Just as she’s settling into her new life in Faylinn, Emma Wren stands accused of causing a horrible curse that drains Ivywild castle and all the Fay living in it of their magic and vitality. Faced with banishment back to the human world, Emma becomes a fugitive and convinces the ever contrary Lev Hartwig to help her clear her name by curing the curse. The journey for the cure takes them to the high seas, where they must match wits with a wily Hobgoblin captain and her crew of pipe-smoking Gremlins, one very hairy cook, and a doctor with a split personality.
With the Fay army on her trail and a traitor racing her to reach the cure first, Emma is pushed to the limits of her burgeoning power. Though she treks across oceans, forests, deserts, and into the heart of a ghost city, she never walks the path alone. Friends old and new are on hand to help with bar brawls, flying serpents, and other travel hazards. When an evil greater than the curse is uncovered, Emma’s journey becomes a battle to save not just her home, but her friends as well.