They walked in silence. Lina lagged behind Zelgadis as he refused to look back to her. The dread inside Lina twisted and made her fell like her head was going to explode.

The fact of the matter was, she was in deep trouble and her fate lay in Zelgadis's hands. Lina didn't even bother to go stare into the bakery window as they passed it like they normally did walking home from school. She didn't dare risk it.

Lina glanced at the town's clock tower. It was late afternoon, so their parents would not be home for another two hours. There was still a tiny chance of convincing Zel to not inform them of what happened at school. Papa would be forgiving, but Mama... She shivered. No, Mama was certain to punish Lina by having her work cleaning the store's shop again like last time.

Her skin still crawled from the last encounter of finding the spiders and slugs while cleaning. Remembering the loud screams and nightmares she had from last time, Lina cleared her throat.

"Zel, you still mad?"

Zelgadis halted in mid step. He slowly turned carrying the same scowl they had left the school with. "What do you think?"

Lina sighed. "Come on, bro! It's not that big of a deal."

Zelgadis twitched. "You call setting Chris's hair on fire not a big deal?"

Lina shrugged her shoulders. "He has the longest hair in class, it will grow back." She rested her hands behind her back and kicked a stone in the street. "Besides, I thought you found him annoying."

Zelgadis grip tightened on his bag of spell books. "He's annoying because he's a spoiled big mouth. You're lucky that he and his dumb friends didn't see you!" He threw his hands up in the air. "You're my sister, if he knew it was you he would be demanding I make up for it by doing his homework or something." His eyes narrowed. "Or worse his parents might force mom and dad to compensate."

Lina's stomach lurched. Crud, that thought hadn't even occurred to her.

Zelgadis rubbed his eyes. "You've barely been at the sorcery academy for a month and you've already risked getting expelled."

Lina rolled her eyes. "You're exaggerating, that wouldn't have happened."

Zelgadis buried his face into his hands, letting his bag drag in the dirt. "Just tell me what on earth made you do that?"

Lina opened and closed her mouth. No, she couldn't tell him, even though it was basically Zelgadis's fault. If he wasn't her brother she wouldn't have been duty bound to do what she did.

The memory was still crystal clear. She was walking down the hall, heading toward the entryway to meet Zelgadis when she heard obnoxious Chris talking to his cronies.

They were sitting around in one of the classrooms and any other day Lina would have barely bat an eyelash, but she caught the end of his last sentence.

"I mean, it makes so much sense, right?" Chris was saying, while swinging his legs over the desk he was sitting at. "Zelgadis is a bastard child who even his birth mother didn't want. How could he be getting better grades than me."

Lina paused in mid step. Lately, she'd been trying to think of the consequences before she acted. Her mother had engrained that into her head before she started school and she'd been doing well. However, there were three things that would set Lina's mental rage meter off.

One, a person kicking a helpless animal. Two, a rude comment about Lina's appearance. Three, anyone that dared insult her family, especially her brother and sister. Only she was allowed to have that privilege.

Before Lina realized it, she had finished the spell and tossed a flare arrow. The worst part was she wasn't even allowed to enjoy watching Chris and his friends scream like maniacs.

There was a sharp yank on her arm and looked to Zelgadis. "Run," was all he said before he forced Lina to run out of the school at top speed. Zelgadis didn't dare stop until they were halfway home and didn't even look at her until now.

Lina chewed her bottom lip. It was clear Zelgadis hadn't heard what Chris had said and she didn't want to watch his face while he heard those words repeated.

Zelgadis tapped his foot impatiently. "Well, are you going to tell me?"

Lina scratched her cheek. "Um, he was just saying how small I was for my age."

Zelgadis rolled his hand. "And?"

Lina shrugged. "There's no and, that was it."

Zelgadis gaped and slouched forward in defeat. "Good grief, and I thought you were actually starting to be mature."

Lina sweated as she folded her hands together. "You're not really going to tell Mom and Dad are you?"

Zelgadis sighed, folding his arms. "Well-"

"Please don't!" Lina begged, as she hugged him around his waist. "Please, please please! I'll do anything you want, just please don't tell them! I don't want to face those slugs again!"

Lina stared up with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could make knowing they were her brother's weakness. Zelgadis stiffened at her expression, closed his eyes and patted her head in defeat. "Clean my room for a week, and I'll call it even."

"Yay!" Lina cheered, hugging Zelgadis even tighter. "You're the best big brother ever!"

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled as he freed himself from Lina's hold and tossed his bag over his shoulder. "Let's just get home before Luna starts wondering why we're late. You know she wouldn't be as forgiving"

Lina nodded and quickly picked up her pace. She didn't are what anyone thought, Zelgadis was her brother and no one was allowed to pick on him besides her and Luna.