Times of Day

Dawn

Dawn is difficult to describe. When I was little, I honestly thought I was dying every time the sun rose. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Chelsea, whose mother couldn’t truly understand what she was going through or why she stopped breathing, like clockwork, every morning at sunrise. It’s the death of magic, the end of faerie time, and it hits us like a hammer. - Toby

Every day, the sun rising in the human world destroys small enchantments and illusions, including human disguises. Stronger enchantments can also be destroyed by the dawn over time, slowly chipping away at them day by day. The dawn is painful for all fae, although more so for changelings than for purebloods. The after-effects of the dawn last for five or ten minutes, and most spells will be ineffective during this time, which is why the dawn is a very risky time. Fae, especially changelings, are at their most vulnerable to discovery by humans.

Because pureblooded fae can manipulate the very weather and time in their personal Summerlands demesne, dawn has no effect in the Summerlands or the other realms of Faerie, only in the human world. This also means that in places where the dawn cannot reach, enchantments last longer because they cannot be destroyed by the sunrise.^{[citation needed]} Jumping into the Shadow Roads is one way to avoid the effects of dawn since it means stepping onto a path of Faerie.

In the Series

• After a shift at the convenience store, Toby is too slow walking home and gets caught by the dawn. She bides the pain and breaking of illusions in an alleyway, where Tybalt finds and needles her. Later, he notes how grouchy she typically is at daybreak.
• Alex Olsen and his sister Terrie Olsen are beholden to dawn and dusk, with Alex taking over their shared body with the dawn and Terrie in control at night.
• Toby and Quentin get caught up in dawn while on their way to Berkeley.
• Toby, Quentin and May narrowly avoid dawn when they enter Shadowed Hills.

Quotes

• "There’s nothing kind about the way sunrise affects the fae. Just to make it even less fair, it’s harder on changelings than it is on purebloods, because we have fewer defenses. The light didn’t quite burn, but it came close, filling the air around me with the ashy taint of dying magic."

• "Rules are rules, and this one came straight from Oberon: it doesn't matter whose territory you're in, you can hide from the dawn."
• "Dawn always passes. That’s one of the few things I like about it."
• "If I hadn’t slept, the force of the sunrise would have been enough to knock me out. As it was, my headache was back full force by the time the pressure went away, leaving me queasy and glad that I’d skipped breakfast."
• "Ah, the pleasure of your company at dawn. How could I ever have wished to forgo it?"

Night and Day

The fae are, by and large, nocturnal creatures. Most wake up in early evening and go to bed before dawn, which means those who live in the mortal realm are able to sleep through the painful effects of daybreak. Fae who attempt to live on a mortal schedule tend to be sleep-deprived and caffeine-dependent.

In the Series

• Toby gets a graveyard job at a convenience store so that she can keep a nocturnal schedule. However, she must be careful to get home by dawn so her illusions don't break down among the humans.
• Toby has a significant caffeine addiction while she is still holding on to her humanity, presumably so she can function when meeting human PI clients.^{[citation needed]}
• When attending Andy Brown's birthday party, Toby notes that it would be past the bedtimes of a human child Andy's age.
• Quentin briefly keeps a human schedule while attending mortal high school, but reverts to a nocturnal schedule as soon as he gives it up.
• The Wild Hunt comes at night to steal away children.
• Walther Davies keeps an odd schedule for a professor, opting to do most of his experiments late at night. His human graduate student considers him eccentric.
• Gean-Cannah like Alex Olsen and Terrie Olsen are bound to the time of day. They share a body; Alex is dominant during the nighttime and Terrie comes out during the day. This is specific to daylight, not just the passing of time; when passing between realms that were at different times of the day, Alex was forcibly changed into Terrie.