Rajah's Curse

Chapter 62: Abbi's Truth

After an exhaustive day of endless work, the guest and speaker lists were done, Ababwa was no more, and we had even found Abu. However, we did not meet the sultan's deadline.

Today, he was collecting princes, speakers, and other guests while we were supposed to be resting. That's what we tried to do all morning. Abbi was not good at resting and I cannot say I was sad when she told me we were going to the magician's study after lunch.

I wanted to use this time to read through some scrolls on the Cave of Wonders and find information on the ring that Abbi used to 'wake me up'. There were also my Ghamese birthday scrolls to go over. Hopefully, one of those sources would help uncover what was going on with me because I wasn't just a tiger these days. My paws clinked against the stone floor. I had forgotten to eat yesterday and was no worse for the ware. I still did not know why I hadn't been able to move of my own volition for most of my time in Ababwa. And most worrisome of all was that if I ventured too far away from Abbi, my body would just stop responding. Since things with the wake were currently in hand, this seemed like a good time to attempt to solve this mystery.

Abbi, though, had something different on her mind. "It's so odd, Rajah," she was saying to me as we entered the study. "I've dreamt of this place more times than I can count over the last few weeks and now it's real."

That marked yet another mystery that I was hoping to solve. From what Abbi had told me thus far, it sounded like she and I had experienced a similar coma filled with dreams about my past time with Jasmine.

It was too strange to be a mere coincidence.

"Aladdin said that the secret admirer in them is real too," she added, "and now Hamed says he's a prince. I wonder if I'll ever get to meet this mystery man myself."

So did I.

I wanted to speak at the wake, but the closest I'd come to being human in the last three days were the nightmares I'd been having recently about being stuck in the Cave of Wonders.

"I keep meaning to ask Hamed about whether SA has been found, but things have been all over the place with the wake planning."

She did not know the half of it.

Abbi shook her head. "I might not be able to help SA right now, but I have great news! Last night, I managed to convince Abu to nab something for me." She held up a new ring.

It was a thin band of gold with a single gemstone that was probably meant to look like a diamond. However, judging by the sloppy cut and how the light reflected off of it, the 'gemstone' was most likely made of glass.

"This is the ring Aladdin used to propose to me...or I guess, Princess Jasmine all those months ago."

Okay...

Abbi smiled at me, but it was not reassuring. Her eyes had that look, the one that bespoke trouble. "You were too busy reading those letters to notice, but yesterday, I came up with the best idea." She proudly pointed at the large orb suspended above the study. "See that there? I thought really hard while I was talking with Abu and I remembered reading about what this giant glass ball does in one of my dreams. It's part of a scrying machine and thanks to Abu, I have this ring so we can use it to find Aladdin!"

Oh.

Abbi ran up the stone stairs to get closer to the orb. "Rajah," she said, "do you think you can work the cloud generator while I do the scrying?" She gestured at a couple of wooden gears. The small one was parallel to the floor. The other large one was perpendicular. That one I could turn, but...

"Come on, Rajah. Trust me," she said. "Please."

I wanted to trust her out of instinct, but this was hardly a carpet ride. She was suggesting we do some serious magic, all for Aladdin's sake. Plus, her eyes still had that look...