Imagination is outlawed.
Fairy Tale herself is imprisoned.
Molly has never heard a bedtime story… or any kind of story. But her daydreams are full of impossible wonders nonetheless. She's kept her unruly imagination hidden for years, but she knows her luck won't last. The emperor has eyes everywhere. Even in her own house.
Hatch knows it's risky to even dream of adventures beyond his home, but he can't help himself. Worse, the end of 7th grade is approaching. That means enrollment in the dreaded Institute, where there's no chance of keeping his illegal imagination under the radar, and not everyone makes it out alive.
When a government agent appears on Molly's doorstep, the two children must flee together or risk arrest, but an impassable wasteland lies between them and freedom. Then they learn astonishing secrets about their pasts, and realize there is more at stake than their own safety. To fulfill an ancient prophecy, the two embark on a dangerous quest to rescue Fairy Tale. But will they outwit the emperor's henchmen and reach her before it's too late?
