Chapter 8 Summary, Analysis, and Key Moments
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
After missing most of the news report about Deja, Jude drives Sariyah straight to Malcolm's house. When Sariyah walks in through the front door without knocking, as she always has, she finds about a dozen people gathered around the coffee table holding hands in prayer. Mr. Hawkins leads the group, with his wife beside him and Derrick, Deja's stepfather, on his other side. Malcolm stands apart from the group, arms crossed, watching from the kitchen island.
Sariyah catches Malcolm's eye and gestures upstairs. In his bedroom, Malcolm explains what happened. Police returned to the festival site that morning to search in daylight and found Deja's phone in the woods—dead, with a smashed screen. They also found the pepper spray Sariyah had given Deja. When Sariyah asks whether police can tell if Deja used it, Malcolm confirms they can, and that she did. The news lands heavily on all three of them.
Jude tries to find a silver lining, noting that media coverage should help. Malcolm explains that the story didn't get picked up on its own—his father reached out to a media contact on behalf of Deja's mother, Ms. Jasmine. Malcolm makes a bitter remark about how his father didn't have that kind of connection when his own sister Tessa disappeared years earlier. He lays out a plan to make the story go viral: drafted social media posts, posters in hard copy and digital form, and accounts on every platform, including Facebook, which he notes is full of older relatives who know how to share.
Sariyah objects that reducing Deja to a hashtag feels foul. Malcolm pushes back, saying what's foul is girls who never come home, and reminds her that the hashtag worked for Casey—though no one mentions that the country rallied for Casey and it didn't save her life.
Mrs. Hawkins enters and updates them: Officer Penby has faxed Deja's missing person information and photo to all local precincts. She names Detective Habib as the detective on the case and leaves a business card, advising the teens to run any posters or materials by him first, since there are things the public shouldn't know.
Sariyah presses for more details, asking whether there are actual reasons to assume the worst beyond the phone and pepper spray. She floats the possibility that Deja might have run away. Malcolm reacts sharply, accusing her of echoing the cops' narrative about Tessa being a troubled kid who wanted space. Sariyah insists the two cases are different, but Malcolm asks whether the police will see it that way, or whether they'll just see another missing Black girl. Sariyah admits she just wants hope and wants to be sure they aren't missing something this time.
Mrs. Hawkins then shares that police found something else at the scene: a brush Deja's mother didn't recognize—white and red, with a cartoon cat on it. DNA testing will take a while. Sariyah notices Jude's red, irritated skin on his face and hands and connects it to the brush. Jude admits the brush was his, given to him by Sariyah the first night they met. He explains he had it in his pocket, it snapped in half when he leaned against a brick wall, and Deja grabbed the half he pulled out to touch up her edges.
Sariyah confronts Jude about his red skin, suspecting he was pepper sprayed. Malcolm defends him, joking that the redness is from smoking and eczema. Sariyah points out that Malcolm and Jude didn't hold up their end of the deal to watch Deja at the festival, and Malcolm fires back that they weren't the ones generating needs that made it seem like they were about to get jumped. Sariyah, in tears, says she can't hear their needs and worries about all of them constantly.
Jude insists he was high and didn't realize he was sitting in poison ivy while smoking; when he stood up, it got on his hands and he rubbed his face. He was embarrassed. He pulls the other half of the brush from his pocket to show them. Malcolm says it doesn't look like anything—it's not weird to let a friend borrow a brush, and a doctor can confirm poison ivy. Sariyah tells Jude it would look better if he explained everything to the police before they have to ask. Jude worries they won't believe him, and Sariyah acknowledges that Black boys are smart to be wary of the police, even in Atlanta. She tells Jude she believes him and that they'll support him, though she admits she has a good sense for when people are keeping things from her, and both Jude and Malcolm are lighting it up. She notes Malcolm has an excuse—he shared a womb with Tessa, and this situation is both devastating and triggering for him.
Sariyah suggests Jude take his car to the station, talk through it with his mother first, and meet Malcolm and his mom there. They can work on posters when they get back.
Key Events
- Police find Deja's dead, screen-smashed phone and the pepper spray Sariyah gave her in the woods near the festival site. - Testing confirms Deja used the pepper spray, shifting the case toward suspected foul play. - Malcolm's father uses a media contact to get Deja's story on the news; Malcolm plans a viral campaign with posters and social media. - Mrs. Hawkins reveals police faxed missing person info to precincts, names Detective Habib, and advises running materials by him. - Police find a white-and-red brush with a cartoon cat at the scene; Deja's mother doesn't recognize it. - Sariyah notices Jude's red skin and suspects he was pepper sprayed; Jude explains it's poison ivy from sitting in it while high. - Jude reveals the brush was his, given by Sariyah, and Deja borrowed it; he shows the other half. - The group decides to go to the police station to give formal statements.
Character Development
Sariyah shows her protective, controlling side throughout the chapter. She presses for details, questions the runaway theory, and immediately zeroes in on Jude's red skin as evidence. Her tears and confession that she worries about all of them constantly reveal the emotional weight she carries. She also shows self-awareness, admitting she can sense when people are hiding things and that both Jude and Malcolm are setting off that instinct. Her decision to support Jude while still pushing him to talk to police shows a balance of loyalty and pragmatism.
Jude is forced to explain himself under suspicion. His embarrassment about the poison ivy and his fear that police won't believe him reveal his vulnerability. He's honest about what happened, but his hesitation and the way he fidgets make him look guilty, even to Sariyah. His repeated question—what if they don't believe me—underscores his fear of being misjudged.
Malcolm is driven and angry, channeling his energy into the viral campaign. His bitter comment about his father's media contact not existing when Tessa disappeared shows his unresolved grief. He defends Jude but also challenges Sariyah's runaway theory, connecting it directly to how police mishandled Tessa's case. His quick shifts between fury and concession show how raw this situation is for him.
Mrs. Hawkins emerges as a practical, cooperative presence. She balances supporting the teens' efforts with advising them to work with Detective Habib, and she gently pushes back on Sariyah's impatience, noting that police won't share everything and the best approach is to cooperate and control what they can.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Racial bias in missing persons cases: Malcolm's question—whether police will see Deja as just another missing Black girl—directly connects Deja's case to Tessa's. The chapter contrasts the media attention Deja is getting (because of Malcolm's father's connections) with the lack of attention Tessa received, implying that public interest in missing Black girls is uneven and often requires privilege to activate.
Runaway narrative vs. foul play: Sariyah floats the runaway theory, and Malcolm rejects it forcefully, tying it to the police's dismissive framing of Tessa as a troubled kid who wanted space. The chapter shows how the same facts can be spun into different narratives depending on who's telling the story.
Control and hope: Mrs. Hawkins articulates the chapter's central tension: cooperate with police and control what you can. Malcolm's viral campaign is his attempt to seize control in a situation where he has none. Sariyah's desire for hope clashes with the mounting evidence of foul play.
Truth and deception: Sariyah's ability to sense when people are hiding things drives the chapter's conflict. Jude's explanation is truthful, but his behavior makes him look guilty, and Sariyah admits both Jude and Malcolm are hiding something. The chapter explores how truth can be obscured by appearance and circumstance.
Grief and trauma: Malcolm's reaction to Deja's disappearance is inseparable from Tessa's. The chapter shows how past trauma shapes present responses, and how the Hawkins family's grief over Tessa informs their urgency now.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 8 is a turning point in the investigation. The discovery of Deja's phone and the used pepper spray moves the case from a missing person situation to a suspected foul play investigation. The chapter also introduces Detective Habib and the brush as a piece of evidence that directly implicates Jude, creating tension among the friend group.
The chapter deepens the novel's exploration of racial bias in missing persons cases by drawing explicit parallels between Deja's case and Tessa's. Malcolm's anger about the media attention his father can now leverage—attention Tessa never got—adds a layer of social commentary that resonates beyond the immediate plot.
Finally, the chapter tests the trust between Sariyah, Jude, and Malcolm. Sariyah's suspicion of Jude, Jude's fear of not being believed, and Malcolm's defensive loyalty all complicate the group's ability to work together. The decision to go to the police station sets up the next phase of the investigation and raises the stakes for everyone involved.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Malcolm react so strongly when Sariyah suggests Deja might have run away?
Malcolm connects Sariyah's suggestion directly to how police framed Tessa's disappearance years earlier—as a troubled kid who wanted space from her family. He asks whether the police will see Deja as just another missing Black girl, implying that the runaway narrative is a dismissive pattern applied to Black girls in missing persons cases. His reaction is rooted in grief and frustration that the same thing might happen again.
2. What role does the media play in this chapter, and how does Malcolm's family's access to it complicate the story?
Malcolm's father used a media contact to get Deja's story on the news, and Malcolm plans to push it viral with posters and social media. The chapter contrasts this with Tessa's case, where no such connection existed. The media is presented as a tool that can help find Deja, but also as something that requires privilege to activate—and that didn't save Casey despite the national attention her case received.
3. Why does Sariyah believe Jude even though she suspects he's hiding something?
Sariyah says she has a good sense for when people are keeping things from her, and Jude is lighting it up—as is Malcolm. But she also tells Jude she believes him and that they'll support him. Her belief isn't absolute certainty; it's a choice to stand by him while acknowledging that he's not being fully transparent. She also recognizes that Malcolm has layers of hurt she can't access because he shared a womb with Tessa, which shapes how she interprets his behavior.