Continuing on his journey, Jake is shown the way towards the village by the farmer and his wife. Norlis, Tory and Eli make their way into the Delphic capital city by pretending to be street performers. By scaring the guards they get themselves arrested and sneak into the Delphic Castle.

Tory and Norlis are captured by a rough group of people living outside of the Delphic capital city. While in their care, Tory empties out her pack to figure out what's in it. As she pulls things out, she finds a story quilt. King Delphic comes and interviews Neal about the spell which bound him to the Westover Castle, Hildegarde. The spell allows him to communicate with the Delphic castle as well.

Garten and Neal get to the castle, where Garten brings Neal before the King. King Delphic has a short chat with Neal, who realizes that the King has no intention of letting him heal from the torture Garten inflicted.Jake tries to get to the town he'd been heading for with the fruit, but ends up lost in the snow. He stumbles across the farmer who's helped him when he was sick. The farmer, who recognizes Jake, promises to help point him in the right direction.

Tory and Norlis continue on their journey towards Delphic's castle. They bed down for the night, and Tory finds a few things in her pack she didn't know she had. Garten continues his press to the castle as well, trying to get there before the King thinks he's lagging.Jake leaves the Cloud-Jumper Kingdom, saying goodbye to Alex. Alex expresses his wish to come, and promises to catch up to his older brother.

Tory goes to rescue Neal from Garten. Norlis comes along by offering to take her out of the Cloud-Jumper Forest. In order to avoid thinking about his torture under Garten, Neal continues to remember what it was like waking up after invocation of the spell. He knows they are close to King Delphic and isn't sure what's going to happen when he gets there.Spurred by Tory's absconding from the Kingdom Tree, Jake decides to take his leave as well. Before going he discusses the idea with Marina, who tells him the reasons behind the spell with the story quilt.

In a flashback, Neal wakes up after being exhausted from spell working. He realizes that he is now connected to the castle Hildegarde and through her, the countries which surround Westover. In the present though, he continues to be tortured by Garten. Garten views it as entertainment. Alex recovers from his poisoning, and gives Tory and Jake some information about Neal and King Delphic. Tory decides to leave the Cloud-Jumper Kingdom in order to save Neal.

Forest tells Jake about the party. Jake decides that he feels well enough to attend. Tory meets up with Jake again at the party. She and the rest of the travelers enjoy the food, until Seth performs a spell using the story quilt. The spell performs as none of them expect, leaving both Jake and Seth completely out of sorts.

Jake is reunited with Alex. Tory, Marina and Seth are shown around the Kingdom Tree by Norlis, who shows them to their rooms. While the others are resting, Tory takes the opportunity to look through her items, and finds an object she's never seen before. Puzzling over this, she falls asleep. Marina wakes her, and tells Tory the object which she found is a curiously small calling globe. Tory puts it on as a necklace and follows Marina into the party Micah has thrown for their welcome.

Delphic speaks with Linden about stopping Tory and her friends from retrieving the objects they need to break the spell. Tory, Seth, Alex, and Marina follow Micah to the Cloud-Jumper Kingdom Tree. Alex accidentally poisons himself with some berries. Micah informs Tory of how the Kingdom Trees work, to a certain extent. Luckily, they soon get a chance to see exactly what one looks like.

Neal allows himself to be recaptured by Garten. Tory witnesses his torture and wishes to save him. Seth, in an effort to convince her that Neal is okay, tells her Neal shouldn't be saved just yet. As Seth is trying to answer Tory's questions, Micah shows up. Jake wakes up in the Cloud-Jumper kingdom, finally recovering from his illness.