Dodging unwelcome encounters with the supernatural is making Petra Godfellow's freshman year very difficult. Emissaries from the imprisoned Faerie Queen are looking for her. Members of the Green Kingdom Militia watch her everywhere she goes. Worst of all, servants of James Oberon keep trying to kidnap her. All because they believe that Petra is a direct descendant of Robin the Puck, and therefore endowed with special powers that can help them. Petra is pretty certain she doesn't have any special powers. She didn't know anything about Faerie, or the thousands of Fayborn refugees living in hiding here on earth, until this past summer. She's still not sure she believes any of it; after all, her aunt, her godfather, and her roommate do seem a bit crazy. Petra's friends and family have tried hard to keep her safe so that she can have the 'normal' college experience she wants, but the Fayborn seeking her help are getting desperate...

Once upon a time, there was civil war in Faerie... But that was a long time ago - so long ago that even the few Fayborn who know who they are can't be sure what really happened. Ancient enchantments, originally intended to prevent accurate records about Faerie or the Fay from falling into human hands, now shroud the exiles' past in mystery. Nevertheless, many Fayborn believe in the Restoration - the hope of returning to an unbroken Faerie, a Faerie made new. Petra Godfellow - descendent of Robin Goodfellow, legendary Advisor and Royal Jester to Oberon, the Fairy-King - is the key. If James Oberon, Faerie's true-blooded heir, can convince her to bow the knee, he can use her homage to forge a spell restoring his kingdom. There's just one catch: if she does, she becomes James Oberon's sworn servant. Forever. Petra doesn't know any of this. She doesn't want to know. And no matter who tries to warn her about it - her aunt, her godfather, her university professor - all she wants is to have a good start to her four years at Lightfoot College. She's sure there's a more rational explanation for James Oberon's ongoing harassment of her family, convinced that the increasingly uncanny abduction attempts her friends have so far defended her from are not as extraordinary as they seem. James Oberon and his right-hand man Wormsworth might be crazy, but they certainly aren't fairies. And neither is she. The very idea is ridiculous, impossible. ...Right?