Percy Jackson and the Dark Elites

XXXXVIII

Grover

Let me show you something.

Grover frantically pushed chair after table after chair up against the metal door.

His breath was heavy and his fingers were raw. He ran his hands through his hair, wondering if he'd done enough to hold them out.

Grover knew it wasn't enough. He screamed at himself to do something else. Maybe take that heavy cabinet and topple it on its side...

But his body refused to listen.

He ran with an awkward pace-his gait unfamiliar-to the back of the store he had trapped himself in.

He ran along the shelves, touching everything with his hands so that they fell off and hit the floor.

The noise was louder than it should've been.

Now that Grover thought about it, he was seeing more than he should as well. He could read the labels on the medicine bottles. He could see every ingredient on the cardboard cracker boxes.

He lugged himself across the isle. He picked up the bottles he'd looked at earlier. Grover recognized the names. He used to know what every single one of them did... But the meaning of the complex words didn't take.

Grover threw the pills on the floor in frustration.

He couldn't risk taking them. Even if one of them did do what he needed, he could never be sure.

Grover ran out of the isle and toward the last row in the pharmacy section. He pocketed every five-hour energy he could and sprinted with his odd gait to the refrigerators.

For a moment, Grover caught his reflection in the glass door.

His hair was sticking up at odd angles. His skin was pale and sweaty. He had a cut on his cheek and blood that definitely wasn't his on his shirt. His pale green eyes were wild and dry.

Percy opened the door to the fridge with Grover's arms and pulled out an energy drink. He threw that on the floor as well.

He ran down the line of florescent lights and pulled Mountain Dew out of the door. This stuff had the highest amount of Caffeine available. Can't read a prescription, but that, Percy knew.

Percy opened the lid and drank. He dropped the bottle, letting the green liquid flow on the mismatched concrete floor.

He made his way to Starbucks. He put two packets of coffee in the machine, then poured in some red bull.

He brewed it, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

He took a sip. The effect was jarring, but not enough. Percy broke the top off a five hour energy and poured the entire palm-sized bottle in the cup.

He took a drink, his heart no longer felt like it had a beat, just a continuous vibration.

He collapsed on the floor, clutching his chest to prevent his heart from jumping outside his body.

He stood shakily and returned to the pharmacy. He broke the glass in the fire extinguisher case and pounded on the metal gate over the counter.

He pushed his way in and looked for a substance he would recognize.

Adrenaline.

He filled a needle, then two more. He held them upside-down and pressed on them a little bit to prevent air bubbles. Then he put them in a tiny silver case and clipped it shut.