Brett waited for Annabeth to arrive on Tuesday, but she never came. Jake and Randy simply rolled their eyes at his wandering attention. He couldn't understand how they couldn't see how important this was. Annabeth was in danger, but they didn't seem to care at all.
"I just don't see what it has to do with us," Jake shrugged. "It doesn't seem like any of our business."
"I can't just stand by and do nothing!" Brett insisted. "She's going to get hurt."
"And she's made it very clear that she doesn't want your interference, Dude."
Brett ignored him. Annabeth would eventually see just how much he's done for her. Right now he just needed to know that she was okay. She'd left with Percy on Monday, and then she didn't show up the day after. Who knows what Percy could have done to her?
When she wasn't at school on Wednesday either, Brett couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something. When he got home he went straight to his computer. He had been successful in tracking down information about Annabeth's father, so it was worth a try to attempt to find something about Percy. If Brett was lucky, he'd be able to find proof that Percy was dangerous, maybe an arrest record.
There was no arrest record, but Brett still found more than enough proof of Percy's delinquency. It started with a long list of disciplinary issues in school. Apparently, Percy Jackson had been kicked out of every school he'd ever attended. He'd never even lasted a full year at a single school. Brett couldn't find the reasons for every expulsion, but the reasons he did find were all dangerous and costly stunts. A couple that stood out the most to Brett included firing a civil war cannon at a school bus, dumping his entire class into a shark tank, and he even blew up a gym once.
No criminal charges had ever been pressed for any of the incidents because Percy somehow managed to convince everyone that they were all 'accidents.' But how could someone possibly blow up a gym by accident?
Brett was sure this alone would be enough to convince Annabeth of Percy's true nature, but he kept digging. And it only took a couple more clicks for Brett to stumble across a true gem. The article was a couple years old, and it spoke of a twelve-year-old boy who had been the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Apparently, the boy had kidnapped his mother after totalling their car, then was chased across the country by law enforcement, blowing up buses and national monuments along the way. The article quoted the boy's step-father, who claimed that he had always been a troubled boy, despite their best efforts to set him right. Brett smiled when he saw the attached picture. He was younger, but there was no mistaking that unruly black hair and sea-green eyes.
There was no way Annabeth could come up with any explanations for all of this. Surely this would shatter the image of Percy she's built up in her mind and open her eyes to reality.
Brett expected Annabeth to come back to school within a few days, but she didn't. Weeks passed, with Brett growing more worried each day. When she did finally come back, mentally she still seemed a thousand miles away. Every time she disappeared for a couple of days she came back disheveled and exhausted, and it only seemed to be getting worse. Brett had to help her, and soon.
"Annabeth!" he called as she passed him in the hall.
"What do you want Brett?" she asked, not stopping. Up close she looked even worse. Her already curly hair was barely contained by her ponytail, frizz and flyaways sticking out in all directions and making it look like she hadn't brushed her hair in days, instead simply throwing her hair straight into a messy ponytail the moment she woke up. The dark circles under her eyes that were always present were even more prominent, suggesting that she hadn't been sleeping. And even though she was looking right at him, everything about her indicated that she was preoccupied with something else.
"I need to talk to you."
Annabeth gestured for him to continue. "Then talk," she said, continuing down the hall. Brett followed.
He didn't waste any time getting to his point. "Percy is a domestic terrorist."
Annabeth snorted.
"I'm serious. Here, look at this," Brett insisted, pulling out the printed article and school records. "He's done a ton of crazy stuff. Annabeth, he blew up a school bus. And see here," he pointed to the article about the manhunt, "he did this when he was twelve. Just imagine what he's capable of now. You need to get away from him, Annabeth."
Annabeth glanced through the articles, completely unconcerned. In fact, she looked amused. She stopped on the article and in a wistful voice said, almost to herself, "I remember that. Gods, everything was so much simpler back then, even if it didn't feel like it at the time."
Brett shifted uncomfortably, not quite sure what to do with what she had said. This was not the reaction he had been expecting. "You knew about this?"
"Knew about it?" She snorted. "I was there. And if you had bothered to do your research properly, you'd know that Percy didn't actually do anything wrong. We were kidnapped. All of those things were just accidentally destroyed when Percy tried to stand up to our kidnapper. Percy saved us."
"You were kidnapped?" Brett asked, incredulous. "Why? What did they want? You never told me about any of this."
Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly something that comes up in casual conversation."
Brett was still trying to process the information. How could Annabeth speak so casually about what must have been an extremely traumatic experience? And when she was looking at the article earlier she sounded almost nostalgic? What must she have gone through in the years since then to make her look back on her kidnapping fondly, referring to it as 'simpler times?'
"This is why you shouldn't hang around people like Percy! He just leads you into dangerous situations. Apparently you've already been kidnapped! What's next? This is serious, Annabeth, you could get hurt. You've already gotten hurt."
Annabeth still didn't seem to accept what he was saying. "I am fully aware of any potential danger I might be in, and I have been for a long time. I assure you, none of that danger comes from dating Percy."
"How can you say that, knowing everything you do about him?"
She seemed to find that funny. "It's because of everything I know about him that I can tell you with complete certainty that I am safe with him. He'll always have my back."
Why wouldn't she just listen to him? He was getting frustrated with her refusal to see what was right in front of her. "Tell me how he has managed to convince everyone that he is such a good person. Even your dad-"
"Wait, what?" Annabeth stopped walking. She turned to stare at Brett. "When did you talk to my dad?"
Brett blushed. He hadn't meant to bring that up. "I- well- I was worried about you," he finally managed to stammer out. "So I looked him up and found his office number-"
"What the Hades?" Annabeth exclaimed. "Do you even hear yourself right now? You do realize how creepy that is, right?"
"I just want to help you!" Brett couldn't understand why she was so upset about such a small thing. He wasn't even being that creepy, it's not like he followed her home or something.
"And like I've told you before: don't," Annabeth growled, stalking away.
