Chapter 29: The Magician's Study

I was leading a blindfolded Jasmine through the halls of the palace, eager to reach our destination. After our disastrous first meeting, I had thought that the princess wouldn't want to be blindfolded anymore. I was wrong.

Since our misadventure, Jasmine started waiting for me in the gardens with her blindfold in hand four times a week. When I made my presence known, she would tie her blindfold on securely, and then we'd find a place to talk.

The gardens were technically the safest place as we rarely ran into guards there, but Jasmine being Jasmine insisted we go out and explore the entire palace. Exploring is perhaps an over-exaggeration. Few places in the palace were new to us but most nights we made a game to try to find a place the other person didn't know about.

I had been hard-pressed to find anywhere Jasmine hadn't seen. She had always been more curious than I was. And of course, the palace was her one and only home, but tonight it was my turn again and I was sure I was going to win our little competition once and for all.

Because tonight, we were going to the magician's study.

The study was protected by a wall illusion that covered the entrance. As a tiger, my other senses had long ago told me that there was a stairwell behind the spell. I had even gone up the steps, but the door had been locked and I had had no way to get in. My tiger paws and mouth were ill-suited for holding keys and anyone I tried to get to open the door was always stopped by the fake wall.

It wasn't until Jasmine and I started exploring that I remembered this place again and thought to see if I could get past the illusion as a human. It turned out to be easy. I just had to close my eyes and believe I could walk through the wall.

Blindfolded, Jasmine didn't even notice the illusion. I shut my eyes and we passed through to the dark stairwell. Then it was just a matter of walking up the staircase and unlocking the door. It was an easy feat for my human hands and Jasmine's master set of keys. Just a twist of the right key and then we were in.

I scanned the room. Oh yeah. She was going to love it.

"I'll wait outside and close the door," I said. "I want you to take the blindfold off and look around."

Jasmine gave me a coy smile. "You seem pretty confident this time. I hope it's not another rarely used council room."

"Not even close," I shot back. "I'll be waiting."

I closed the door and listened. Jasmine didn't disappoint. I heard her gasp.

I smiled.

"Ren?" she said as moved away from the closed door. "Is this the magician's study? I thought it was a myth."

"Not a myth," I called back, still grinning.

Jasmine began moving around. I could hear her footsteps and her exclamations over each thing. In my mind's eye, I could imagine what she was doing. First, she walked up the stone tower at the center of the room so that she could inspect the large hourglass and the strange orb the lay suspended above it. Then it sounded like she was looking at the lab table that was covered in vials and beakers.

Her voice became muffled as she went further into the room. I assumed she had started looking at the far wall where a small desk stood surrounded by shelves and drawers. From what I'd seen there were scrolls and all sorts of intriguing-looking objects over there.

There was a creaking sound I couldn't identify and then after a bit, Jasmine called out to me, "Ren! There's another room below. Have you seen it already?"

"No," I shouted back, "Tonight is my first time seeing the study."

There was a pause.

"Really?" she asked coming back towards the door.

"Yes," I said.

"Then you should…no, I should put on the blindfold."

I felt a pang of regret. I shouldn't have said anything. "No that's quite alright," I said. "You finish."

Hearing her wander about and marvel over everything was more satisfying than exploring it myself.

Jasmine was having none of it though. "I'm done," she said. "You can come in. This place is amazing. You have to take a closer look."

I tried one more time. "Jasmine…"

"I'm ready for you. Come in," she said. There was a hint of stubbornness in her voice. I knew what that meant.

"Very well. I'm opening the door." I opened it slowly, half-expecting to be turned into a tiger, but the princess was true to her word. She had her blindfold on.

"Come on," she said. She grabbed my arm and pulled.

"I'm coming," I told her. She was acting like a child, but I did understand her eagerness. This place really was something else. It was so different from the rest of the palace. With the dark stone walls and shelves, the odd hanging orb, and the small table covered in glass containers full of colorful liquids, I could easily see a court magician conducting experiments in here.

Jasmine half-pushed/half-followed me to the end of the room. She showed me a hidden doorway among the shelves. I saw that there was another staircase.

"Down the stairs, there's an even larger study," she said in a rush.

I looked back and smiled down at her. It really was cute to see her so excited.

"Come on!" Jasmine said, pushing me forward.

"Alright, alright," I said. She was lucky I had not been closer to the stairs.

I descended the hidden steps. At the bottom, there was indeed another study. It had a similar setup to the one upstairs with a desk, a lab table, and shelves, except it didn't have the impediment of the stone tower. The desk in here was grand enough for a sultan and piled with scrolls and writing supplies. Around the desk were library shelves that covered most of the walls and stretched all the way to the high ceiling. Finally, there was a lab table in the back. It too was a larger, more impressive version of what was above. Its collection of instruments made the one upstairs look like child's play.

"See. It's amazing, right?" Jasmine said. "I thought upstairs was impressive, but this is like a small library."

"It is," I said.

"And you didn't know this room was here?" she asked.

I shook my head and then remembering the blindfold, I said, "No."

"Then I win again," she declared triumphantly.

"What?" I turned to look down at her.

She was smiling mischievously.

"You little Sasā," I told her, "You never would have found this place without me."

"And you," she said smugly, "never would have found this place without me and Jafar's keys."

"Jafar's keys?" I asked, forgetting about her ignoble behavior for a moment.

"Yeah. I swapped his set for mine weeks ago after I realized he had more keys than I did," she said. "It was one of the first things I did after he left."

"So, you're a thief now too?"

"I am a princess of many talents," she said grandiosely.

I shook my head. "Sasā."

"Like you're any better," she said.

We were both smiling.

"Now," she said pulling me toward the lab table filled with vials, beakers, and artifacts. "Come over and look at this."

We explored both rooms. It was a bit of a juggle to make sure that Jasmine was blindfolded or that I was hidden, but we did not let that stop our fun. Towards the end of the night, Jasmine said, "I can't believe I never knew about this place."

"Well, the staircase was hidden by an illusion," I pointed out.

Jasmine looked thoughtful as she mused, "All the same, I bet Jafar knew this place was here. I think he had the only set of keys for these doors. I certainly didn't have the keys in my master set."

I frowned. Jafar had had the only set of keys to this place. And now that I thought about it, this place smelled a bit like him. It almost seemed like…

It seemed…

It…

"What is it?" Jasmine asked.

"I don't…" I was starting to feel sick as my brain tried to complete the thought. This was important, but I was struggling to focus. I was struggling to breathe. My head throbbed with pain and I felt dizzy. I clutched my chest and felt my amulet underneath my shirt. I immediately felt comforted by it.

"Ren?" she said.

I refocused on her. She was covered in a faint blue light. I looked down at my amulet. I could see it glowing through my shirt.

"Princess, I…" I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what was happening. Why was my amulet glowing? Was I going to transform? Just like that? It had never happened like this before. What if this was the end? What if I couldn't change back?

"Ren, you're scaring me," Jasmine reached out. "Are you still here?"

I took her hand. "Yes, I'm here. Everything is fine," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Just hold my hand for a bit." Just in case this is the last time.

The glow intensified. I squeezed my eyes shut and prayed that this wasn't the end. There was still so much I wanted to do. I wanted to tease her and make her laugh again. I wanted to somehow tell her who I was. I still had to help her put Agrabah back together again. And gods, the paperwork…

"Ren, are you sure, you're alright?" Jasmine asked. "Your hand is getting clammy."

We were still holding hands. I still had hands.

I opened my eyes. There was no more blue light. Thank the Mother Goddess. I was still human.

"Ren?"

I pulled my hand away. "Sorry…Um…yes, I…" I was about to attempt to explain my panic episode when a realization hit me. "Jasmine!"

"Yes, what is it?" she said, on the alert.

"I don't think Jafar just knew about this place. I think he was the magician and that this was his study."

Jasmine stared at me. Her mouth opened in an O. "Allah above. I think you're right."

We stood there in silence. It felt like stepping into the sunlight. Suddenly, my eyes were open. There had been a reason why slimy Jafar had been the sultan's most trusted advisor and why no one had questioned him.

"Do you think that's why everything fell apart when he left?" Jasmine said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Because he was literally holding Agrabah's government together with magic?" I said. "Probably."

"Magic," she said in wonder. "Real modern-day magic in Agrabah of all places."

I could only agree with her. The wall illusion was probably an ancient spell, but this…

It seemed so incredible and yet so obvious. How had I never put it together before? Was that magic as well? Just how powerful had Jafar been?

Suddenly, Jasmine said, "That's why I still liked Jafar after he had Aladdin killed. That had always bothered me."

I hadn't been able to blame Jafar for Aladdin's death either. Even though, it had been his fault.

"But do you know what that means?" she asked.

I did. A man who always seemed innocent could get away with a lot. What other things was Jafar responsible for? I remembered Ali's accusation. What if he was right? Jafar really could have tried to murder him. And if that were true…maybe Jafar had tried to murder me too. The fact that I had never considered the possibility before was terrifying.

Jasmine began to pace. "Think about it, Ren. Jafar has been around for as long as I can remember. He came from nowhere. He charmed the court and rose to the position of grand vizier so fast, that it's legend. He even had a staff and a talking bird, basically a familiar, right? I feel so stupid," she said echoing my thoughts, "How could I not have realized all this before?"

"Magic," I said moodily.

"Right! Of course!" she said excitedly. "Coming here must have undone the spell."

I didn't say anything. I knew the real cause of our sudden enlightenment. I pulled my amulet out from my shirt and gazed at it. The small blue engraved stone no longer glowed. One might even say it looked plain and uninteresting.

The sight of it now made me uneasy. Not for the first time, I wished I could take off this unpredictable blessed gift from the gods and throw it out the nearest window. But of course, it wasn't that easy. I could no more do that than I could tell Jasmine about my curse.

I sighed as Jasmine continued to move around the room, deep in her own thoughts.

I knew I wasn't being fair to the amulet. It had served countless kings of Mujulaain and it had saved my life, but it was also the instrument of my curse. And now it had done this. I couldn't help but wonder what else it could and would do.

Luckily for my sanity, at that moment I realized the room had gone quiet. Jasmine had stopped pacing.

"What's wrong?" I asked her, still staring at my amulet.

"It doesn't make sense," she said.

She was going to have to be more specific. "What doesn't make sense?"

"If Jafar really was a powerful magician, then why did he settle for grand vizier when he could have been sultan? Or for that matter, why didn't he become emperor of the desert or something, like the sand witches of old? What was stopping him before? And why has he now left? His letter was irritatingly vague."

"I don't know," I admitted bitterly. "It's a mystery." We could add it to the pile.

"Well Ren," Jasmine began. The tone of her voice immediately caught my attention.

I lifted my head to glance at her and I knew. Beneath her blindfold, her eyes had that look, the one that bespoke trouble. I almost didn't want to ask, but I had to. "Well what, princess? What are you thinking?"

I watched as a smile spread across Jasmine's face. "I'm thinking," she said savoring the words, "that we have a mystery to solve."