On Friday Ms. Mason's class gathered in front of the school, waiting to board the bus that would take them to the museum. Brett had seen when Annabeth arrived. She was dropped off by Percy, and Brett could see through the windshield that there was another person in the car with them, sitting in the middle of the backseat. It was the younger emo boy that Brett had seen multiple times among Annabeth's group of friends- Nico, if he remembered correctly. They all looked way more serious than any teenager had a right to be, discussing something with frowns on their faces. They spoke for a moment longer, before Annabeth leaned over to give Percy a quick goodbye kiss and got out of the car. After she left, Nico got out and took her place in the front seat, still speaking with Percy with a scowl on his face. Brett watched as Percy pulled away, wondering what they were talking about that had them so serious.

He didn't have long to wonder, because at that moment the bus pulled up and they were all shuffled inside. They didn't have to go far to get to the museum, but New York's morning rush hour traffic added an extra half an hour to what would have otherwise been a short trip.

When they arrived, their tour guide met them at the door, and instructed them through the metal detectors into the lobby. She led the class through the various rooms housing the Greek and Roman exhibit, narrating along the way. Brett didn't have much interest in how old each clay pot was or where it was found, so he mainly stuck to the back of the group and horsed around with Jake and Randy. However, he did take interest when Annabeth suddenly stiffened when they walked into the next room.

Brett looked around, but he couldn't see anything special about this room that would warrant any kind of reaction. It was just like all the others they had seen, with old Greek paintings and mosaics along the walls and various old boring artifacts scattered throughout the room. On display in the middle of the room sat a golden bridle. That seemed to be what had caught Annabeth's attention, she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

The tour guide stopped them in front of the bridle and continued talking. "This golden bridle is one of the newest editions to the exhibit. It was uncovered about three months ago at a dig site near Mt. Olympus, which is, of course, the mountain where the ancient Greek people believed the gods lived.

"This bridle, in particular, is significant because of the material it's made out of. As far as our experts can tell, this bridle is made entirely out of pure gold. There are no detectable impurities, which is almost unheard of in objects from that time. Even today it is nearly impossible to achieve this level of purity, not to mention it is extremely impractical. Gold is heavy, and this bridle would only add unnecessary weight to your horse. It is also a soft metal, which means it bends easily and is not an ideal material for creating any sort of durable tools. But this bridle probably wasn't meant to serve any practical purpose. Most likely it was commissioned simply as a show of wealth. It probably belonged to the king or a nobleman. It could even have belonged to a particularly wealthy merchant."

The tour guide glanced at her watch, and then at the group of indifferent students and sighed. "And with that I think it's about time to break for lunch. The cafeteria is right down the hallway and to the left, and you are more than welcome to take this time to explore some of the other exhibits. We'll meet back here in about half an hour to continue our tour."

As soon as the tour guide dismissed the class, Annabeth rushed around the corner and out of sight. No one else noticed, all too preoccupied talking to their friends and thinking about lunch, but Brett couldn't let it go. She had acted so strange when she had seen that bridle, he had to know why.

Brett stopped outside an empty room when he heard Annabeth's voice coming from inside.

"I found it." She sounded breathless, almost desperate.

"Really? Where is it?" an excited voice answered. Unfortunately, Brett recognized that voice- Percy.

"That's where it gets complicated," Annabeth said. "It's on display at the Met."

"You're right, that does complicate things." Percy paused, as if thinking. "Are you sure you can't just take it? Maybe no one will notice."

Brett could practically hear Annabeth rolling her eyes. "No, Seaweed Brain. I can't just walk out of the Met with a priceless ancient artifact and expect no one to notice."

"Maybe you can't," another voice chimed in, "But I might be able to."

"Are you sure, Nico? Have you recovered enough to be able to shadow travel again?" Annabeth worried. Shadow travel? It seemed like Brett could never understand what any of Annabeth's friends were saying, even though they were speaking English. But he wasn't focused on the strange vocabulary of these people. He was more concerned with the fact that they were casually speaking about stealing the golden bridle. Brett knew Percy would eventually pull Annabeth into something dangerous and criminal, but he didn't think it would be something as outrageous as stealing from the Met in broad daylight. How was Annabeth okay with this? It had to be blackmail; there was no way Annabeth would willingly go along with something like this.

"I'll be fine, Annabeth. Will said I would be fully recovered within the week."

"It's only been three days since-"

"Besides," Nico interrupted, "I don't need to go far, just far enough to escape people's notice."

Annabeth still sounded skeptical, but she eventually agreed. "Meet me outside when you get here. We need to be careful, something doesn't seem right about this."

Maybe the fact that you're committing a major crime, Brett thought.

Percy didn't share his concern, about the theft at least. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"It's too easy. I mean, we've been searching for weeks and then suddenly it just shows up? Right out in the open? It doesn't add up." Brett wouldn't call stealing an expensive artifact in broad daylight from one of the most secure museums in New York easy, but who knew what Percy had done before. Maybe this was a walk in the park compared to his other crimes.

"You think it's a trap." It wasn't a question, though how Percy was able to come to that conclusion just from what Annabeth had said, Brett didn't know.

"I mean think about it, they discover the bridle just three months ago, and they somehow decide to house it right here in New York? It can't be a coincidence."

"We don't have much of a choice," Brett heard Nico say. "We need the bridle. Besides, traps are nothing new. We're just gonna have to spring it and hope we're prepared."

Percy sighed. "Nico's right. We'll be there as soon as we can, Annabeth. Just keep an eye on it until we get there. But don't get too close. I don't want you walking into this alone."

Brett wasn't even surprised that Percy was ditching school to come to the museum. He probably wasn't even there in the first place, instead playing hooky and doing drugs with his emo friend.

Brett ducked into the bathroom when Annabeth exited the room. Once he was sure she wouldn't notice him, he followed her back to the main room where the rest of the class was still gathered. Some had grabbed food from the cafeteria and were now strewn about the room in small groups, chatting with friends, while others were taking the opportunity to get a more in-depth look at some of the exhibits. He watched as Annabeth scanned the room before casually making her way toward the golden bridle, trying not to tip anyone off about her interest in it. Brett worried that she might try to grab it now, in the middle of all these people. If she did that she would most certainly be caught. He moved to follow her, to try to talk her out of following through with something so crazy, but he didn't get the chance. As soon as Annabeth got within three feet of the bridle, the windows shattered.


Thank you all so much for reading! It means so much that you all are enjoying this story! I'm sure you've noticed that my updates have started coming quicker- that's because I've actually finished the story, and I am going to post a chapter a day until the end. I just wanted to take a moment to address what a lot of you have been asking- why doesn't Annabeth go to the police or a teacher or something. You guys are right- Brett is way creepy, and I love that all of you hate him as much as I do lol! This whole story is from Brett's POV, so it seems like he is a major part of Annabeth's life, but in reality, Brett is barely a blip on her radar. She has so many other things to worry about, that Brett doesn't even register as more than a slight annoyance, which is why you don't really see her reacting to Brett at all- he's just not important enough to her. But of course you don't get to see that because you are limited to Brett's perspective, and he is too self-absorbed to see how little he means to Annabeth.

Anyway, I just wanted to explain that a little, because a lot of you are rightly concerned about Brett's behavior- and its only going to get so much worse :) Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!