Hello all! Here is the next episode! I have chosen Mirage! So enjoy!

A special thank you to: Blackmoondragon1415, MysteryGirl7Freak, CRM Rosa, rollingbell, and to everyone who has favored and followed my stories! Thank you for all the continued support!

In the Heat of the Fright part 1

"Please don't tip the boat over, Alaric." Al said with a sigh and I turned to glare at him. He wasn't even looking at me though; he was looking at a book sprawled in his lap.

"I won't. I'm just looking at the water." I turned back around and leaned over further. I heard Al mutter and I ignored him as I stared at the water below, ready to trail a hand in. He grabbed the back of my vest anyhow and thrust me back towards Genie who was at the back of the boat.

"What was that for?" I asked and Al looked up at me.

"You were rocking the boat. I can't draw straight when you were moving about. Besides, if we had hit a bump you would have fallen out."

"Would not." I argued.

"Would so." Al retorted.

"Would not!"

"You would too!"

"I would not!"

"You would too! So stop it!"

"Oh, yeah? Well, you can-" Genie put a hand over my mouth and grinned at us amusedly. I pushed his hand irritably and he put the hand on my head instead. I folded my arms across my chest angrily.

"Now, now, boys. I know we've been on the river awhile but it's no reason to bite each other's heads off." As Genie spoke, Abu and Iago's own fighting got louder and Genie cleared his throat loudly. "That includes you two." Iago folded his wings across his chest angrily and Abu sulked going over to Aladdin's side. Genie heaved a sigh of relief.

"Now isn't this nice? The silence?" Al beamed and I frowned at him.

"It was quiet….until Al started in." I muttered and he frowned at me. Genie rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Would you stop?" Al groaned. "I have to finish this for the Sultan you know." He stated firmly. I rolled my eyes and settled back against the small boat and Iago settled next to me, eyeing Abu. Carpet waved a tassel at us all, reprimanding us and I grinned at him. The Sultan had given Al the task of marking new territory on a small book. Now he spent his time writing and redrawing things for the map.

"You know, you should be the one drawing this stuff, Rick." Al commented after a few minutes and I frowned.

"You can't draw rocks and trees?" Iago burst into muffled laughter and Al narrowed his eyes at me. Who can't draw rocks and trees?

"Yes! But I was just commenting that-"

"You were trying to get me to do your work for you! Admit it!" I interrupted him and Al glared.

"What is wrong with you?" He demanded.

"I'm hungry." I stated and Iago nodded.

"Yeah, Al, me too!" Al rolled his eyes.

"We'll stop soon, okay? Just relax."

"Easy for you to say, I'm starving." Iago and I said at the same time and Genie clapped his hands.

"That was great! Do it again!" I grinned at him, as Iago rolled his eyes.

"You and Iago spend too much time together. You even picked up his temper." Al teased. I stuck my tongue out at Al and he grinned at me.

"Yeah, right." Iago snorted but he did grin at me a bit.

"Attention passengers," Genie called, now wearing a captain's outfit. "Don't miss lambda lessons on the Leto deck with Jerry." I yawned and slouched further in my seat, my feet hitting Al. Al looked up, giving my feet a shove, with a grin. Iago rolled his eyes from on Al's shoulder, where he had taken refuge after Abu had tried to get at him again. Abu was in back with Genie, paddling us along for starting a fight with Iago and he grumbled under his breath at the parrot.

"Bend in the river, shallow shoreline." Iago commented bored of the map drawing. "Get that?"

"Got it." Al answered, looking back up. Genie leaned over Al's other shoulder then with a small clearing of his throat.

"Sir, the ship would like to know if you'll be dining at the captain's table." Behind him stood Carpet with a chef's hat on and I grinned at him.

"Yes." I said lazily and Al rolled his eyes.

"Genie, I promised the Sultan I'd chart the river." I sighed and Al tapped my foot with his pen. "Come on, Rick. It won't take long."

"Long? We've been in this boat all day!" Iago shushed me as he craned his neck to see up the river.

"Fallen tree...Keep up!" Iago snapped and Al quickly drew it out.

"You'll be missing baklava bingo." Genie suggested and Al laughed.

"Very tempting, but I've got work to do." He caught me pouting and looked at Genie.

"For here or to go?"

"Here." I called out. Genie beamed and tossed me an apple.

"That will hold ya for a while." Al teased and I stuck my tongue out before eating. Iago resumed his work after stealing some of my apple to which I responded by tossing water on him.

"Fallen tree…Fez shaped rock…Village on fire…." It took us a second to register what was said and then all of us were leaning over towards where there was indeed a village on fire.

"Fire?" Al repeated and it took us a second to register what was said and then all of us were leaning over towards where there was indeed a village on fire. "We have to help."

"Who says?" Iago said and Al gave him a dirty look as he snatched him out of the air.

"Iago!" I reprimanded. "We have to help them."

"I mean, uh, did I say 'village on fire'? I meant 'village having big weenie roast'." I rolled my eyes at him and took him out of Al's hand. "There's really no reason to stop."

"Genie, get us ashore." Al called and we were steered over to the bank. Quickly we got out of the boat and Al pointed at me.

"Stay right here." He told me and ran off to help. I frowned, but didn't argue for once, deciding to keep an eye on Iago and Abu. I saw Al run into a burning building and moments later he came out with a little boy in his arms. I ran over to see if he was okay. I had to check!

"I-I-" The little boy stuttered, frightened by what was going on and Al smiled sympathetically at him.

"It's all right." He told the boy patting his shoulder. Hearing growling, I looked over to see to huge red furred cats that had patches of fire on them. "I'm-"

"Uh, Al?" I called at the sight of them crouching, ready to attack and Al looked up to see them. Before they could land on them, Carpet swooped down and lifted all the two of them out of harm's way.

As Carpet flew them to a hill nearby, I heard crying and turned my head. It sounded like a baby. Looking for Al and not seeing him, I knew I had to do something before the baby was burnt in the quickly disintegrating hut. I ran in, already coughing from the thick smoke and located the baby, lifting her into my arms. She was crying and her little face was scrunched up in fright. Making sure that I covered her from the smoke, I turned towards the entrance of the hut and saw to my horror that fire was already blocking my exit.

"Alaric!" I looked up in time to get pulled onto Carpet, by Al and we exited the hut as it collapsed. Al had rescued another child too a little girl and she smiled at us gratefully. The baby had stopped wailing as we flew through the air and she was looking at us with wide curious black eyes. Below us, villagers screamed and ran for their lives and I looked for any sign of Iago and Abu both of whom I had lost sight of. Carpet dropped us onto the ground gently and Al took off to find someone to help as I cradled the baby in my arms. She cooed at me and I ended up looking back down at her.

"Hello, there." I said and she smiled a toothless grin at me, making me smile back. "Wonder where your mommy is?"

"My baby! You saved my little girl!" I looked back up to see a young woman reaching for her child and I handed her back to her mother. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome. I-"

"Ahhhh!" I was cut off by a familiar screaming and quickly told the woman goodbye before running off to find Iago. Before I could look for Iago, I had to save Abu from getting burned by one of the cats that tried to get him while he was hanging around in a sock on someone's clothesline. I pulled him off and together we ran to find my parrot. I found him in a tall palm tree being climbed after by one of those fire cats. I quickly whistled for Carpet and we flew up to catch Iago and Abu pulled him out of the way as the cat tried to claw him.

"Phew! Monkey you saved me!" He cried and then once again got over his gratitude. "Now get your dirty paws off!" I shook my head and then gasped as I spotted two of those cats, now both blazing balls of fire, racing right towards us!

"Carpet!" I cried and we narrowing avoided getting hit as Carpet took us down. We hadn't lost them though and they pursued us over a field of crops and back up into the sky. Around and around we went trying to lose the fiery fur balls but they were relentless in their pursuit of us.

"We're broiled." Iago moaned and he and Abu covered their eyes. I could only hope that Carpet could keep dodging them. Suddenly Carpet stopped.

"You stopped! What are you doing?" Iago screeched, while I was wondering the same. Carpet suddenly launched forward with us and we barreled right into the oncoming cats, batting them away. They gave cries of pain and ended up burning to two tiny spots on the ground below.

"Hey, I'm still uncooked!" Iago exclaimed and it was true not one of us had gotten burnt.

"Way to go, Carpet!" I patted him and he gave a thumbs up with his tassels. "Where is Genie?" I wondered aloud, noticing that I hadn't seen him once. Carpet pointed up and flew us towards him where we spotted him watching television. Iago was starting get really angry as we got closer.

"Uh, Genie," he started landing on the top of the television set. "If you haven't noticed, we have a kind of a situation down below."

"Shh, Shh!" Genie shushed us and we exchanged puzzled looks. "Here comes the sad part! Bambi, run! Man is in the forest! Oh, no!" Genie started to cry then. Big wet sloppy tears and I watched as the big droplets started to put out all the fires. Huts were freed of fire and even those fire cats were steamed away by the rain of tears.

'Oh, brother.' Abu grumbled and I patted him as Carpet took us down to the now smoking and steaming village.

"Thanks, Genie." Al called and Genie sniffed wiping at his eyes as he blew his nose.

"You're welcome! And you know what? The movie had a happy ending too!"

"Look, the fire is going!" A boy cried and we looked to see that fire cats were flying far away we grinned triumphantly.

"You have saved our village from complete destruction." A villager spoke and I saw that he was the father of the little boy and girl Al had saved.

"Oh, please, it was nothing! Nothing short of stupendous! Are we talkin' reward?"

"Iago!" Al reprimanded and I held in a snigger.

"What? Can't a parrot ask?" I took him from Al's shoulder before things Al could get madder.

"Oh, you are both very brave." The little boy praised looking at both Al and I. I rubbed the back of my neck and Al grinned embarrassedly as he let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I…" An odd sound caught our attention and we looked up to see a large shadowed head that was in form of some kind of cat and it had glowing green eyes. The villagers all huddled together scared and shivering and I took a step back bumping into Genie. He put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from going further and Iago frowned.

"Now what?" He snarled, not liking the interruption of our praise.

"The sky, it is…evil." The village leader spoke coving the eyes of his little girl as he held her. The woman, whose baby I had saved, cuddled her child closer whispering a soft prayer over her.

"Oh, great." Iago complained and I shushed him. Suddenly the shadowed head moved and it disappeared leaving behind a figure floating in the sky. She looked about the size of Jasmine and her body was cat like, though she had a human quality to her as well. Dark grey fur covered her body and she wore red silk clothing that reminded me of what an Egyptian goddess might wear and it was in two pieces, the skirt going all the way down to her ankles. Her long black hair went down her back to about below her shoulder blades and she wore a small golden hairpiece on the top of her hair, similar to that of an Egyptian as well and had matching gold arm bands as well that rested on her upper arms. With cat like grace, no pun intended, she floated over all us silently and landed on top of a less burnt hut rooftop, turning to face us.

"And who are you?" She purred in a slight condescending tone and Al frowned.

"I'm Aladdin!" He called out and Genie frowned too.

"Who wants to know?" He challenged and the cat woman's eyes glinted in the moonlight.

"I am Mirage." She announced smoothly and then with a hiss she scratched the air, making green lighted streaks of magic fly out us.

"So? That violent display of magic is in lieu of a handshake?" Genie asked with a frown and she ignored him turning her gaze on me.

"Ans who are you little boy?"

"My name is Alaric." I told her boldly, not feeling so scared anymore. She was definitely someone to fear, but I wasn't about to tell her that.

"Hmm, a bold hero, his little brother, and an amusing genie. What a delightful trio. And a delicious challenge!" She laughed, tossing her head back and then rose into the air arms extended. "We are not finished!" She vanished soon after that declaration and Iago started to shift on my shoulder, obviously scared and he flew to land on Genie's shoulder.

"Do you have any idea who that was?" He shrieked and Genie turned to him.

"Well she called herself Mirage. Are you saying she used a fake name?" Iago swatted a wing to his forehead as I snickered.

"I'm sayin' she's mean! She is beyond mean! She invented mean!" By this time he had grabbed onto my face making sure I was listening. "DO you hear what I am sayin'?"

"Yes!" I shouted pushing him off my face and he flew back a bit.

"The people of Fellahim till the soil and grow food for the entire river valley! I don't understand how someone could attack our entire village." The village leader spoke and Iago sighed.

"Eh, let me spell it out for you, Old MacDonald. You people are doing something nice."

"That's good!" Genie interrupted and Iago shook his head.

"That's bad. She hates good. She annihilates good. Evil is all she does." He said grabbing onto Genie's face to make sure he was listening this time. Abu chattered fearfully and Al patted him as Abu clung to his back.

"Don't worry, she's gone now."

"Well I'm not scared of her." I stated and Al nodded.

"Rick's right, she's gone there's nothing to be afraid of." Iago freaked out.

"You should be! Don't you ever listen to me? Didn't you hear what I just said?"

"I try not to." I murmured and Al and Genie snickered,

"Very funny, Mr. Smarty-pants." Iago scowled.

"It it late, Aladdin. Please accept our hospitality and stay the night. Our food it very good." The leader tempted and I stuck my lower lip out at Al as Abu begged him too.

"Please, can we stay?" Al laughed at our expressions and nodded.

"Okay." He said and then we followed the villager as he led us towards their unharmed hut. As we were walking I noticed Genie and Iago weren't following, so I stopped and came back for them.

"You don't get it!" Iago shouted at Genie as I approached them. Genie had a napkin around his neck and in his hands were a knife and fork. "Evil Incarnate does not just go away!"

"I thought Evil Incarnate was a hyper-intelligent wombat with a forked tongue." As he spoke, Genie's tongue popped out in the form of an actual fork and I laughed, letting them know I was there. Genie winked and Iago rolled his eyes at me.

"You were a lamp for ten-thousand years. Things change. Mirage is Evil Incarnate now! And she goes through genies like catnip." He poked Genie's nose into his face and then got off his shoulder to fly away. "Well I'm not missin' dinner. Could be our last." Genie looked very worried and I went over to him as his nose popped back out.

"Don't worry, Genie. I'm sure Iago was just being his normal paranoid self." Genie laughed half-heartedly.

"Err, yeah."

"Aren't you coming to eat?" I asked and he ruffled my hair.

"Nah, that's okay shorty. You go ahead." He said making his napkin and utensils disappear.

"Are you sure?" I didn't want him to miss out.

"I'm positive. Besides you and Iago will probably clean them out." I playfully stuck my tongue out at his teasing and left Genie alone as I went to join the villagers for dinner. After the very filling dinner the villagers led us to an old hut that they spared for us and we made our beds inside. Al and I were given some soft straw to sleep on and Carpet hung from the ceiling like a hammock, cradling Iago and Abu. Genie had taken it upon himself to set up a night watch. As I watched him lean back in his chair looking at what he called surveillance videos, I yawned and finally fell asleep.

A horn blaring woke me and I rolled over to frown at the intrusion. Genie was helping Al to his feet and Al was looking really sleepy and half angry.

"Up and at 'em." Genie announced and Al yawned.

"It's still dark!"

"Never hurts to get an early start! By morning that river will be bumper-to-bumper." I rolled back over and Genie appeared over me. "Come on, short man." He said gently and I curled into a ball.

"I want to go back to sleep." I whined. He picked me up letting me hang over his shoulder, still half asleep.

"No can do. You can keep sleeping when we get in the boat." I yawned again and tried to keep my eyes open as Genie herded everyone to the boat.

"The Riverboat Red-eye is ready for immediate departure. All aboard." Carpet flew Iago and Abu out both looking sleepy.

"Like we have a choice." Iago squawked and settled in next to Abu as they used Carpet for a blanket. Al settled into the front of boat.

"I'll man the rudder." He said sleepily.

"No, get some shut-eye, Al."

"Okay…."Al fell asleep.

"Snooze as you cruise. That's our new motto." Genie pulled me gently from his shoulder.

"Sorry about that, kiddo." He said and he set me down next to Al. I yawned.

"Why are we in such a hurry?" I asked trying to keep awake. But I was so tired…

"Just wanted to get back to being on the river that's all." Genie said in a fast tone.

"Okay." I said not really listening anymore. My eyes were slowly closing…

"Goodnight, short man." I heard Genie say and he put a blanket over me as I yawned again.

"Night, Genie." I felt Al put an arm under my head and then fell asleep.

Next chap on way...