Midnight's Choice is a fantasy novel for young adults, by Kate Thompson. It is the second book in the Switchers Trilogy, and continues the story of Tess and Kevin, two young Irish shapeshifters (or Switchers, as they are called in the novel). It also introduces the character of Martin, another Switcher, who is the book's main antagonist.
Plot
Setting
Midnight's Choice is set in the city of Dublin, in Ireland. The events of the book take place "a few days after New Year", although exactly which year is uncertain.
Plot introduction
Tess faces a terrible choice between the eternal purity of a phoenix's existence, and the darkness that is the unlife of a vampire.
Plot summary
In the form of a phoenix, Tess flies out of her room to join Kevin, who is now permanently in the shape of such a magical bird. She tries to ask Kevin what has happened to him since they last spoke, but her mind is overwhelmed by the purity and beauty of the phoenix's nature, and she instantly loses interest in asking questions. The following night, she becomes worried about the restless behaviour of her pet rat Algernon, and her animal-mind detects a telepathic summons being sent to all the rats in the city. Algernon breaks out of his cage and escapes into the sewers, and as a rat Tess follows him to an empty house filled with thousands of his kind. There, she discovers that the source of the mysterious call is a male Switcher. The next day, Tess investigates the house, and sees a red haired boy standing in the doorway of a house across the street. Somehow sensing that he is the Switcher, she resolves to speak to him when she gets the chance.
Upon reading a newspaper article, Tess discovers that the phoenix has been captured in the Phoenix Park, and is now on display in Dublin Zoo. Therefore, she sets off to visit the Switcher and ask for help in breaking her friend out of confinement. Tess finds the boy (Martin) sleeping in the darkness of his room, and tells him that she knows he is a Switcher. Martin agrees to help her, but only on the condition that she return to his house that night so that he can demonstrate his skill as a Switcher to her. When she does return, he takes her for a walk through the streets, and then demonstrates the truly awesome and horrible skill which he has learned by Switching into a vampire. Martin feeds on her blood, the shock of which stimulates Tess' survival instincts, and she Switches into the only form in which she will be safe from Martin: a vampire. Once she is in this form, all of Tess' revulsion toward the concept of vampirism vanishes, but Martin warns her not to kill her victim when she feeds, as doing so would arouse suspicion. After much hunting, the two come upon a young couple in a car, on whose blood they feed.
For the next few days, Tess behaves scornfully toward her parents, upsetting them greatly. At last when her mother mentions the phoenix, the memory of her time as one of those glorious, pure bird dispels the lingering aspects of the vampire personality, and she apologises for her behaviour. The family visit the zoo to see the bird, and there Tess meets Lizzie, who claims to be worried about something. The old woman informs her that the phoenix is a powerful force of good, and will change many lives, but according to the nature of the world, some dark force must have come into existence to balance out the presence of the phoenix. Upon entering the building in which the bird is caged, Tess is suddenly overcome by a feeling of joy and warmth, and realises that the bird is having this effect on everyone who sees it. Outside, she and her parents enjoy a game of Frisbee, all their arguments forgotten, not even becoming upset when Tess accidentally loses the Frisbee in the bushes. However, Lizzie tells Tess that she has "work to do", and is wasting time.