Andy slammed his car door closed and ran from the driveway into the backyard. "Andrew! Behave out there and be careful!"

"I will, Mommy!" Andy yelled, rolling his eyes. His mother was always telling him to behave and be careful. He always was, but she still said it to him all the time.

He ran to the treehouse and climbed the ladder, mumbling to himself about a cowboy game he was about to play. He liked to pretend that his treehouse was the second floor of a western saloon, right across from the bank, and that he would catch the robbers after seeing them from the high window. When he got inside, he looked around and gasped, completely surprised to see Prue and Piper sitting cuddled in the far corner. Both of them were sound asleep.

He edged closer to them, unsure if he should wake them or not. Reaching his hand out, he tapped Prue's shoulder gently. She started and opened her eyes slowly. "Andy?" she whispered, a little disoriented. It was a moment before she remembered that she was in the treehouse in Andy's yard.

"Hey. What are you doing up here?"

She rubbed her eyes and stretched, trying not to move too much. Piper was still fast asleep with her head on Prue's shoulder and she didn't want to wake her. She had no idea how to explain to Andy why she was there, so she decided to avoid the question. "Is my grandmother home yet?"

"I don't think so," Andy whispered. "I didn't see the car in the driveway when I came home. Why are you guys up here? Are you and Piper all right?"

She hadn't intended on telling Andy anything, but the weeks of keeping everything to herself and being strong for Piper had worn her down. She started crying as she blurted out what was going on, though she was still in control enough to keep the supernatural stuff out of it. "Mommy's gone crazy! She started yelling at us, then she hit us, and just now, she sent Piper to her room for spilling a glass of milk when Mommy was the one who spilled it. But the thing is, she was so rough with her. She was squeezing her arms and twisting them backwards . . ." She trailed off as she glanced down at Piper. Dark bruises were starting to appear on her arms where her mother had been holding her. "I was so scared and I knew she'd find us if we stayed in the house, so I came over here with her, but you weren't home. I didn't know where else to go, so I came up here."

Andy crawled next to Prue and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's okay, don't cry. We'll tell my mom. She'll know what to do--"

"No, don't tell your mom," Prue said, swallowing back some tears. She took a deep breath to calm herself down before continuing. "Grams knows what going on. All we have to do is wait for her to come home and everything will be fine again."

Andy sighed. He didn't think he'd ever be able to figure Prue out. She seemed truly scared of her mother and petrified to go back home without her grandmother, but she was refusing to let him help her. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Can you watch for Grams for me? I would, but I don't want to wake Piper up."

"Sure," Andy smiled. He stood up, headed towards the small window, and peeked out at the Halliwells' driveway. As soon as he did, he saw their car pull in and their grandmother start to get out. "Prue, your grandmother's home!"

Prue sighed with relief and shrugged her shoulder a little to rouse her sister. "Piper, wake up. Grams is home, so we can go back home now!"

Piper moaned, keeping her eyes closed. "I don't want to go back home, Prue," she mumbled.

"I know, honey, but Grams is home now. Remember I told you Grams'll fix everything?"

"Oh yeah!" Piper exclaimed. She opened her eyes, crawled across the treehouse, and started down the ladder. "Come on, Prue!"

Prue giggled and started to follow her sister, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She whirled around and faced Andy. "What?"

"Are you sure you guys are going to be okay?" he asked, true concern in his voice.

She smiled. "We'll be fine. Mommy's fine when Grams is home. Don't worry about us."

Andy nodded and watched Prue and Piper run back to their house. He sighed heavily. There was something strange about those two, but rather than making him not like them, it endeared them to him. And because they meant so much to him, he couldn't help but worry about them.

**********

"Oh, girls, where have you been?" Patty asked frantically as the girls walked into the house with Penny. "I've been looking all over for you! I was worried sick."

Piper gripped Prue's hand for reassurance as she answered. "We were in Andy's--"

"--backyard," Prue finished, elbowing Piper in the ribs to shut her up. Even though her mom seemed fine now, she wanted to keep the treehouse a secret. It was a perfect spot for her and Piper to hide if the need ever arose again. "We went to Andy's yard to play."

Penny watched her granddaughters talk to their mother. They hadn't had time to tell her exactly what had happened while she was gone, but she could tell just by their actions that is had to have been pretty bad. "Patty, can I talk to you, please?"

Patty furrowed her brow, confused at the tone of her mother's voice. "Sure," she answered with a shrug.

"Girls, go on in the playroom. I just need to talk to your mom for a minute." Prue nodded, took Piper's hand, and led her to the playroom. Once the girls were out of earshot, Penny turned to her daughter. It seemed as though it was Patty and not whatever force was taking her over. The terrified look in her eyes pained Penny. "Something's going on and I think I may have figured it out. I need you to come to the attic with me to check something in the Book of Shadows."

"Why do you need me?" Patty asked snippily.

Penny looked into her daughter's eyes once again. Instead of her brown eyes swimming with fear and pain, they were cold and calculating and there was a strange look on her face. She gripped Patty's shoulders tightly. "Patty, I need you to fight this."

Patty's eyes immediately filled with tears and the cruel look on her face disappeared. "Oh, Mom, she's getting so strong! It's getting harder and harder to fight her."

"It's a her?" she asked. Patty nodded. "How can you be sure?"

"I just am," Patty shrugged. "She wants to hurt the girls and she uses me to do it."

"Why does she want to hurt the girls?"

Patty shrugged again, shaking her head. "Nothing makes sense, Mom, but her influence over me is getting stronger each day and when she takes over, she controls me longer and longer."

Penny wrapped her arm around her daughter's waist and started leading her upstairs. "What happened this afternoon? The girls are pretty scared."

"I can't remember much about it. I know I was really rough with Piper, shaking her and stuff like that, but I don't remember much else. Oh, God, I bet they hate me!"

"They don't hate you," Penny assured her. "I think they know on some level that it's not really you."

Patty sighed. "I hope so. Anyway, you said you might have figured something out?"

"Yeah, I think I have," she said. "And if it's what I think it is, this is going to get worse before it gets better."