"I hate this stupid class!" Grace cried.

Jacob's reverie shattered. He looked across the table at Grace.

"You're not even studying!" He said.

"It's still a stupid class," Grace rolled her eyes.

Her and Jacob and Camilla and Blake sat around a table in one of the common rooms in the Richter Building. Every other table was taken up, and a low, oddly respectful murmur filled the space. Finding a spot to study on campus was like trying to get a TV on Black Friday. A silent, piano wire tension permeated the campus and had been steadily building towards hidden panic since classes had ended on Friday. You could feel it in the cafeteria, in the dorms, even walking outside with no one around.

For Jacob, the weekend had been one long cramming session. He'd long shattered any studying record he'd previously set for himself in high school. The Bourbon gang minus Archie had met up both days in order to alleviate individual studying pressure. He'd always been a solo worker in school, and while working in a group often led to shenanigans or tangents or jokes—none of which were really bad—it had been surprisingly helpful in pushing him to study when he otherwise would have goofed off. The strength of the wolf is the pack, or whatever that old adage was.

But, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Archie in several days. Clearly the boy's embargo on interactions with Jacob extended to the group if Jacob was with them.

"C'mon, Grace," Blake nudged her. "The midterm's tomorrow. Just put the work in now, then you can relax next weekend."

Grace sagged and opened her notebook.

They had one midterm per day this week. Magical Basics was tomorrow, followed by Intro Tuesday, Prod Wednesday, Consumption Thursday, and finally the dreaded Decomp Friday. Classes had been cancelled; the midterms were their only curricular obligations each day.

"Ugh, I don't give a shit about Basics!" Grace said. "Why aren't we studying for one of the type courses?"

"Because Basics is tomorrow!" Blake said.

"But it's easy!" Grace said. "What are you even going over?"

Jacob sat back with a sigh and glanced over at Camilla, whose brow was furrowed in concentration on her notebook. He had to admit, Grace kinda had a point. Thanks to MW Club, he knew most of the material about the magical world and magical creatures, which made up two-thirds of the midterm.

"Easy, eh?" Blake said, a glint in his eye. "Alright, let's see how well you know this stuff," he flipped his notebook open to an earlier page. "Define mageiatophagy for me."

Grace quickly flipped through her textbook, but Blake snatched it from her.

"Uh, uh. No cheating."

Grace rolled her eyes. "It's like the blood sucking creatures."

Blake glanced at Jacob. "I'd say that's a one-out-of-three answer."

Jacob nodded. "I agree."

"No fair!" Grace said.

"Ms Sterling is not an easy marker," Camilla said abruptly.

"Ugh, why can't she be teaching us some combat or something?" Grace asked.

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"We did have that guest lecture with Mr Rodriguez," Jacob said.

"Is that on the midterm?" Grace asked.

"Yes," Camilla said.

"But that was so recent! How can they expect us to memorize all this stuff for one class, and then turn around the next day and do it for another class?"

"I agree, it is kinda weird they do these back to back," Jacob said.

"No point complaining about it," Camilla said haughtily. "They aren't going to change it."

"Which one you think is gonna be the hardest?" Blake asked.

"Intro," Camilla and Jacob said in unison.

"All of them," Grace whined.

"Really? Intro?" Blake raised his eyebrows.

"I feel like it's the one I've done the least work for," Jacob said.

"Same," Camilla said.

But he was probably the worst at Decomp when it came to performing a class's assignments and objectives. Intro was just memorizing history. He was hoping he'd get away with his lack of Decomp ability on the midterm because there weren't any practical casting tests, but he really needed to pick his socks up for the final. Ugh. He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms.

"I don't know," Jacob said. "I'm starting to feel like Grace right now. Screw studying."

"Not you too," Blake said.

"I think I'd be more engaged if we were actually having to cast spells for this," Jacob said. "That's what I want to work on."

"Theory is important," Camilla said.

"I know, but so is practical application," Jacob said. He'd gotten no training in this weekend, obviously, and he probably wouldn't get much in this week, either. He could feel his magic atrophying as he sat here, doing nothing. If only there were a way-

Wait.

Frowning, Jacob engaged his magic and cast perception. The world around him slowed down to a drawl. He turned his attention on the textbook. His attention zoomed in on the words. He read them at what felt like a normal pace under the perception. But the weird part was that the world around him fell away, almost as if he were engaging with the text in a VR realm.

He ate through the page, then the chapter, in just a few short minutes of uninterrupted, hyper-focused studying. He broke out of his trance and glanced at the others, breathing heavily.

"What were you doing?" Grace asked.

"Me?" Jacob felt a little guilty for some reason. "I was using perception to help me study faster."

"Wait. Have you been doing that this whole time?" Grace's eyes widened.

"No," Jacob shook his head. "Just now," Why hadn't he thought of this sooner? Was he an idiot? This was huge. This was the holy grail of cramming.

"Camilla?" Jacob asked.

"Mmm?"

"Have you used perception to study?"

"Yes."

"WHAT!" The three of them cried in unison.

"Only by myself. I didn't want to bother you all with it."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jacob cried. "I could have been using it!"

Camilla shrugged and blinked several times. She was clearly trying to keep a smile off her face. "I thought I'd let you figure it out yourself."

"Wha- You-" Jacob fell silent. It hit him. She hadn't wanted to give him an edge. Holy crap. She saw him as competition. He knew how much she needed to be top of the class, but still, he hadn't thought her competitive spirit would extend to her friends. Merciless. Or, maybe he was more of a threat than he thought he was.

"Okay, I see how it is," he said, grinning.

Camilla smiled. "All's fair."

He couldn't even be mad. She'd helped him with so much already. But, now it was crunch time. It was for the best. He couldn't rely on her for everything. He'd need to fly the nest and all, right?

"What's going on?" Grace asked. She looked dogged. "You're both using perception to study faster? That's not fair! I can't even cast it! You little rats talking about me studying and you're cheating! No fair! No fair!" She reached over and snatched Camilla's arm. "You better help me, or else..."

Jacob glanced at Blake.

"I can't cast it yet," Blake said.

"Before finals, I'll teach you. I promise."

"Ima hold you to that," Blake grinned.

They shook on it, and then Jacob turned back to his textbook. It occurred to him then that this wasn't something he could only use at Tisdale. He could use it when he went back to high school this fall. The thought made him laugh, and he wondered again why he hadn't put two and two together earlier. He just... hadn't thought about using magic for studying, or in any other every day activity for that matter.

Something Tanaka had said to him way back during that escapade into the morgue occurred to him: You gotta start thinking like a mage. Professor Muesli had said something similar about thinking of magic as something 'extra.' Is this what they'd meant? Using magic for everyday things instead of 'saving' it for fights or active training? Jacob didn't know. The only thing he did know was that new possibilities had just opened up to him, and he'd be cramming all night with perception until he couldn't even engage his magic.