My uncle abruptly takes my cell away. I look up at him, and he signals for me to look down at my hand. It’s bleeding. I cut into my palm with my nails and didn’t even notice the pain. Now that I’m back on the surface, things like rage and bitterness are just as easily accessed as hope and purpose.

“How dare they blame her for what they did to her? She’s fighting for her life and she still has to defend herself?” I shout as my uncle places my hand under running water.

“You know they’ll say anything to excuse what they did. But we know what happened. And we won’t let them change the story. The good news is they are going in front of a jury. Let’s hold on to that for now.”

“We get to shout and beg for scraps of justice. I’m so sick of scraps! Those cops put a bullet in my mother’s head. And we’re supposed to overlook that because they coach their kid’s little league team? For real?”

“See Us is not going to let them blame your mom. I promise you. But per our deal, your job is to go to school and focus on the hunt. See Us will take care of this. Now promise me you’re going to school.”

“I want to do it, Uncle. I want to speak out about my mom. If Nate thinks it will help, I’ll go,” I say.

“We might do that, but for right now, I just want you to try to get back to something . . . normal.”

Normal? What the hell is that?

I reach out and hug my uncle. We both know normal is gone and done. But I appreciate that he worked hard to fix his mouth to say the word.

I want to just focus on the first set of clues to finding the keys. But I can’t stop thinking about all the awful things being said about my mom. They’re playing in my head on a loop. And by the time I get to school, my palm is bleeding again.

It’s my first day back at school and I’m relieved to see Nai. She’s been sleeping at her cousin’s house most nights, so that I can have some space. I feel really bad that I haven’t been much of a friend to her lately. It’s hard to reach out from the ocean floor. But things will be different now. Nai hugs me so tight, I might need medical attention when it’s all over. I push back tears. “Yeah, yeah, I missed you too,” I manage to say, with what little air I can get into my lungs.

“Girl, I know you have a lot on your mind, but I have tea—its piping hot and so good!” Nai says, excited.