No Shelter Left novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: Without Me

Aisling heard her sister say please, and four thousand people heard it with her.

She stood beside the piano with the microphone in her hand.

In the front row, her mother had risen halfway out of her seat.

Her lips formed one word, and it was Kaitlyn's name.

Aisling looked at Kaitlyn's wrist.

The sleeve had slid up while she played. The light under it was pale and steady.

359 DAYS.

Every one of them had been hers.

"I know what you want me to say," Aisling said into the microphone, quietly. "I know it would be easy."

Kaitlyn stared up at her. Her eyes were huge.

"I'm not going to say I gave you these songs. I didn't. They were taken."

The hall was silent.

"Paper Boat. Every song on her last two albums."

She let that sit.

"I wrote them in my bedroom while someone else's name went on the cover, and I was told it was family."

She turned and looked at the front row.

"It wasn't family. It was taking."

Under Aisling's sleeve, the number jumped.

She did not look.

She felt it, a rush of heat climbing her arm.

On the bench, Kaitlyn flinched.

Her hand flew to her sleeve. Her face went gray.

"Aisling," she whispered. "Aisling, don't."

"I'm sorry," Aisling said, and found that she meant it. "I'm not sorry enough to stop."

She put the microphone back on its stand and lifted her guitar.

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