A Whole New World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,36

be food and gold from the palace, it will no longer be an acceptable thing,” Morgiana said agreeably. “But history has shown time and time again that it is generally unwise to rely on others—especially those in charge—to provide for the poor. I give this new sultan a week or two at most before he realizes he doesn’t want to keep giving people handouts. At least not without getting something in return.”

“Even when things are going great you expect the worst out of people and think they deserve to be stolen from!” Aladdin spat.

“My father didn’t deserve to lose the use of his leg,” Duban said mildly. “My sister didn’t deserve to be beaten by her husband.”

“No one deserves anything they get,” Morgiana said, shrugging. “It is what it is. You just have to make sure that at least sometimes you’re on the good side of getting. For you.”

“And evil keeps going around,” Aladdin swore angrily, storming out. “There’s another way. You don’t have to choose this life. You could be something more.”

NIGHT IN AGRABAH.

Was it quieter than usual? Were people recovering from the huge party, suddenly uneasy with something they couldn’t quite put their fingers on? Did they pull out the tiny, funny little gold coins and stare at them in the lamplight, thinking deeply about the turn of events in their city? Did they leave the gold coins out on their tables and not hide them in shoes, under mattresses, inside pillows? Why bother? All of their neighbors had coins, too.

It wasn’t just the religious and the superstitious who worried about the gold. The most educated scholars and wisest of old folk all knew that something was never created out of nothing. Not without consequences.

And that parade had been more than a little weird.

These philosophical issues were the least of Aladdin’s concerns at the moment, however. And actually, he had to admit that the city’s uneasiness was a great help to him. The streets were much simpler to sneak through with everyone lingering inside, close to doorways, staying away from the open sky.

Abu sat on his shoulder and the magic carpet glided silently behind him—it was too dark to be able to fly well without the risk of hitting something.

People had been trying to sneak into the palace for centuries. Some of their skulls could still be seen on spikes around the castle walls, bleached white into shiny marble balls by years of desert sun.

Aladdin was well aware of this. But he also had something those poor souls hadn’t had—secret knowledge of the palace grounds. And though returning to the hidden tunnels made his heart quicken with fear, Aladdin gritted his teeth and pressed on to the stables on the far side of the palace, on the edge of the desert.

The horses and camels whickered and whinnied at his approach; he calmed them with some soothing noises of his own. Then he spotted a familiar-looking gelding.

“You made it back!” Aladdin whispered with joy, patting him on the neck. The horse snorted—perhaps both pleased at seeing the boy again and also wanting nothing to do with the human who had led him out into a stormy desert in the middle of the night. But for all that, he seemed fine.

“I hope your stable boy is all right, too,” Aladdin sighed.

He found the drain that hid the secret entrance and carefully moved aside the cover just enough to let himself in, sliding it just as quietly back over his head once he was down. This time he was prepared for the pitch darkness with a tiny oil lamp he had filched from Morgiana on his way out. It seemed fitting somehow.

The stone passages were deathly silent but for the distant roar of lava. Aladdin still found himself treading softly. It was, however, a much easier trip made with his two friends. The magic carpet floated alongside almost like a dog while Abu stayed on his shoulder.

Aladdin saw with relief that all the marks he had made with his knife were still there on the walls. He easily followed them back to the dungeons. A gentle tap of the right rock sent it sliding aside and he was back where it had all begun.

Abu chittered with nervousness. There were the manacles that had held Aladdin; there was where Jafar had appeared from the shadows in disguise.

“Kind of brilliant,” Aladdin admitted reluctantly. But he did wonder why Jafar had found it necessary to go to all the trouble to get him for