"I could kiss Smiley Bone for finding that map! I might even kiss Phoney right before I strangle him!"
The hero of the book. Fone Bone is a creature he is bone creature that was ran out of boneville because his cousin- Phoney
Fone Bone is the descendant of the founder of Boneville, Johnson Bone, something that was mentioned once in Out from Boneville. He is also the second-oldest of the three Bone cousins. When he was young, he and his cousins lived in poverty, to the point where Smiley had to steal pies off of windowsills just so they wouldn't starve to death. As the eldest, Phoney took care of them. Eventually, Phoney Bone gained a lot of wealth, though this led to him being frequently run out of town for his hare-brained schemes; Fone Bone often had to help him escape the angry mob, which led him to being also run out, a fact which often frustrates him. He often brings Smiley along just to torture Phoney.
Two weeks before the start of the story, Phoney set in motion his latest plan: a community picnic in the park in which he would announce that he would be running for mayor. This scheme ended in disaster, when the fifty-foot Phoney Bone balloon was blown into the crowd, taking the statue of Big Johnson Bone with it. The cousins were run out of town once again as a result, and into the desert.
Months after he first entered the valley, Fone Bone is seen collecting sticks to build up his makeshift home. We soon learn that during the winter, he was aided by a kind-hearted possum named Miz Possum. After delivering Fone Bone some more blankets and the news that she still had not seen either Ted or Thorn, Miz Possum goes off to visit Miz Hedghog, leaving a dismayed Fone Bone to babysit her three possum kids. The kids eventually run out of Fone Bone's house and in the clutches of the rat creatures. Fone Bone rescues the kids, and after a thrilling chase in which they tumble over a giant waterfall, Fone is cornered by the rats. At that moment, the Dragon appears and rescues Fone Bone once again. After a brief conversation between the two, the Dragon walks off, telling Fone Bone that the possum kids are at Miz Hedgehog's place. Before Fone Bone can figure out how the Dragon knew that it was Miz Possum's kids he was babysitting, Miz Possum, Miz Hedgehog and the kids turn up, relieved that he is okay. His story about the Dragon and the rat creatures is met with disbelief, as dragons are said to be make-believe. Fone Bone storms off towards a hot spring to wash off the soot (the Dragon had breathed fire at him!), where he meets a beautiful human girl.
Fone falls in love with the girl on sight. During introductions, Fone Bone discovers that the girl is named Thorn. At first he is overjoyed to have found her at last, but then is saddened when she reveals that she has never heard of Boneville before. He eventually reveals that he had met with the rat creatures. Though Thorn also does not believe in dragons, she certainly believes in rat creatures. She decides that they should quickly leave the spring, and takes the smitten Fone Bone with her to her grandmother's farmhouse.
Fone Bone wakes up and helps Thorn with the housework. During their rummage through his knapsack, Fone Bone finds the map he had followed to get to the valley. Upon reading the map, Thorn finds that the map reminds her of a dream she used to have.
Later that day, Fone Bone and Thorn are in the middle of baking an apple pie for Gran'ma Ben, when the house suddenly starts shaking: G﻿ran'ma Ben is racing one of her cows to the house. To Fone Bone's astonishment, Phoney Bone is riding the cow. After the race finishes with Gran'ma stopping the cow by the tail and sending Phoney flying into the pot in the fireplace, Phoney's attitude and Gran'ma's initial belief that the bones are just pets causes Gran'ma Ben let the bones sleep in the barn instead of the farmhouse. The chapter ends with Thorn catching Phoney eating the pie, and stuffing what was left into Fone Bone's mouth in an attempt to hide the evidence.
The Great Red Dragon is the son of Mim(Mim was the largest, most beautiful, and wisest dragon.She circled the world with her tail in her mouth.As long as the world was protected within her coil the Dreaming flourished and all life thrived).He becomes Fone Bone's protector of sorts,always mysteriously appearing at the last minute to save him from the rat Creatures and other threats.The Great Red Dragon kept an eye on young thorn during the Great war while Gran'ma Ben serched for a good hiding place. sometime in the past,however,the Red dragon seems to have let Gran'ma ben down
Fone Bone is reading Moby Dick to Thorn (who has built up a tolerance) while Miz Possum pays a visit. They have a long conversation about the aftermath of the race, and the rat creature attack on the farmhouse﻿. When Miz Possum leaves, Thorn and Fone Bone decide to return to the house. As they head back, they discuss Phoney's behaviour since the race. It turns out that he has once again come up with a silly scheme to get rich: Trying to get two chickens to have a 'date' to lay eggs.
That night, after another Fone turns around to find the Dragon instead, much to his annoyance. Fone tells the Dragon about his dream, after which the Dragon walks off, saying; "Welcome aboard, Ishmael."
Fone Bone is stunned, as he had never said that he had been Ishmael in the dream. He yells at the Dragon the stay out of his dreams and continues writing poetry. He is once again interrupted by Phoney Bone and Smiley, who mock Fone over his feelings for Thorn. They are then summoned by Gran'ma ben to kill a couple of hens for the dinner. The chapter ends with Fone and Phoney fainting over the idea of killing a hen.
That night, Thorn and Fone had no dreams. Everyone is woken up early in the morning to get ready for Lucius, Phoney and Smiley's return to Barrelhaven to work off their longshot bet. Fone is allowed to remain on the farm, as he was not involved in the scheme. Once Lucius and the two cousins have left, Thorn and Fone walk off to feed the chickens and to set up a little garden.
While setting up the garden, Fone and Thorn discover prayer stones half buried in the soil. Thorn tells Fone Bone about the stones' use in warding off the sinister ghost circles. A storm hits suddenly, and Fone and Thorn rush to the barn, where they proceed to discuss the dreams. During that discussion, they are surprised by Gran'ma Ben, who had overheard the whole thing.
A furious Gran'ma Ben storms off into the forest, pursued by Fone Bone and Thorn, who demand to know what Gran'ma knows about the dreams. When Fone Bone demands what she knew about the Dragon being in his dreams, Gran'ma replies knowing that he was supposed to stay out of them. During the argument, Gran'ma notices the presence of rat creatures. She silently takes them deeper into the forest to avoid the rat creatures.
Fone Bone, Thorn and Gran'ma hide in a small thicket of trees, where they once again start to argue over Gran'ma's secrets. When Fone Bone demands why she is so angry at the Dragon, Gran'ma accuses Fone Bone of causing all the trouble in the valley by waking up the Dragon. The argument is cut short when a rat creature scout approaches and Gran'ma has to sneak over to him and kill him. They leave the thicket and begin climbing up some rocks, where they are discovered by the rat creatures. After a quick chase, in which Fone calls out to the dragon for help, they hide behind some bushes while a large pack of rat creatures search for them. Just as they are about to be discovered, the Dragon arrives and scares them off. Fone Bone and Thorn persuade Gran'ma not to confront him, and they return to the farmhouse. Thorn tells Fone Bone that's it's time to show Gran'ma Ben the map.
The next day, Fone Bone and Thorn confront Gran'ma Ben while she is mending fences. Gran'ma apologises to Fone Bone for her earlier accusation, stating that the troubles in the valley started a long time before he had come to the valley. Fone Bone and Thorn then confront Gran'ma with the map. Gran'ma ushers them into the house, where she tells them the whole story: There was once a great war between the valley and the rat creatures, where the royal family in the city of Atheia had been killed, and that Thorn is actually Thorn Harvestar, the crown princess of the valley.
As Fone Bone and Thorn sit at the table, stunned by the revelations, Thorn tells Gran'ma about the cave dream. Gran'ma reveals that Thorn had been dreaming about her parents' murder, having been betrayed by a nursemaid. She also mentions a powerul, evil being called the Lord of the Locusts. During the discussion, however, it becomes clear that Gran'ma Ben is still withholding information. Thorn storms out and lies face down in the barn, while Fone Bone sits alone by the well.
Later that day, Fone Bone is once again greeted by Ted, who reveals that he had known all along about Thorn's past. Ted asks where Gran'ma is, and then heads off towards the farmhouse. Minutes later, Gran'ma has Fone Bone collect his things and head to the barn, where they take some things out of a trunk hidden under the barn. Gran'ma places a wrapped up object in Fone's knapsack and arms herself with a sword. Gran'ma reveals that a large army of rat creatures is headed this way, and that she, Fone Bone and Thorn must leave the farm house immediately. And so they leave the farm.
Fone Bone, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben spend days climbing up a large hill, so that Gran'ma can get a lay of the land. When they reach the top, Fone is stunned by the beauty and apparent peacefulness of the valley before him. When they reach the bottom again, Gran'ma is once again struck by the gitchy feeling, and seconds later, the two rat creatures ambush them.
Gran'ma Ben manages to drive the rat creatures off to a distance despite being in a dazed state. After sensing that something is going on after nothing happen after the ruckus they had just made, Gran'ma captures one of the rats and interrogates him. During the interrogation, they are attacked by Kingdok, the giant king of the rat creatures. Fone Bone is flung away into the woods, sustaining a head injury in the process, and finds himself lost in the woods. He frantically begins calling to the Dragon for help, though he manages to find his way back to Thorn and Gran'ma after hearing Kingdok's scream (Thorn cut off his arm with Gran'ma's sword). As they bandage up Gran'ma Ben, Gran'ma begins to tell some some more secrets...
Gran'ma Ben reveals that Thorn is a Veni-Yan Cari (the awakened one) and that the Lord of the Locusts is searching for her. Angered that Gran'ma had been lying to her all this time, Thorn storms off. Gran'ma gives Fone Bone her sword and dragon pendant before he follows her, leaving Gran'ma to run off in the opposite direction. Fone takes Kingdok's golden club with him.
Fone Bone eventually catches up with Thorn on the road leading to Barrelhaven. When they reach the town, they are surprised to find a mass of logs covering up the entrance, guarded by Jon. Fone is angered when Jon refuses to let them in, and then is astonished when he learns that Phoney Bone has become the new leader of the town.
Fone Bone is disgusted to learn that Phoney Bone has tricked the townspeople into following him by pretending to be a dragonslayer. A disagreement begins between the two, in which Phoney is dismayed to learn that Fone Bone will not be joining them when they head back to Boneville, as he wants to stay behind to find out the connection between the bone cousins and the valley. Fone Bone storms out of the Tavern, and discovers a baby rat creature cub scrounging in the garbage. He takes the cub to Thorn, waking her up from another dream in which the Hooded one attempts to capture her. Thorn is enraged to see the cub, as rat creatures killed her parents. She threatens to kill the cub, so Fone Bone quickly takes it out her room.
Fone Bone hides the cub in the barn and later takes Smiley to see it. Smiley is delighted to meet the cub and promptly adopts it as a pet. Smiley quickly hides the cub as Lucius enters the barn. Fone Bone explains to him everything Gran'ma had told them and what happened in the woods. Smiley is shocked to learn that Thorn is really a princess. They decide to go visit Thorn, and find her driven to tears over her dreams.
The next day, Fone Bone sneaks some food over to the cub, though he soon discovers that Smiley has been doing the same thing. Fone explains to Smiley that they need to get the cub out of town tonight, and then Thorn comes in. Smiley hides with the cub while Thorn tells Fone Bone that she intends to return to the farmhouse. When Fone Bone disagrees, she flings the sword to the ground and returns to her room. She doesn't answer when Fone Bone knocks on her door.
When night falls, Fone Bone and Smiley succeed in sneaking the cub out of town, though Smiley quickly runs off with the cub towards the mountains, despite Fone Bone yelling for him to come back. Exasperated, Fone Bone runs off after them.
Smiley names the cub Bartleby, and the threesome stop to rest in the mountains, where they are once again ambushed by the two rat creatures. After escaping the two, they encounter an enormous mountain lion named Roque Ja. Fone Bone mispronounces his name as Rock Jaw. Roque recognises the two cousins as the bon creatures the hooded one has been searching for, and takes them captive.
While Roque Ja is escorting them through the mountains against their will, he tells them the story of Queen Mim, which he dismisses a a fairy tale. They are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the three possum kids and a baby raccoon named Roderick, being pursued by the two rat creatures. Roque Ja, who despises rat creatures, attacks the creatures on sight, which leads to the three of the toppling over a cliff. The bones reunited with the kids, and Roderick introduces them to his friends: a gang of babies orphaned by rat creatures eating their parents.
The group is forced to flee into a small tunnel when an enraged Roque Ja climbs back up the cliff and chases them. After a debate ove Bartleby (who is distrusted by the orphans) they reach the other side, where they discover an ancient rat creature temple. Fone Bone and Smiley wonder about Roque Ja's tale that the mountains themselves were created long ago when the Dragons fought and pushed up the land. As the Bones try to make their way back towards the valley, they encounter the two stupid Rat Creatures, but before they can give chase, Kingdok appears. He is angry at the two stupid Rat Creatures for deserting him, and attacks them and the Bones, forcing them onto a very narrow ledge.
Trapped on a narrow ledge with the ferocious Kingdok ahead of them, the Bones and the Rat Creatures are forced to edge their way to safety along a precarious cliff face after deciding to die rather than sell out their friends. However, on the way they are attacked by a swarm of locusts. Fone Bone stumbles and falls onto a lower ledge. The locusts try to carry him away, but the medallion given to him by Gran'ma Ben falls from his backpack and scares the locusts away. As the locusts flee, Kingdok vanishes into thin air, having been an illusion generated by the locusts' magic. Thanks to the orphans, the Bones realize the locusts could manipulate Thorn or even the whole valley with illusions, as they press on down the mountainside with a suspicious Roque Ja watching.
The Rat Creatures, the Bones and their friends make their way down from the mountains, unaware they are being followed and eavesdropped upon by Roque Ja. As they descend, the Rat Creatures reveal that the current unrest has only come about since The Hooded One arrived, bringing with him the locusts and the strange dreams. At that moment, Roque Ja reveals himself to the party and orders them back up the mountain. Before they can go too far, the real Kingdok arrives along with a pack of his minions and starts to fight with Roque Ja. The Bones use the opportunity to escape (minus the two stupid rat creatures because they tried to hand Fone and Smiley at the last moment and they got bitten by the orphans), fleeing from the scuffle and running down the mountain while Roque Ja gets revenge on Kingdok and seriously wounds him. Roderick, the possum kids, and the orphans split up and leave. Bartleby rejoins the pack and the Rat Creatures carry the unconscious Kingdok away. Fone Bone and Smiley make their way back to the forest.
Fone Bone and Smiley become lost in the large forest. While Fone Bone climbs a tall tree to survey the area, Smiley gets into a confrontation with a ground hog. On the way back down, the branch Fone is holding on to snaps, causing him to fall- right on top of the ground hog. Ted eventually finds them, having been searching for them for a while. The ground hog learns Fone Bone's name, and frantically runs off, saying that the bones were trouble. Fone Bone learns from Ted that there are rumors going around that Kingdok is dead, and that Fone killed him. He also learns that rat creatures have invaded the valley, and are burning every farm in their path. Fone Bone has Ted lead them back to Barrelhaven.
While Fone Bone, Smiley and Ted are trying to get back to the town, they are ambushed by rat creatures during a monsoon. The rats are at first skeptical of the rumors after seeing the bones' size, and decide to kill them, when Thorn arrives in the nick of time and hands Fone Bone back Kingdok's club. Now convinced, the rat creatures flee in terror. Thorn then tells them that Gran'ma Ben is waiting for them at Old Man's Cave, and points in the right direction. To the bones' surprise though, Thorn starts walking off in the opposite direction, telling them that there is nobody they can trust at the cave. Fone Bone and Smiley have no choice but to follow.
Thorn, Fone Bone, Smiley and Ted hide out in a hollowed out tree, where they play a game of spitting cherry seeds at each other before beginning a discussion over the Hooded One and his plot to free the Lord of the Locusts from the mountain using Phoney Bone and Thorn. When Thorn explains the consequences of the Hooded One's success, Fone Bone demands that they go to Old Man's Cave. Thorn refuses, and explains why she doesn't trust Gran'ma Ben: Gran'ma had told them that the night Thorn's parents were murdered, the nursemaid had betrayed them. However, a lot of Thorn's memories have returned, and she remembers now that they never had a nursemaid.
Fone Bone, Thorn and Smiley return to the farmhouse. While Thorn looks through the items left in Gran'ma's secret trunk, Fone Bone and Smiley discuss how they should go to Old Man's Cave and that Gran'ma can be trusted. They are distracted by a wolf calling in the distance, and note how sad and lonely the wolf sounds. Thorn emerges from the barn dressed like a warrior princess, hvaing already made arrangements for Fone Bone and Smiley to remain on the farm with Ted, while Thorn goes off to try and kill the Hooded One. Fone Bone and Smiley stubbornly disagree with this plan, and once again try to convince Thorn to go to Old Man's Cave. When Thorn retorts that they don't know what it's like to never know their parents, the two cousins tell her otherwise: when they were young, they had been orphans living in poverty, while Phoney was the oldest and took care of them, which led to him becoming the greedy bone he is today. Fone Bone reveals that while he tends to get driven crazy by Phoney's schemes, he knows that Phoney never means to hurt anyone; deep down, you know if you can trust someone. Moved by these words, Thorn eventually agrees to go to Old Man's Cave.
On the way to Old Man's Cave, Fone Bone, Smiley and Thorn collide with a naked Phoney Bone, who has just fled from a fight between Gran'ma Ben, Lucius and Roque Ja. Thorn draws her sword and runs to aid her grandmother, Fone Bone following close behind. In the ensuing fight, Roque Ja knocks Thorn unconsious and carries her off along with Phoney. Fone is disdainfully knocked aside trying to stop him. While unconsious, Fone Bone meets the Dragon in his dream. The Dragon tells him that the Dragon Council has forbade him from taking any more part in the war, though urges Fone to rescue Thorn and Phoney and gives him the dragon pendant. Fone Bone is woken by Smiley, and they both race to the mountain on the other side of the valley to rescue their friends.
They reach the place where all the rat creatures have gathered, and peer over the cliff to find Phoney Bone tied to an altar with the Hooded One watching over him. They soon discover to their amazement the reason why the Hooded chose to pursue Phoney: the fifty-foot Phoney Bone ballon had flown all the way across the desert and into the valley, where the Hooded One had percieved this as an omen that Phoney was a Veni-Yan Cari. Gran'ma Ben arrives and confirm this mistake. While the mountain begins to shake in the Locust's wrath, the locusts keeping the Hooded One (now revealed to be Gran'ma's sister, Briar, the person who had really betrayed Thorn's parents) alive leave her, and swarm Thorn. Fone Bone rushes over and places the dragon pendant on Thorn, dispelling the locusts. Thorn wakes up and leads the group in escaping the mountain.
Fone Bone and his friends are desperately trying to escape down the exploding mountain when they are attacked by an enraged Kingdok. While Gran'ma Ben fends him off, Fone leads the group into the same tunnel he and Smiley had used to escape Roque Ja days ago. As they travel through the tunnel, they begin to hallucinate once again: Fone Bone and Phoney become their respective Moby Dick characters. While Phoney panics over having one eye and leg, Smiley claims that the hallucinations are a result of the power of the dreaming. Fone dismisses the hallucinations as being from some kind of gas.
When they finally reach the surface, they are all stunned to find that the valley has now become a barren wasteland. Thorn tells them that Ghost Circles which Briar unwittingly unleashed are responsible for the destruction.