"What do we do?" Jacob asked.

He had met up with Camilla at Fireball Roast and they had tracked Tanaka to his dorm. The transfer student hadn't wanted them to come in his room, so they'd ended up settling on Jacob's dorm while Blake was out studying. Jacob paced the cramped space, Camilla sat on his bed, and Tanaka sat in the chair by his desk.

"We know it isn't a vampire, but the killings look like a vampire did it," Jacob said, going over the evidence in his head. "That has to narrow it down. The killer is mimicking them for a reason."

"Maybe to throw people off their scent?" Camilla offered.

"Or they're a serial killer, and that's their thing," Tanaka said.

"Do we think it's a serial killer, or someone just taking the opportunities as they come?"

"What's the difference?"

"I don't know. Maybe they have an ulterior motive. Something that makes them choose these people specifically. Is there any other evidence we have? Anything else we can think of that might narrow it down?" Jacob was starting to panic again. Okay, it wasn't a vampire, but that didn't exactly narrow it down.

"Don't they look at the victims in crime shows? See if there's a pattern?" Camilla said. "We could do that."

"But there's only been two victims," Tanaka said. "Hard to draw evidence from that."

"Aren't there three with Father Emil?" Camilla asked.

"But he wasn't the same as the others," Tanaka countered. "His blood wasn't drained."

"But that does mean we're probably not dealing with a serial killer," Jacob said. "They wouldn't go against their regular killing style just to get rid of him, right?"

The other two shrugged.

Jacob cursed himself. They weren't getting anywhere. The simple fact was that none of them were detectives. He'd read up a bit on serial killers but he still couldn't tell if this was one or not. They needed the police, or someone who knew what they were doing.

"Okay, well, whether or not it's a serial killer, I think we should look at the victims excluding Father Emil," Camilla said. "They're both young women in second-year. Do we know anything else about them?"

"The shade," Tanaka whispered.

"What?"

"That first shade! Damn it!" He ran a hand through his hair, which promptly fell back over his face and glared at Jacob and Camilla. "You two had me thinking about this from a mundane perspective. Playing detective. Otherwise I would have realized it sooner. That first shade, Jacob, there was something wrong with it. That's the key."

"What was wrong with it again?" Jacob asked.

Tanaka scooched to the edge of his seat. "I take it neither of you have engaged with Necromancy outside of when you've done it with me?"

"Nope." Jacob and Camilla said at the same time.

"Okay. What we had to deal with with Father Emil? That was a normal shade," Tanaka gestured with both hands. "What Jacob and I saw in the morgue was completely different."

"Describe it to me," Camilla said. "I'm out of the loop."

Tanaka did, launching into a surprisingly detailed description of the dark humanoid shape in the morgue, including the fear and pain and anguish it had radiated. Jacob didn't think he'd seen Tanaka this animated before.

"...The rest of the spell was fine. The room darkened, the mist appeared. But the actual shade, it was like... It was like there was nothing there."

"But you said she answered your questions?" Camilla frowned.

Tanaka grunted. "Yeah, I guess she did, but that void when I looked at her. It was like she was a shell."

"Magically?" Camilla asked, eyes narrowed. "Clearly there was something there if you could target it with the spell."

"You're right," Tanaka said. "But it was... scraped out. That's the only way I can describe it."

"A scraped out void where there should have been magic to construct the functional shade out of," Camilla said.

"Exactly. Do you know what it is?"

Camilla shook her head. "But something must have warped her magic somehow, which means there's a magical element to the killings. That's the only explanation."

Jacob had only followed a bit of their exchange. "So, you're saying the killer is using magic to kill? That doesn't exactly narrow it down."

Camilla shook her head. "No, what Tanaka is describing means the victims' magical signature has been warped somehow. Some type of magic was used on the victims to destroy or hamper what creates their shade. Tanaka, is it their magical signature, or the latent magical energy in one's body that makes their shade?"

"Both."

"Right. So, the killer is using a magic that is destroying one or both of those things."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, what magic does that?"

"I don't know."

Jacob grunted. "You're both fairly certain about this?"

Tanaka and Camilla shared a look, then nodded.

"Okay, so they're using some weird type of magic. I guess it's a start," Jacob said. If they could find the reasoning behind it, or even the type of magic being used, that would help them. "Camilla, would your father know? I only ask since we're stuck."

Camilla folded her arms, but shook her head. "I doubt there's anything he doesn't know, but we can't ask him; he's on assignment right now."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Assignment?" Tanaka frowned.

"He's investigating disturbances in the magical realm somewhere in Asia. He'll be there for the next six weeks. No cell service over there. No internet either."

Jesus, six weeks over there? Well, that ruled that out.

"It sounds like there's no choice but to hit the books," Jacob was already doing the math in his head. Next week he'd be busy training for his match, and two weeks after that was midterms. It was all piling up. He needed to get started on this now. "I think I'm going to go hit the library, start looking for whatever this is. Are we all good?"

Camilla and Tanaka nodded.

"Okay, this meeting of the teenage magical detective society is adjourned," Jacob said.

----------------------------------------

Hitting the books was harder than it sounded.

The major issue was that he had no idea where to start. The sheer number of individual magics was daunting, and apart from a fairly sound assumption that it wasn't Consumption magic, there was no real way to narrow it down by unanchored guesswork. Was it combat magic? Maybe. Was it Production, or Decomposition? Had the killer done it to the body, or the magi itself? What was the purpose of it?

On his way to the library he'd thought about how to start, eventually settling on a top down strategy. He grabbed a book titled The Compendium of Contemporary Magic that detailed in brief every single type of magic there was.

The good news was that Blake was already at the library, studying for Intro, so Jacob sat down across from him. Even though they were studying different things, it helped to have someone there studying with him. He could ask Blake questions or even just shoot the shit if he needed a breather. The bad news was that seeing Blake study for class reminded him that all the work he was doing wasn't for class or the tournament.

Less than a quarter of the way through the Compendium, he hadn't turned anything up that sounded right and his eyes were starting to see letters floating in the air. It had grown late, the library emptier than a crypt. Jacob had had fantasies that pouring over old tomes in a magical library like some wizened wizard, learning new spells, reading about encounters with magical creatures, would be fascinating work, but it was just gruelling.

"I need a break," Jacob said. "I think I'm gonna book a training room and work on perception. You wanna join?"

Blake flipped through the pages of the dusty tome he was studying. "Perception, why?"

"Professor Alhammadi gave me a notebook on it earlier today. It's my 'extra work' for his class."

"Mmm... Tempting. I got six pages until the chapter. Lemme finish this, then I'll come. Like half an hour?"

"Sounds good," Jacob booked the final training slot for the day. He got up and checked out the Compendium and headed over to the Equilibrium Building.

----------------------------------------

Jacob sat crosslegged in the middle of the training room floor. The rough stone dug into his legs and he felt like some goofy yoga person, but he tried to flush these things from his mind and focus on casting Perception. The first tip in Alhammadi's notebook was a set of detailed instructions on how to clear one's mind and become more in tune with your body in order to better focus where you cast your Consumption magic. It involved deep breathing and what Alhammadi called 'scanning' each of your body parts with your eyes closed.

Jacob closed his eyes and took a deep breath and engaged his magic. Slowly now. Focus. He imagined green, then cast strength as a test. It worked fine. He released it and took another deep breath. He pictured a darker green. Mr Rodriguez had said that the closer to blue you got the more mental the change was, and Alhammadi's notebook put the perception spell at 520nm. The notebook then said to target your entire brain with your magic for starters, then your sensory body parts like hands, eyes, ears. He wondered if there was a way to enhance these things individually. What Victor and Mr Rodriguez had talked about in class certainly pointed to that, but try as he might he couldn't target specific areas of his brain. He was either not strong enough or not good enough. Or both.

Jacob mentally targeted his eyes and ears and hands and brain with his magic.

His hands became sweaty on his pant-legs, the fabric suddenly coarse, artificial feeling. Vibrations came from the training room next door. He could hear thumping as well. He opened his eyes. The training room was brighter than it had been, starker, everything etched in too-real detail. Shadows stencilled in. Thin scratches and marks made abyssal chasms.

He moved his hand up in front of his face. His brain told it what to do, but it was slow in responding, lethargic, moving as if through water.

It's working.

He upped the intensity of the magic until waving his hand looked silly, and then the magic slipped from his grasp and everything snapped back to normal. He was breathing heavily.

The issue would be to cast it at the same time as strength. Perception should be cast first, because it would allow him to react, and in keeping with his strategy he should keep levels of both low until he really got a hang of them.

He-

A knock came at the door. Blake. Jacob let him in.

"Sup?" Blake said. "Oh, you've already been casting it?"

"Yeah."

"Cool, cool. You want help with that?"

"Sure."

"Totally new spell?"

"Yes."

"What about learning new spells being tougher than improving old ones?" Blake sat down on one of the blocks.

Jacob shrugged. "Gonna have to branch out at some point, and by the other night I was putting so much power into my strength spell I could barely walk without falling over, let alone fight. I think I've hit my ceiling there without perception."

"Fair enough. So now what?"

"Try and see if I can cast them both at the same time. Otherwise perception's a waste of time and I've probably screwed myself for next weekend."

"So you have to cast them in quick succession too. That's tough."

Jacob shrugged. "They're both Consumption, and fairly close within that spectrum. Easier than trying to do a Production then a Decomp."

"Like Ms Sterling did. I'm still surprised that old bag is that good," Blake said. "It's hard enough getting the mindset for one spell right, but switching between is crazy."

"I think that's why so many stick to one type even if they learn new spells. Only have to learn one mindset."

"What do you think is the hardest? Imagination, will, or the confidence-slash-belief thing for Decomp?"

Jacob shrugged. "I have the easiest time with the will, but that might be because I learned it first. Imagining, visualizing stuff hasn't been too hard so far. I think Decomp is the hardest for me."

"I'd probably agree with you there. I find it hard to delude myself into believing that the world is changed, or I can just change it. Funny, eh. Archie finds it so easy, but then has trouble with Cons."

"Personality does play a role."

"True, but then what do you do to get good at all three?"

Jacob shrugged. "No idea."

Blake grunted. "Okay, let's see you do em both at the same time."

Jacob sat back down and engaged his magic. He flushed it to his ears, eyes, and brain again.

Blake's casual motion slowed down.

"Oooooo kayyyyyyy," Blake said comically slow.

Jacob grinned and almost lost his grip on the spell.

"I feeeeeeeeeeelllllll itttttt."

Jacob held the perception in place, brow furrowing. He thought about a lighter green and strengthening his muscles. He dragged his magic down throughout his body. It was like pulling a resistance band. The further he dragged it from perception the more difficult it got to keep a hold of. It slipped out of his grasp several times, snapping back to the perception areas. Then finally he got it stretched out and cast strength. He opened his eyes and stood up and ran to the door. It was almost like running normally. The world around him felt hushed, still, but he moved fairly smoothly.

Sweat dripped down into his eyes and he dropped both spells.

"Jeez," He wheezed.

"That didn't take long," Blake said.

Jacob shook his head. "It took me a while, but I was just thinking faster with perception cast."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. It's cool," Jacob said. "That didn't feel too bad, but I wasn't anywhere near my max strength output."

"And it's gonna take some practice to get it ready for the weekend," Blake smacked his leg. "Damn it, man, I wish I was still in."

"You had a great fight, though."

"That's true, I did. Just can't believe it's over."

They shared a silence.

"What's it like casting two at the same time?"

"Kinda like stretching a rubber band. You gotta fight it. Or like you're stretching some putty out. You only have so much to cast the second spell."

"You think you could do three?"

"No."

"But if you're a Ranger, you cast perception and strength, then you want to throw a projectile, that's three at once."

"I don't know how they do it."

"Lots of training." Blake jumped off the block. "Well, speaking of fighting, let's see if you can avoid me while casting perception and strength."