Waking to the sound of stone creaking and cracking, Pierre opened their eyes as they shook their head slightly. Moonlight peeked in through the open window and their skin gradually turned back to its original state. As each second passed they gained more and more mobility; the stone receded until eventually they were free to move, albeit a little stiffly for a few moments.
"Can't believe I forgot to close that blind..." they murmured to themselves as they closed it and wandered into the kitchen, filling the kettle up and heating it. They leaned backwards on the counter, rapping their fingers on it as they waited for the kettle to boil. They saw that the light in the living room was on and let out a brief sigh. "Gods, that's gonna put a bit of a dent in the energy bill."
The kettle started boiling and the wizard went to grab a mug from a small wooden cabinet, patting some stony flakes out of their brown curly hair. They picked out the first one they saw, a light brown mug with a picture of an orangutan with the text 'hang in there!' underneath. They held it as they lumbered over to the steaming kettle, pouring the boiling water into it before dunking a tea bag that they fished out of a small box into it. They added some milk and sugar into the tea and took a sip of the sweet drink.
Pierre crouched down and opened the cupboard in the counter, pulling the scratched, brown wooden door and examining the contents of the compartment. They rested their chin on their fist, pondering like a philosopher, though rather than deciphering life's greatest questions, they were deciding what cereal to have. Would they have chocolate hoops, or would they have wheat biscuits? Perhaps some of that porridge that was piling up? After a few moments of contemplating, Pierre reached into the cupboard and grabbed a box of Honey Nut Cheerios™.
Grabbing a dull grey bowl and a spoon from the drawer, they seized the milk and poured it into the bowl, following it up with the cereal. They put the carton back in their highly disorganised fridge - one shelf was completely empty except for a single pack of lettuce and another was filled to the brim with various packs of food - and closed it, grabbing their drink and cereal and sitting on the sofa in the living room. Pierre turned the television on and started flicking through the channels as they sipped their tea and began eating their breakfast at half past eight at night.
"Huh, I haven't got much time to get ready tonight do I? Gotta be at work by nine..." they muttered to themselves as they stuffed another spoonful of the delectable Honey Nut Cheerios™ into their mouth. They finished about two minutes later and dumped the bowl into the kitchen sink, adding to the small mound of dishes and cutlery that they hadn't gotten around to washing yet.
Pierre went through their early night routine as they got ready for work; they took a shower and cleaned their teeth before getting dressed, putting on their black turtleneck jumper, orange plaid skirt and black tights. The wizard dried their hair and looked in the mirror, sighing as they glanced at the short stone horns on their head. Just before they left they pulled on their brown boots and donned their caramel leather jacket, grabbing their bag as they unlocked their flat door and left. They forgot to turn the light off again.
"I'll be a little bit late," Pierre whispered, running down the old-fashioned stairs and out of their flat block onto the street. "But I'm sure Astor won't mind."
They made their way to the library, which was only a ten minute walk from their flat, walking briskly down the street. There were still a decent amount of people on the street as the darkness of night steadily crept across the sky. Pierre glanced upwards, their gaze resting on the moon which shone vibrantly in the ever-darkening sky. They found solace in the moon, its glowing light comforting them, granting them freedom from their curse so long as it hung in the sky like an all-encompassing guardian.
Pierre tilted their head downwards, glancing at the pavement for the remainder of their journey, hands in their pockets, as they strolled along swiftly. It wasn't much longer until they were standing in front of the Tourmaline library entrance; a familiar figure stood outside the door with keys in hand. His crimson face scanned the area like a sentinel until he noticed Pierre and glared at them. The wizard jogged up the steps to the entrance to meet the figure.
"So sorry I'm late, Astor," they said, waving at him. "I forgot to close one of my blinds before I left last night and while I was getting ready to go to sleep the sun started rising. I, uh, think you can guess what happened then..."
The red figure, Astor, sighed as he adjusted his glasses. "Pierre, you really need to double check things before you leave your flat. Especially with that curse you have - I've been out here for about ten minutes waiting for you."
"I know, I'm sorry. I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen again, sir. Anyways, uh, keys?"
"Here you go," the gorgon tossed the keys to Pierre, putting his hands in the pockets of his long brown jacket. "And you know you don't have to call me 'sir', right? Ah, nevermind, I should be getting home now. Have a good night, Pierre."
"You too, see you in a bit," they replied. Astor gave the wizard a wave and the snakes that made up his hair - the three that were visible at least - made happy expressions towards them. They gave an awkward wave back. Pierre looked down and shuffled the keys, looking for the one that would open the main door. They tried to remember which one it was, testing a few on the lock until one worked. They unlocked the door and entered the library, locking it once more when they got inside. Pierre hung their jacket up and tossed the keys onto the front desk.
They sat down in one of the chairs behind the desk and spun around to face the monitors opposite it.
"Alright, just gotta watch these screens," they murmured. The wizard spent a few minutes observing them, watching out for anything suspicious, though it didn't take long for them to get bored. They stood up, grabbed a flashlight and walked away from the front desk. Pierre made a beeline to the library's puzzle book section, looking for a specific book hidden among the shelves. They ran a finger along the spines of the books, shining a light on them, searching for their holy grail of puzzle books.
"Aha! Found it!" they exclaimed quietly. A thick blue book lay nestled in the shelf. Pierre shone the flashlight at it; it was titled 1,000 Sudoku Puzzles and an orange bookmark stuck out of it. Like an excited child picking out a toy in a shop, they snatched the book out of the shelf. This was a sort of tradition that they had working at the library: every night they would find this book and try to solve at least fifteen of the puzzles in it, each night hoping that nobody had checked it out since they were last there.
Pierre smiled gleefully at the book as they sped back to the front desk, planted themselves in their chair and opened it to where they last left off. They picked a slightly chewed pencil out of the pot on the desk's lower shelf and got to work. For the most part they were silent as they focused on the sudoku, gnawing on the pencil as they stared at the book with a contemplative look in their eyes. Apart from the occasional "aha" or "ooh," they remained completely silent.
The wizard sporadically glanced up at the monitors, though they were almost certain that no one or thing would break into the library - it had never happened in the time they'd spent working here at this point, so why would it happen now? They continued on with the sudoku puzzles, blazing through them as time ticked by.
Two hours passed and Pierre was still as engrossed in the puzzles as they were when they began. They flipped a page and were about to start the next puzzle when they looked up at the monitor and raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm? Is that..." They whispered as they saw something shuffling about on the screen. They got closer to it and adjusted their glasses. They analysed the screen closely, watching a mound of books rumbling slightly. Pierre stared at the screen with a studious look in their eyes. Their eyelids narrowed as they focused on the pile of books as it went still. The wizard tilted their eyes until suddenly...
