Adventure awaits in the Five Kingdoms&;come and claim it in this start to a new series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fablehaven and Beyonders series.Cole Randolph was just trying to have a fun time with his friends on Halloween (and maybe get to know Jenna Hunt a little better). But when a spooky haunted house turns out to be a portal to something much creepier, Cole finds himself on an adventure on a whole different level. After Cole sees his friends whisked away to some mysterious place underneath the haunted house, he dives in after them&;and ends up in The Outskirts. The Outskirts are made up of five kingdoms that lie between wakefulness and dreaming, reality and imagination, life and death. It&;s an in-between place. Some people are born there. Some find their way there from our world, or from other worlds. And once you come to the Outskirts, it&;s very hard to leave. With the magic of the Outskirts starting to unravel, it&;s up to Cole and an unusual girl named Mira to rescue his friends, set things right in the Outskirts, and hopefully find his way back home&;before his existence is forgotten.