Gaia: Daughter of Aladdin
Page 33
In my excitement, I’d not thought of that, and yet it was so obvious. It hit me like a punch to the gut. The lamp was pointless. I couldn’t stay with Genie and wait for him to turn back. I’d used up my wishes. I couldn’t ever get them back. But what could I do? I could hardly ask anyone else to give up their lives to spend every second with him.
“We need to find The Vizier. We need to finish this.”
Freya took my hand in hers. “I know we do, but he’s gone. He’s in hiding. I think the safest option would be to send Genie away. Send him to another kingdom where The Vizier can’t find him.”
“I can’t be without him, Freya!” I croaked. “I love him.”
“I never said he should go alone.”
We walked the stairs together. My mind whirred with everything I had to do. Destroy the lamp, find The Vizier, find my siblings, and stop the curse. But for now, my job was to be a leader. Or one of six leaders, for we were all in this together.
I thought the crowd outside had grown even bigger in the past hour, or it might have just appeared that way from the higher floor. I peeked out through the curtains at the cheering throng. Cheering! Not protesting, not complaining, but actively cheering. I still didn’t really know what for. From my perspective, we’d spent the last couple of days in hiding, then fighting.
When the others turned up, I took Genie’s hand in mine. On the other side, I took hold of my mom’s hand. She did the same with my father, who took Freya’s hand, who took Jamal’s. With his one free hand, Genie opened the door to the balcony. As soon as we paraded out, the crowd went wild. Genie gripped my hand tightly. The noise was deafening.
As I looked out at the crowd, I was reminded what it was we were fighting for. The people of Badalah and especially Kisbu needed us
7
14th July
I woke up from the best night’s sleep I’d had in a month. It helped that I had genie’s arms wrapped around me, and there were no chains between us. I watched him sleeping peacefully and gave him a light kiss before slipping out of bed to find my parents.
I found them in the breakfast room with Jamal and Freya. I hung back, not letting them know I was there so I could observe. My mother laughed over something Jamal said. From afar, it looked like everything was back to how it should be.
“Morning Gaia,” my mother said, finally spotting me. She beckoned me in.
“How are you feeling today?” I asked as I took my place at the table.
“I’m feeling good. It’s a good day today, thanks to Aladdin and Freya and Jamal.” There was something about her. The way her eyes shone and the way she spoke so animatedly. I could almost believe this was over. But it wasn’t. This was merely a reprieve.
“The four of us have been having a discussion,” she continued. “I’ve come to accept that I am ill, that the people of Badalah are also suffering from the same magical malady.”
“A curse,” Freya added.
“A curse, that’s right. I know I’ve made some decisions that aren’t in the best interests of Badalah. I can’t even remember making them, but I trust that I did. I also trust that Aladdin and I are married. I don’t remember, and I’m not going to jump into anything, but I believe that we have something... a connection if you will, that we can work on until there comes a time that our memories return.” She held her hand out and placed it on my father’s, who gazed at her with a rapt expression.
“As I am the Sultana and the only royal that everyone remembers, I’m going to act as a figurehead, but I’ve appointed Jamal to be my chief advisor until this is sorted out. He is now unofficially in charge, and every decision I make will run through him first.”
I glanced over at Jamal, who sat with a shy grin on his face. Next to him, Freya’s face held a more obvious grin.
“I think that’s wonderful and very much deserved,” I said, holding a cup of coffee up to him.
“Freya is going to bring magic back to Badalah,” my mother continued. “She was a wonderful maid, but she never managed to keep you in check as your lady, so we’ve decided to start a new program, and she is in charge. Magic was never the problem, it was just the people that wielded it...Some of the people,” she corrected herself.
“One person,” Aladdin amended.
“Aladdin is going to help me rebuild. We both agree that Jamal will be in charge, but Aladdin has a lot of wonderful ideas on how we can make things better.”
“I bet he does,” I said, giving him a smile. “He always did.”
He gave a slight tip of his head in response.
“What about me?” I asked. “Where do I figure in all this?”
The table went silent. My mother took her hand from my father’s and held onto mine.
“You, my darling, have the hardest job of all. I can’t ask you to do it, but I know that if I suggest it you will. I don’t think I’d be able to stop you, even if I wanted to. You were always so strong-willed and adventurous. I knew about your nighttime walks around Kisbu, by the way. I always knew.”
My cheeks reddened. I’d always thought I’d been so clever to sneak out, and my parents knew all along. It figured. My mother never missed a trick before she became ill.
“What job is it?” I asked, full of curiosity.
My mother glanced over at Jamal, who nodded. “You are the only one who can stop this. Our memories are still not what they once were, which tells us that The Vizier is still alive. He will return. Jamal has already put plans in place to recruit more guards. We’ve had thousands of applications already. The people want to fight. Freya is in charge of recruiting people of magic. We are going to build an army to protect Kisbu. You can’t be here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you should leave. The Vizier wants you. I’m not going to give him the opportunity to find you. I know that he only saw you by chance in Urbis. He can’t find you if he doesn’t know where you are. I want you to leave Badalah. I need you to leave Badalah. Go back to Urbis and find your birth mother if you must.”
“You want me to leave you?”
She pulled me into a hug. “I don’t want you to leave me at all. I want to wrap you up in cotton wool and barricade you in the palace, but I don’t think you’d like that, would you?”
“No.”
She ran her hand down my cheek. “You were always destined for great things, Gaia. I never expected saving Badalah from a magic curse would be one of them, but there you have it. I know that if anyone can save us all, it will be you.”
I looked around the table at four expectant faces. I’d been wanting to leave for a long time, but not to go back to Urbis. Not yet, at least. There was somewhere I wanted to try first.
“I’ll do it!” I said. If leaving meant keeping them safe, then so be it. “Freya, would you help me pack?” I stood up from the table. “There is someone I think I should tell, excuse me.”
I ran to my room and picked up some of the newspaper articles I’d been keeping, before heading to see Genie.
He was sitting on the sofa in his office, nose deep in a book.
He looked up when I walked in. A smile spread across his lips. “You should have woken me up,” he said, shuffling up to make space for me on the sofa. “I was thinking of joining you and your parents visiting the injured guards today. It is about time I got out of the palace.”
“We can’t stay here,” I whispered to him.
Genie furrowed his brows. “The kingdom needs a leader, Gaia. It needs you more than ever. I’d forgotten how much until I stood out on the balcony with you.”
“It has two,” I pointed out. “It has four if you count Jamal and Freya. Did you know that Freya has been made leader of magical development in Badalah?”
Genie raised an eyebrow. “Your father still doesn’t know who he is. He’s doing a good job, but he’s forgotten eighteen years of leadership experience.”
“He didn’t have eighteen years of leadership experience when he first came to the throne. He ha
d my mother by his side. He still has that now.”
Genie put the book to one side and looked at me thoughtfully. “You are serious, aren’t you? Where do you want to go? Urbis again? You didn’t find them the first time.”
He was talking about my siblings.
“No, but they aren’t there. They’ve not been there since we were all very young. I think that’s where they are heading.”
“What do you mean?”
“I looked at the newspapers again last night. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed it before. I was so caught up in all the madness of curses and The Vizier that I didn’t put two and two together.”
“What did you find out?”
“My siblings...or who I think are my siblings have all left their kingdoms. Or at least some of them have. Some I’m not so sure about. I think they are heading out to search for each other.”
“Think? Gaia, doesn’t this all seem a little far-fetched?”
“Yes, it sounds utterly ridiculous, but until a month ago, my parents knew who I was, and we weren’t sleeping together, and I didn’t even know Jamal, and we didn’t need a leader of magical development.” I was babbling, and I knew it. Genie took my hand in his.
“I see. So if they are not where they are supposed to be, how do you propose to find them?”
“I’ll have you to help me.”
Genie arched a brow. “You want me to come with you.”
I bit my lip. “Yes, I want you to come with me. I need you to be safe. If we leave tonight, The Vizier will not know where we have gone. We have to go soon before he comes back. He caught me on the way to the Urbis Express station before. I don’t want to give him the chance to do it again.”
“You want to leave the kingdom when there is a chance he will come back? Who will fight him?”
“You’re not a genie anymore,” I reminded him. “We had thousands of applications for the position of guards. Jamal is still sorting through them. My father made him the head of the guards. They will be fine. They can keep him at bay, but only I can stop him. I can’t do that if I stay here, and I won’t be able to do that if you stay here.”
“You don’t need me, Gaia. You never did.”
“That’s where you are wrong. I need you very much. Please come with me. You need to get away. I can’t destroy the lamp. I don’t know how. I can’t keep you safe.”
Genie laughed and pulled me onto his lap. “I thought I was the one who was supposed to keep you safe?”
I leaned into him and kissed him on the nose. “I think we are supposed to keep each other safe. Please come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“I was thinking of starting in The Forge. I was going to go there to find a memory potion, but I’d like to meet the daughters of the president. She has two. Twins called Ivy and Pearl. I don’t know how they fit into all this, but I’d like to find out.”
“And you think they are still there? You said that your siblings have all moved away from their kingdoms.”
“I think so. There was a picture of them at some inventor’s guild event in the paper a couple of days ago. I want to find them before they leave, too, before the curse finds them. Maybe I can warn them.”
“You have this all figured out, don’t you?”
“No. I have no clue what I’m doing, but I’d like to figure it out. I remembered something else yesterday when I was going through the papers. The people of Urbis knew me. They knew exactly who I was. They weren’t affected by the curse. I think that if you leave Badalah, your memories will come back to normal.”
“I’d certainly like that,” he replied.
“So you’ll come?”
He looked into my eyes. “Gaia, if you want me to, I’d travel all the kingdoms with you.”
“That’s good,” I replied as he leaned forward to kiss me. “We might need to do just that.”
And then his lips touched mine, and just for a moment, nothing else mattered.
After the Happily Ever After…
There is more to these stories. You want to know what happens next right? Fast forward eighteen years…
Pick up book one now
* * *
PREQUEL
* * *
SLEEPING BEAUTY
1. Queen of Dragons
2. Heiress of Embers
3. Throne of Fury
4. Goddess of Flames
* * *
LITTLE MERMAID
5. Queen of Mermaids
6. Heiress of the Sea
7. Throne of Change
8. Goddess of Water
* * *
RED RIDING HOOD
9. King of Wolves
10. Heir of the Curse
11. Throne of Night
12. God of Shifters
* * *
RAPUNZEL
13. King of Devotion
14. Heir of Thorns
15. Throne of Enchantment
16. God of Loyalty
* * *
RUMPELSTILTSKIN
17. Queen of Unicorns
18. Heiress of Gold
19. Throne of Sacrifice
20. Goddess of Loss
* * *
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
21. King of Beasts
22. Heir of Beauty
23. Throne of Betrayal
24. God of Illusion
* * *
ALADDIN
25. Queen of the Sun
26. Heiress of Shadows
27. Throne of the Phoenix
28. Goddess of Fire
* * *
CINDERELLA
29. Queen of Song
30. Heiress of Melody
31. Throne of Symphony
32. Goddess of Harmony
* * *
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
33. Queen of Clockwork
34. Heiress of Delusion
35. Throne of Cards
36. Goddess of Hearts
* * *
WIZARD OF OZ
37. King of Traitors
38. Heir of Fugitives
39. Throne of Emeralds
40. God of Storms
* * *
SNOW WHITE
41. Queen of Reflections
42. Heiress of Mirrors
43. Throne of Wands
44. Goddess of Magic
* * *
PETER PAN
45. Queen of Skies
46. Heiress of Stars
47. Throne of Feathers
48. Goddess of Air
* * *
URBIS
49. Kingdom of Royalty
50. Kingdom of Power
51. Kingdom of Fairytales
52. Kingdom of Ever After
* * *
BOXSETS
Azia
Blaise
Castiel
Deon
Eliana
Fallon
Gaia
Halia
Ivy
Jakon
Kelis
Lyric
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These books would not be written without a great many people. Here is our team:
Many thanks to those who have made this possible.
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About J.A. Armitage
J.A lives in a total fantasy world (because reality is boring right?) When she's not writing all the crazy fun in her head, she can be found eating cake, designing pretty pictures and hanging upside down from the tallest climbing frame in the local playground while her children look on in embarrassment. She's travelled the world working as everything from a banana picker in Australia to a Pantomime clown, has climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and the bottom of the Grand Canyon and once gave birth to a surrogate baby for a friend of hers.
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Somehow she finds time to write.
About R. Castro
A daughter, sister, wife, and most importantly, a mother.
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R. Castro clings to her unwavering faith in God, as she treks through this journey called life.