A Whole New World (Disney Twisted Tales) - Liz Braswell Page 0,69

and supportive words, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just stared at the dirt or his own feet as he plodded along.

When they were back in Aladdin’s hideout with the door safely shut, Morgiana was the first one to speak.

“Kidnapping children?” she said, dumbfounded. “And old men? I mean…you’re the most powerful sorcerer in the world. Just…why?”

“‘Magic is only as great as the mind controlling it,’” Jasmine said, quoting something she had read somewhere. She thought about the genie’s story involving a previous master who had wanted a larger flock of goats. A happy man who was mostly happy with the life he already had. “Jafar is even sicker than I thought.”

Duban silently collapsed onto the floor and covered his face with his hands.

“I’m so sorry,” Aladdin said, kneeling down and putting his arm around his friend’s shoulders. Duban looked up and gave a weak smile of appreciation but didn’t meet Aladdin’s gaze. “We’ll get them back, I promise.”

“And I’m sorry for not completely believing you, Jasmine,” Morgiana added. “I really thought the whole thing about the army of undead was just…I don’t know…a little…”

“You thought I exaggerated it to get you to help?” Jasmine asked, not unkindly.

“Well, come on.…It’s like a story some grandmother would tell you. But those…ghouls…in the sky…Rasoul himself…” The thief shuddered.

“We need to come up with a plan, a war strategy,” Jasmine said, slamming one fist into another. “We need to organize.…”

Duban finally spoke, his voice bitter: “It’s all very well to declare war on Jafar. But what can we actually do? We’re thieves, Jasmine. Not soldiers. You would need the greatest army Agrabah had ever seen to storm the palace and rescue my family.”

Aladdin grew worried at the desolate tone of his friend’s voice. There was no light in Duban’s eyes, no hope at all.

“But that’s what you and Morgiana gave me,” Jasmine said. “A Street Rat army.”

“They don’t have swords! If they did, they wouldn’t know how to use them. Most are just kids.”

Morgiana stepped between the two. Her back was toward Duban, but it was more like she was protecting than ignoring him.

“We do have an army,” she said. “But it’s an army skilled in moving silently, picking locks, stealing things. We could probably lift every magic book out of the palace right under Jafar’s nose, but I’m not sure that’s going to help anymore.”

“I don’t know what anyone can do against that monster now,” Duban murmured. “He is the very incarnation of powerful, limitless evil.”

“We are going to save your family,” Jasmine promised. “We just need to figure out how. That’s what we’re doing right now.”

“We don’t have a lot of time to figure that out,” Morgiana said, looking nervously out the window at a sky that was already deepening from the gray of early twilight to the dark blue of early night.

Jasmine and Duban also turned to glance out the window, breaking off from their escalating fight. Duban swore under his breath. Jasmine tried to look strong but couldn’t hide the dismay in her eyes.

“Wait,” Aladdin said suddenly, breaking the silence. “You’re both right. And you’re both looking at this backwards.”

The three looked at him, confused.

He leapt up, the beginnings of a smile on his face.

“Jasmine, you said that magic is only as great as the mind that controls it. We’ve already seen that Jafar isn’t thinking like a completely sane man—what with chasing you and taking the children as hostages. So we need to ask ourselves this: what is Jafar expecting us to do?”

“Go to war against him,” Morgiana said, a little irritably. “You heard him, Aladdin. We all did. And we’re planning to. But we need more time. If we tried now…”

“We would do it pretty terribly, as Duban said. But proudly and energetically,” he added quickly, before Jasmine could interrupt. “Now, what are we actually good at?”

“Stealing things,” Morgiana snapped. “Aladdin, are you an idiot? Haven’t you been listening? What does—”

“So,” Aladdin continued, putting a finger on her mouth to shut her up, “we wage war on Jafar—big, obvious, ugly war—while some of us steal Maruf and Shirin and Ahmed. And the lamp. And the book. And anything else that seems useful. Right out from under his nose.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Jasmine’s eyes went from confused to clear as she thought about his plan. A smile began to form at the edges of her lips.

Even Morgiana seemed impressed.

“That’s not half bad,” she said grudgingly. “War is a pretty spectacular diversionary tactic. There’s no way he