A ghostly forest appears in Odo Whitley's bedroom on the same day he and Sephie Crumb witness an extraordinary time twisting event. Odo and Sephie befriend Silas, a victim of cruel bullying, a frightened boy who possesses a remarkable and terrifying gift.With help from the ghostly Lady in Black, Watson the Translucent Cat, insufferable Mike the Mechanic, and the very peculiar Bakis Merriweather, Odo, Sephie, and Silas must travel to the distant worlds of Palusia and Emerus in search of an eccentric inventor who vanished in 1921.