When the Shimmer, a part of the stone of creation, is stolen from his village, Grieve knows there's only one set of creatures insane enough to try and use it - the fairies. As vicious as the rear-end of a wasp and completely power-mad, fairies have only one ambition - take over the Worlds, and look glorious while doing it.
Colin is just a normal boy, leading a pretty normal life - until now. When Grieve appears in his bedroom asking for his help, everything Colin thought he believed in is turned upside down. Now he is on a madcap adventure, accompanied by Pod, a talking possum; Derry, the tracker gnome; and Friendly, Grieve's trouble-prone brother, with only one thought in his mind: forget everything you thought you knew about fairy tales...