A Local Habitation is the second book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire. Toby investigates strange occurrences in the County of Tamed Lightning at the request of her liege lord Sylvester Torquill.
| “ | And as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown, the poet's pen turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name. | ” |
–William Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
Publication Details[]
See also: International Release Dates
A Local Habitation was first published in mass market paperback in the United States. It was translated into German and French. The French edition translates to "The Roots of Betrayal."
Synopsis[]
Author's Description[]
TOBY'S HAVING A BAD DAY...
After spending fourteen years lost to both the fae and mortal worlds, only to be dragged back into Faerie by the murder of someone close to her, October "Toby" Daye really just wants to spend a little time getting her footing. She's putting her life back together. Unfortunately, this means going back to work for Duke Sylvester Torquill of Shadowed Hills, doing her duty as a knight errant. That isn't the sort of thing that exactly lends itself to a quiet existence, and before she knows it, Toby's back on the road, heading for the County of Tamed Lightning in Fremont, California to check on Sylvester's niece, January O'Leary
Things in Tamed Lightning turn out to be a lot stranger than they seemed at first glance, and Toby's talent for finding trouble isn't doing her any favors. With Quentin—a young foster from Sylvester's Court—in tow, and the stakes getting higher all the time, it's up to Toby to solve the mystery of Tamed Lightning, or face a failure whose cost will be too high for anyone to pay.
A Local Habitation is the second book in the October Daye series, a modern urban fantasy set in both the San Francisco Bay Area and the Faerie Kingdom of the Mists which overlays Northern California. It was released in North America by DAW Books on March 2, 2010, and has been translated into German and French. [1]
Back Cover[]
October "Toby" Daye is a changeling, the daughter of Amandine of the fae and a mortal man. Like her mother, she is gifted in blood magic, able to read what has happened to a person through a mere taste of blood.
Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, most changelings are second-class children of Faerie spending their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations. Toby is the only changeling who has earned knighthood, and she re-earns that position every day, undertaking assignments for her liege, Sylvester, the Duke of Shadowed Hills.
Now Sylvester has asked her to go to the County of Tamed Lightning—otherwise known as Fremont, California—to make sure that all is well with his niece, January O'Leary, whom he has not been able to contact. It seems like a simple enough assignment—but when dealing with the realm of Faerie, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. January runs a company that produces computer fantasy games, and her domain is a buffer between Sylvester's lands and a rival duchy whose ruler is looking for an opportunity to seize control. And that's the least of January's problems. For Tamed Lightning has somehow been cut off from the other fiefdoms, and now someone has begun to murder January's key people. If Toby can't find and stop the killer soon, she may well become the next victim…[1]
Plot[]
Chapter 1: After a rare night of clubbing, a drunk Toby flirts with Tybalt and he escorts her safely home.
Chapter 2: Toby wakes with a nasty hangover and plenty of regret over her behavior the night before, split between annoyance and appreciation for Tybalt’s help. Sylvester visits, quietly judging her living arrangements, insistence on continuing her mortal PI business, and for Tybalt’s presence the night before. He asks her to visit Tamed Lightning to check on his niece January, who has been out of contact for some time. He cannot go himself because of the political mess it would make with their neighbor Duchess Riordan.
Chapter 3: Toby and Quentin set out for Tamed Lightning. Quentin is excited to discover they will be visiting ALH Computing, which makes magic-compatible technology, and he teases Toby for being technology-illiterate.
Chapter 4: The ALH campus is filled with mortal cats, unsettling them both, and Toby glimpses a little girl in the road before she disappears. They come across a group of employees running a betting pool against a coworker and won’t tell Toby much about Countess Torquill. As Elliot escorts Toby and Quentin to the cafeteria to wait for the Countess, Toby realizes they have crossed into the Summerlands and that ALH is in a shallowing, a liminal space between the mortal world and Faerie. After Elliot leaves them, Toby realizes he knew Quentin’s name without being introduced.
Chapter 5: They meet Alex, who reveals that Jan O’Leary, aka January Torquill, was among the employees they met earlier. Alex flirts as he takes Toby to Jan’s office, and she grills him about the magical aspects of ALH. Alex mentions that they used to have a Kitsune on staff but refuses to say more about it.
Chapter 6: Toby meets Jan, who questions her identity until they compare magical signatures, and each wonders why the other has been out of contact. Toby suspects there is more wrong at ALH than meets the eye.
After wandering the magically-shifting building, Toby returns to Quentin and meets Terrie, who gives her a strange feeling much like Quentin felt about Alex. Toby and Quentin return to their hotel to regroup.
Chapter 7: Toby reaches Sylvester by phone in the hotel and confirms that their calls from Tamed Lightning have not been going through. Alex brings breakfast the next morning, and they chat a bit before kissing in her room.
Chapter 8: When Toby and Quentin return to ALH they are greeted by April, who asks if they are there to look at the body; Colin is dead. Toby tries to ride his blood to learn how he died, but can glean nothing; Quentin, who is also Daoine Sidhe, doesn’t have any more luck. They realize that the night haunts have not taken the body away, and that Colin’s pelt has not been stolen - a common reason for murdering a selkie. Gordan arrives and verbally abuses Toby.
Chapter 9: Toby interviews Jan privately and learns that several staff have recently died of mysterious causes including Yui and Barbara. Jan hasn’t reported them to the Queen of the Mists because even though she suspects it was Duchess Riordan, they have no proof. Jan takes them to the basement where the bodies are being stored, but again Toby and Quentin can learn nothing from the blood. Toby interviews the other employees, but feels like they aren’t being entirely truthful. Quentin doesn’t want to be sent back to Shadowed Hills, asking to stay on with the investigation, and Toby agrees.
Chapter 10: Toby calls the Tea Gardens; the call goes through and she asks Marcia to contact Tybalt. She tries to call Shadowed Hills but it goes straight to voicemail. Toby, Quentin, and Alex brainstorm what could be causing the deaths, and Toby suspects that it is another employee, or a shapeshifter impersonating one, since the victims show little sign of struggle. Most of the employees have stayed loyal for years.
Later, the power goes out, which is emergency-level unusual due to the powerful backup generators.
Chapter 11: They find Peter dead, killed in the generator room, with punctures in his wrists and throat. His pixie-sweat puts the time of death at mere moments ago, when the power was out. Once again, Toby can glean nothing from the blood. They are about to search for Elliot when Gordan appears demanding answers. They find Terrie in the cafeteria, and Elliot, Quentin, Jan, and Toby return to the generator room and try unsuccessfully to determine the cause of the power outage. They search ALH for the killer without success.
Chapter 12: Toby and Quentin return to their hotel to resupply. Toby bemoans Quentin’s inexperience and then calls Shadowed Hills, learning that their previous voicemail did not go through. They stop at a grocery store to arm Quentin with a kitchen knife.
Chapter 13: As they pass through ALH’s security gate, the portcullis falls above them. Toby tries to race through, but the spiked gate pierces the car, destroying the roof and knocking Quentin out. Toby gets herself and Quentin out of the car right before the gas tank explodes, and Toby warily allows Terrie to carry a still-unconscious Quentin inside. Toby suspects that one of ALH’s staff is sabotaging the tech, as well as keeping the mortal police from noticing the disturbance.
Chapter 14: Gordan patches up Quentin and Toby, and Toby wonders if Gordan could be the killer. She institutes a buddy system so no one is left alone, but when she suggests they seek refuge elsewhere in Tamed Lightning, everyone refuses. April is bound to the ALH servers, Jan won’t leave April, and the others won’t leave Jan.
Chapter 15: They search Colin’s office but find no clues. Toby successfully calls the Tea Gardens again and asks Marcia to contact Shadowed Hills for help. Tybalt gets on the line and Toby tells him about Barbara’s death. He notes that no Cait Sidhe lived in Barbara’s kingdom due to Duchess Riordan’s murderous tendencies; no one could pass along the news of Barbara’s death to the other Courts of Cats.
Quentin and Toby dig into the employee files and learn their histories, noting that there is no obvious connection among the victims other than their employment at ALH. April asks why they are investigating the murders, which she calls “the disconnection of residents from this network,” and tells them that Gordan and Terrie separated and went off on their own. Toby makes Quentin lock himself into the office for safety, and they set up a password for when she returns.
Chapter 16: Toby goes onto the grounds and notes the continuing presence of the cats even though their queen is gone. Despite their overwhelming numbers, none have ventured into the building. She finds Barbara’s office and finds no evidence Barbara and Gordan were more than working colleagues, although it appears Gordan often gave Barbara a hard time at work. Toby also finds correspondence proving that Barbara was spying for Duchess Riordan. Next Toby finds Gordan in her own office, and Gordan blames Toby for everything that’s gone wrong since Toby and Quentin have arrived.
Finding Jan alone in her office, Toby bemoans everybody’s disregard of the buddy system. She reveals Barbara’s betrayal and Jan mentions that Barbara and Gordan had been deep into a project that caused a lot of tension between them. Jan asks April to check in on Quentin, demonstrating April’s constant awareness of the ALH building and residents, and then apologizes to Toby for not being more forthcoming with information.
Chapter 17: Quentin and April are hanging out when Toby returns to them, and they find Elliot alone in the cafeteria. Toby contacts the Luidaeg to learn how to summon the night-haunts, settling their debt, and as she and Elliot gather supplies for the ritual she learns that Elliot and Yui were engaged to be married.
Chapter 18: Connor arrives at ALH but has no way to take Quentin back with him. Connor is pissed that she lost Colin’s pelt, and when Alex interrupts them Connor is especially cold to him. Toby calls the payphone just outside Shadowed Hills, and Sylvester picks up. He tells her to keep Connor with her at ALH until the investigation is complete.
Chapter 19: Although Quentin wants to help with the night-haunt ritual, Toby won’t let him. Alex tricks Toby into going off alone with him and tries to take advantage of her, but she senses his magic and pushes him away, furious with him for magically coercing her.
Toby asks April who was around Barbara when she died but April does not understand the term, referring instead to the “time of removal” from the systems.
Chapter 20: As Toby completes the ritual, the night haunts appear with Dare’s likeness leading them; Devin and Ross are in the crowd as well. They reveal that there was nothing for them to collect from the victims’ bodies since night-haunts feed on a person’s residual memories, and they do not know who is stealing them away. Despite her adherence to the ritual, the night-haunts threaten to take her in payment and only Toby’s past with Dare and name-dropping the Luidaeg keeps her safe.
Chapter 21: The power is out, and Elliot must turn on backup lights before fetching Gordan to fix up Toby’s hand.
Chapter 22: Toby’s dreams tell her to look where “no birds sing.” Alex wakes her up with the news that Jan has been missing for hours, but they didn’t want to wake Toby over a false alarm. The knowe helps Toby find Jan, where April is sobbing over the body that Jan is “offline...no reboots.” Unlike the others, Jan fought against her attackers and is more battered in death, so Toby is able to relieve Jan’s final moments through the blood. She can’t identify the killer, however.
Chapter 23: Toby calls Sylvester, who doesn’t know about “his” recent phone contact, and Toby realizes someone from within ALH had impersonated him. He promises to come with reinforcements after learning of Jan’s death. Then someone shoots at Quentin, Connor, and Toby, and Quentin gets hit in the arm.
Chapter 24: After patching Quentin up, they move him to a secure location. Toby kisses Connor and leaves him to guard Quentin. Terrie has been absent for most of the drama, but Elliot insists that she cannot possibly be the killer.
Chapter 25: Tybalt arrives, quick to blame and threaten Elliot over Toby’s battered condition, and his anger shifts to Alex upon learning what Alex tried to do. He demands to know why Barbara’s death was not announced to the other Courts of Cats, but must accept that Tamed Lightning literally had no way to share the information given how cut off they were.
Chapter 26: Toby and Tybalt investigate Barbara’s personal effects but don’t learn much else. Right before sunset, Elliot wants her to talk to “Terrie” and brings her to meet with Alex, who transforms into his sister at sunset and creates a clear alibi for Terrie. April goes to tend to a pressing matter, and Terrie goes off alone only to be pushed out of a window and killed.
Chapter 27: Word comes that Riodan is blocking Sylvester from crossing into Tamed Lightning. As Gordan takes April offline to do some server maintenance, Toby suspects that April is an accidental killer who did not realize the permanence of a typical death. When dawn arrives, dead Terrie transforms into a comatose Alex. Toby improvises a blood ritual that brings him back to the living, then passes out from overexertion.
Chapter 28, 29, 30: Gordan heads back to her office, and Toby stops Alex from following. Her murderer theory is becoming more involved. They go to April’s room, where April insists that she thought she was “upgrading” the victims, not killing them, and that Gordan manipulated her into helping subdue the victims. Toby finally learns about the master project at ALH: to upload the consciousness of all of Faerie to a computer network. The cats were the first test subjects for the project, and no one realized that some of them were actually changelings.
Chapter 31, 32: Toby discovers Connor injured and in seal form, with Quentin missing entirely. Toby, Tybalt, and Elliot go hunting, and Gordan shoots Elliot in the process before capturing Toby at gunpoint. Gordan reveals the details of the upload project, how she tricked April into being an accomplice, and how she now intends to kill and upload Toby and Quentin as well.
When April realizes that Gordan killed January permanently, she tries to throw Gordan off the catwalk. Toby tries to save Gordan, but Gordan chooses death over facing Faerie’s justice.
Chapter 33: Sylvester arrives and helps them wrap everything up. Time passes. Toby visits with the Luidaeg, who does not follow up on the promise to kill Toby now that their debt is settled. A funeral is held for January, and Toby spots her mother in the crowd, though Amandine runs away before Toby can get close. April is now Countess of Tamed Lightning and aged up her physical appearance to reflect her new role.
Characters[]
Major[]
Allies[]
- October "Toby" Daye: Weak-blooded Daoine Sidhe changeling, knight of Shadowed Hills
- Quentin: Daione Sidhe, blind foster and page of Shadowed HIlls
- Sylvester Torquill: Daione Sidhe, Duke of Shadowed Hills
- January O'Leary (deceased): Daoine Sidhe, Sylvester's niece, Countess of Tamed Lightning
- Tybalt: King of Cats, Toby's sometimes ally
- Connor O'Dell: Selkie, in a political marriage to Rayseline but attracted to Toby
- Luidaeg: Firstborn, sea witch, resides in San Francisco
Antagonists[]
- Gordan (deceased): Coblynau computer programmer
- April O'Leary: techno-Dryad, adopted daughter of January
Minor[]
- Spike: rose goblin, adopted by Toby
- Cagney and Lacey: Toby's mortal cats
- Colin (deceased) Selkie marketing expert
- Peter (deceased): Pixie computer programmer
- Elliot: Bannick computer programmmer
- Alex Olsen: Gean-Cannah computer programmer
- Terrie Olsen (deceased): Gean-Cannah
- Kerry: Hob changeling, Toby's friend
- Stacy: Barrow Wight changeling, Toby's friend
- Danny: Bridge Troll, Toby's ally
- Marcia: changeling, works in the Tea Gardens
- Dare (deceased/night-haunt): Piskie/Tylwyth Teg changeling, died in a fight involving Toby
- Devin (deceased/night-haunt): Changeling, died in a fight involving Toby
- Ross (deceased/night-haunt): Roane changeling, died while escorting Toby to safety
Mentioned[]
- Luna Torquill: Kitsune, Duchess of Shadowed Hills
- Rayseline Torquill: Daione Sidhe, Sylvester and Luna's daughter, Conner's wife, insane following captivity for most of her childhood.
- Etienne: Tuatha de Dannan, knight who trained Toby
- Melly: Hob, servant
- Barbara (deceased): Cait Sidhe, Queen of Cats, computer programmer
- Yui (deceased): Kitsune software tester
- Julie: Cait Sidhe changeling, formerly of Home with Toby
- Katie: human, Quentin's girlfriend
- Queen of the Mists: Banshee/Siren, moon-mad and war-hungry
- Amandine: Daoine Sidhe, Toby's mother, insane
- Evening Winterrose (deceased): Daoine Sidhe
- Simon Torquill: Daoine Sidhe, villain
- Duchess Riordan: Daoine Sidhe, Duchess of Dreamer's Glass, territorial
Places[]
- Kingdom in the Mists, ruled by Queen of the Mists
- Golden Gate Park, divided into independent fiefdoms
- Japanese Tea Gardens, ruled by Lily
- Court of Cats, ruled by Tybalt
- Duchy of Shadowed Hills, ruled by Sylvester Torquill
- Duchy of Dreamer's Glass, ruled by Treasa Riordan
- County of Tamed Lightning, ruled by January O'Leary
- Toby's apartment
- Golden Gate Park, divided into independent fiefdoms
Continuity[]
Debts[]
Current Book[]
- Tybalt gives Toby his leather jacket and tells her to keep it. She does, and it becomes a sort of armor going forward.
- Quentin inherits Colin's hippocampi.
Previous Books[]
- Toby has a soft spot for pixies.[2]
- Toby uses the silver dagger that used to belong to Dare.[2]
- Toby and Quentin are jumpy walking to the car, remembering Toby’s last run-in with a backseat attacker[2]
- This is the second car of Toby's that's been destroyed.[2]
- Toby shows Quentin the scar she received from iron bullets.[2]
- The night-haunts take on the likeness of Dare, Devin, and Ross.[2]
Future Books[]
MAJOR SPOILERS!
- Katie will have a more prominent role soon.[3]
- Toby's improvised blood ritual to revive Alex has more significance than she realizes[4]...at least, to Tybalt.[5]
- Amandine is avoiding Toby on purpose[4]
- Duchess Riordan is not bothered by Oberon's law against killing fae.[6]
- Evening is not among the night-haunts.[7]
Quotes[]
Cultural References[]
- "And gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a name"
- Tamed Lightning is a shallowing created from almost nothing.
Concerning Toby[]
- “Hey!" I turned, crossing my arms and glaring. "I was talking to him!" / Tybalt eyed me with amusement, which just made me glare harder. "No, you were inciting him to stab you with a toothpick. Again, the difference is small, but I think it matters.”
- “I've seen that mixture of resignation and hopelessness before; its usually in my mirror.”
- “Coffee and corpses, that's my life. Sometimes I hate being me.”
- “I’m not a hero; if I’m lucky, I never will be. I just do my job.”
- “My choices were “laugh” and “cry.” Laughter seemed healthier.
- “You are truly endearing when you sleep. I attribute this to the exotic nature of seeing you in a state of silence." (Tybalt)
Concerning Cats[]
- “Get a can of tuna and go around the park calling ‘here, kitty kitty.’”
- “I’m a cat. We aren’t required to make sense.” -Tybalt
- “That’s the thing about cats: they remember a time when there were true kings for them to look at.”
Miscellaneous[]
- “Something happens, and the kids get sent away...I’ve been here before. I want to stay.” -Quentin
- “That's the nice thing about insanity: evil people kill you, but crazy ones try to make you understand.”
- “The laws of physics have already been violated. What happens if they decide to press charges?”
- “Repetition is sometimes the best way to deal with the Luidaeg: just keep saying the same thing over and over until she gets fed up and gives you what you want. All preschoolers have an instinctive grasp of this concept, but most don’t practice it on immortal water demons. That’s probably why there are so few disembowelments in your average preschool.”
- “Whoever was responsible for naming the fae races should really have put more thought into making them pronounceable when drunk.”
- “I’ve always thought of joggers as being sort of like Blind Michael and his crew: deserving of respect, but slightly psychotic. Who in their right minds would want to get out of bed and run around in their underwear before noon?”
- "The dead have their own geometry.”
- “Family” really means “the ones that can hurt you the most.”
- “Sometimes hope is the cruelest joke of all.”
- "Faerie isn’t sexist. It’s just snobby.”