"Yeah," agrees Tyler. "And it was definitely harder for me to do it than it was for him."

Eventually they're done eating, and Mrs. Maxwell promises to have documents for them before Monday before disappearing upstairs.

Then presumably they can go back to that other room and continue messing with magic?

Yup!

"Do we have, like, a time by which we should be done?"

"The room's soundproofed so we won't wake anyone up if we spend all night here."

"Well. I don't know about the others, but it's not like I have a bedtime or anywhere I need to get back to, so I'm up for that."

"Mum was expecting me back at some point but I can just text her to say I decided to stay over? Might want to get a few things, though."

Theo shrugs. "Same here, I guess?"

"Ooh, magical sleepover?"

"Probably the sleepover bit is nonmagical unless we try to put people to sleep with it – ooh, if it can reduce need for sleep then I really want that – but yeah, magic!"

"Seconded."

"There's a card that makes people sleep, I think? But dunno about keeping them up, and if my untimely amount of tiredness is anything to go by maybe this might be an oxymoron or something."

"There is indeed a card that makes people sleep!" says Maya. "Unless 'The Sleep' is poorly named, which I suppose is possible."

"It's possible that the amount of energy required to reduce the amount of sleep someone needs is less than the amount of energy they get back, or whatever if it's not a neat measurable amount, or that a permanent change can be done? But yeah, making yourself less tired probably doesn't work as you want."

"Maybe we can borrow wakefulness from the future, reducing need for sleep now to sleep more in the future, also known as 'staying up late.'"

"But hopefully with fewer side effects such as 'reduced concentration' and 'feeling tired'."

Tyler eyes them both.

"...what?" she asks Tyler.

"… Nothing," he says after a moment's pause. "Anyway, what was next to test?"

"Symbols!" says Maya. "Probably writing something like 'wind' on a piece of paper, or the Chinese symbol for it or something, then holding it and trying the same thing, see if it varies in how long it lasts for."

So Willow uses her drawing skills to draw five copies of the Chinese symbol for 'wind,' and five copies of the word 'wind' in her best calligraphy.

Then Theo asks permission and takes one, saying the shortest phrase they used again.

Maya times it again!

It does not seem to do anything—the spell lasts as long as it did the first time.

… And since Theo took a copy of the Chinese character, Tyler takes a copy of the English word and tries that instead.