Summary

As the story opens, sisters Shana and Sylvia are begging their grandmother, whom they call "Gemma," for a story. When Gemma asks what story they'd like to hear, the youngest of the sisters, Baby Rebecca, yells "Seepin Boot," indicating she wants to hear the story of Sleeping Beauty as Gemma tells it. She begins by saying that the king and queen had wanted a child but years pass before the queen conceives. When the child is born, she has a shock of red hair. At this point, Gemma touches her own hair, by now only some of it remaining red with white changing the appearance from her youth. Gemma continues the story, saying that the queen's baby was beautiful and that the queen named her "Briar Rose," a name that's echoed by each of the girls.

In chapter two, Sylvia and Shana are riding with...