The hook on the drop spindle caught her thumb, and she jammed it into her mouth. The filmy copper taste barely touched her tongue before everything went black, and she crumpled to the floor. It was just past midnight on her sixteenth birthday, and the curse had already taken effect.

She was standing at the edge of a pathway, heading into a deep forest. The trees were unfamilar to her, and she was afraid, though she didn’t know why. She reached out to touch one of the leafy branches, and it twisted around her wrist, pulling her against the trunk.

“So, you got curious, did you?” An oddly familiar, frightening voice resounded through the forest, and Aurora trembled against the bark, scratching her arms. “Curiosity is never a good quality in a young lady, you know, Aurora.” The voice continued, fading off into horrifying laughter. The tree released her, and everything was still.

Aurora began to walk in the silence, trying to remember how she got here. A table at night… Mihai… none of it made sense.