Malik Freeman didn't ask to be the next Keeper. But when the old tales start dying — and a man in a grey suit starts paying people to forget them — the gold band on his wrist wakes up. Every African American folktale he learns the right way becomes a power: Br'er Rabbit's trick, John Henry's steel-driving arms, the flight of the People Who Could Fly. The catch? A tale only works if he tells it true, for somebody else — and every gift sends a bill.