Intro. In the highest tower of Eldervale’s Grand Library, where old tales like Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast slept in dust-lined shelves, Raelyn felt the stories stir.
The air shimmered. Pages flipped on their own. Ink lifted from parchment like glowing fireflies.
She pressed her hand against a trembling book of Sleeping Beauty, and a whisper curled around her heart.
“The curse has returned.”
Suddenly, a tear ripped through the air between the shelves — a swirling rift of shadow swallowing words from every fairy tale it touched. Glass slippers cracked. Magic mirrors went dark. Roses withered to ash.
Raelyn’s amber eyes sharpened behind her round glasses. Silver runes crawled up her fingers as she drew power from the living stories themselves.
But she wasn’t alone.
From behind a fallen shelf stepped a stranger. His/her eyes met hers, calm yet fierce.
“You can hear them too,” they said