While being attacked by one very evil-spirited fairy, eleven-year-old Clemency makes a declaration that ends up killing him, yet when a friendly hobgoblin arrives to inform her that she has also killed others with her words, Clemency has to find a way to travel to a far-off land to fix what she has done.

If you're looking for a quest, help me find the changeling, destroy it, and save the Make-Believe and this halfling's sanity. As a baby, Kenneth Mess was stolen from his cradle and replaced with a clay replica. Now he is being raised underground by Clemency Pogue's hobgoblin friend Chaphesmeeso, so that he will eventually become a hobgoblin himself. But that can't happen until the clay baby dissolves. And that won't happen, since Inky, the changeling, rarely washes. Which means that the world of Make-Believe is in serious danger. Once again, an adventure is underfoot for Clemency Pogue as she tries to make the world safe for Make-Believe.

There's a renegade changeling on the loose and the future of Make-Believe hangs in the balance—it's Clemency Pogue to the rescue! As Inky Mess gains power and amasses goblin followers, he sets his sights on the Forgetting Book. With the book, Inky will become master of every goblin, hobgoblin, and fairy in Make-Believe. Clemency's hobgoblin friends desperately need her help to defeat the power-hungry changeling, but Clem has problems of her own: Her dad has unknowingly angered the Scrivener Bees and they want to exact painful revenge. Will Clem be able to save her father—and Make-Believe?