The Restored Girl

Chapter 15: Boarding the Berg

RHEA'S POV
The seniors are set to board a berg and leave for the island after we leave. When I contacted Tessa and Andrew, both of them claimed that the bombs had been set into place by all three teams and that they, too, were on their way to the island. They'd left the day before.

I make one last call before I meet the team following me to Denver at the hangar bay.

"Everyone ready?" I ask, staring up at the huge berg waiting for us to board on it.

"Let's do this," Harriet says, coming up beside me.

Sonya appears on other side. "Through highs and low."

"Through thick and thin," Quill says, taking her place on Sonya's other side.

"We can do this," I tell them, trying to convince them as much as I'm trying to convince myself.

Aris comes over, hands tucked into his pockets. "Of course you can," he says, "you guys can make it through anything."

"Come here, Aris," Sonya says, opening her arms for a hug.

Aris hugs Sonya, then Quill.

He comes over and hugs me, and I accept it, glad that there's at least one less person that I have to worry about.

I pull away quickly, still not used to all this physical contact. Aris squeezes my shoulder with a knowing look before turning to Harriet.

"Come on, let's go aboard," Sonya says with a mischievous grin, "Don't take too long, H."

I want to laugh at Harriet's surprised face, but I follow Quill and Sonya up onto the berg.

~

Once we all get onto the berg. Brenda and Jorge lift us up into the air, and we take flight, heading for Denver.

It's a good thing Bergs travel faster than normal aeroplanes. From where we are, a trip to Denver on plane would take roughly twenty five hours, but on the berg, it takes only five.

By the time we get there, it would be about two in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, for the first hour of the flight, we go through the plans three more times, making sure that all of us have remembered all the exits and escape routes in the building, as well as where we all have to be at exactly what time.

When that's done, we disperse into our small groups.

I walk over to Quill, who stands alone, looking over one of the plans, a furrow to her brows, green eyes focused. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Quill seems surprised, but says, "Sure. Come on."

She leads me into a spare room. It's a bedroom, no doubt, though it's tiny. She sits on the mattress, raising a brow at me. "Is everything alright?"

I pull out something from my pocket, and Quill's eyes widen. "Do you know what this is?" I ask her, though from her expression, the answer is pretty obvious.

Quill swallows as she nods. "Rhea, you aren't actually going to-"

"I am," I cut her off, looking her in the eye to make sure that she knows I'm being serious, though I usually never joke. "I'm trusting you with this, Quill. You know what to do and when to do it. No delays, no hesitating. No matter what. You understand me?"

It's like watching a series of emotions play out on her face. Confusion, wariness, fear, self-doubt, hesitation. But then Quill's face hardens and she nods. "You can count on me, Rhea."

I feel a breath of relief leave me, not having realised how much of a burden holding onto that thing was, not until Quill finally accepted to take it from me. And I know without a doubt that I chose the right person for this job. "Thank you, Quill," I tell her, then pause, hesitating before I add, "for everything."

Quill smiles a little at me as she takes the black item from my hand. "Thank you, Rhea. For being my friend even after I was such a bitch."

I smirk. "Likewise, partner. Now come on, let's go out before the others get suspicious."

Quill nods, pocketing the item that I had given her as I swing the door open, heading out to the control room in the berg, where the others are.

"Where'd you two go?" Trevor asks, his eyes glancing from me to Quill, lingering on the latter of us.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I mutter.

I go and take a seat beside Minho. Thomas is on his other side and Newt after him.

I can feel the nerves coming off Minho, and I wish that there was something I could do to get him to stop fidgeting.

"Hey, did you guys see Teresa?" Thomas asks us.

Minho shakes his head. "No, why?"

Thomas's brow furrows. "Nothing, I just thought maybe she'd come and say goodbye, you know."

"Teresa's busy," I say, not bothering to elaborate. "Don't worry about it, though."

Thomas still looks uneasy, but he nods.

I stand, feeling my anticipation building up. Ever since my first Changing, I've wanted to take down WICKED. I wanted them to burn. And now, I'm finally going to do it.

Destroy the very thing-the very organisation and people-that created me.

"Hey," Dylan says as I walk past him.

I stop, going to sit beside him. "Is something wrong?"

Dylan sighs, a shudder going through his body. "You don't say it, but I know that the risk of you and Thomas not getting out in time is high. So I wanted to tell you, Rhea, to run. Run and don't look back. Okay? Promise me."

I don't know if I can make that promise. I've known from the beginning that Janson would put up a fight. I know that if it came down to it, I would have to run and let them die.

But Janson, too, is smart. He must be waiting for me. And after killing Ava, he wouldn't let me go easily.

He wouldn't just let me blow down his building. Of course, I could just kill him, which was the plan, but Thomas insisted that that should be the last resort.

Finally, I tell Dylan, "I'll try. I can promise that I'll try."

Dylan looks desperate as he says, "That isn't enough, Rhea."

"That's all I can give you, Dylan," I reply softly.

I stand, not wanting to continue the conversation. Dylan doesn't move to stop me as I make my way to Sonya, Harriet and Quill. We sit together, and my eyes meet Newt's.

He has a question in his eyes, and I give him a small smile to let him know everything's okay.

"You okay, Rhea?" Sonya asks me.

I turn to her and nod, almost mechanically. "Yeah."