What is the In-Between World in the novel, A Tale of Magic?

The novel's setting is divided into four kingdoms, each named for a direction (North, South, East, and West), and the area that lies between them is called the In-Between. This region is inhabited by all sorts of magical and mystical creatures, and most have been banished from the other kingdoms as the humans made magic illegal and became more and more unwilling to allow individuality. The land is home to trolls, ogres, elves, dwarfs, and others. This is also where Madame Weatherberry's Academy of Magic is located, though the academy estate is protected by a magical hedge from the creatures of the In-Between.