Hooked

Chapter Twenty Five

... Madeline ...

I was walking beside Aladdin as he told me his story.

"First thing you need to know... Agrabah is full of terror in the streets. It is guarded by soldiers everywhere. Even in our own homes."

I raised an eyebrow, and looked at his serious face, "Did someone in your family turn against you?"

"No. But one of my friends' siblings turned against him."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about. He did something very terrible."

"So you're saying he deserved it?"

He shrugged, "He didn't deserve the betrayal, but he was one of the only people that they arrested that actually had the consequence coming."

I stared at him, practically judging him.

"Don't look at me like that! You don't even know what he did," he said, frowning.

There was silence, until I broke it. "Well? What did he do?"

"... He... He murdered someone."

"Who?"

"His step-daughter."

I gaped at him, only half believing his story. "Tell me more about Agrabah."

He nodded, "So the place is heavily guarded, and all of the guards are ruthless."

Ruthless. The word reminded me of Hook.

I shivered. Aladdin stared at me quizzically, "Are you cold?"

I practically laughed, "Cold? Im not cold! We're in the desert, for God's sake!"

He laughed, "I suppose. But I thought I saw you shiver."

I scoffed, "I only shivered because of an old memory."

"Wonderland?"

"No. Something worse than that."

"What?"

I wondered if I should've told him. After all, he told me so much about his past already, and he only started with his stories... "I was captured by... a pirate."

He was silent, his eyes flashing with something like a secret.

"What's wrong?" I asked skeptically.

"Nothing." He looked at me and smiled, "It's nothing."

It definitely wasn't nothing. But I didn't want to make him angry with me. I needed someone on my side.

"Do you have any water?" I asked, the annoying sand paper-like feeling returning on my tongue.

"I think I do," he said as he opened his satchel.

I looked at what was inside silently as he searched through it. I saw a notebook - too keep track of the days, I suppose - and something that I didn't quite catch the glimpse of, the sunlight reflecting off of it blinding me to the point where I had to shield my eyes.

I looked back at Aladdin to see him give a half smile towards me. "Here you go. I found it."

As soon as the little black and blue dots vacated my vision, I saw that he was holding out a canteen that I guessed was full of water.

I smiled thankfully and greedily grabbed it, gulping it down until there was only a little left. He was lucky I even thought of leaving some for him.

The feeling of the water trickling down my throat was unlike any I've felt before. I never thought I would be so glad as to actually drink water in my life. Even though it was quite warm.

I handed the canteen back, and he shook it with an expression of awe, "You drank almost all of it!"

I shrugged, "What does it matter? We are probably getting close, anyway."

He shook his head in disbelief and put it away. When he started to close his satchel, I asked, "Hey, what is that?"

He looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, answering protectively, "What? It's my canteen."

"Don't act stupid, I saw something shining in your bag," I scowled.

"Oh, that was nothing," he waved a hand with dismissal.

"Well why won't you tell me what it was, then?"

He was silent, his eyes never leaving the horizon.

"Is it gold?" I said harshly. "Is it?"

He chuckled, "No. Of course not. Do I look like someone who carries gold around with them?" He gestured toward himself.

I looked at his beggar styled outfit. "...Well then, what is it?" I spat.

He groaned, "Its none of your business, girlie."

I frowned, "You're such a foolish coward."

He looked shocked, but then his eyes narrowed on me, "Brat! You have no right!"

I scoffed, "Why don't I? You aren't above me."

His eyes burned with a fire. He raised a hand and slapped me with all his might in his weak body.

I fell backwards, my cheek stinging. With tears in my eyes, I saw that his lip twitched with a smile, then he started to walk on, not caring if he left me on the ground.

"What got into you?" I said angrily. "I thought you were better than the other strange, wicked people I've met!"

His face softened, and he turned around, "I'm sorry. You're right... I don't know what I thought. You angered me, and I..."

"Had no control?" I smiled and shook my head, "You're so like Hook."

A look of pain replaced his sorry features. "Don't say that. I'm not like him. Please don't think of me that way. I'll... I'll show you what my treasure is, if you'll let me be your friend once more."

I nodded slightly, starting to stand, the tears in my eyes disappearing.

He pulled out of his satchel something that didn't belong to him. It didn't belong to anyone, in fact. It was just the home of a trapped soul that was forced to be a slave all of its life.

A lamp.

He whispered, "Do you know what this is?"

I nodded, "I've heard of it before. But only in a story."

His eyes shined brightly, "Did your mother or father tell you of it?"

I nodded, "My father."


He smiled, and held it out to me. "Keep it. I-It's yours. I... I don't need it." His eyes flashed with an anger again, until he placed it inside of my hands. "The power inside of it made me mad. Power can do things to a soul..." he looked at me curiously.

"What?"

"It doesn't seem to effect you." he shrugged, "I'm sure it will soon enough."

I looked at my reflecting face on the lamp wonderingly.

He started to walk again, talking to me rather loudly so I could hear him, "Do you know of the rules of the captured soul inside?"

I shook my head. Of course I didn't.

"One. You must not free it. Once it is free, it becomes a soul catcher."

I had no idea what that was, but I wasn't willing to interrupt him.

"Two. You must never let it out of its container unless you want to make a wish. Otherwise, it could escape. And that would be life-threatening. The rules of the wishes are that you can't bring back the dead, you can't wish for more wishes, and you can't try to exceed the amount. Normally the amount given is three, but there are rare cases when the soul inside is generous and lets you have more. Once the soul inside runs out of wishes to give to a human being, it is gone forever, and can never return to this world. It likes this corrupt world very much, so it likes to keep its wishes to itself, mostly."

I nodded, "I think I understand. But how do you get it open?"

He shrugged, "No one really knows. That's the challenge of the lamp. You have to figure out on your own. I've heard that each lamp has a different way to open it. Maybe rubbing it, or simply opening the lid... but I have a feeling that this one will be more challenging."

"...Great," I said sarcastically.

"It sure is magnificent," he smiled back at me. Okay, so he doesn't get sarcasm very well...

I was so incredibly curious about the shining object, that I almost didn't hear him when he said excitedly, "We're almost there! I can see the temple of our King! It's the highest building in our city."

...

Please leave your thoughts! And if you have the time, or are looking for another book to read, then you can always read 'Roommate', one of my other stories. I'll be updating it regularly, along with this book, of course.
😜
~StarrySkies7