Emmaline Cayley... Aviation extraodinaire... Robert Burns... Errand Boy... Princess Purnah... Porok! Glekk!. Three young children, one evil kidnapper, and a suspenseful adventure in London- all woven together into one insane story called The Faceless Fiend. It starts off in a pretty conspicuous setting, in mad Mrs. Butterworth's cottage, with the three children attempting a flight experiment shortly followed by their teacher, Bellbuckle's lecture on why humans can't fly like birds and the first impressions of the three children's personalities. Emmaline; calm and scientific, is a careful and calculating character. Purnah, shown as a bit of a nutcase to the people of England (although she's mild compared to the people of her Chiligriti homeland), and Robert; enthusiastic, and not easily hurt, one of the only two fans of Mrs. Butterworth's slug cake. (Stanley, the little brown dog, was the other fan.) And all seems well. However, when a series of mysterious events regarding Princess Purnah and Chiligrit arise, everyone's suspicious- and for good reason. Robert, dressed as Purnah, is kidnapped by the henchmen of the infamous Faceless Fiend. Purnah, trying to escape, finds herself lost in a forest, only to be found by Emmaline, off a newly twisted ankle and bearing chocolate, to Purnah's salivation... and salivation. Although riding on separate carriages, all three find themselves in London, and after Robert's half-baked escape, he runs into a boy of the London streets, Peachey, who inadvertently leads him to Banjo, a dog nearing senility, the newest main character. But in attempting to save Purnah and her country, and Robert from the Fiend's irritation with him, can they possibly defeat a criminal mastermind?