After both his parents die, Chris is thrust into a new life with his widowed aunt and 14-year-old cousin, who live in a rural Kentucky town, where Chris has to start high school after being homeschooled his whole life. As if that wasn't bad enough, there's a fellow student who everyone warns him to stay away from because of some terrible secret where eight people went missing. But, no matter how Chris tries to avoid him, he ends up bumping into him and finds himself caught up in a murderous plot where he barely escapes being one of the next victims. He becomes swooped up in a mysterious adventure where the local pizza shop, and even the school's weird principal, are all involved. Is anyone who they seem to be? What is going on in this little town, and, wait, where did you say we're going next?

Wake the crown. Take the throne. Rule the kingdoms. Alastair's life seems all planned out. Well, if he can get the first part right. The obnoxious Veldstone Crown has been dormant for the past twelve years and won't wake up for anything. Except for showing Alastair cryptic goblin visions, of course. Then the goblins themselves show up and Alastair accidentally opens a portal to Benny's Pizza shop in the magical world of Kentucky. Surrounded by new friends and experiences, like attending the homecoming dance of Orangeboro High School as a guest of the legendary principal Snyder, Alastair’s not sure he wants to go back. Besides, wouldn’t the overbearing elf lord Brudak make a better king anyhow?