A Stroke Of Originality

Stone

Zuri had one more chance to impress Ms. Udo, or she wouldn’t be able to pass her class. Zuri couldn’t bear the thought of going home to her parents, to tell them she failed. As she sat on her bed, Zuri recalled her professor speaking to the class about a forbidden library on campus. It wouldn’t hurt to take a look around, to see what’s in the library, she thought as she quickly jumped up. Throwing on some jeans and a hoodie, Zuri ran down the stairs and grabbed her broom.

“Zuri, is that you?” Her mother inquired from the kitchen.

“Yes, mom!” She replied.

“Where are you headed this late?”

“Going to the library to find a book for a class.”

“That’s my Zuri, always making me proud. Be safe and have fun.” Her mom waived.

“Okay, bye, mom!” Zuri shouted as she ran out of the door.

Jumping onto her broom, Zuri flew towards the campus, letting the breeze caress her face. After arriving, she spoke to a few of her classmates as she looked around for the forbidden library. She looked and looked until she saw a red vine sticking out from a nearby wall, just like Ms. Udo described.

“Yes!” Zuri shouted as she yanked the vine and opened the secret passageway to the library.

Zuri roamed the forbidden library, looking for anything that would give her the upper hand. If she learned any of the spells in such ancient books, Ms. Udo was sure to provide her with a high grade. Zuri levitated towards the ceiling, hoping something fancy would catch her eye. Zuri arrived at the top of the library. There was a book on a shelf all by its lonesome. It was inscribed ‘Stone’ on its front cover, with a large stone protruding the back of the book. Zuri grabbed the book promptly and zipped home.

Zuri flipped through the pages until she arrived at a page she hadn’t anticipated. Her heart fluttered with hope when she saw the page only had a small number of words.

“This spell seems easy enough!” She shouted.

Zuri looked the page over, memorizing the words until a yawn crept up on her, and she decided it was time to go to sleep.

“Hey mom!, I’m headed out for class!” Zuri yelled down a hallway.

No response.

“It’s not like you to sleep at this hour, mom! I’ll see you later, don’t want to be late for the show and tell!” She shouted as she ran off to class.

In class, Zuri sat at her desk, reciting every word from the spell in her head. A grin graced her face as she watched her other classmates go up and cast spells.

“Last, we have Zuri.” Ms. Udo announced out loud.

Zuri grabbed her wand and walked to the front of the class. She hoped to amaze the class as this would be her first time doing the spell in front of people. Zuri stretched her arms, closed her eyes, and waved her wand while chanting the words from the book. Ms. Udo could have sworn shes heard those words before, but couldn’t pinpoint where. She thought hard, and then it hit Ms. Udo, it was a forbidden spell that would turn everyone to stone. Quickly, she rushed to grab her wand to stop Zuri from completing the spell. Turning to cast a spell of her own, Ms. Udo noticed some of the class had already started turning into stone.

“Zuri! Don’t…” Ms. Udo started to say before she turned to stone.

“Huh?” Zuri wondered as she opened her eyes.

Shock, spread across her face as she looked around the classroom.

“What did I do?” She panicked.

How could this happen, she thought, but then something hit her.

“Mom…”