Fan Fiction ❯ Three wishes ❯ The Cave of Wonders ( Chapter 3 )

She took a couple minutes to scream and shout at the palace security men, the gods, and the people who made the desert, who were, of course, the gods. Then finally with a snarl, she started her way back to Agrabah. She headed in a direction she thought was north, but wasn't quite sure. No one could tell in a windy place like this. You could barely see a thing, there was so much wind. And it didn't help it was dark, too. The moon was Jamie's only way of light. She kept moving forward, even though she didn't exactly know where she was going. After a while she got tired, and she walked while she slept, as if her body was on autopilot. Her eyes were closed, but her feet kept moving, kept going forward, dragging her feet along. Soon she came to a stop, when the sudden difference of light shone though her eyelids. She slowly opened her eyes, but still looked a bit tired. Jamie looked up in front of her and saw a great mound of sad, far taller than she was. This mound of sand was formed into a malevolent beast, every curve just right, every spot so smooth, that it resembled exactly like a lion's head. Its mouth was gaping open, fangs and tongue visible. The eyes were lit up, as if by magic. Its light shone on the spot where Jamie was, and Jamie wondered whether its eyes were permanently like that, or they followed her around if she moved.

The lion growled a loud growl that shook the earth. “Who dares enter the Cave of Wonders?”

Jamie rubbed her eyes, still trying to determine if she was dreaming or not. “Actually, I was just locked up in prison a few minutes ago. I'm looking for a way to get to Agrabah. Care to give me directions?”

The lion made a noise as if it were confused. “I am not one who gives direction to the ones who are lost. You awoke me from my slumber. How dare you? What is your name?”

Jamie, now wide awake, glared suspiciously at the sand monster. “It is I, Jamie Claw, Phantom Thief of Agrabah.”

The lion grunted in approval. “Touch nothing but the lamp.” Then it opened its mouth wide, and as Jamie moved closer, she could see stairs leading down to the throat of the lion. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of the bottomless hall that lit the room with a mahogany light, but stepped in anyway. It didn't hurt to make a quick stop before she left, right?

Down the stairs she went, until she reached the very bottom, where there was a doorframe that opened to a new hallway full of torches and dancing flames that lit the room with a warm red light, next to the red carpet on the floor, leading straight to the other side of the hallway. It was hard to figure out where the other side of the hallway was, though; This particular room was twisted in a way that made your head spin if you looked at it too long. She stepped forward and immediately felt her body turn and the room spin just a little. Jamie stopped for a moment and shook her head. Then looking back at the other side of the hallway, she ran, watching as the hallway in front of her corkscrewed in a way that made her feel as if she were being hypnotized. She felt her body spin and suddenly upside-down became right-side up, and vice versa. She tried to focus on getting to the other side of the hall, but it was very hard when the hallway was spinning like this. When the door became just a few feet away, she jumped through the opening, feeling as if she would puke if she kept running. The jump felt like a leap through time, like everything around her was spinning around her as she changed dimensions.

And then it was all over. The spinning, the corkscrews, the twists and the turns, it all ended. And she landed in a room full of something that made her eyes water, something that lit the room in a color of pure yellow. Treasure. Piles and piles of it. Enough to make everyone in the village become rich for a lifetime. Jamie was about to reach up and take a gold coin, but then the lion's voice echoed in her head. Touch nothing but the lamp. Jamie settled with just inspecting the golden spots of sun, walking over to the exiting door. Her mouth watered at the sight of all the treasure, but she stuck true to her word and didn't touch a single thing. Not even the carpet that was hovering behind her.

Wait, when could carpets hover?

Jamie snapped around as quickly as a dart flying at the dartboard. She had the carpet trapped under her arm. She struggled to keep it under her grip, but it kept on fidgeting. “Ha, I've got you now, you little-- ah!” The magic carpet managed to get her off the front part of it which made her grab at the end. It flew straight forward, through the doorway to the next room, then up slightly, nearing the top of the room, which happened to have a very high ceiling. Jamie was struggling to hit the breaks on the flying carpet, whacking it on the head, but then it dropped her on the top of a staircase that happened to be in the middle of the room. The room was lit, not in a mahogany, red, or yellow light, but an eerie shade of blue. Jamie got up from the platform and spotted a small pedestal where she saw a worn-out lamp with small cracks on the side. Jamie picked it up with special care and held it in her hands, observing it with confused eyes.

“All right, I touched the lamp. Now what?” She asked the carpet, who was gliding around the room. The carpet, of course, did not say anything. It merely continued to glide around the room. Jamie sighed. “Well, I guess I'd better be going then.” Then, eyeing the lamp suspiciously, she added, “I guess I'll be bringing this piece of junk, too. I dunno why I went through all that trouble to find this worthless piece of -- hey!” The carpet snatched the lamp from her grasps, and was already floating down, back to the treasure room. Jamie ran down the stairs, one arm stretched out in front of her, as if she were reaching for the lamp in the backseat of the carpet. The magic carpet ungulated straight towards a huge mound of treasure. Jamie jumped in the air to catch onto the hem of the carpet, but the carpet dodged her at the last minute, making her dive head-first into a pile of treasure. At first, she thought it wasn't that bad, but suddenly the treasure turned into sand, and the ground started shaking like a terrible earthquake.

“You have touched the forbidden treasure! Now you must pay!” echoed a voice in the treasure room. The carpet stopped its flying and looked down at the confused girl. It looked to the left and the right, and saw that waves were coming in from both sides, trapping Jamie in the middle. The carpet dove down, slipping under Jamie's feet and making her ride on itself. Jamie looked down at the carpet, then looked at the ground. She looked to the room where she found the lamp, and saw it was getting brighter and brighter. Color was getting clearer, starting from a deep red to a now bight scarlet. That's when she figured it out: lava. Hot lava was coming from that room, the amount getting bigger and bigger, making the color become brighter and brighter. The magic carpet saw this too, and dove to the previous room, the one with the twisted hallway. The carpet was moving very fast, and Jamie felt like she was swirling in a twister, only a red twister. Then, up the stairs they went. Jamie looked back down and saw lava already pouring out of the twisted hallway entrance, the scarlet and yellow mixed together looking quite dangerous. Then Jamie looked back, to see the exit coming up, closer and closer. She reached her hand out as if doing this would make it come easier. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying to keep the suspense, trying to push down the thought of what would happen to her if the lava was just too fast. She cracked open one eye to see the exit slowly closing, the top and bottom being squished together. “C'mon,” she murmured, stretching farther. It was still coming closer… if she could just inch a bit further maybe… c'mon… almost…

Yes! The carpet dove through the last door, and kept going at its maximum speed, as the journey was not over. Jamie looked back and saw that the giant lion head had exploded, sand and bits of lava flying from every different direction. Jamie said a small, “Oosh,” and was glad that she weren't still in there. She and the carpet kept flying along, the Phantom Thief not really caring if she went back to Agrabah or not.