In the kingdom of Emberfall, Prince Rhen laments the curse that turns him into a mindless killing monster and dooms him to repeat the autumn of his 18th year until he finds a girl who will love him. In the beginning, the curse felt like a game, and he made light of wooing girls. Now, he has killed everyone but Grey, his one remaining guardsman. As morning approaches and the curse poises to reset, Rhen returns to the castle, resigned: “I'll be newly eighteen. For the three hundred twenty-seventh time” (4).

In modern-day Washington DC, Harper hides in an alley and waits for her brother, who is out shaking people down for money. When their dad died, he left behind debts and a group of angry creditors. Now, debt collection is the only way to pay the debts and their mother’s medical bills for cancer treatment. From her hiding spot, Harper watches an unrelated man and woman outside a bar. The woman falls unconscious, and the man grabs her. Though Harper knows she should stay hidden, both because she can’t risk the police finding her and because her cerebral palsy makes her vulnerable in a fight, she attacks the man, getting in a few good hits with her crowbar before he drops the woman to the pavement.