Quinn travels from her underground Kingdom to the "outer-world" (20th century earth) where she falls in love, deals with jealous sisters and power-hungry teenage boys and learns how to live a modern day magic-less life above ground. Quinn is a Princess from the Kingdom of Mandria who always dreams of one day visiting what her people call the outer-world, a place that has forgotten magic and old customs. The Kingdom of Mandria is a world that exists right below the surface of the earth and long ago, magical creatures were driven to live in underground Kingdoms like Mandria in order to be closer to the middle of the earth which is the source of magic that sustains their life. Quinn often lurks in the wizard Melikar's workroom, which happens to be at the bottom of a wishing pool from the outer-world. She and Melikar's apprentice, Cam, love to listen to the goings on of the people in the outer-world and their absurd wishes. One day, the wizard Melikar, in a moment of distraction, allows Cam to open up the Mandrian Book of Magic which contains the spell that can allow a person to travel to the outer-world. By some chance coincidence, all the components of the spell are in place and Cam unwittingly sends the Princess to the outer-world. Melikar is greatly angered at what Cam has done but there is nothing he can do as the only way the Princess can return to Mandria is if she stands on the bridge overlooking the wishing pool and wishes with all her heart to return. To make sure the King and Queen don't worry, Melikar puts them under a spell that stops time.
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Quinn, who has successfully been transported to the place above the wishing well waits for Cam or Melikar to show up but realizes that, being enchanted beings, they will not be able to survive in the outer-world where little magic reaches. Quinn herself is an ordinary princess so she is fine to explore. Upon entering the nearby woods, Quinn is surrounded by dryads who had been mute for thousands of years residual magic from Mandria still clings to her form so the dryads have regained their voices for the moment. She learns that Melikar was responsible for helping to move all the magical creatures underground to preserve them from being used by non-magical folk for their evil purposes. The dryads were stuck on outer earth because they need their tree homes to survive and trees don't live underground. With all the outer-world to explore, Quinn can't wait to get started. Before she begins her exploration, she notices that Cam's magical ring a ring that can transport its wearer to wherever their heart desires has caught onto the hem of her dress. After putting it on her finger, she observes her first two outer-worlders. She follows them out of the park and onto a train.
The girl outer-worlder is named Sarah and she has her hair oddly cropped short. The boy is very handsome and his name is Adam. They explain that they are brothers and sisters visiting Wonderland Park with their grandfather Mondo. Quinn begins to panic as she doesn't know how to behave in this new world and she doesn't understand some of the things they're saying. Sarah thinks Quinn must be an actress from a Shakespearean play, which provides a cover story for her. As Quinn starts to become anxious about where she's going to sleep and eat, the grandfather gives her an ancient Mandrian sign of trust and secrecy and offers to let Quinn stay with him on the pretense that she's visiting the city.
Back at their home, grandfather Mondo convinces Quinn it is alright for her to tell Adam and Sarah the truth. The siblings take the news surprisingly well. Sarah tells Quinn that if she is to visit their high school, she needs proper clothing. Adam asks Quinn if she wants to go to the Halloween dance with him since he is sure that once she steps foot in the high school, she will be swarmed by guys. Quinn is overwhelmed by the strangeness of their customs and she is tired from her trip. She inadvertently wishes she could be sleeping on Sarah's bed and the wish comes true as she disappears from the living room and reappears in Sarah's bed. Quinn realizes it must be due to Cam's magical ring which still retained some powers. Quinn falls asleep with the foreboding knowledge that she had better be careful what she wishes for.
The next day, Sarah and Adam take Quinn to their high school under the pretense that she is a new student. Quinn feels homesick for normality and she hopes that Melikar will find a way for her to return home, soon. Sarah has a crush on a jock-type guy named Zack who repels Quinn because she senses something evil from him. Later on, Quinn is left to fend for herself as Sarah has a different school schedule than her. At homeroom, Quinn keeps making faux-pas. She inadvertently awakens a dryad in a potted plant and she speaks in a funny formal way, calling her teachers Sire. When the dryad starts to sing, everyone thinks she has a radio in her pocket. Later on in algebra, she unluckily attracts the attention of Zack who insists that she go to the dance with him. Quinn rejects him, however later on, when she uses a bit of magic to wish a slice of pizza out of the air, she thinks Zack was watching. Later that afternoon, Zack is again jealous when he sees Quinn and Adam share a romantic moment where Quinn receives her first kiss. Sarah also becomes jealous of Quinn, also because she attracts Zack's attention and she becomes unfriendly towards Quinn.
The following days, Quinn starts getting used to the outer-worlder routine. There are still some things that trouble her, however. First of all, she hoped that if she wished hard enough to return to Mandria, the ring would take her back, but though she can almost sense Mandria, she still can't quite return. Second of all, she is sad that Sarah has closed her heart to her. Third of all, she is worried about Zack. Zack challenges Adam to a duel of sorts with the winner being the one that takes Quinn to the Halloween dance and despite being worried for Adam, Quinn is secretly thrilled that she is to be the prize of the tournament. Later that week, Quinn learns that, though grandfather Mondo truly does like her, he wishes she did not spend so much time with Adam. He remains mysterious as to the reason why, but this is yet another blow to Quinn, making her feel even more miserable.
Quinn has a premonition that Zack is going to do something underhanded to unfairly win the fight against Adam. But Adam refuses to listen to Quinn's warning as his pride is on the line. On the day of the fight, both boys are dressed up in football gear and plan on jousting for the maiden's hand on skateboards. Of course, Zack cheats and ends up winning. After losing, Adam disappears and doesn't come home. Quinn spends the rest of the day wondering whether she even wants to return to Mandria, whether there is anything there left for her. She wonders whether her parents would approve of Adam.
One the night of Halloween, Adam has still been avoiding Quinn. Quinn decides to keep things simple and dress as a Princess in her old gown. Mondo tells Quinn again that she must not go looking for Adam. He finally explains why she and Adam can't be together. He tells Quinn he used to live in Mandria himself but he fell in love with an outer-worlder. Melikar let him visit the outer-world, giving him a chance to woo the lady and convince the lady to return to Mandria with him. After being unsuccessful at convincing his love to go to Mandria, Mondo ends up marrying the lady and living in the outer-world. The catch is, however, that time in Mandria runs much slower than in the outer-world, so Mondo aged slowly while his loved one became old and died. This is why Mondo simply cannot let Quinn and Adam be together. Even after telling her this story, however, Quinn is still convinced she wants to stay in the outer world and be with Adam.
Later on at the dance, Adam still hasn't made his appearance. Quinn is forced to go to the dance with Zack. Zack reveals that he's been watching Quinn very closely and knows that she is magical. Zack is greedy to know what kind of power she has and how he could use it to his own end. Quinn manages to get away from Zack. She meets with Sarah who has forgiven her and moved on to find another boyfriend. Sarah admits that she told Zack Quinn's secret the truth about where she's from. Quinn tries to make her escape from the dance and on the way out, she finds Adam. The two reconcile, and pledge their love for one another. Just when Quinn is about to tell Adam a potential pitfall of their relationship (the different aging processes), Zack appears. Since Quinn promised to be Zack's date for the night, she goes off with him. Zack takes her back to Wonderland park and demands that Quinn give her Cam's magical ring. Quinn puts the ring in the pocket of Adam's jacket and gives the jacket to Sarah, where it will be safe from Zack's reach. Zack isn't convinced that Quinn doesn't have the ring, however, so he brings her to the wishing pool. During an intense scene where Zack is chasing Quinn through the park, Quinn, out of desperation, jumps into the wishing pool, wishing with all her heart for Melikar to take her home.
Quinn returns to Melikar's workroom and Melikar wipes out Zack's memory of the entire affair. Melikar assures Quinn that Adam, however, will always remember her. The story ends with Adam, wondering where Quinn has gone and what she was about to tell him before Zack took her away. Adam finds clues that she has likely gone back to Mandria through the wishing pool. He is sad and wonders if he will ever see Quinn again.
Best part of story, including ending:
I enjoyed the clash between Quinn's formal medieval mindset and the hectic world of the modern day. There were many humorous moments where Quinn needs to be careful what she says as calling a car a carriage or a boyfriend a suitor make for funny and odd conversations.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was at the end of the story, when Quinn successfully returns to Mandria and takes a bit of the modern day world with her by breaking protocol and hugging Melikar and being glad that when she traveled back to Mandria she also happened to have brought makeup with her in her pocket.
Opinion about the main character:
I like Quinn's adventurous spirit and her eagerness to explore her new world and its vastly different customs - including how open everyone is to falling in love despite rank or etiquette. She wasn't afraid to try new things and meet new people - she'd make a good diplomat!
