Chapter 12

River sat on the counter watching her brother as he worked on synthesizing some new medication. Her eyes scanned him, watching each precise, methodical movement as he carefully worked with the vials set out before him.

He was more relaxed today, if not a bit tired. River smiled happily, her eyes bright. It was the first time since he’d broken her out of the Academy that she had felt him so relaxed. Oh, he was tense, trying to work, trying to find a cure for her, but his heart was light, the tension he had carried for so long gone; replaced by new, fresh, and sometimes overwhelming feelings of love.

She loved Kaylee, loved her as much as Simon. She needed Simon. He needed her. She could give him something River could not. River couldn’t make him happy. She wouldn’t get well. He couldn’t cure her no matter how hard he tried. Kaylee could make him happy.

But there was something – out there, that threatened that happiness. And River’s eyes narrowed as she tried to grasp onto the sliver of darkness and crush it in the palm of her hand.

When Simon looked up from his microscope, his brow furrowed. River was looking at him, no –through him – her hands clenched so tightly together her knuckles had turned white.

“River?” Simon covered her hands with his and gently pried them apart before she drew blood. “Mei mei? What is it?”

“Coming.” A tremor wracked her body and she wrenched her hands away and stared at him with a horrified look on her face. She launched herself off the counter and gripped his shirt in her slim fingers, tugging it so hard it began to tear. “Don’t go! Don’t leave me!”

Simon’s arms dropped around her shoulders and he hugged her tightly to his chest, trying to soothe her fears. “I’m not leaving you. I’ll never leave you.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” River looked at Kaylee standing in the infirmary entryway. “Don’t go.” She reached out to the mechanic, her hands shaking.

When Kaylee was close enough, River pulled her into their circle, clutching Si