Chapter 4: Missing

Genie woke with a start the next morning as he saw the sun rise in Agrabah. "Oh man, I fell asleep. I was dreaming of dancing puppets again."

"Don't give me that image first thing in the morning," Iago grumbled. "You'll have me waking up with nightmares."

Abu screeched softly beside him, over scripts the two of them had memorized since the previous night.

Genie looked wearily at the sunrise, seemed to think for a moment, then nearly hit his head on the ceiling. "Ga-haha! It's morning. T-minus an hour before the festival's supposed to start. Everyone up! Wakey-wakey!"

Iago was up then, as was Abu, who screeched and yelped when Iago knocked over something that landed on his tail.

Genie gingerly pulled the heavy paperweight off Abu's tail. The monkey blew on his tail as if it were on fire and winced.

Genie sighed. "If we're going to pull off the opening parade, we need to get into the Marketplace, pronto! Just hope we're not too behind where Al wants us to be."

The Sultan and Jasmine stood on the balcony at the palace overlooking the city. Below, in the heart of the city, music drifted up throughout the city, and there appeared to be people dancing in the streets along with a gathering crowd.

"Oh my word, what is this delightful music? I didn't hear of any celebration planned for this week," the Sultan said.

Jasmine smiled. "I didn't either, but it definitely sounds like they're having fun down there."

The Sultan laughed. "I do believe we should go see what all the commotion is about, don't you think, daughter?"

She nodded. "I'd like that." Even as she linked arms with her father, she felt her insides pinch at the thought of wanting Aladdin to be there with her. She brushed it aside. If he wanted to miss the unexpected and what seemed to be a fun festival, that was his problem. But it saddened her that he wasn't there to witness it.

Genie, Abu, Iago, and Carpet were already among the sidelines of the crowd of spectators when Jasmine and the Sultan came down.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY UNEXPECTED FESTIVAL!" Genie said upon sighting them.

Jasmine winced at his loud voice and sudden appearances with confetti, balloons, and streamers. "Genie, what is all this?"

"You didn't know? It's Agrabah's first ever art festival. We wanted it to be a surprise for you guys."

"Oh my. That is quite a surprise. What a lovely spectacle," The Sultan said.

"Believe me, it was hard enough trying to keep you kids in the dark about it all this time. We've been planning for a while, but just started it today. We're gonna have it for a few days or so."

"Genie, that's great! I can't believe you guys planned all this," Jasmine said.

Iago groaned. "Yeah, had more of my feathers molting than anything else trying to make sure you guys didn't know about it. If Wonder Kid gets any more ideas about throwing surprise festivals, count me out. I'll go on a week-long vacation to Getzistan instead. Matter of fact, I think I might take up that offer in my recovery."

Jasmine's smile faded quickly. "Wait, Aladdin planned all this?"

Genie nodded. "He was the one who had the idea, people in Agrabah liked it and decided to pinch in. He made sure everyone was doing their part - with a little help of some semi-phenomenal cosmic powers." Genie lost his enthusiasm though when he saw Jasmine was nearly in tears. Abu and Iago both seemed surprised.

"Oh, dear Jasmine, whatever is the matter?" The Sultan asked.

"I should've known. We had a big fight last night and..."

"Oh man, he didn't even tell you he was planning a surprise? That it was the reason he was in the city all this week?" Genie asked gently.

Jasmine shook her head. "No, but it's not as if I gave him a chance to. I feel horrible about it. I need to find him and apologize."

Genie waved a dismissive hand. "I haven't seen him at all this morning, but I'll go find him. He's probably been so busy, he didn't even have a chance to meet you guys here."

"Thanks Genie."

"No prob. I'm just borrowing the monkey though." Before Abu could protest, Genie plucked Abu from his perch and went flying off into the distance above the crowd as the festivities continued.

"Let's see...according to my lamp tracker, Al should be somewhere around...here!" Genie turned the corner of the alley and made a motion like he was scaring someone. "Boo! Surprise, made you look! Huh?"

Genie realized the alley was empty. Abu seemed equally surprised.

"That's strange...maybe this thing is broken, but I could've sworn it said my lamp was somewhere around here."

Abu leapt from Genie's shoulder, went sniffing around the area and pulled the lamp, by its handle, from behind a nearby crate. It was covered with sand, which Genie had to brush off.

"It's not like Al to lose this at all. Either he's been so distracted that he can't keep up with things or...hey, I've got messages on this thing. Huh." He scratched the underside of his beard as he summoned the magic from the lamp to play back the last few recordings on his lamp.

The first was eerie enough, and from Aladdin.

"Oh, come on Genie, this isn't time to be fooling around, I need your help. Mirage is trying to...OW!"

It cut off abruptly, making Genie and Abu both wince. Abu then remembered something and started frantically screeching.

"Wait...You think Mirage was responsible for the puppets and the sets being destroyed? I guess Al figured it out after the fact, after he went out with Jasmine last night. I thought it was odd no one's seen him. I wonder if..."

He grimaced, looking down at Abu. "Something's telling me that I don't wanna hear the second message on this thing."

Genie gingerly rubbed the lamp's handle.

"Hello, Genie." Genie cringed at the sound of Mirage's somewhat cheerful, mocking voice. "I see that all of you have been busy planning a festival in Agrabah. Well, it just so happens that I have a festival going on in Getzistan, but it's only happening after hours when the moon is high. I thought I'd give you a heads up. If Aladdin's promised to be there, I don't see why you can't come either. Why don't you bring your friends too? It'll be quite the show. Ta-ta."

The message cut off.

Genie flinched. "That's what I thought."