The hooded man reached out, grabbed Wura by the hand, his voice demanding and aggressive, “Give me the money!”

Wura struggled, desperately pleading, “Let go of me!”

Lindi would not let go of her best friend, tugging her hand as hard as she could.

In the scuffle, the man tore off Wura’s glove and accidentally grabbed Wura’s bare hand. Wura’s chest started to glow again and immediately, the man’s hands started transforming into solid gold.

“What’s happening to me?” The man cried out in horror. “What have you done to me?”

Lindi watched as the man stumbled back in fear. All she could mutter under her breath was, “Oh, shit!”

“Stop this!” The man desperately pleaded, his cries becoming more louder, more frantic. “Hey! Stop this now! Please! I won’t rob anyone ever again, just stop this! No! NO!” His cries devolved into hysterics until…

Silence. Just silence. There he was, his contorted screaming face frozen, as he was covered head to toe in solid gold.

Wura screamed in horror. What had she done?

Lindiwe, equally shaken, whispered, “Oh, shit! This isn’t good.”

“I killed him!” Wura cried hysterically, her hands trembling. She had just turned a complete stranger into a life-sized golden statue!

“Can you reverse it?” Lindiwe said, panicking.

“No!” Wura cried out, tears streaming on her face. “I’ve never reversed a transformation! This is bad!”

“Shh!” Lindi put a finger on Wura’s lips. Wura immediately shut up. “We can’t let anyone find out. “Look, right now, no one has seen us. We can just run off and pretend this didn’t happen.”

“But-” Wura protested, gesturing to the solid gold man.

“No, friend” Lindi interrupted. “First priority is to find another glove. No one will know what happened here, okay?”

*****

“I watched her in action,” Canaan continued, “seeing her turn that thief into gold was pure magic, I tell you. I keep his statue as a memento to my discovery,” he laughed, almost sounding malevolent. “I realized she had a gift. She could turn anything into gold. A talent like that…” He let the sentence hang, much to Anthony’s horrified face.

“I must say, though,” he went on, “I was a little surprised back there when I introduced you to her. You seem to know her quite well. You must been really close to each other.” He turned to look Anthony in the eye. “You know, you should thank your little lady friend for the comfortable life you have right now. Your tuition, your fancy apartment, your little video games, that Lamborghini that you drive, that credit card that always gets topped up…it’s all thanks to her. She has made it possible for you to live the life that many others dream of”.

Anthony gasped, his stomach churning and making him queasy. “You’re telling me that everything I’ve been having all this time, everything that I’ve had was at her expense? Dad! That’s just evil!”

“A necessary evil,” his father remarked. “I had to get that girl. I had to build this generational wealth. I made sure that no one in our family for generations to come would ever be poor.”

“Even if it meant kidnapping a young girl?” Anthony asked, his voice now rising up.

Canaan took a brief swig of his whiskey again, before answering coldly. “Yes”.

*******

Wura woke up from her deep sleep, dazed. She tried to get up from the chair, but she couldn’t. She looked down. Ropes coiled around her chest and hands, keeping her restrained. She struggled a bit more until she felt frustrated with herself. “Hello? Is anyone there?” She asked, the room echoing back her voice. “Help! Somebody! Anybody, help!” She cried out.

“There’s no use. No one can hear you,” said a voice from behind her. She could hear his footsteps coming towards her. Her captor. “You’re miles away from any civilization.”