Chapter One

I frowned as I noticed the sun about to go down and shoved my art supplies back into my bag. Al was going to rip my head off if I didn't get moving. Several children had come up missing last night and it was scaring everyone. And making my friends paranoid. I was told not to go anywhere once the sun started going down and it was even worse when it was night.

"Sorry, mister." I heard a voice say and looked over to see a boy around my age, talking to Farouk. He had black hair, tanned skin, and freckles across his nose.

"Out of my way, boy. The entire city must be indoors by nightfall!" He snapped at the kid. I smirked as the boy shoveled apples into his orange vest. The vendor had no idea. The boy took another and bit into it hungrily.

"Why's that, mister?"

"Orders from the palace. Last night another child disappeared." Farouk told him and I moved closer, curious. No one really explained it.

"Disappeared? How?" The boy asked what I had wanted to know.

"Poof!" The fruit vendor shouted and I jumped. "Like that! Into thin air! Now if only you would do the same!"

"Alaric!?" Al's voice called out frantically and I turned in time to be taken by the shoulders. I was whirled around to find myself face to face with my paranoid brother. "Where have you been?!" He asked, giving me a shake. "You had me worried."

"Gee, Al, don't have a cow-" I felt something slam into me and I hit Al.

"Hey, why don't you watch where you're going?" The kid snapped at us.

"Watch where I'm going?" Al repeated angrily and frowned at the boy. Abu nodded in agreement.

'Yeah!'

"Look, street rat," Al began, trying to find patience. "You oughta be more careful."

The kid rolled his eyes and bent to retrieve his fruit and I moved to help him. "The name's Waheed, and I had the right of way, mister." I snickered a bit and Al swatted at the back of my head.

"No, I meant careful about-"

"Oh, the disappearances? Kids vanishing? Poof?" Waheed snorted. "Not scared."

"Hey! You little thief!" Farouk shouted, having seen the fruit rolling along the ground.

"Farouk." He scoffed. "I'm not scared of him either."

Al smirked. "Ah, the case of the stolen fruit."

"Uh huh." I grinned.

Waheed scowled at us. "Hey, I know it's wrong to steal. I don't need any lectures. I'm not going to be a street rat forever, you know. Someday-"

"I'm gonna make something of myself." Al said at the same time as Waheed and I glanced at my brother in confusion.

"Is that a new quote or something? How'd you know he was going to say that?" I asked, but Al had a faraway look in his eyes. "Al?" I waved at a hand at him. He looked spaced out like he was remembering something. "Aladdin?"

"What's with him?" Waheed asked and I shrugged.

"I dunno." I gave Al another look and then held a hand out to Waheed. "I'm Alaric by the way, but you can call me Rick." He shook my hand and glanced at my brother.

"Is he going to be okay? He sure is weird." I hid a snicker and nodded.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. You better get those fruits someplace safe." I grinned at him and he smirked back before turning and running off. Farouk tried to make a grab for him, but Waheed was quicker and managed to toss out a banana peel for him to step on. I burst into laughter as the vendor slipped and slid like he was on ice, crashing into a nearby cart.

"Ooh, ice skating, my favorite!" I looked behind me to see Genie watching the slipping, sliding man. Genie winked at me and then looked at my brother. "Err, what's with him? Feed him anything sugary? You know it makes him...weird."

'Nuh uh.' Abu answered seriously and I laughed.

I shrugged at Genie. "I dunno what's wrong with him."

"Amal…Amal!" Al shouted suddenly, startling us and Genie and I exchanged looks.

"Huh?" Al shook his head to clear it and finally graced us with his presence. "Whoa, I just had the strangest-" He trailed off and I frowned.

"Al, who's Amal?" Genie questioned.

"My best friend. When we were kids. Until he disappeared." Al shuddered at some memory and I swallowed.

"What happened to him?"

"One second Amal was right there. And then I turned my back...and he was gone. I chased after a shadow - of something. But it disappeared, too. I never found Amal. Never found out what happened." He stated, looking saddened and a bit fearful. He suddenly jerked. "Hey! Hey, I was talking to that kid! Where'd he go?"

"About yea high," Genie held up a tape measurer and held it up against me. "Packing this much fruit?" He questioned, turning into a girl with a very big fruit hat. Al nodded and he turned back to normal. "He ran off... after making Farouk slip on a banana."

"Which was hilarious." I snickered and usually Al would have laughed too, but he was glancing around nervously and kept looking at me. Uh-oh. He comes mister paranoia.

"Genie...the children. The disappearances. It's happening again." Al looked at me. "I was Alaric's age when Amal disappeared." Genie grabbed a hold of me and hugged me to his chest.

"Genie!" I struggled to get out of his arms. He was suffocating me! "Let me go!"

"I'm never letting you out of my sight!" He wailed and I sighed. Great.

"Genie, maybe you should take Alaric back to the palace."

I finally got free of Genie and fixed my brother with a determined glare.

"Al, we have to check on other kids in the city. Not everyone has a big brother like I do." Genie's and Al's faces softened at my words and then Al ran a hand through his hair.

"All right, you can stay." He conceded before thrusting a finger in my face. "But you do exactly what I tell you to do, got it? No running off or anything like that."

"Okay, okay. Get out of my face." I shoved at his finger and Al rolled his eyes.


"I knew it. I knew I should have migrated with the other birds this year. But no! I'm here in Agrabah for monster-hunting season with you bozos!" Iago grumbled from beside me. Al, Abu, Iago, and I were on Carpet, flying about to check on

"Aww, we love to spend time with you too, Iago." I snickered and he shoved at me.

"Oh, shut up." He stated, but he didn't look too upset. A woman's scream rose up from below us and Iago and Abu leapt into my arms. I gasped and moved closer to Al.

"What was that?" I asked and Al swallowed before grimacing.

"Carpet! Down there! Quick!" He ordered and Carpet made an abrupt turn.

"Oh, yeah, let's get as close as we can. I wanna see monster drool." Iago mocked, but he didn't climb out of my arms. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Relax, Iago. I won't let a monster get you."

"Technically it would be after you." He retorted and I snorted. Iago turned to face Al. "Yeah, please take the kid closer." He said sarcastically, but Al ignored him.

We found the woman who had screamed and lowered down next to her. She was clutching at her crying baby with wide eyes and looking ready to cry herself.

"It tried to take my little Hamed!" She told us, holding her baby gently.

"Did you see it?" I asked her. "What was it?"

"Don't ask that." Iago snapped at me. "Why do you want to know?"

"It's better to know what we're looking for, Iago." I told him and he shook his head.

"You're predictable."

"Am not." I argued and he nodded.

"You and your brother both. And I can prove it. I know he's gonna say." Iago cleared his throat. ""There it goes! Come on!"" He shouted in Al's voice. "And we'll go racing after it." We watched as a shadow suddenly darted around the corner.

"There it goes! Come on!" Al stated and urged Carpet after it. Iago turned to me smugly.

"Did I call that one, or what?"

"Or what." I retorted teasingly and Iago hit me. "Ow!"

"Shut up!"

"Shhh." Abu shushed us. Carpet jerked to a stop and I almost toppled over.

"It's gone!" Al gasped. "But where? It's a dead end!"

Iago swallowed. "Do you have to call it a dead end? How about a cul de sac? It's so much nicer."

"Okay. It's a cul de sac." I said and grinned at Iago.

"Well, aren't you just full of it today?" He stated moodily and I grinned. Suddenly a growling came from behind us.

I gulped nervously and poked at my brother. "Um…Al?" There was a large shadow on the wall nearby.

"Eee! It's trapped us!" Iago shrieked and pounced into my arms. Al pulled out Genie's lamp and gave it a rub.

"Genie! Help us!" He called and Genie came out of the lamp. He was dressed like a Rock and Roll guy holding a guitar.

"Thank you!" Genie hollered and played a few notes which echoed against the alley walls. "Good night!" Worried the monster would hear, we all jumped him and covered his mouth. Genie became alarmed and changed back to normal. "Uh, what's goin' on?"

"Shh!" Al hushed him and pointed at where the shadow was. Genie nodded and we let him up. Slowly we crept towards it. Al lifted his hand and counted to three before we leapt around the corner. "Ha!" Al and Genie shouted.

We all shouted and then Waheed screamed.

"Aaaahhhh!" He wailed and Iago, Abu and I screamed back. Genie screamed too and Al closed his mouth.

"Waheed! What are you doing out here?" He asked and Waheed shifted nervously.

"I... I - I saw something...weird."

Al nodded. "Yeah, we saw it too. Stay close." He told the boy tucking an arm around him. Waheed nodded rapidly.

"Anything you say."

I was beginning to feel a little nervous now. It was one thing to hear about a monster, but for it to actually be there was something else entirely. I got on Al's other side and he patted me reassuringly.

"Alright, Genie," He said. "We're gonna-What's wrong?" I looked around him to see Genie was frozen in fear and then we all saw what he had. A large gargoyle-lizard-bat resembling monster was crawling down the wall, effortlessly with its large claws, towards us. It snarled at us showing gaping jaws and I suddenly knew why kids went missing. It ate them!

"Yaahh!" Waheed and I yelped and Al shoved us onto Carpet.

"Carpet, take Waheed and Alaric!"

"Wait! Al!" I said, frowning. "What about you?!"

"It's okay, just go with Carpet!" Al called back. "Go!" Carpet took off before I summon another protest and had to steady Waheed as the rug whisked us away from the danger.


Third POV:

Iago watched Carpet fly away with a sour faced Alaric and the other kid, and scowled at Genie.

"How about me?" Genie rolled his eyes at the parrot.

Aladdin faced the monster on the wall. "So you're the thing that took Amal!" He yelled, pointing a finger at it accusingly and the monster roared in their faces. Genie grimaced and fanned his face.

"Whoo! Ever try a breath mint?" He said and yelped when the creature took a swipe at Aladdin. "Look out!" The agile street rat dodged the attack by flipping backwards.

"Yaaaahh!" Iago screamed as the monster clawed at him, knocking him against a wall. "Ouch." He peeled off the wall and fell into a wooden barrel. "I should be safe in here." He commented, peeking through a knothole. He watched as Aladdin pulled a piece of wood off a nearby building and swung it at the beast. It smacked it, but the wood broke.

"I'm in trouble." Al gulped and the monster roared in anger at him. From on top of the roof, Abu pushed a piece of stone off the ledge and it bashed the creature on the skull. Unfortunately it only made it angrily and it snarled, climbing up the wall after the poor little monkey.

Abu screeched in terror as the monster reared its ugly head over the ledge, but luckily for him Genie had thought fast. The monster was caught by the ankle with a rope attached to a fishing rod.

"Ya-hoo!" Genie yelled, tugging on the fishing pole. "It's a big 'un!" He tried to pull the beast off the wall, but it only snarled and jumped onto another building, where it grabbed hold of the fishing line, causing Genie to move as well. He was jerked up along with the fishing line and slammed into the building over and over by the creature. The line broke and Genie hit the ground.

"Ow." He groaned before lifting his head. "The fish are really biting today." He said dizzily before recovering quickly. "Okay, I'm gonna end this right here, right now!" He yelled and zapped at the monster. To his and Aladdin's shock the magic bounced off the creature's skin. Unfortunately for Iago, his hiding place was no longer any good. The magic that had bounced off of the creature...bounced into his barrel. Iago cried out in shock and pain and the barrel burst apart, leaving a de-feathered parrot behind. The parrot groan a bit before toppling over.

"Ah, see. It's got thick skin. I did not know that." Genie said, elbowing Al who rolled his eyes. The monster growled at them from the top of a building. Aladdin frowned when it appeared to be watching them.

"What's it doing?" He asked and Genie shrugged unsure as well.

"Beats me."

Suddenly the creature moved, going around the side of the building. Aladdin ran after it, trying to see which direction it was going in. he skidded to a stop around the next corner.

"It's gone!" He exclaimed in shock, his eyes darting around to try and catch a glimpse, but it was like it had vanished into thin air. Iago managed to get Genie to patch him up before coming to sit on the street rat's shoulder grumpily.

"Good!" He huffed. "Now we can go find the kid."


Alaric's POV:

"Carpet." I called out. The rug was still frantically flying us away. "Carpet." I poked the flying magical rug and then rolled my eyes. "Carpet!" He jerked to a stop and Waheed grabbed my vest so I wouldn't topple headfirst into the streets below.

"I think maybe we're far enough away now." Waheed added and Carpet shifted underneath us.

"It's okay, Carpet." I laughed and patted him. "I know you were worried about us."

"You're brother's some kind of hero, huh?"

I looked at Waheed and smirked. "Yeah some kind." He snickered and then sighed.

"Think he'll stop this thing? I don't like being scared."

"Yeah, he will." I said certainly. "Al won't give up until he's stopped this thing." Waheed nodded and then looked down at the city below.

"Do you think it's just the one? Or…are there more?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea." I leaned my chin against my hand in thought. "I wish I had my book with me. I could see what it was and maybe Al could get rid of it."

"What do you think it is?" Waheed questioned and again I shrugged.

"Could be a number of things." I frowned. "Let's see…comes every seven or eight years. Snatches kids at nighttime..."

"Full moon." Waheed pointed out and I nodded.

"Right. During a full moon…Nope not a clue. I just know its ugly."

Waheed snickered and then gasped. "Rick, look out!" I looked behind me in time to see a large gaping portal a clawed hand dig into my vest before I was jerked off of Carpet and plunged into darkness. "Rick!" Waheed yelled and then I didn't hear anything else.


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