Turner of the Century

December 2nd 2005

"I'm Cole Turner, A.D.A. And you are?" Cole asked.

"Cole!" Phoebe said, grabbing the man's hand.

The two of them were in an undefined, unimportant location. It could have been a street? A hospital corridor? Or maybe it was a forest? It really did not matter.

"I've been looking for you, Cole! I need to take you to my sisters! We've been trying to summon you!" Phoebe said, dragging Cole into the manor kitchen.

She let go of his now red hand and turned to see Belthazor looking at her.

"Piper! Paige! I've got Cole!" Phoebe called.

She shrugged when there was no reply.

"Maybe they're in the attic," Phoebe suggested and took Belthazor's hand again.

Taking only one step, Phoebe and Cole found themselves at the attic entrance. Phoebe tried to usher Cole into the attic, but he shook his head.

"I can't go in there," Cole said. "I'm mortal now. Mortals can't go in the attic."

"Oh yeah," Phoebe said, looking away from Cole towards the attic. "I'm not sure how we can fix that."

"We can go in there now," said Cole's voice, a little colder than before.

Phoebe turned back to see a tall hooded figure standing where Cole had been. The Source.

Phoebe smiled. "Let's find Piper and Paige then."

As Phoebe entered the attic, the Source was back to being Cole again. Phoebe frowned. Piper and Paige were not in the attic.

"Where are they? We need to summon you," Phoebe said, frowning.

"It's okay. I can wait. Nothing can kill me now," Cole said.

Phoebe nodded slowly.

The light dimmed in the attic, leaving them in pitch black darkness, unable to see –

Phoebe lifted her head up from her pillow and looked around her dimly lit bedroom. She was all alone. She sat up. On her bed was the Book of Shadows opened to Belthazor's page and a piece of paper on which she had written a ritual.

Phoebe sighed. She must have fallen asleep part way through writing the spell. She squinted at it in the dim light of dawn.

...

Later that morning, Piper was in the kitchen, making breakfast. Leo was sat at the table, finishing his own breakfast.

"So I'll probably be out for most of the day," Leo said.

Piper nodded. "That's fine. It's about time for you to get back in contact with local ex-charges if you're going to start proving a point to the Elders."

Leo smiled. "It is. I'm just glad that these few ex-charges were simple to get in touch with and agreed to meet for a catch up."

Phoebe made her way into the kitchen.

"Morning, Phoebe," said Piper. "What do you want to eat? Eggs? Waffles? Toast?"

"I'm not really hungry," Phoebe said, sitting down at the counter.

Piper looked at her sister, concerned. Phoebe was wearing dark pink track suit bottoms, a pale pink vest top with a dark pink jacket on top. This was a direct contrast to Paige's attire, who walked into the kitchen at that moment, wearing a blazer on top of a white top and a pencil skirt.

"Pheebs, what's up?" Piper asked.

"Nothing, I'm just a bit nervous," Phoebe said. "And tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, so that's adding to my loss of appetite."

"What have you got to be nervous about?" Paige asked whilst plating up some breakfast from what was cooking on the hob.

Phoebe sighed. "Nothing more than every night so far, I guess. The prospect of seeing Cole again is really making me uncomfortable."

"We've been trying one new spell every evening for the past two weeks with no luck yet," Piper said. "None of us want to see him again, but if we're to find out who's after us…"

"You've been losing so much sleep, staying up to write a new spell for the next day every single night," Leo said. "You may feel like giving up, but –"

"This isn't me giving up," said Phoebe. "I'm just tired. I'm sick of having Cole on my mind and in my dreams."

"We've all been so wrapped up with this plan that he's on all of our minds," Piper pointed out. Piper pushed a plate of breakfast in front of Phoebe. "I'm not taking no for an answer. You need your food."

Phoebe sighed, but thanked her sister and began to eat.

"Leo, you don't need to drop the boys off at Dad's this evening," Piper said. "I'm going to drop them there early in the afternoon so as they can spend the entire day there. You'll be out with your ex-charges until at least after ten o'clock tonight, won't you?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to meet up with them individually and then invite them out for drinks later."

Paige looked at her watch and stood up. "I need to get to work. I finish at six and should be back here by six thirty. Are we planning to do the spell at seven like usual?"

Phoebe nodded.

"Okay. I'll see you later," Paige said.

...

A man in his late thirties opened the door to his flat to let Leo in.

"Hi Ed," said Leo.

"Come on in, Leo," said Ed. "Ignore the broken furniture. Fought some warlocks in here last night."

Leo nodded, noting the fresh gash that Ed had down the side of his face.

"Did the warlock do that?" Leo asked.

Ed nodded. "Yeah. It stings real bad and I haven't had a chance to go to the emergency department to get it sorted out yet, but I can deal."

"What about your whitelighter? Have you tried calling him or her to heal it for you? You got it from fighting evil, so they should be allowed to heal it," Leo said.

Ed shook his head. "My absentee whitelighter is no use. I met her once, but I haven't seen her since. I haven't often needed to call for her help anyway. The few times I have, she hasn't shown up. Not that she'd be any use if she did anyway. I don't think she can heal."

Leo frowned. "I know it's none of my business and against charge-whitelighter confidentiality rules for me to ask this, but who was assigned to be your whitelighter after I left?"

"You probably know her. You're married to a Charmed One, right?" Ed said.

"Paige," Leo muttered, disbelief on his face. "She wouldn't ignore a charge's calls…"

"Well, she's ignored me the few times I've tried calling," said Ed.

...

At the South Bay Division of Social Services, it was just after midday and Paige was busy typing up a document on a computer in her small office.

Paige's desk phone rang. She picked it up and said: "Good afternoon, Paige Matthews speaking."

"Hey Paige, it's Henry," Henry said.

"Henry? I didn't know you had this number," Paige said.

"I don't, but I was phoning your cell and you wouldn't pick up," Henry said.

Paige blushed. "Sorry. It's on silent. That doesn't explain how you managed to call my work phone."

"I got the number for the Division – phoned the reception and told them I was a parole officer and one of our cases overlapped and said that I needed to be patched through to you," Henry explained.

Paige smiled. "You'd lie about a case just to speak to me?"

Henry laughed. "I called to ask whether you had any plans for tonight. Me and a group of guys are going out tonight. I wondered whether you wanted to come along, you can bring a group of friends too."

"What time were you thinking of meeting?" Paige wondered.

"Nine-ish," Henry said.

"I should be able to make it by ten o'clock," Paige said.

"Cool," Henry said. "I'll text you the details and I'll see you later."

"See you then," Paige said, putting the phone down, smiling as she did so.

The smile disappeared and she immediately reached into her purse, pulled out her own phone and dialled a number.

"Phoebe… pick up," Paige muttered.

...

Piper walked into the manor.

"Hello! Anyone home? I've just dropped the boys off at Dad's! Hello? Pheebs?" Piper called out, beginning to make her way to the staircase.

The sound of Phoebe's cell phone ringing resonated from within Phoebe's locked bedroom.

Piper reached the bedroom door and knocked.

"Hello? Phoebe? Are you in there?" Piper asked.

The phone stopped ringing, but no other sounds were heard.

"Phoebe?" Piper called again with increased concern.

Piper opened the door and found Phoebe lying down on her bed, eyes closed, dreaming peacefully.

Piper smiled and quietly shut the door as she left her sleeping sister in peace.

...

A twenty-something year old waitress in a diner put a plate down on a customer's table. As she looked up from the table, she noticed Leo walk in and sit at an empty table.

The waitress smiled and approached him. "I'm glad you could come despite me not being able to get a break to chat with you."

"Hi Nancy," said Leo. "That's fine. If your boss asks, we'll just pretend I'm asking what the specials are today. How are you?"

"I'm doing fine," Nancy said. "I'm getting better at finding and helping innocents."

"That's great to hear," Leo said.

...

Piper was in the kitchen, making herself a late lunch, when Phoebe walked in. Phoebe had replaced her track suit jacket with a woolly jumper.

"Hey Pheebs," Piper said. "Had a good nap?"

"Nap? Oh… yeah," Phoebe said, a little zoned out.

"Are you feeling up to tonight?" Piper asked.

"Tonight, yeah," Phoebe said quietly.

"Do you want some lunch?" Piper asked. "It may be almost three o'clock, but I'm only just finding the time to eat something."

"Yes, please," Phoebe said. "If you make the food, I'll make us some coffee."

"Fine by me," said Piper. "The boys are at Dad's, so after we've finished eating, we should start preparing for the spell. We'll be ready to start when Paige gets in."

Phoebe nodded. Her cell phone suddenly began to ring and she answered it.

"Hey Paige," said Phoebe. "What's up?"

"Hey. Are you okay? I've left quite a few missed calls on your phone and you never got back to me," Paige said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Phoebe said, a little groggily. "I'm sorry I missed all those calls. I've had a really long… nap."

"I need to ask you something," Paige said.

"Oh, are you about to ask me about joining you for that thing with Henry and his friends tonight?" Phoebe said, perking up a bit.

"How did you know..?" Paige wondered.

"Cliff notes' version: premonition," Phoebe said. "Moving on from that, you are going tonight. Whatever happens with the Cole stuff doesn't matter. You're still going to see Henry, tonight, okay? I'm not letting anything get in the way of that."

"Uh, okay. Thanks, I guess," Paige said. "Does that mean you're going to come too or not?"

"I promise you that either Piper or me will go with you tonight," Phoebe said.

"Okay… Anyway I told Henry I'd meet him at ten. So once we've summoned Cole, got answers and sent him back to where he can no longer bother us, we can get ready to go," Paige said.

"Okay. We'll talk more later," said Phoebe, grimacing as she put the phone down.

"What's with the face?" Piper asked. "Do you not want to go?"

"Oh, of course it would be great if I could go," Phoebe said. "I've just got the Cole situation on my mind."

Piper sighed. "Let's try and look past that. Once the spell's over, he'll be out of our lives for good."

...

A man in his early-forties was pumping air into a bike's tire on the driveway of his house. As he finished the task, he handed the bike to a little boy.

"Your bike's as good as new now," the man said. "Just be careful with it, okay?"

The little boy nodded excitedly. "Thank you, Bert!"

Bert smiled. "No problem."

The little boy rode away on his bike. Bert was about to return to his house when he noticed Leo walking towards him.

"Hey Leo!" Bert said. "It's been a long time."

Leo nodded. "Good to see you too."

"What have you been doing with yourself?" Bert asked.

"Not much. Spending time with my family, mostly," Leo said. "And you? How are things along with home schooling your kids?"

"It's going well – can be stressful sometimes, but that's life," Bert said. "They're really starting to come into their powers."

"That's wonderful news," Leo said. "How's Harriet?"

"She's doing fine. She's at work today. So I had to pick the kids up from school an hour ago, and now I've got to get their dinner prepared," Bert said.

"Do you have any plans tonight?" Leo asked.

Bert shook his head. "Harriet will be home by six thirty and other than putting the kids to bed, we didn't have any plans."

"I only ask because I'm planning to meet up with a few ex-charges for drinks later," Leo said. "Want to join us around seven?"

"Sure," said Bert. "Just tell me where."

...

Paige entered the manor at six thirty to find no lights on except for in the living room.

All the furniture had been moved to one side, freeing up space in the middle of the living room for a circle of currently unlit candles. The curtains were taped shut. A metal dish had been placed on the floor. Three athames, a large candle and a matchbox sat in the dish.

Piper and Phoebe looked over at Paige.

"Hey Paige," said Piper. "Are you ready to begin? Or would you rather get changed first?"

"I think I'll change out of my work outfit for this," Paige said. "Give me ten minutes."

Within the next fifteen minutes, all three sisters were present in the living room and ready to begin.

"Remember, whatever happens, you don't blame Cole," Phoebe said. "Whatever happens is not his fault."

"Phoebe, what do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Let's just do this," Phoebe said, passing the matches to Paige.

Paige nodded and began to light each candle that made up the circle.

Phoebe picked up the large candle from the metal dish and said, "All three of us must hold onto this while we recite the spell. Whatever you do, don't let go of it whilst he is here."

"You mean "if" Cole's here," Paige said. "This could fail, like the last twelve times we've tried summoning him."

"Thirteenth time's a charm," Phoebe said wearily.

Piper nodded. "Okay, but are you alright? You seem tenser than any of the other times we've tried summoning him."

Phoebe frowned. "I'm just nervous."

Piper took Phoebe's hand and squeezed it. "We'll be fine."

Phoebe nodded. "We will."

Paige had finished lighting the circle of candles. She passed the lit match to Phoebe who lit the large candle she was holding.

The three sisters took hold of the large lit candle and, keeping hold of it, pointed it towards the circle.

"The Power of Three calls upon the spirits that be. Take the candle light in place of the request of a being, of whom we have no intention of eternally freeing. Bring us the one once known as Belthazor, we do beseech. So as we may ask questions whilst he is within our reach."

A breeze made its way into the room. The living room lights began flickering. The breeze turned into quite a forceful wind. The path of the wind centred on the circle of candles. Every lit candle in the room remained intact.

The wind began to settle and as it did so, a being began to form within the circle. At the same time, the wick of the large candle in the sisters' hands went out. As instructed, not one of them broke their hold on that candle.

The being turned to face the sisters. Wearing a smart-looking dark grey suit, Cole Turner turned to face the sisters, a smile on his face.

"In the eternity I have left in limbo, I never thought I'd live to see this day," Cole said.

All three still had a grip on the candle, but their sights were set on Cole.

Piper was the first to speak. "Cole, let's make this quick so as you can return to limbo. What do you know about evil beings that are able to wander in and out of the Wasteland whenever they like?"

"Do we have to jump straight into the questions?" asked Cole. "No greetings? No thanks for the help I gave you last time, Piper?" He looked at Phoebe. "I hope you've been well, Phoebe. I never got to say goodbye to the real you last time…" He turned to Paige. "And Paige, I'm sorry for dragging you into that alternate reality. It was unintentional."

"It was only unintentional, because my presence there was the only thing that brought the Power of Three back together to vanquish your butt. Vanquish you for good," Paige replied. "Enough digressing. Answer Piper's question."

Cole sighed. "I've heard theories about demons that know how to get out of there. In fact, I was one demon that found a way out of there, as all of you know. I also know that on Halloween the veil between worlds is thin enough for demons to escape the Wasteland. However, I don't know of any demon that's been able to freely walk into the Wasteland without getting vanquished first."

"Well, this was a waste of our time then," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "Can we send Cole back now?"

"Hang on, do I even get to know why I'm being asked these questions?" Cole asked.

"You don't know?" Piper asked, surprised.

"Contrary to your belief, despite my past affection for Phoebe, I don't spend my time at the Halliwell home, watching your daily lives," Cole said. "I haven't been here since that time you almost died, Piper. Before that, the last time I was here was when I got vanquished in the alternate reality. Despite what the three of you think of me, I have a life and a job to get on with in limbo which does not revolve around you."

"Well, then you don't need to know," said Paige.

"If you give me more context, I may be more useful," Cole said.

Piper sighed. "He's right."

"Fine," Paige said huffily. "Some woman is trying to kill us. We don't know what she is or who she is. Whoever she is, she managed to promise some Phoenix witches a power that could only be gotten from the Wasteland."

"Which means she is able to get in and out of there at will," Piper finished. "Is that enough context for you?"

Cole looked thoughtful as he considered what the two sisters had told him. "I think I know who it is, but I can't quite recall the being. Can I see the Book of Shadows? I don't have to touch it and you can keep watch over me the whole time. The answer's on the tip of my tongue. Seeing the Book may help to jog my memory."

Piper and Paige looked to Phoebe, the one sister who had not yet uttered a word since Cole's summoning. Phoebe was staring at Cole with a grave expression.

"We know there's an entry on her in the Book. Cole knows that if he finds the right entry, he'll be able to point out it's her," Phoebe said. "We're going to have to let him see the Book."

"Okay, but how are we going to do this?" Piper asked. "I'm sure Cole's not allowed to leave the circle or he'll disappear and the three of us can't split up, because we have to keep hold of this candle for the spell to continue."

"We also don't want to all go upstairs and leave Cole by himself down here," Paige said. "Whether he's trapped in that circle or not, I don't trust leaving him alone."

"Me neither," said Piper. "Can you orb the Book down here?"

Paige nodded and called: "Book of Shadows!"

In a flurry of orbs, the Book fell to the floor in front of the three sisters.

Piper stared at the Book, annoyed. "This isn't going to work. Each of us has one hand on this candle. None of us could pick the Book up one handed and start flipping through it for Cole."

"You're not suggesting we let Cole touch it?" Paige asked.

"Of course not!" Piper said.

Phoebe had gone quite pale by now. She looked Cole in the eyes and said: "I guess it's my turn to say it, Cole. This is goodbye."

"Goodbye? I just got here," Cole said, confused.

"I wasn't clear about the spell earlier, was I?" Phoebe said to Piper and Paige. "If we let go of the candle, it won't automatically end the spell. It will just prolong it until the three of us are holding the candle again to say the reversal spell."

"Why'd you say goodbye then?" Cole asked but continued to be ignored.

"You told us not to let go," Paige pointed out.

Phoebe gulped. "I did, but we have no choice now. On the count of three, okay?"

Piper and Paige agreed.

"One," said Phoebe.

Before she even got around to saying two, Phoebe let go of the candle. The moment she did so, all lights in the room went out.

"What happened to counting to three?" Piper said, letting go of the candle (it was heard dropping to the floor, indicating that Paige had also decided to let the candle go) and making her way through the darkness to find the light switch. She gave it a flip.

Piper turned around to see both Paige and Cole still there but not Phoebe.

"Phoebe?" Piper called. "Where'd she go?"

Piper and Paige directed their glares at Cole.

"This was you, wasn't it?" Paige said. "You always do this. You manipulate a situation to your own advantage."

"Why would I make a plan that involves Phoebe going who knows where?" Cole asked incredulously.

"Hang on, before we start blaming Cole, can we figure out where Phoebe has gone?" Piper pointed out.

"Considering Cole's still here, I'd guess she's been sent to limbo instead," Paige said.

"Then our next question is why?" said Piper. "Phoebe said that letting go of the candle wouldn't break the summoning spell, which it didn't since Cole's still here. So why did it send Phoebe in his place?"

"Phoebe's spell… Did it say something about the light of the candle being the replacement for Cole whilst he was here?" Paige asked.

Piper nodded. "It did. So, because we let go of the candle, the link was broken, so one of us had to be taken in Cole's place until this spell is reversed."

"Except Phoebe let go first," Cole said. "She knew this would be a consequence… That's why she said goodbye now?"

Piper and Paige exchanged looks.

"She has been acting weird all afternoon, ever since she woke up from an afternoon nap," Piper said.

"Are you sure it was a nap? She knew about my plans with Henry before I had the chance to mention them," Paige said. "Are you sure this all wasn't part of a premonition?"

Cole stepped forward, out of the circle.

Piper looked at him. "You're not supposed to be able to do that without breaking the spell."

"I was hoping that me stepping out of the circle would break the spell, sending me back and bringing Phoebe back to you," Cole said, disappointed. "I wonder if I'm corporeal."

Cole bent down and picked up the large candle that the sisters had dropped.

"So I am," he muttered, dropping it back to the floor.

"Phoebe did say that all three of us are going to need to be holding the candle again if we are to reverse this spell," Piper said.

"And reversing this spell is probably the only way we're going to get Phoebe back," Paige said.

"Except, we can't reverse this spell without her here," Piper said.

"Without who here?" a familiar voice uttered.

Piper, Paige and Cole turned to see Phoebe standing at the doorway to the living room. Unlike the Phoebe that had just disappeared wearing the woolly jumper, this Phoebe was wearing the track suit jacket that she had been wearing first thing in the morning.

Phoebe suddenly noticed Cole and went wide eyed. "Cole…" She turned to Piper and Paige. "It worked. One of our summoning spells finally worked. What day is this?"

"Judging by your outfit, this is the same day that you've come from, just a few hours later, Pheebs. You're having an astral vision right now," Piper realised. "And I thought you were just sleeping in your room when I saw you earlier…"

"That's why she knew about Henry," Paige mumbled to herself.

"And that's why Phoebe knew there'd be a consequence for letting go of the candle," Cole said.

"There's a consequence to the ritual I wrote last night? If you've only just summoned Cole, where am I? I must have been here to say the spell with you," Phoebe said. "Why would I just leave?" Phoebe rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Oh wait, don't answer that. Cole's here. My job was done in helping to summon him and I probably couldn't stand being in the same room as him."

"Hey!" Cole said, annoyed.

"We wish it were that simple, Pheebs," Piper said.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.

"Knowing yourself, you know that you'd stay to hear Cole's answer to our questions so as we can send him back to limbo as soon as possible," Paige pointed out.

"Then where am I?" Phoebe asked.

"Can we tell her? This is sort of like time travel, isn't it? We don't want to mess up the past by her knowing too much," Paige said to Piper.

"She obviously knew that this would happen, since she was secretly fretting about it all afternoon. Why else would she have been so nervous?" Piper said. "So we can at least tell her why she's not here."

"What happened?" Phoebe repeated, more seriously.

...

Leo placed four beverages down on a table where his three ex-charges were already sitting.

"This round's on me," Leo said.

"Cheers," said Bert, taking a swig of his pint. "It's not like you get to sit around having a couple of beers with your whitelighter on a normal day and their other charges."

"Ex-whitelighter and ex-charges," Ed corrected bluntly before taking a drink from his bottle of beer.

"I think what Ed meant to say was that we miss having you as our whitelighter," Nancy said.

"You can't speak for me, you only just met me ten minutes ago," Ed said agitatedly.

"Don't take what Ed says personally," Leo said to Nancy. "He had a tough day yesterday and he's having problems with his new whitelighter."

"Of course I'm having problems!" Ed said. "She's a useless whitelighter!"

"Hey! Don't speak about her that way!" Leo said defensively.

"What? Just because she's related to your wife, she can't be useless at her job? She just has to be perfect? Is that supposed to be a Charmed One trait?" Ed said unsympathetically.

"You've got a Charmed One as your whitelighter now?" Bert asked, intrigued.

"No need to be jealous. She's too busy with Charmed One stuff to actually help her charges," Ed said, finishing off his bottle of beer and standing up. "I'm going to buy another of these. Anyone else want another drink?"

...

"So the spell that I wrote, the one that brings Cole back has one major flaw…" Phoebe muttered after hearing about what had happened to the other Phoebe.

Piper nodded. "Yes, but now that you're here, we may be able to get you back."

Phoebe nodded. "Only after we find out what Cole knows. Otherwise when we get me back, we might lose contact with Cole."

"On that note, we should get around to the part where Cole gets to look through the Book," Paige said.

Piper nodded. "Okay. Pheebs, I hope you understand why I'm doing this, but since I don't want to throw off the timeline, I don't want you to be around when Cole tells us who it is that's after us. If you learn from this astral premonition who that woman is, you might be inclined to stop us from summoning Cole, but if that happens, who knows what alternate timeline we'll be thrown into…"

"And I've had enough of alternate timelines involving Cole for one lifetime," Paige said.

"That was once," Cole protested.

"Once is more than enough," Paige said. Looking at Piper and Phoebe, she said: "Phoebe and I will stay down here and figure out how to get our Phoebe back."

Piper picked the Book up from the floor and turned to Cole. "I'm taking this up to the attic where we have the bookstand that this can rest on and crystals that I can put out if I think you're up to something you shouldn't be. Follow me."

Not waiting for a response from Cole, Piper walked out of the room. After taking one last look at Phoebe, Cole followed Piper.

"So, how are we getting the other me back?" Phoebe asked Paige.

"Well, the three of us need to be holding that candle again to recite the spell that will return Cole," Paige said. "That theoretically should bring the other you back."

"That would be simple if it wasn't for the fact that my astral self isn't corporeal," Phoebe said, passing her hand through a chair to prove a point.

"So we need a spell that will temporarily make you solid so as you can hold the candle with us," Paige said.

Phoebe nodded.

"Do you think…? Nah," Paige said, rejecting the thought.

"Do I think what?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, you – your future self – knew this was all going to happen," Paige said. "She's already been in your non-corporeal shoes."

"And you think that I'd leave us a few handy hints for getting through this evening," Phoebe caught on.

"Where would you leave those sorts of clues?" Paige asked.

"Follow me," Phoebe said.

...

Piper turned the pages of the Book of Shadows. Cole stood behind her, looking over her shoulder.

"Can you turn the pages a little slower?" Cole asked. "You're turning them so fast I can hardly see what's on each page."

"I am turning faster on pages that only consist of spells," Piper shot back. "I'll slow down when I get to info pages about demons."

Cole rolled his eyes. "You don't need to be so irritable with me. I'm doing you a favour by agreeing to help. I get nothing out of being here."

"You get to spend a little time out of limbo," Piper pointed out.

"Believe me, of all the places to spend my time, I'd rather be back in limbo," Cole said.

"Then on behalf of Phoebe and Paige, I can tell you that we're all in complete agreement," Piper said.

"Wait, stop there," Cole said.

"Where? Here?" Piper asked, holding a page open.

"No. Go back one," Cole said.

Piper moved back one page.

"There," Cole said.

"Which one?" Piper asked.

This was one of the many reference pages, which – rather than being completely dedicated to one individual being – listed many different types of beings, each followed by a brief description.

"The third one down," Cole said.

Piper went quiet as she began to read the small paragraph.

"That being fits the bill perfectly," Cole said after a little while. "Your woman may be one of the few of those that exist."

"This woman. She can cross between so many planes. Phoebe's in limbo. Is she vulnerable there?" Piper wondered.

Cole shook his head. "Phoebe may be in limbo, but she's still alive, so she's safe whilst she's there."

Piper nodded and her focus returned to the paragraph in the Book.

"That last sentence…" Piper muttered.

"Yeah, the last sentence is written in different handwriting to the rest of the paragraph," Cole noted. "One of your ancestors must have updated the entry."

"Not an ancestor. A sister. That's Prue's handwriting," Piper stated. "Prue added to the entry at some point."

Cole looked at Piper. "When did Prue face a being like this?"

"I don't know, but if Prue knew about this being, then it seems the woman's been watching us for longer than we realised," Piper said.

"Well, you know who's after you now, so I guess it's time for me to go back," Cole said.

Piper nodded slowly, preoccupied by the small paragraph in the Book.

"I'll start heading downstairs then…" Cole said, not wanting to disturb her. He walked out of the attic.

...

Phoebe and Paige were in Phoebe's room. The top drawer of Phoebe's dresser was open and had been ransacked by Paige searching through the clothes to find nothing unusual in there, except an athame that Phoebe kept there for safe-keeping. Paige was now bent beneath Phoebe's bed.

"Are you sure it's under here? All I can see are shoe boxes and a lot of dust," Paige said, exaggerating a cough at the end of her sentence.

"It's definitely under there," said Phoebe. "It's a small wooden box. And if the other me stored any clues in there for us then the box should be within your sight."

"Found it!" Paige said, coming out from under the bed with a small box in her hands.

Phoebe smiled. "That's it."

Paige sat down on Phoebe's bed and opened the box.

"Hey, there's an envelope with my name on," Paige said.

"Well, I guess that's the first thing on my to-do list when this premonition is over," Phoebe noted. "Read it out."

Paige had opened the envelope to find a sheet of paper in it. She began to read aloud: "Paige and… me, I can't remember the letter word for word from my premonition, but I guess that doesn't matter since I'm the one who wrote it, so whatever I write will be what you read for me to hear to write again from memory… I think I'll stop rambling now – otherwise I'll use up the whole piece of paper writing about how weird this all feels to me."

Phoebe had gone red. "I can't believe how stupid that letter makes me sound."

Paige laughed and then continued with the first page: "So far, Cole is back and you've all realised that I've gone to limbo in his place, and whilst Piper and Cole are up in the attic looking through the Book, you and I have decided to find out if I left any hints as to how to send Cole back. And now you know that I have in left a hint since you've found the letter. The first thing I will say is to myself: Phoebe, make Paige go to – Hey! No! I'm not reading anymore of this."

Paige had stopped reading now, annoyed at what she had just read.

"What did it say?" Phoebe asked. "You can't just stop there!"

Paige glared at Phoebe. "It's your moronic insistence that I go and see Henry tonight despite the fact that what's going on here is more serious."

"If the future me is insisting, then maybe it already happened for her, so we now have to do it to keep the timeline in check," Phoebe pointed out.

Paige sighed and as she skimmed over the next couple of sentences in the letter, her glare returned to her older sister's astral form.

Phoebe smirked. "Did the next couple of sentences say 'shut up, Paige and listen to Phoebe'?"

"Words to that effect," Paige grumbled. Skipping over the aforementioned sentences, she continued to read the letter. "Cole cannot be returned to limbo until midnight, however much you reject the idea, but that's fine, because you've got an innocent to help tonight. And hopefully after the innocent-helping, you'll have enough time to go and see Henry before midnight. Though my premonition ends whilst you're still helping the innocent, so I don't even know if it's going to be that simple."

"Why won't we be able to send him back until midnight?" Phoebe wondered.

Paige shrugged. "You don't seem to provide an answer. I wonder who our innocent is. And why you want me to go and see Henry so much tonight."

"I just want you to be happy," Phoebe said. "You can't hide behind the not-dating-work-colleagues excuse now that you don't work with him."

Paige rolled her eyes.

"What else does it say?" Phoebe asked. "Does it say anything about making me corporeal for the spell, even if we have to wait until midnight to do it?"

"Your letter says not to bother trying," Paige paraphrased. "I guess that means that the spell keeping Cole here and Phoebe there wears off at midnight."

"Hi. Am I disturbing you?" Cole asked, peering into the bedroom.

Phoebe and Paige turned to the door.

"Yes," Paige replied. "Did you and Piper find anything?"

Cole nodded. "Go upstairs and see Piper. I think she needs someone to talk to."

Phoebe went to move towards the door, but Cole shook his head. "You're not supposed to know what's going on just yet, remember?"

Phoebe sighed, but agreed.

"Besides, I was hoping we could… talk," Cole said.

Paige looked at Phoebe. "Will you be alright down here with him?"

"I'm fine, Paige," Phoebe assured her. "Go and see what's going on with Piper."

Paige nodded and left the room.

"So…" said Phoebe now that she was alone in a room with Cole for the first time in years.

"So…" Cole said, a little lost for words himself. His eyes scanned Phoebe's bedroom. "This place hasn't changed one bit."

"Maybe we should talk in the hallway," Phoebe said, a little uncomfortably.

"Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it," Cole said. "I just didn't know what to say."

"You're the one who said you wanted to talk," Phoebe pointed out.

"Right," Cole said. "I know. It's just after how we last left things, I don't know the safest way to start."

"The last time we spoke was four years ago, Cole," Phoebe said. "And that wasn't the most pleasant of times. I don't think there is a good way to start."

"I wanted to start with an apology, but I don't think the apology should be one-sided," Cole put calmly.

"I understand." Phoebe hesitated. "Neither of us reacted well to each other's actions and decisions back then."

"Would you like to discuss what happened? Or is it best for the both of us if we just move on?" Cole asked.

…

Leo sat in the club with his three ex-charges. He stood up, saying: "I'll get the next round of drinks. Does everyone want the same as before?" When they all nodded their approval, Leo went over to the bar.

Leo stood at the bar, waiting to get the bartender's attention.

A man sat by the bar caught Leo's eye. He wore a hat and had a scarf wrapped around his neck. The scarf covered the entire bottom half of his face. This made his intense, piercing eyes stand out.

"Did you want to order something?" the bartender asked Leo, turning his attention away from the man with the intense eyes.

"Oh, yeah, can I get… er…" Leo began.

The man with the intense eyes stood up from his seat and walked away from the bar. Leo watched as he left through the fire exit.

"Did you want to order anything? I've got plenty of other customers waiting," the bartender repeated annoyed.

"Oh, sorry," Leo said. "I would like…"

A few minutes later, Leo returned to his table with a tray of drinks. He noticed that Ed was no longer there.

"Where'd Ed go?" Leo asked.

"He lied and said he was going to the bathroom, when he so obviously slipped out the fire exit," Bert said. "He really didn't seem to be enjoying this meet-up."

Leo dropped the tray on the table and headed for the fire exit. Not sure what had led to Leo's unease, Bert and Nancy followed their ex-whitelighter.

Out in the alley, they found Ed in the middle of a fist fight with the man with the intense eyes. Ed grabbed hold of the man by his scarf. His fist collided with the wall as the man blinked out of his grip.

"He's a warlock!" Nancy said.

The man reappeared behind Bert, who let out a pained gasp as he felt an athame pierce his back. Bert fell forward.

"Bert!" Leo said, catching his ex-charge as he fell.

The warlock walked past Leo, Nancy and Bert, back towards Ed.

"Why'd you do that?" Ed yelled. "This is between you and me. Those three are innocents in all of this!"

The warlock dropped his athame. He removed his hat, revealing a bald head. He removed his scarf, revealing the absence of a mouth. He grabbed Ed and the two of them vanished in a flash of light from the alley.

Blood was slowly covering Leo's hand as he tried to put pressure on Bert's fatal wound.

"Go call an ambulance!" Leo told Nancy. She nodded and ran back into the club. "You're not going to die, Bert. You're going to be just fine." With one hand still on the wound, Leo pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled. "Hi Piper. I know you might have some Cole-related problems, but I need at least one of you here, right now."

...

Back at the manor, Piper walked back into the upper hallway where Phoebe, Paige and Cole had congregated.

"Who called?" Paige asked.

"That was Leo. One of his ex-charges has been stabbed by a warlock. Another ex-charge has been kidnapped by that same warlock," Piper said. "He said he needs one of us to get there right away."

"And that would be the innocent-helping that Phoebe mentioned in her letter. I should go since I'm the one that can get there fastest," Paige guessed.

"I should come with you," Piper said. "Leo seemed deadly worried about this warlock. I don't want Leo to get hurt."

"Do we need any particular vanquishing spells or potions for this guy?" Paige asked.

Piper shrugged. "Leo said something about it being a Warlock of No Words, whatever that means."

"I've never had the delight of facing one, but I've heard a lot about them," Cole said.

"What about them?" Phoebe asked.

"They're a small clan of warlocks that made a vow. They took an oath to never speak spells aloud again. As a result, they lost their mouths, but their ability to use non-verbal spells has made them quite powerful. Not powerful enough to face the Charmed Ones – together or individually – or face a demon as powerful as what I was, but powerful enough to easily take out a common witch," Cole explained.

"So do we need a vanquishing potion or not?" Paige asked.

"You don't. I think him going up against you three and me will be more than enough," Cole said with a smile. "Just like old times."

"No, this isn't just like old times," Piper said quickly. "You are staying here. Surrounded by crystals. Paige and I are going as soon as we've checked the Book for a spell. Pheebs, I'm sorry, I really hate to ask this, but are you okay to stay here and keep an eye on Cole? Since you're not corporeal, we can't orb you with us, and I'd really rather not leave Cole alone in the house."

"It's okay," Phoebe said. "You go and help your husband. I'll babysit my ex."

"Thank you! I owe you one!" Piper said.

"I'll set up the crystals while you look for this wordless warlock clan in the Book," Paige said to Piper.

"Crystal cages. I've missed those," Cole muttered sarcastically.

...

Minutes later, Piper and Paige ran out of the club's fire exit into the alley. Nancy was keeping pressure on Bert's wound. Leo was pacing.

"Piper!" Leo said.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Piper asked, noticing the blood all over his hands and shirt.

"I'm fine. It's not my blood. It's Bert's. He's not fine," Leo said, distraught. "He doesn't have much time."

"Where's his whitelighter?" Piper asked. "Shouldn't his whitelighter show up and heal him?"

Leo shrugged. "I don't know, but we've called an ambulance. They'll be here any minute now. Which means you've got to vanquish the warlock fast. Before they get here. Otherwise we'll have to wait until they're gone, and I'm not sure how long Ed can hold the warlock off."

"Where's the warlock?" Paige asked, looking around at the empty alleyway.

"He's here. Along with your charge," Leo said.

"My charge? Which one?" Paige asked.

"Ed Smith," Leo said. "He said he'd been attacked at his flat last night. I think this might be the warlock that attacked him. When he saw the warlock had shown up here, he must have followed him out here to continue their fight."

"What makes you think they're still here?" Paige asked. "The warlock could have taken them anywhere with his power to blink."

"The Book said something about these types of warlocks being able to shift between two planes. This one and another," Piper said. "Is that what you're thinking the warlock has done, Leo?"

Leo nodded. "We disturbed their fight. All the warlock needed to open the portal to the other plane was a life on the brink of death." Leo looked down at Bert as he said this. "That's why he stabbed Bert, but we're not going to let Bert die."

"Of course we're not," Piper said. "I found a spell in the Book that will let us bring the warlock and his victim back to our plane, but it needs to be said from whatever plane he's on. I don't even know how we're going to get to that plane in the first place, but it would be good to know which plane. The Book didn't say. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, it's limbo," Leo said.

"Phoebe," Paige said and Piper nodded in agreement.

"What about Phoebe?" Leo asked, but the presence of paramedics on the scene stopped the sisters from providing an answer.

The paramedics ran over to Bert and Nancy stood up to get out of their way.

"Looks like we'll have to wait a little longer before we help Ed out," Paige said quietly.

...

At the manor, Cole sat inside a crystal cage in Phoebe's bedroom. Phoebe, meanwhile, paced the room, staring at her many possessions.

"Where do we begin?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know. I think a more appropriate question is: Where do we end?" Cole said.

Phoebe nodded.

"I guess we should get this over with. I think everyone's been waiting years for the two of us to have a proper farewell," Phoebe said.

Cole smirked. "Everyone? Piper and Paige couldn't care less. And Leo would most likely try to stay neutral in a topic as controversial as me."

Phoebe walked through the crystal cage (the cage was no barrier to her non-corporeal being). She sat down next to Cole.

"When I first met you, I thought my biggest problem would be keeping the secret of being a witch from you," Phoebe said. "I never imagined that it could get more complicated than that."

Cole sighed. "What can I say? From the very beginning, we were both lying to each other."

"And then, when you were the half demon who wanted to be good and wanted us to be together, that was great," Phoebe reminisced. "I felt like we'd already gotten over the biggest hurdle in our relationship."

"That respite really didn't last for long," Cole said. "It wasn't long before my demonic powers were stripped. I thought that would be the best thing that could happen to us. I thought it could only help our relationship, but –"

"You missed being magical," Phoebe finished for him. "And then you became the Source of All Evil."

Cole closed his eyes. "When I took in the Source's powers, I thought I'd be able to control them. It was like a power boost. But the power-obsessed demon half of me took over completely and that demon was now the Source."

"The demon in you didn't have complete control, did he? You almost gave up your powers to that wizard, but I stopped you. You needed saving, and you almost saved yourself, but I – the person who's supposed to help others – stopped you from stripping yourself of those powers," Phoebe said.

"Don't blame yourself, Phoebe. The Seer tricked you. She tricked us both," Cole said.

"Don't do that," Phoebe said.

"Do what?" Cole asked.

"A bad habit that both of us have in common," Phoebe said.

Cole looked confused.

"At the slightest bit of trouble, we've always been quick to point the finger at others. Including at each other," Phoebe said. "Yes, the Seer had a hand in it, but I was also to blame. I believed her."

Cole sighed. "When I came back from the Wasteland, our relationship was more than over. I really wasn't helping you move on by being around. I'm sorry. I would love to blame it on my influx of demonic powers causing me to obsess over you, but since we're trying to not make excuses – I guess the only valid reason I can think of for why I acted the way I did when I came back was because as a demon, you were the first love that I'd ever had. And I guess, I didn't know what I'd do without you. That in no way excuses what I did, and I am very sorry. I have matured since then and I know now that I shouldn't have tried to change your mind about us."

"You were my first long term relationship, Cole," Phoebe said. "The break up was difficult for me. And my instincts were telling me to hate you when you came back. So much anger. So much hurt. So many memories."

"I'm sorry," Cole said. He sighed. "Do you think it would have been different if we were both non-magical?"

Phoebe sighed. "I would never have been at the crime scene that we met at in the first place, if that had been the case."

Cole nodded. "And I would have been long dead by the time the year 2000 came around, considering when I was born."

The two briefly sat in silence.

Cole was the one to break it. "What's bothering you? I can see from your face that there's more you want to say. Let it all out."

"The last time I saw you before today was when you tried to absorb the power of the shadow in the basement. I banished the shadow and the ground swallowed you whole, but you still came back alive," Phoebe said. "But that's not your last memory of me, is it?"

"Nope. I'm sure Paige told you about the alternate reality thing, which is where the alternate you along with your sisters vanquished me once and for all. That should have been the end of it," Cole said. "And it was, until last year. I'm sure you know that I was lurking around the manor when Piper briefly visited limbo last year."

"And that's the last time you saw me?" Phoebe asked.

Cole looked sheepish. "No. I mean, the last time I saw you was that same day, but not at the manor… Remember Drake?"

"You know Drake?" Phoebe asked tentatively.

"I knew Drake, yes," said Cole. "And I was present to say goodbye to him when he died at Magic School. And you just so happened to be in the next room. That was the last time I saw you."

Phoebe gasped. "Drake said that someone sent him my way. That was you?"

"Are you annoyed?" Cole asked.

"Yes and no," Phoebe said. "Drake did help me get through a rough patch, but it shows that you've not outgrown your old manipulative ways."

"I am sorry," Cole said. "I only did that, because I wanted to try and redeem myself."

"Redeeming yourself shouldn't involve sending guys my way," Phoebe said.

"I know," said Cole. "And I can promise you that for the rest of my eternity in limbo, I will never play Cupid for you again."

"How can I believe that when our relationship – both as a couple and as exes – has always been built on lies?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't ask you to believe me or have faith in me," Cole said. "Just know that this is probably the last time we will ever see each other."

Phoebe stood up and walked out of the crystal cage.

"Maybe for you. From what everyone's saying, I'll see you again for the first two minutes after we summon you," Phoebe said.

Cole nodded. "You will."

"I'm going to have to say that spell. I can't even tell my sisters about the consequence of my ending up in limbo. There's no way Piper would let it go ahead if she knew that," Phoebe said in a flustered manner. "I just hate that I'm going to have to spend the afternoon and early evening lying to them. And I don't even know why I put the stupid midnight note into that letter. It makes no sense. Why will the spell only resolve itself then?"

"It's probably because I tell you," Cole said.

"Excuse me?" Phoebe said.

"Midnight. Existing between night and day, it's like a limbo of its own," Cole said. "Any magic existing around limbo comes undone at midnight."

Phoebe shivered.

"Are you okay?" Cole asked.

Phoebe smiled. "From the moment we met, we were never going to work as a couple, were we?"

"No. Not a chance," Cole said, smiling back. "Did it really take us a failed marriage followed by years of hate to realise that?"

Phoebe shivered again. "We've matured over the years."

"You may have matured. I'm just getting old," Cole said, good-humouredly. "Are sure you're okay? Are you cold?"

"I'm fine. It's been good, just talking like this. I think we were always too busy blaming each other for our wrong doings to sit down and talk like adults," said Phoebe, smiling softly. "I'll see you when we summon you."

Cole nodded. "Hey," he said, smiling. "I get what you said earlier now."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked.

Cole smiled. "It's my turn to say it this time. Goodbye, Phoebe."

"Goodbye, C –" Phoebe vanished mid-sentence, her premonition over.

...

Piper and Paige watched in silence as Bert was taken away by the paramedics on a stretcher. Leo was talking to Nancy.

"Go with Bert to the hospital," Leo said to Nancy, handing her a note. "Here's his wife's number. Her name is Harriet. Phone her as soon as you get there. We're going to stay here and help Ed."

Nancy nodded and followed the paramedics.

Leo went over to Piper and Paige. "We probably don't have long before police show up asking questions about the incident in this alley."

"Right, so time's not on our side," Piper said. "That seems to be the theme of the night."

"Do you think Phoebe's here?" Paige asked.

"Well, when I was stuck in limbo with Cole last year, we were able to see everything going on with you guys," Piper said. "I couldn't leave the living room, but Cole could go wherever. Since Phoebe's taken his place, I assume she can also go wherever she wants."

"Phoebe has no reason to worry about leaving her astral self alone with Cole, since she's already lived through that," Paige said.

"So there's no reason she wouldn't have followed us here," Piper concluded. She looked up, holding a piece of paper out, and said into the empty alley: "Pheebs, if you're here, you already know the story. All you've got to do is read this spell out!"

"Why's Phoebe in limbo?" Leo asked Paige.

"Shush, we'll explain later," Paige said, looking around for any sign of the warlock.

A bright light flashed in the alleyway and two figures tumbled into view.

...

Cole inhaled and stood up within the confines of the crystal cage as he began to fade away. He smiled.

...

A third figure tumbled out of the portal. The light faded away and Phoebe swung a kick at the warlock, knocking him away from Ed.

"Phoebe?" Paige said. "I didn't know she could come through with Ed. It's not midnight yet, is it?"

"No, it's only ten," Piper said.

Before Piper or Paige could step in to help Phoebe fight the warlock, Ed stabbed the warlock in the back with an athame.

Phoebe jumped back in surprise as the warlock disintegrated into ashes.

Ed remained where he was, panting, not putting his athame-holding hand down.

"Phoebe!" Piper said, running over to her sister.

"Ed?" Paige said, cautiously approaching her charge. "It's okay. Your threat is gone now. You did it. You vanquished him."

Ed turned to Paige, glaring at her. He dropped the athame to the floor.

"Why are you even here?" he asked. He glanced over at Leo angrily before leaving the alleyway without uttering another word.

"Paige?" said Leo.

"Are you wondering why I didn't know that one of my charges was attacked last night?" Paige asked.

Leo nodded. "It's not that I think you're a bad whitelighter. It's just he's an angry guy and you shouldn't just give up on a charge because of their bad attitude."

"Leo, I never gave up on him. He hasn't been my charge for weeks. That's why I would never have sensed that he was under attack last night. He's been making contact with warlocks for a couple of months now. The Elders believe he's switched sides and that it's not safe for him to have a whitelighter if his main company consists of warlocks," Paige said. "I guess he still has warlock enemies too, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

Police sirens were heard in the background.

"We should go into the club before we find ourselves answering questions about what happened to your friend, Leo," Piper suggested.

…

Inside the club, the three sisters and Leo were sat at a table. Leo had covered up his blood-stained shirt with his jacket.

"When I sold P3, I thought I'd completely finished finding myself in a club at this time of night," Piper said.

"Do you miss it?" Paige asked, amused.

"Being up until way after midnight most nights? No way," Piper said. "Speaking of which, it's nowhere near midnight yet. I thought you wouldn't be able to come back until midnight?"

"I wrote that in the letter, didn't I?" Phoebe said, annoyed at herself.

"Yes, you did," said Paige.

"Do you want to know why I wrote it?" Phoebe asked. "Cole lies."

"Is that news?" Paige asked.

Phoebe smiled. "I don't actually blame him for it. He already knew that it had been difficult for me to not tell you two about the events of my astral premonition. I guess that when he realised that Leo needed help with that warlock, Cole already knew that they could go to limbo. He probably realised that if you went there, you'd be able to get me back then."

"Then why couldn't he just say so?" Paige asked, annoyed. "He didn't have to lie to you about the midnight thing, leading you to write it in the letter."

"Yes, he did," Phoebe said. "If that midnight note was not in the letter, you two would have been fixated on trying to get me back from limbo as soon as possible, and probably would have ignored Leo's call about the warlock and his ex-charge."

Piper and Paige exchanged sheepish looks.

Piper sighed. "I guess we do sometimes put each other before innocents, but it's easy to do."

"Yes, but we shouldn't let it be that easy," Phoebe said. "Remember "five strangers or one sibling"? It's easy to let our priorities slip, but we really can't keep choosing the sibling over the strangers."

There was a brief silence between the four in the otherwise noisy club.

"At least, we know who's after us now," Phoebe said.

"You know?" Piper asked.

"Of course I do," Phoebe said. "I followed you guys around whilst on the other plane."

"So you saw me find Prue's addition to the Book's entry? Do you know when Prue saw her?" Piper asked.

"Hey Paige?"

The three sisters and Leo turned around to see Henry standing behind them.

"Henry? What are you doing here?" said Paige. And then she remembered. "Oh! This is the club we were supposed to meet at? I'd totally forgotten!"

"You'd forgotten? But you're here," Henry said.

"Yes, I am," Paige said. She stood up. "Are you guys okay if I –"

"Go!" Phoebe said, playfully pushing her in Henry's direction. "We'll see you later or tomorrow. Go have fun."

Paige went red.

"Can I buy you something to drink?" Henry asked as he and Paige walked towards the bar.

"I can't believe she'd forget about going to see Henry after all the notes I left to remind her not to chicken out," Phoebe said, laughing.

Piper repeated her earlier question to Phoebe. "Did you ever hear Prue mention the Soul Collector, Phoebe?"

Phoebe turned to Piper, becoming serious again. "Not by name, no. Maybe she researched the woman after…"

"After? After what? When did the two of you discuss her?" Piper asked.

"Do you remember when you got annoyed at us when you found out that we didn't tell you about that Alcatraz ghost that Andy helped us vanquish?" Phoebe asked.

"I vaguely remember," Piper said.

"Well, I saw some woman help the ghost escape the prison – but she looked nothing like my fake assistant – unless she glamours?" Phoebe began.

"Focus, Phoebe. No tangents," Piper said. "When did Prue see her?"

"I think Prue saw the same woman when reciting the spell to vanquish the ghost. We briefly discussed it after that, but I never knew that she had found out that the woman was a Soul Collector," Phoebe explained.

"The Soul Collector?" Leo interjected. "Was it Charon, by any chance?"

"I don't know," Piper said. "Cole said there are a few Soul Collectors in existence. Why?"

"From what I've heard, there is only one Soul Collector left. And it's her," Leo asked. "And if she's after you three, she doesn't just want the Charmed Ones dead."

"She wants our souls," Phoebe said grimly.

...

Paige and Henry sat by the bar. Each of them had a glass of water in front of them that they were paying no attention to.

"I thought you said you were meeting up with some friends here," Paige said.

"I am. They're running late," Henry said. "Not that I care. Your company is enough."

"Ouch, Henry. I didn't think you were the sort for cheesy lines like that," Paige said, good-humouredly.

"I'm not, normally. I'm just not sure…" Henry paused. "We're not work colleagues anymore, and –"

"I like you too," Paige said, smiling.

Henry smiled back. "This song's good. I'm not one for dancing, but do you want to –?"

Paige took Henry's hand and dragged him onto the dance floor.

...

Back at the table where Piper, Phoebe and Leo sat, the atmosphere was still serious.

"I guess we should get back to the house and start researching about Charon then," Phoebe said.

"I think we can rest for just one night before we start," Piper said. "And on that note, I think it's about time we head home. I am exhausted."

"Is Cole still at the manor?" Leo wondered.

Piper shook her head. "He would have been sent back to limbo the moment Phoebe came back to our plane."

"And Phoebe's astral self?" Leo asked.

"My premonition ended before Cole was sent back, so you won't find astral me wandering around the manor when we get back," Phoebe said.

Piper stood up. "Let's go then –" Piper stopped, realising something. "Leo, did you come in my car?"

Leo nodded.

"Good, because the rest of us got here by magical means and I didn't want to break Paige away from Henry just to make her orb us home," Piper said.

"Should we let Paige know that we're off home?" Leo asked.

Piper, Phoebe and Leo spotted Paige and Henry from afar on the dance floor. The two had slowed to a stop, their eyes on one another. And Henry lent in for a kiss, which Paige happily reciprocated.

"No, we won't bother her. I don't think she even remembers we're here," Phoebe said gleefully.