One kidney-three people must have it. Are some gifts so great they become a burden? Tyranny? Retired high school teacher CiCi Clawson-Dawson's one kidney filters lives forged together by chance and shredded by circumstance, leading to fraud, kidnapping, and murder. CiCi wants to donate her kidney to save her best friend and housemate but battles her own doubts. Eva Davenport, who had worked in the illegal kidney market, wants to perform charitable deeds across the globe to amend her past but can't fix her own crisis. Aspiring medical genius Dr. Alexandra Segel wants to invent the ultimate artificial kidney to save future generations but faces impossible odds. Three noble streams converge, crashing into each other. Can CiCi push past her own worries to save her friend while colliding with a desperate research team and a deranged homeless woman? When the Waters Take Us merges tough life and death choices into a story of friendship, deception, and brutal miracles. (346 pages)