Demons lined the way as Phoebe Halliwell, gowned in black and led by the arm by her husband Cole, the new Source, strode purposefully toward the table on which the Grimoire, the evil Book of Shadows, rested on. They paused as the Seer stepped forward and anointed the palm of Cole's left hand with the proper oils. Cole reached out and placed his hand on the book's cover. Electricity danced from his fingers as Cole's eyes became black and his body burst into flames, harming neither his body nor his clothes.

The assembled demons instantly lowered themselves to one knee. "All hail the Source of all Evil!" they intoned. "All hail his Queen!"

Phoebe, for the first time that night, smiled.

(The next morning)

Paige was the first one down the stairs of the Halliwell Manor. She bore the Book of Shadows under one arm. She walked into the kitchen and stopped, surprised.

Piper was bustling around the kitchen counters, but instead of the meals she normally made in the kitchen, she was instead working on magical potions. Paige cleared her throat. "Um, Piper?" the youngest Charmed One asked. "What are you doing?"

"I'm making potions," Piper said, not stopping as she poured a hot liquid into a glass bottle. "We know that the Source was crowned last night, and we know that his Queen knows where we live. I'm getting us ready so we can defend ourselves against her."

"Piper, we're talking about Phoebe," Paige said, shocked. "There has to be a way to make her realize that she's still good." She set the book down on the kitchen table, sat down, and flipped it open to the page on the Source. "There must be something in here."

"Phoebe is dead to us," Piper whispered, so low that Paige didn't hear it. Then, louder, she said, "we don't know how long it will take before they come after us. Now that…" she paused momentarily "…has gone over to the side of evil, there is no Power of Three."

Reaching out to grab another glass bottle, she accidentally grabbed a pot bubbling on the stove. She yelled in surprise and jerked her hand back. Her powers, unleashed, blew up a cabinet. Paige prudently withdrew to the attic at that point.

She arrived in the attic just as Leo was orbing in. "How is she?" he asked. Paige knew he had not slept last night, instead choosing to watch over his wife.

Paige frowned. "She's angry – more with herself, I think. She hasn't stopped blaming it on herself since she went to bed last night. She's downstairs making potions, and she's convinced that Phoebe's going to blast her way into the house any second now."

Leo sighed. "This can't be happening, Paige. Phoebe's evil, and Piper's throwing herself into depression. I can't heal Piper's depression, and I can't protect the Queen of all Evil. I don't know what to do."

Paige set the Book of Shadows on its regular pedestal and flipped it open. "I think I do," she said. She closed her eyes and began reading the spell.

"Hear my words, hear my cry. Spirits from the Other Side. Come to me, I summon thee, cross now the Great Divide."

White light shimmered in front of her, taking the shape of three distinct forms. The shape in the center was Patty Halliwell, the mother Piper, Phoebe and Paige. To her left was their grandmother. And to her right was Paige's eldest sister, the former Charmed One, Prue. Each of them looked sad.

Paige looked at them. "You know what happened?"

Grams nodded. "We saw when she and Cole left the Towers with the Grimoire last night," she said sadly.

Paige walked over to the ghostly form of Prue, the woman she had never known when she was alive. "I'm so sorry," she said. She raised her arms, about to hug her, but stopped, realizing that as a ghost Prue was insubstantial.

"We need to find a way to bring Phoebe back," Paige continued, looking at the three ghosts and Leo. "There must be some way – magical or otherwise."

"There isn't, Paige," Patty said. "One of the greatest rules of all is that we can't use spells to manipulate others' minds. I'm sure we would all love to use a spell to bring Phoebe back, but it cannot be done. It will not work, and there might be consequences on you also."

"It was Phoebe's choice," Prue added. "She's stubborn to no end, and she loves Cole to distraction. It's going to be almost impossible to get her to change her mind about him."

"Is there any information in the book about the Queen?" Paige asked.

Grams and Prue both raised their arms, and the pages of the book whipped wildly as they flipped open to a page in the demon chapter.

Paige circled to the book and began reading. " 'The Queen is the bride of the Source'," she read. " 'She only comes into her own when she becomes impregnated with the offspring of the Source.'" She looked up. "So that means that the baby is causing her to be evil?" she asked.

Grams nodded. "The baby's sole purpose is to link Cole and Phoebe by a merger of blood. His essence is intruding itself on her."

Paige skimmed over the rest of the page. "It only tells us what we already know," she complained. "And there's a vanquishing spell. And we are NOT vanquishing her."

The three ghosts suddenly looked up, hearing something Paige could not. "They're calling us back," Prue said. "We'll keep in touch." The three ghosts disappeared as quickly as they had been summoned.

"I'll check with the Elder's," Leo said. "Maybe they know something about this that we don't." He shimmered as he orbed out of the attic.

"Well," a voice said, and Paige spun around to see Phoebe, both hands burning with demonic fire. She was smirking. "Wasn't that an interesting chat?"