When puzzle-loving Kip Bramley receives a cryptic invitation, delivered by a beetle-shaped drone that appears to be breathing, he has no idea that his world is about to change forever. Very soon he finds himself at Quicksmiths College of Strange Energy, hunting for riddles set 400 years earlier by a mysterious genius. But this isn't any ordinary treasure hunt: as the clock counts down, Kip will need all the help he can get from his loyal new friends and his faithful pet flying squirrel, Pinky. With danger mounting it seems much more is at stake for Kip and his family than he could ever have imagined.