Autumn in Philadelphia Trilogy

Stolen Souls

"We'd Rather Not Know The Price Cinderella Paid For Her Night At The Ball."

Shawn flipped mindlessly through the television channels trying to find something that looked remotely interesting. It was Sunday afternoon and there was nothing to do, thanks in part to the downpour that the clouds unleashed hours earlier.

Shawn was home alone at the moment. Jon had some mysterious meeting with Mr. Feeny that morning and hadn't yet returned. Audrey wouldn't be over until two.

After finally settling on a Batman cartoon he had seen a dozen times already, Shawn stretched out on the couch. With a bang the apartment door swung open and connected with the wall. Shawn sat up just as Jon stormed in. He gave the door a hard slam shut and disappeared into his bedroom.

For a moment Shawn just sat there with a surprised look on his face. Rarely had he seen Jon so upset. Something had seriously gotten under his friend's skin. Of course, had it been him, Shawn wouldn't have been too happy to have to meet with Feeny on the weekend, but he knew that wasn't Jon's problem.

Shawn debated on whether or not to question Jon now or wait. He decided on the latter and gave his guardian a chance to cool off.

Fifteen minutes later, Jon reappeared, calmer, but still visibly agitated. Shawn gave him a questioning look, but Jon had busied himself in the kitchen and didn't see it. Shawn wandered into the kitchen and leaned against the island in the center of the space where Jon was viciously mincing a tomato.

"I think it's dead already, Jon," Shawn pointed out, testing his teacher's mood.

"Huh?" Jon stopped what he was doing long enough to glance up. "Oh, hey, Shawn. When'd you get in?"

Shawn raised his eyebrows. "A while ago," he shrugged. "What's up? How'd the meeting with Feeny go?" He saw Jon tense immediately and clench his jaw.

"Fine," he muttered and returned to reducing the vegetable to a pulp.

"That great, huh?"

Jon said nothing.

"C'mon, Jon. What happened?"

"I don't want to discuss it."

Shawn tapped his fingers against the counter top. He furrowed his brow in concentration.

"That meeting wasn't about Audrey was it?" he asked worriedly. He vaguely recalled Jon being worried that Feeny might have found out about them spending so time with Audrey outside of school. Shawn knew that it would be trouble if that happened, though he wasn't sure why.

Jon put down the paring knife. He looked at Shawn for a moment.

"Yeah, it was," he said shortly. He picked the knife up again. Shawn waited for him to go on, but he offered no details.

"Soooo? Jon, you've got to tell me what he said!"

"George doesn't think that Audrey should go on the New York trip."

An indignant "what?" escaped from Shawn's lips.

"That's right," Jon confirmed. The knife came down on the last quarter of the remaining tomato.

"He can't do that!" the boy exploded, jumping back from the island. "No! That's just wrong!"

Jon shrugged indifferently. "He's the principal. He can do what he wants."

"But why?" Shawn paced the living room. "Why would he do that? Jon, you've got to do something!"

Jon started to say something, but was cut short by Audrey walking in.