"…just wish you would stop making stuff up." Bianca di Angelo was saying. She and her brother Nico were standing outside the dull grey walls of Westover. It was the weekend, which basically meant they had one whole day to themselves before starting yet another torturous week of studying.

"I'm not making stuff up!" Nico said, getting frustrated. This was one of the rare occasions when he was really upset. "Why won't you ever believe me?"

"Maybe because you spend most of your time acting like a child!" Bianca shouted.

"No, its because you see weird things too, but you just don't want to admit it!" Nico retorted angrily. Tears were welling up in his dark eyes at the fact that his sister seemed to intentionally trying to make him upset.

Bianca scowled at her younger brother and said, "Take that back."

Nico folded his arms tightly. "I won't. It's the truth, and you know it."

"Take it back now, Nico!"

"No!"

Bianca, now really angry, shoved her brother and he fell. The minute she did, she instantly felt a pang of guilt. Nico looked completely shocked. Then he stood up and shouted, "I hate you! If you won't believe me, then I don't want to be your brother anymore!" He turned and ran off, and Bianca thought she saw him brush his hand against his cheek.

He's crying, she thought and as soon as the thought struck her, she started to tear up as well. She had never made her brother cry. Ever. They had made a sort of silent agreement to themselves that they would take care of each other no matter what. Bianca had just broken that agreement. She had intentionally hurt her little brother, and what's worse is that she actually had felt a moment of satisfaction.

She went up the stairs, hardly knowing where she was going. When she looked around, she found herself back in her dorm room. She sighed miserably and flopped down on her bed. She closed her eyes, and before she knew it, she had fallen asleep.

"Bianca, wake up!" Bianca opened her eyes to see two green others staring down at her. She sat up quickly, startled, then breathed a sigh of relief as her roommate's face came into focus. She yawned and looked outside. It was still noon. She turned and looked at her roommate. "May, what is it?" she asked.

"Its your brother," May said, panting. Apparently, she had run all the way up the stairs. "He's been bullied again. He's climbed up a tree and won't come down."

Bianca didn't even wait for her to complete her sentence. As soon as she had heard the words 'brother' and 'bullied' she had rushed out the door, ready to kill anyone who had harmed Nico.

She ran out into the fields to be met with a huge crowd under the old oak in the middle of the area. She ran towards it. The first thing she saw was a bunch of burly looking boys about twice Nico's size standing right under the tree, yelling and throwing rocks up at the higher branches. She looked up and saw something that made her stomach churn.

Nico was sitting on the second highest branch of the large tree, clutching the wood with an iron grip. He had a terrified look on his face, and he was practically shivering. Bianca couldn't stand seeing her brother like that. She pushed her way through the crowd and came face to face with one of the bullies. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she almost screamed. Everyone went silent. The bully looked at her and smiled. "Just showing the kid the way down."

At this, Bianca shoved the bully as hard as she could into his evil friends and started to climb. She, like her brother, had no problem climbing trees. But she, unlike her brother, also had no problem getting down.

Up and up she went, until, finally, she got to the same level of her brother's branch, but on the opposite side. She quickly transferred herself from one branch to another, until she was sitting right next to her terrified brother.

"Are you ok?" she asked. He nodded slowly. There was a small pause. Then she said what was on her mind even when she was sleeping. "Nico, I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to push you. I was just mad at myself. You're right to hate me." She started to tear up again as she realized this was probably true.

"Bianca?" She looked up when he said her name like a small kid would when he was about to get candy.

"Yeah?"

"I saw what you did to that guy down there and I—well, I don't hate you. And if you don't mind," Bianca tried not to smile about the genuinely worried look on his face, "I still want to be your brother."

"No, I don't mind," she said smiling widely. "Now, how about we try to get down?"

At this, he nodded vigorously, and Bianca stifled a laugh. In less than a minute, they were both back on solid land, and Bianca was pointing her fist at the bullies and warning them about what would happen if they ever went near her brother again. They grumbled and stalked off, along with the rest of the crowd, so Bianca and Nico were left alone under the old oak.

"C'mon. Let's go waste the rest of our weekend doing nothing," Bianca said, and they started walking towards the tall grey buildings. As they walked across the field and back to the dormitories, Nico stopped for a minute. A cloaked man was walking along just a few feet away from them. No, not walking. Floating. He stopped and looked directly at Nico. His face was hidden in what looked like a thick shadow. Nico gulped and quickly turned away. Bianca looked back at her brother, with a concerned look on her face.

"Nico, are you alright?"

"Um, Bianca?"

"Yeah?" He looked at his sister and decided he didn't want another fight with her. Especially after what she'd done to those bullies. "Um, can we get something to eat? I'm really hungry."

She smiled. "Sure. Maybe we'll find Grover there, too."

"Cool," he said distractedly. He glanced back and the man was gone. He shrugged and followed his sister to the main building. Little did he know that he would soon be taken into that cloaked man's world all too soon…

A/N: I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, please tell me why in a review.