Autumn Ackerman grew up believing in fairies and magic and princesses who defeated dragons, but now that she's eighteen and facing a future stuck behind the counter of her small town's coffee shop, she's starting to wonder if this is all there really is to her life. But then she meets her childhood imaginary friend, Barnaby, in the alley behind the coffee shop one night. Autumn's entire world is turned upside down. Drawn into the strange and mysterious world of the Night Folk, fantastic creatures that inspired all of humanity's myths about gods and monsters, Autumn is about to discover that there is more to her world than she ever dreamed of as a little girl, and that world is far more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. With the help of Barnaby and Evan Fade, the tragic young boy who inherited the local bookstore, Autumn has to protect herself from the coldly terrifying Mr. Balloon long enough to discover the truth about the Night Folk and her own past.