "That's it, Aladdin! That's what I'm talking about!"