If Witches Were Horses, Part III
By Jill Weber

	Previously: Mekhanikles, the demented Greek genius who loved to 
build big machines and who wanted to rid the world of messy humans, 
especially Aladdin, tried to attack Agrabah in a giant mechanical crab. 
Aladdin and the others tried to stop the crab. During the fight, the 
crab was blown to bits and Aladdin broke his leg. 
	Sadira, the young, beautiful and self-taught witch of the sand, 
tried to heal Aladdin's leg with a scroll that was meant to heal 
horses. Aladdin's leg was healed, but an unfortunate side effect turned 
him into a horse. Genie tried to turn him back, but only succeeded in 
turning him into a centaur. Their search for a cure for the cure turned 
up a magic mirror, who assured him that he could fix their problems, 
given some time to think. After a night of cogitation, the mirror 
announced it had found a spell that would serve.
***
	Genie frowned. "Can I see this spell?"
	A set of diagrams appeared in place of the Mask. It showed a four 
pictures of a woman making gestures. Genie squinted at it then smacked 
his forehead. "Oh, of course! I should have remembered this one!"
	The mask reappeared and smiled slightly. "I have reason to 
remember mirror spells," it said dryly.
	"Well, it should work, Al," Genie said.
	"Where have I heard..." Iago started. The Mask looked in his 
direction and Iago shut up. The genie of the mirror spooked the parrot, 
because it sounded too much like the late Jafar.
	"Okay, let's see those gestures again," Sadira said. The diagrams 
appeared again. "Those look easy enough," Sadira said. "No words?"
	"None," replied the Mask's voice.
	"Then stand back, everyone," Sadira said. She copied the gestures 
of the woman in the diagram. For a few moments, nothing happened, then 
everything went black. When their eyes cleared, they looked hopefully 
at Aladdin.
	He was still a centaur.
	"Oh, crud," said Sadira. "I don't think that came out right."
	Everyone looked at Sadira... who was now a centaur. 

	*****************************
	Genie glared at the mirror and began to swell up. "What did you 
do, you two faced..."
	"Easy, cousin," the Mask soothed. "I..."
	"Don't 'cousin' me, you incompetent nincompoop!" Genie howled.
	"Who are you calling a nimcompoop, you... you... low wattage 
excuse for a genie!" snarled the Mask. "If you hadn't botched the spell 
to turn the boy from a horse to a human..."
	Jasmine stepped between the two furious genies, thus demonstating 
she had as much common sense as Aladdin. (None.) "Calm down," she said. 
"Yelling at each other won't solve anything. We have to figure out what 
went wrong!"
	Sadira was staring at her hands unhappily. "I don't understand 
it," she said. "I did the gestures JUST like they were in the 
mirror..." her voice trailed off. She gave Jasmine a sideways look, 
then she gave one to Aladdin. 
	"Mirror," said all three. 
	"What?" Iago demanded.
	"Mirrors show things in reverse," Jasmine explained.
	Genie slapped his forehead. "Oh, sh... oot!" he said. "Why didn't 
I think of that!"
	"Because you're an idiot!" proclaimed the genie of the mirror.
	Genie puffed into a large housecat, who bristeled at the mirror. 
"Hey! You're the one who showed the gestures in reverse!"
	"YOU TWO ARE BOTH INCOMPETENT!" howled Iago, flapping out from 
behind Carpet.
	"YOU DIDN'T THINK OF IT EITHER," howled Aladdin, sending Iago and 
Abu both fleeing for safety behind Carpet.
	This calmed Genie down faster than any soothing words. "Um, Al, 
remember, you're the even tempered, main character, hero type." Genie 
turned into a caped crusader type to emphasize his point. "Why don't 
you leave the yelling to the funny sidekicks." Genie tried to put his 
arm around Aladdin's shoulders, but Aladdin shook him off.
	Aladdin's face was flushed and his fists were clenched. "Don't 
patronize me!" he yelled at Genie. Then he caught sight of himself in 
the mirror. That, plus the stunned expression on Jasmine's face shocked 
him. He wheeled, buried his face in his hands and walked away from the 
others. After a few moments, he felt calm enough to try to talk. "I'm 
sorry," he whispered.
	The Mask had the grace to look abashed. "It's my fault," he said. 
"It's been centuries since I interacted with the outside world. I 
forgot that I was reversed with respect to reality." The Mask shook 
side to side mournfully. "I can't blame you for being mad at me."
	Aladdin shook his head and spoke without looking at them. "I'm 
not mad at you," he said in sorrowful tones. "I'm just mad. I don't 
know what's wrong with me."
	Abu made 'aww' noises and scrambled to his usual perch on 
Aladdin's shoulder. Jasmine walked over and looped her arm through his 
and leaned her head against his bicep since he was too tall for her to 
rest her head against his shoulder. Sadira turned away and told herself 
once again that she was over her crush on Aladdin. Fortunately, once 
again Iago came to her rescue. "Hey! Do we have to put up with the mush 
every time something bad happens!"
	Carpet whapped his fanny, forcing Iago to find somewhere else to 
hide. The parrot elected to take refuge with Sadira. "Can we get out of 
here?" he asked from the safety of Sadira's shoulder.
	"Sure, Iago," Sadira said. "I need to get a little fresh air."
	"I'm sure fresh air will do you all good," the Mask said. "I'll 
endeavor to find a remedy for my grevious error."
	Aladdin sighed. "I suppose just doing the spell correctly won't 
work?" he asked, hoping for a negative answer, but expecting the one he 
got. 
	"I'm afraid not, young sir," the Mask said. "The spell was to 
make the subject the same species as the caster. As Mistress Sadira is 
now a centaur..."
	"The only thing she can turn anybody into is another centaur," 
Aladdin sighed. "It figures. Come on, let's go to the market, I'm 
starving." He half turned to Jasmine and said. "Would you care for a 
ride, Your Highness?"
	Jasmine laughed. "I would be delighted, my good man." 
	A flick of Genie's finger and there was a sidesaddle on Aladdin's 
back. Carpet flew over and formed into stairs so Jasmine could step up 
and take a seat.
	They walked through the underground passages while Sadira got her 
'horse legs.' It didn't take her nearly as long as it had taken 
Aladdin, a fact Iago pointed out quickly, and snidely.
	"Yes," Genie said thoughtfully. "I noticed that Sadira's 
adjustment was quicker. I also noticed that she didn't lose her clothes 
when she changed form."
	The three humans shot Genie a startled look. 
	"Do you suppose the mirror did this on purpose?" Jasmine asked.
	Genie frowned. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know why he 
would do such a thing. He doesn't appear to have a motive."
	They walked into the alley ways, then into the market place in 
thoughtful silence. Their reverie was interupted by Omar the fruit 
merchant. "Oh, no, not another one!"
	They all looked around. "Another what, Omar?" asked Aladdin.
	"Another centaur!" howled Omar. The tubby merchant was scowling 
at Sadira. "So, what, you decided to dump the princess and raise a 
family of street centaurs to bedevil us?"
	"You take that back!" Aladdin growled, grabbing Omar by the front 
of his shirt and picking him up.
	"Aladdin!" Jasmine cried in alarm. She slid off Aladdin's back 
and ran up to get between him and Omar. Unnoticed, the sidesaddle 
quietly vanished.
	"Well, better he should marry his fellow street rat than the 
princess!" a snooty woman's voice said. 
	Sadira whirled to face the speaker, a heavy set woman with 
swarthy skin. "What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
	Just as Jasmine reached up to grab Aladdin's wrist, Omar took 
back the offense. He grabbed a cucumber from a nearby cart and whacked 
Aladdin in the face with it. 
	"Hey!" Farouk, the big bellied, heavily bearded vegetable seller 
yelled. "That's my cucumber! Use your own wares, Omar! They're not much 
good for anything else, anyway!" 
	"A princess should marry a prince," the snooty woman continued. 
"Street rats should marry street mice!"
	"Who are you calling a MOUSE!" howled Sadira. She gave the woman 
a shove.
	The snooty woman hit Sadira in the face with her basket.
	Farouk grabbed the cucumber from Omar's hand, studied it, decided 
it was ruined and whacked Omar over the head with it.
	Omar twisted in Aladdin's grip and grabbed the cucumber back. 
"Are you saying my fruit isn't what it ought to be!" he howled and 
whacked Farouk with the battered cucumber, which broke open.
	Aladdin released his hold on Omar and gave him a push that caused 
the fat merchant to stumble against the fish cart. "All he's saying is 
that people don't LIKE little green worms!" Aladdin taunted.
	"Speaking of worms," Sadira growled, advancing on the snooty 
woman and forcing her to back up to a cart that was parked next to the 
fish vendor's stall. "Isn't it time for you to crawl back under your 
rock?" she gave the snooty woman another shove and she fell into the 
cart, which turned out to be filled with eggs.
	"Worms!" howled Omar. "I'll show you WORMS!" he grabbed several 
fish off the cart and threw them at Aladdin and Farouk.
	"Hey! MY fish don't have worms in them!" the fishmonger howled. 
He grabbed up a handful of fish guts from the fish he'd been cleaning 
and threw them in Omar's general direction. Fish guts splattered all 
over everyone.
	"You filthy son-of-a-camel!" yelled Aladdin. He grabbed a 
cantalope off Omar's cart and heaved it at the fish vendor.
	"If you WORKED, you'd get dirty, too, street rat!" the fishmonger 
bellowed as he reached into the egg cart. He grabbed an egg and threw 
it at Aladdin. Aladdin dodged and the egg nailed Iago.
	"Awright!" snarled Iago, shaking egg yolk from his feathers. 
"Nobody throws MY relatives around with impunity!" He grabbed an orange 
from Omar's cart and heaved it at the fishmonger.
	The snooty woman staggered out of the egg cart just in time to 
catch the orange in the face.
	Abu laughed and pointed at the snooty woman. Iago nailed him with 
an orange just on principle.
	Abu shrieked and grabbed a handful of grapes and threw them at 
Iago. He missed Iago, but hit a man who was coming out of a wine shop 
carrying two wine skins. The man with the wine skins shook the grapes 
from his eyes, then gaped at the damage. "My eggs!" he howled. 
"Somebody ruined my eggs!"
	"Well, if you're stupid enough to leave eggs sitting around where 
decent people can trip on them, they deserve to be ruined!" snarled the 
snooty woman.
	The man with the wine skins opened one and sprayed wine at the 
snooty woman, incidentally dousing Abu and Carpet.
	Abu grabbed an armful of bananas and jumped onto Carpet, who 
soared above the crowd so Abu could start a rain of bananas on his 
victims.
	"Wowee! Food fight!" Genie cried. He looked around to see what 
mischief he could create. 
	Two shoppers were pummeling Aladdin with bags of rice, so Genie 
started there. He pointed a finger and seconds later, Aladdin had a 
large jar of milk. "Goat milk!?" he cried as he dowsed his attackers.
	Sadira and Omar had taken refuge behind Farouk's stand and were 
pelting Iago and Farouk with Farouk's goods. Farouk and Iago ducked for 
cover behind Omar's fruit cart and started returning fire with Omar's 
goods. The fishmonger was throwing eggs at Aladdin from behind the egg 
cart while the eggs' owner was spraying everyone in sight with wine.
	The wine seller came out in time to get a banana in the face from 
Abu. He ran back inside, only to emerge moments later with an apronful 
of his wife's falafel, which he began to throw at random. His wife 
rushed out to rescue her falafel and got a faceful of egg from the 
fishmonger. She grabbed a chicken from a nearby stand and started 
chasing the snooty woman, whom she'd never liked anyway, around the 
marble fountain in the center of the square.
	Jasmine stood in the middle of the market place and bellowed at 
the top of her lungs. "Will you all just QUIT THIS!" 
	Her words got an instant response. Within seconds, she looked 
like stew with legs.
	Jasmine wiped the orange out of her eyes and glared around. "Now 
you did, you went and made me MAD. Genie!" she held up her hands. She 
had NO idea what to expect, but she knew Genie would come up with 
something good.
	"Et voila," he said. "Or is that EAT voila?" he murmured. "I 
could never keep my tenses straight." He waved his hand and in a 
showers of sparkles, Jasmine changed. She was now wearing a colorful 
sarong, on her head was a pile of fruit that would make Carmen Miranda 
green with envy. Genie folded himself up like origami and fell into 
Jasmine's arms and Jasmine found herself holding the biggest Genuine-
true-blue-Genie-fruit-zooka that had ever existed. (Genie aside to the 
audience: "It's probably the only Genuine- true- blue- Genie- fruit- 
zooka that has ever exisited, but why quibble over details?")
	Jamine cocked her Genuine- true- blue- Genie- fruit- zooka and 
grinned evilly. "Okay, guys, it's PAYBACK time."
	Before she could open fire, a shadow fell over the market place. 
"Party pooper!" mutter the Genuine- true- blue- Genie- fruit- zooka 
	"Mekhanikles!" hissed Jasmine.
	"Same difference," Genie muttered.
	"What a mess!" howled Mekhanikles. He popped the hatch of his 
latest creation, a giant black stealth lobster and surveyed the scene. 
	"Dang!" Genie said. "I forgot to set my giant mechanical lobster 
traps!"
	"You barbarians!" Mekhanikles' mechanical eye telescoped out of 
his head. "Who's going to clean up this mess?!?"
	Jasmine slanted a look at her Genuine- true- blue- Genie- fruit- 
zooka, grinned, took aim and fired. She wasn't the only one, either. 
Mekhanikles found himself pelted with food from all sides.
	"You're getting my baby filthy!" shrieked Mekhanikles, making a 
futile effort to wipe the food off his latest creation with his stola. 
Aladdin threw a watermelon that splattered all over the mechanical 
lobster.
	"Fiend!" shrieked Mekhanikles. "You ruined my favorite tunic!" 
The pencil necked Greek slithered back into his cockpit and slammed the 
hatch. "Okay, you want to play with your food?" he shrieked. "Then 
let's turn this picnic into a BARBECUE!"
	Suddenly the giant lobster lobbed a fireball at the marketplace. 
Jasmine's Genuine- true- blue- Genie- fruit- zooka squirted out of her 
hands and became Genie with a baseball bat. Suddenly the marketplace 
became a baseball diamond and Genie swatted the fireball over the left 
field wall.
	"Foul!" cried Mekhanikles. 
	A Genie umpire and a Genie catcher appeared behind Genie batter. 
"Strike One!" called Umpire Genie.
	Batter Genie gave Umpire Genie a reproachful look. "Whose side 
are you on?" Batter Genie demanded. Catcher Genie shrugged.
	Batter Genie tapped home plate and wiggled into position. 
Mekhanikles went into his wind up.
	Meanwhile, Aladdin, Sadira and Jasmine were evacuating the 
bystanders. "No, don't stop to look or pick up your belongings," 
snarled Aladdin. "Just RUN!"
	Suddenly, Base Runner Genie was stealing second. Mekhanikles 
tried to throw him out, but  Base Runner Genie slid into second. 
"Safe!" called Second Base Umpire Genie.
	"What!" Mekhanikles yelped. He popped out of the lobster's hatch, 
whipped out a scroll and began to write, muttering all the while. "Memo 
to self, invent eyeglasses for blind umpires!" He put the scroll away, 
slammed the hatch shut and the giant lobster went into its windup.
	Mekhanikles threw a brush back pitch and all the Genies charged 
the mound. Aladdin grabbed Jasmine and tossed her onto Carpet with Abu. 
Iago flapped up to join them, having determined that Carpet was the 
safest place to be in an emergency.
	The giant lobster grabbed Umpire Genie and Second Plate Umpire 
Genie and balled them up and threw them into Trash Can Genie. "Kill the 
ump!" Mekhanikles howled triumphantly.
	"Everybody's a critic," Trash Can Genie sulked. Genie pulled 
himself together, only to get backhanded by the giant lobster's claw.
	Genie was bowled over and hit eight of the ten Bowling Pin 
Genies. A flock of Song Bird Genies flew around his head, tweeting. 
Then the baseball diamond turned back into the Agrabah market place. 
Only now all the bystanders were long gone. All except for Aladdin, 
Jasmine, Sadira, Carpet, Abu and Iago. 	
	Genie sighed. "Mortals," he muttered to himself. "When are they 
going to learn to RUN AWAY!?" Then Mekhanikles blasted him again and he 
keeled over.
	"We have to help Genie," Jasmine cried. 
	"Are you crazy?" Iago said. "Genie's immortal, Mekhanikles can't 
hurt him!"
	Jasmine gave him a dirty look.
	"I have an idea," Sadira said. "Remember that stew I made a few 
weeks ago?"
	Iago scowled at her. "You mean that stinky, foul, disgusting..." 
Suddenly he grinned. "Oh, yeah. As a culinary creation..."
	Sadira interupted. "It makes a great weapon. C'mon, all the 
ingredients are around here somewhere." They scattered.
	They put everything together into a big pot. "Well, it won't be 
quite the same without cooking it," Sadira said. "We'll have to fake 
it." She used her powers to mix all the ingredients together with a 
generous dollop of sand. When it was finished, Sadira had a stink bomb 
approximately the size of a basketball. (And yes, thanks to Genie, she 
did know what a basketball was. She was actually pretty good at the 
sport, although she preferred soccer. Come to think of it, the stink 
bomb was also the size of a soccer ball.)
	Jasmine grabbed the stinkball and jumped onto Carpet. "Let's go, 
Carpet!" she cried, thus demonstrating for the second or third time 
that day that she had no common sense. Iago and Abu bailed as Carpet 
took off to do Jasmine's bidding.
	"Jasmine! Watch out for his nets!" Aladdin cried after her.
	"I remember the nets," Jasmine muttered under her breath. 
Sometimes Aladdin treated her like she had NO common sense! 
	Mekhanikles' popped out of the hatch on top of the giant lobster 
as Jasmine approached. His mechanical eye telescoped out as she easily 
evaded the waving lobster claws and various nets and snares that shot 
out of various apperatures. "Ah, the brave princess, come to avenge the 
death of your poofy haired fiance, no doubt! Well, my dear, I'll be 
happy to send you off to JOIN HIM!"
	Two large scimitars popped out from the lobsters antenna and 
slashed at Jasmine. With a boost from Carpet, she leaped into the air 
and slam dunked the stinkball onto Mekhanikles head. Carpet swooped up 
to catch her, then he booked out of there like his tassels were on 
fire. 
	Then they were on fire, because one of Mekhanikles' fireballs 
found its mark. 
	Mekhanikles wiped stew out of his eyes and took better aim with 
his second fireball. One that would do more than singe the fringes of 
that dratted carpet!
	Genie shook the effects of the last fireball off just in time to 
see Mekhanikles singe Carpet. With a growl, he picked himself up and 
changed into... a chef's outfit. He materialized a butcher knife in one 
hand and a cleaver in the other.
	"Today, on the Iron Chef, the theme ingredient is... LOBSTER!" He 
charged between Mekhanikles and the fleeing Magic Carpet as Mekhanikles 
lobbed another fireball. "The crowds in Kitchen Stadium go wild as Iron 
Chef Genie..." He turned himself into a giant robot. "... takes on the 
challenger, Chef Mekhanikles of Loonytoonville. Iron Chef Genie makes 
an interesting dish of hot fireball..." 
	Another Genie arm appeared holding a frying pan. The frying pan 
interecepted the fireball, whereupon Genie used his butcher knife, meat 
cleaver -- and several other hands armed with such cooking utensils as 
a whisk, a spatula, a jackhammer, and an outboard motor -- sliced, 
diced, chopped, whipped, blended, filleted, and pureed the fireball 
with a delicious blend of black pepper, green pepper, red pepper, white 
pepper, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, 
chipotel peppers, Dr. Pepper and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band 
into a tasty sauce and fired it back at Mekhanikles.
	Mekhanikles just managed to get the stinkball off his head when 
the hot sauce hit the stinkball. The stinkball burst into oderous 
flames. Mekanikles threw it away from him. It would have fallen 
harmlessly to the sand below except Genie snapped off a slapshot with 
his trusty frying pan turned hockey stick and dropped it neatly into 
the lobster's hatch -- where it exploded and rendered the interior 
unfit for human habitation.
	"You ruined my baby!" wailed Mekhanikles. "Do you know how long 
it takes to make one of these things!" His favorite mechanical beetle, 
Scooter, swooped by and carried Mekhanikles off to safety.
	"I'll settle your hash another day!" howled Mekhanikles, shaking 
his fist as he escaped. Then he whipped out his scroll and muttered as 
he wrote: "Memo to self, settle Genie's hash another day."

	Meanwhile, Jasmine steered Carpet to a landing in the fountain, 
much to Sadira's relief, which put out the fire, much to Carpet's 
relief. Sadira helped Jasmine out of the fountain. Aladdin ran over and 
grabbed his beloved princess and shook her like a rag doll. "What were 
you thinking?" he bellowed at her. "You could have been killed!" 
	Carpet crawled out of the fountain, shaking water off in all 
directions like a two dimensional dog. Aladdin reared up and screamed 
at him. "You IDIOT! You took Jasmine into danger!" He brought his front 
hooves down and trampled Carpet into the ground. "IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT!" 
he howled.
	"Aladdin stop, you're hurting me!" Jasmine cried. 
	Aladdin froze and looked at her in alarm. "Jasmine?" he said in a 
very small voice.
	Genie came sailing up behind him. "Um, Al? I think the fire is 
out now," he said diffidently.
	Aladdin lowered Jasmine to the ground and backed away, hands over 
his mouth and a look of horror on his face. Genie swooped over to him 
and put an arm around his shoulders. "Easy, Al, it's not your fault! 
This is the centaur's reactions, not yours."
	"I could hurt somebody," Aladdin whispered. "I can't control 
myself. Genie, what am I going to do?" he wailed, and then he passed 
out.

	He woke up in a cool, dark place. After a few moments, he 
recognized it as Sadira's sanctuary. He shook his head and tried to sit 
up. 
	"Easy, Al," Genie said soothingly.
	"Genie? What am I going to do? I can't go on like this!" Aladdin 
made another effort to sit up, but Genie pushed him down. 
	"You should take it easy, boy," the genie of the mirror advised 
kindly. "You have been unconscious all morning. You need to rest."
	"All morning?" he looked around for Jasmine. The strain on her 
face told him the mirror spoke the truth. "Jasmine, I..."
	"Shh," she said, laying a finger across his lips. "Take it easy, 
we're still working on a cure." She smiled and added brightly. "Genie's 
gone through all the books in Agrabah by now, he's even consulted 
Fashir, that old witch in the market place, several fortune tellers, 
tarot cards, tea leaves, a crystal ball... I'm sure he'll come up with 
something soon!"
	Something in Genie's face told Aladdin that his friend had 
already 'come up' with something, and the former street rat bet himself 
it was something bad.
	All Genie said was, "Just relax and leave the work to us, kid." 
Which told Aladdin that things were really bad. Genie only called him 
"kid" when he was upset. 
	Genie started fussing, swooping around Sadira's sanctuary 
gathering up blankets and pillows to make Aladdin more comfortable. 
Aladdin shook his head. "Genie?"
	Genie continued to swoop.
	"GENIE!" Aladdin barked.
	Genie froze with a pillow clutched between his hands. "What?" 
Genie said. 
	Aladdin had been ready to confront Genie with his suspicions, 
then suddenly didn't want to discuss them in front of Jasmine. He 
searched for something else to say. The pillow in Genie's hands gave 
him a topic. "It looks like there's writing on that pillow," he said, 
pointing.
	Genie looked at the pillow he was holding in surprise. "Oh, so 
there is," he turned the pillow over in his hands. "I wonder where this 
came from?"
	"Isn't that one of the bronze tablets that almost fell on Aladdin 
when we were looking through Sadira's library?" Jasmine asked.
	Genie cocked his head. Unnoticed, the Mask in the mirror began to 
look worried. "I think you're right, Jas," he said, grateful for 
something to take his mind off his growing horror. He flipped the 
pillow around in his hands. Then there was a shower of sparkles and the 
pillow was a bronze tablet again. "This looks like part two of three," 
he said. He grinned at Jasmine. "How's your High Atlanticean?"
	"Rusty," Jasmine said, forcing herself to make a joke. "Where are 
parts one and three?" she asked.
	They all looked around. "Here's one of them," Aladdin said, 
pulling a pillow out from a foreleg and handing it to Genie.
	This pillow transformed into a tablet as soon as it touched 
Genie's hands. "Hm, Linear B," Genie mused. "What was wrong with Linear 
A?" he muttered. "Now where's that third tablet?"
	Carpet pointed at Genie.
	Abu pointed at Genie.
	"They're right," Iago squawked. "You put it in your pocket."
	Genie slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah, that's right." He dug it 
out of his pocket. "Ah, good old Arabic," he said cheerfully. As he 
read it, his cheerfulness dropped away. Then he glared at the genie of 
the mirror, who winced.
	"You disgusting pervert! No wonder you got put in the mirror!"
	"Why? What did he do?"
	"He broke two of the three basic Genie laws!" snarled Genie. 
	"Did he kill...?" Sadira asked, wide eyed.
	"No," Genie said sarcastically. "He managed to miss that one. 
First, he cast a love spell on Prince Farahd al Jamal several thousand 
years ago so that Prince Farahd would fall in love with the mistress of 
the mirror, who was the leader of the witch of the sands."
	"But Prince Farahd al Jamal was in love with his wife, who wasn't 
a witch," Jasmine paused. " At least, she wasn't a witch in the story 
that I read. But that story is very old, it might not be accurate."
	"Apparently, the spell went awry," Genie said, running his finger 
down the tablet. "So instead of falling in love with the witch of the 
sands, he fell in love with the wife he had to marry for political 
reasons."
	"So, it wasn't the romantic love match I'd always heard about?" 
Jasmine sighed.
	"No, they were in love," the Mask sighed. "That's why my spell 
didn't work."
	A look of horror was dawning on Sadira's face.
	"Well, even though it went wrong, he still cast the spell, which 
got him into deep donkey doo-doo with the Genie Audit Board," Genie 
said. He scowled. "Oh, lovely, not content with that misstep, after 
Prince Farahd died, he tried to bring him back to life!"
	They all looked at the mirror. "It seemed like a good idea at the 
time!" the mirror said defensively. "My poor mistress was so upset."
	"You two shekel, trecherous..." Genie started.
	"You did it on purpose," Sadira said, stopping Genie's tirade, 
although her voice was barely more than a whisper.
	Now everyone was looking at her.
	"I told you that I was over my crush on Aladdin, but you didn't 
believe me, did you?" she had to brace herself with all four legs 
because she had started shaking like a leaf. "He'd be cured by now, but 
YOU LIED! You didn't FORGET you were reversed! You reversed the spell 
ON PURPOSE!"
	"I..." the Mask didn't get a chance to finish.
	"You BASTARD!" howled Genie. Infuriated, Genie drew back his arm 
to hurl the bronze tablet at the mirror.
	"No!" Aladdin cried. He lunged forward and grabbed onto Genie's 
right arm. His centaur's strength actually allowed him to halt Genie in 
mid throw. "No, I think we've had enough violence for today."
	"Good thought, boy," the Mask said shaken. "Breaking a magic 
mirror will bring you seven hundred and seventy-seven years of bad 
luck," the shaken genie of the mirror said.
	"Maybe I don't care," Genie said in a deadly calm voice.
	Iago, Abu and Carpet drew back from him in alarm. Genie was being 
too quiet, it was like the calm before the storm, and they were sure 
they didn't want to know what the storm was about.
	Jasmine reached over and touched his left arm. "Genie? What's 
wrong?"
	"Everything," Genie said, sinking to the ground as if exausted. 
"We have to find a cure for Al," he added quietly.
	"We'll find something," Jasmine said, patting him on the shouler 
and looking anxiously at Aladdin. "It's just a matter of time."
	"But we don't have time, Jasmine," Aladdin said.
	Genie looked at Aladdin and tears started to trickle down his 
cheeks. 
	Aladdin took a deep breath. "I'm dying, aren't I? That's what's 
causing these mood swings, isn't it? And that's why I passed out in the 
market, and that's why you're so sick with worry."
	"Yes," Genie said in a very small voice. "And I killed you."
	"What!" Sadira said. "It's not YOUR fault. I'M the one who turned 
him into a horse..."
	Genie silenced her with a shake of the head. "But there was 
nothing wrong with the horse," he said. "The deterioration didn't start 
until *I* turned him into a centaur." He buried his face in his hands. 
"I'm the one who's killing him."
	There was a long period of silence. 
	Sadira looked at the Genie of the mirror. "Congratulations," she 
said. "You'll soon be three for three."
	The Mask actually paled. "What do you mean?"
	"Well, if Aladdin is dying and I'm a mirror image of Aladdin's 
deteriorating form..." she let them do the math for themselves.
	"Oh, my god," said the Mask. "What have I done?"
	"Hopefully, something that can still be undone," Jasmine said. 
She put her hands to her hips and spoke firmly. "Look, we're not beaten 
yet, let's save the weepy faces for the funerals, if any." She looked 
at the genie of the mirror and demanded. "You said that the mirror 
image spell was NOT the spell you were originally seeking. What 
happened to that first spell? Did it ever exist?"
	The Mask hesitated for a few long moments. Then finally, it 
sighed. "It turned out not to be a spell, but a talisman. But this 
talisman is impossible for you to get to."
	Jasmine tapped her foot. "Listen, buster, my fiance discovered a 
Magic Carpet, freed a genie and persuaded MY FATHER to change his mind! 
I don't BELIEVE in impossible anymore. So where is this talisman?"
	The Mask made a face. "It's in the center of a labyrnth that 
nothing living and nothing magical can enter. Impossible enough for 
you?"
	Aladdin started laughing.
	Everyone looked at him worriedly, but Aladdin wasn't in 
hysterics. It was genuine amusement.
	"What's so funny, Al?" Genie asked.
	"Yeah, share it with the rest of us," Iago demanded. "We could 
use a good laugh."
	Aladdin shook his head, sending his hair flying in all 
directions. "Nothing living and nothing magical," he repeated.
	"Which leaves what?" Sadira inquired.
	"Who were we just fighting?"Aladdin asked.
	Jasmine frowned. "Mekhanik... les..." There was a period of 
silence while that sank in, then everybody broke into smiles.
	"His machines are neither magic nor living," Aladdin explained to 
the genie of the mirror. "And yet, they follow his orders and do his 
dirty work for him." He rubbed his hands together. "I think it's time 
to pay a visit to the self proclaimed greatest of the great Greek 
geniuses."
	Genie puffed himself into a deerstalker hat and inverness cape. 
"The game's afoot, Watson!"

	*To Be Concluded Next Time!*