Class had not started yet.
Even bubble gum could not stop Madison's little mouth. She slung her backpack onto the desk, rummaged for her books, blew a bubble, and it popped with a snap.
"Guess what I saw this morning?" Madison said in amazement.
"What?"
"An owl. Standing on my windowsill, staring at me." She pulled a few candies from her pocket, unwrapped one and tossed it into her mouth, then handed Ian one.
"Seeing an owl in broad daylight—don't you think that's weird?"
As the current Supreme Witch, Madison really had too much free time.
Ian took the candy.
"Maybe it got lost."
Madison tilted her head and glanced at him. "You say that every time. 'Maybe,' 'probably,' 'possibly.'"
"Can't you ever give me a straight answer?"
"No."
Ian could hardly joke that the owl might have been carrying an acceptance letter from Hogwarts. Given the little witch's personality, by the next day every owl in Metropolis would have been caught into extinction by her.
"Tch, no imagination." Madison smiled, her eyes narrowing into slits and revealing two little fangs. She took a lunch box out of her backpack.
When she opened it, inside was a piece of green cake sprinkled with red sugar beads.
"Try it. New flavor."
Ian looked at the green cake and fell silent for a moment.
"What is it this time?"
"Matcha." Madison paused. "With a little chili powder."
Ian picked up the cake and took a bite. The bitterness of the matcha and the heat of the chili mixed together, fighting on the tip of his tongue, along with an indescribable sweetness, as if it had been soaked in syrup.
He chewed a few times, swallowed, and his expression did not change.
"Is it good?" Madison asked.
"No."
Madison rolled her eyes speechlessly,