The Coalition is the world's only chance of survival against the creatures called the Fallen who wish to wipe out the human race. They are a gathering of fantasy creatures of all kinds who fight against the Fallen to keep the Dark Realm a secret from humanity in order to protect them. When Jace King, their finest Guardian in the Elite, is assigned to protect a single human high school girl the Committee's reasons for instructing him to do so are unknown to all but them. As he carries out his assignemt he defies the first rule of the Coalition by allowing himself to get attatched to a human--and later fall in love. He keeps feelings secret until he risks revealing what he is to the human, Aurelia Williams, and telling her about the realm of creatures that lives parallel to that of humans. When together they discover that Aurelia herself may have powers on the extraordinary, she trains to help fight in the Realm War that the Fallen have now declared. With Jace's help she also discovers that even some of her seemingly human friends are more than what they seem and her own family may have a deeper involvement in the war than anyone had thought possible. It is up to them to find out, for the only way to stop the Fallen from defeating humanities only defense may lie with Aurelia and the secrets of her family's true identities and their long hidden past.