Chapter 5: Doubt

The following afternoon, Aladdin peered out over the Agrabah skyline from his usual hiding place. He heard a loud crash behind him, then realized that Iago had stuffed several of Aladdin's possessions in a sack.

"Iago, what are you doing? That's my stuff!" Aladdin picked Iago up by the tail and glared at him.

"What does it look like I'm doin'?" Iago said. "I'm tryin' to give you a head start before nightfall. If Jafar comes back, there's no tellin' what he'll do to you."

Aladdin didn't expect Iago to say something like that. His eyes narrowed."Huh. I'm surprised you care so much about me. For once."

"It's not just for your sake! I'm tryin' to save my own feathers. If he gets to you, he'll probably torture you, and you might reveal where I am, and then he'll search out to find and torture me."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Aladdin rolled his eyes and set Iago down gently on his window ledge. "Look, even if he did catch me, I wouldn't sell you out. Or anyone else. I'd figure out a way to cut him off at the pass." Even as Aladdin spoke the words, he wasn't sure exactly how he'd stop Jafar. He didn't know what the sorcerer was planning.

"Really? Well, how's that goin' for you?" Iago looked vexed.

Aladdin slowly rotated his shoulders back and forth. "I did some research in the palace library last night. Technically, Genie's right. There's no way that genies can be revived once they're bound to the lamp and the lamp's somehow destroyed."

"Great. I'm starting to think that Genie's theory about you and Rajah seein' things isn't so impossible."

Aladdin shook his head. "No, we definitely saw him. But I'm wondering what exactly he meant by taking something from me. That's what I was trying to search for last night, too. I'm trying to figure out what he's after."

Iago rolled his eyes. "Let me give you the short version, maybe you haven't noticed, but he's after you! All the more reason to leave while you have the chance." Iago tried to use his claws to lift the heavy sack on the floor, but Aladdin stopped him, holding the sack in a firm grip.

"At least you're the only one that completely believes me about this," Aladdin said.

"He's not the only one." A voice came from beyond the curtain entrance to his hiding place. Aladdin saw Jasmine pull back the curtain that led into his place. She was dressed in her street robe, which hid her royal attire. Abu screeched as he sat upon her shoulder.

Aladdin drew in a breath, then stood, releasing his hold on the sack which made Iago drop with it like a rock to the floor. "Jasmine, what are you doing here? I thought..."

"I came to check on you. I was worried about you." She reached a hand to his cheek even as he looked away. Abu whimpered beside her and she smiled a little. "And Abu was worried too. You left the palace so suddenly."

Aladdin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I guess...I just needed a place to think. Better than being in a place where no one believes me."

"I believe you." Jasmine's voice carried a note of protest, and Aladdin could tell she meant it. "Genie does too, I think we were all just...surprised last night. You're lucky to have walked away from it in one piece. Rajah too."

She paused, her eyes scanning his. "Genie's making plans to try to protect the city from the outskirts. And the guard have searched every corner of Agrabah since last night. Jafar's not anywhere in the city, and they've turned away traveling merchants since you told us what happened."

Aladdin gently pulled away from her, turning away from her to face the palace view. "Still, it's weird that it happened just after...wait a minute." Aladdin's eyes narrowed.

Jasmine's brows raised with concern. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"We found Warek at the oasis just last night. And last night was a full moon. That can't be a coincidence." Aladdin slapped a fist into his palm. He hated to admit it, but he wondered if his trip at the Oasis had anything to do with the attack last night.

"Oh that confirms it, you're cursed," Iago said, rolling his eyes again, then waving a dismissive wing. "Legend, schmegend! You went to the oasis last night and then you get attacked at the palace right after. That sounds like proof of crazy talk to me."

"I'm not crazy! And it wasn't a dream!" Aladdin said, his tone stern. "According to the legend, after you see your reflection in the waters at the Oasis under a full moon, you're supposed to fall into a deep sleep and are plagued with waking nightmares for eternity." Aladdin conveniently hid the fact that he'd seen a demon's face looking over his shoulder in the water before they left the Oasis that night.

It gave him enough pause that Iago, Jasmine and Abu noticed. Aladdin recovered as quick as he could. "If it were just me, that would be one thing, but Rajah saw it too. And he's never set foot in the oasis."

Abu screeched a few lines and Aladdin sighed. "Yeah, Abu, Warek was in some kind of trance when we saw him. Maybe I need to ask him if he remembers anything else about the figure he saw. If Jafar was the one who manipulated him, that might answer a few things."

"And if it wasn't?" Jasmine asked.

Aladdin turned to face her, his fists clenched at his sides. "Then I don't know what we're up against."

"No, that's not the man I saw at all." Warek said sadly when Aladdin, Jasmine, Abu and Iago confronted him in the marketplace just as he was closing up shop. "I wish I knew more, Aladdin. As I said, he was a shapeshifter. A demon."

"Well, Jafar was never one to shy away from disguises," Aladdin said bitterly. "He didn't even carry around a staff or had glowing eyes or...?"

Warek's expression fell. "He did have a certain look to his eyes, they were like moons. And a power emerged from them when he attacked me. But...couldn't that have been any malicious being of magic?"

Aladdin's shoulders sank. The merchant had a point. The strange edge in the voice he remembered kept coming back to him as well. What if this being he saw was an illusion, and not Jafar at all? What if it had to do with the image he saw in the Oasis waters that night? Either way, he needed to know the truth.

Warek sighed. "I wish I could help you more, my friend. I owe you for saving my life, even when I tried to take yours in my delusion." He winced.

Aladdin shook his head. "It's okay Warek, you didn't know."

"If it's any consolation, you're weren't the only one subject to that demon's influence last night."

Aladdin's brow raised. "What do you mean?"

Warek looked around tentatively, as if he were afraid others would hear him. He beckoned Aladdin, Jasmine and the others to follow him into an empty alley, then cleared his throat. "In addition to me being spirited away for a time, I've heard of a few villagers around Agrabah last night had waking nightmares. Some dreamed of angry loved ones returning from the dead, some children dreamed they were attacked by shadows they saw along the alleys of the city. Woke with such a fright that their parents didn't know what to do."

Jasmine gasped. "How horrible!"

Warek shook his head. "That's not the only thing. I suppose you can guess the two common things they shared."

Jasmine mused a moment. "They all traveled out of Agrabah?"

Warek shook his head. "That's close though, Princess."

"They all went to the Oasis, maybe?" Iago said.

Warek nodded. "Correct, my feathered friend. And rather recently considering the full moons we've had each night."

Aladdin put a hand under his chin thoughtfully. "If that's the case, then all of them may've been under the same trance you were at one point."

"Correct again, at least as far as loved ones who witnessed the transformation." Warek sighed. "I don't know if I'm comforted or disturbed about not being the only one under that demon's influence."

"I'm definitely in the camp of disturbed," Iago said.

"It bothers me that the legend about the oasis seems like it was true - to a degree," Jasmine said, cradling her chin in one hand. "Whatever it was, it could've followed you here, Aladdin."

"And if you say you and your tiger friend saw that figure you recognized, that demon willfully made itself visible to the two of you - I'd bet it on my life," Warek said with concern. "I would say it is planning something against you."

Aladdin clenched his fists at his sides. "Well, Jafar or not, if he's coming here, then at least we can be ready for him."

"And you won't be alone," Jasmine added, putting a hand on one of Aladdin's shoulders, while Abu trembled on the other.

Iago slapped a wing against his forehead as he landed on Jasmine's shoulder. "Oh sure - great idea! Let's just wait around and play 'Go Fish' while he secretly prepares to kill us all, Al first."

Aladdin shook his head, his tone low. "It won't be like that, Iago."

He hoped that his own words would ring true.