ELEVEN

"Well," said Leo when they had all returned to the living room, "that explains why the athame doesn't affect you. It's enchanted to steal a mortal's soul. You three are witches. You aren't considered mortal. So it wouldn't have any affect against you."

They were all startled as the athame suddenly flew across the room and embedded itself in the far wall. Prue stood in the entryway fuming. She was so angry she was shaking. Piper and Phoebe glanced at each other and then slowly made their way over to her.

"Prue, honey," said Piper. "Are you okay?"

"He's a liar," said Prue. "He's nothing but a liar. Leo, I want you to find that warlock. Then I want you to take me to him. I'm going to vanquish his sorry butt and I'm going to take my time doing it. He's going to be very, very sorry he ever came here."

"Prue," said Phoebe, "take it easy. I know how you feel. I don't like it any more than you do. Neither does Piper. And I'm sure Leo doesn't, either. But we need to take this one step at a time. Just calm down."

"Calm down?" Prue shot at her sister. "Calm down? He said Grams was a warlock. That's a damn lie. Grams was no warlock. I knew her better than any of you, even better than Leo. There is no way she could have turned. That warlock lied and I'm going to make him pay for it."

"Prue," said Leo calmly, "Phoebe and Piper are right. You need to calm down. We have to sort this out."

"Like hell I'll calm down," said Prue. "I want you to find that warlock now."

"No," said Leo very deliberately. "Prue, if you're right, then you have every right to vanquish him. But not like this. Not when you're so angry. I've seen this happen before. You strike out at someone out of anger. But that doesn't make you feel better. So you find someone else to punish. All the while your anger continues to grow and fester inside you.

"It doesn't take long before that anger turns to hatred. It continues to grow. And the more people you vanquish, the more your hatred grows. Pretty soon you're hatred is so large it consumes everything inside you. All you'll be concerned with is making someone pay for what they did. When that happens you'll no longer be a witch. The hatred will turn to evil, as you believe that you're justified no matter what you do.

"No, Prue, I won't find that warlock for you. I won't let you loose yourself like this. Not before we have a chance to learn the truth. Calm down and give us a chance to sort this out and find the truth. Then, when you're interested in justice and not vengeance, I'll help you find the warlock if you want."

Prue looked at Leo. Part of her seethed with anger at what the warlock had said. That part refused to hear her Whitelighter. But part of her heard what Leo was saying. She looked at Piper and Phoebe and saw the looks of pain on their faces. They were worried about their sister. They had never seen her this angry, even when Andy had died fighting Rodriquez. Prue closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She held it for a moment and then let it out. Then she looked at Phoebe and managed a weak smile.

"Since when did you become so level-headed?" she asked.

Piper and Phoebe sighed at the same time. They both hugged Prue thankful that she was once again thinking like the older sister they had always known.

"Since it looked like you were ready to rip that warlock apart with your bare hands," said Phoebe. "I was really worried there for a second. You've been mad at me before for some of the stupid things I've done but that was nothing compared to what I just witnessed."

"She's right," said Piper. "We know how much Grams meant to you especially and how much it must have affected you what Stuart said. But, Prue, I've never seen a look of pure hatred in your eyes like I saw just a moment ago."

"Well," said Prue, "I haven't changed my mind. I still think Stuart lied to us and I plan to make him pay for that. But Leo is right. If I went after him now it would be revenge, pure and simple. Grams taught us better than that. I don't like it but I guess you're all right. We have to sort this thing out before we do anything. Thanks, Leo. For being there for me."

"That's my job," said Leo, smiling. "I am your Whitelighter. Part of my duties are to try and keep you from doing something stupid."

"Okay," said Prue. "We know Stuart lied to us. Grams was not a warlock. There's no way that happened. So we have to figure out why he lied to us."

"He describe Grams perfectly," said Piper. "Right down to the triquetra. I remember she used to wear a necklace like the one he described. But if he lied about that then he lied about why he was at the manor. So what was he looking for in the attic?"

"Well, he wasn't after the Book of Shadows," said Phoebe. "It was sitting on its pedestal in plain sight and he never even glanced at it."

"He couldn't have touched it anyway," said Leo. "Remember, the book protects itself from evil."

"Right," said Prue, walking over and pulling the athame from the wall. "Well, I suppose we can send this to Jessica. We now know what it does. She said she could remove the enchantment. If it's enchanted to steal mortals' souls then it's more dangerous than ever. Every mortal is in danger from it."

"I'll take it to Jessica in a bit," said Leo taking the athame.

"Why don't we just get rid of it?" Phoebe asked. "Aren't we supposed to be the most powerful witches in the world?"

"Yes," said Leo. "But do you have any idea how to remove an enchantment from an item?"

"Well, no," said Phoebe. "But there must be something in the Book of Shadows for that. Shouldn't there?"

"Maybe," said Leo. "But if Jessica belonged to your grandmothers' coven, then she's had a lot of experience in things like this. As powerful as you are you still have a great deal to learn. And there's no guarantee there's a way in the book to remove an enchantment or that you'll be able to do it properly. Those kinds of rituals can be very intricate. It's probably best if we just let her take care of it."

"Okay," said Phoebe. "I guess you're right."

"Now," said Piper, "we still have a lot of unanswered questions. Assuming he did lie to us, what was the warlock doing in the attic? And who was this female warlock that supposedly hired him to kill mortals?"

"You believe he was telling the truth about that?" Prue asked.

"It makes sense," said Piper. "He admitted to killing those people. He even seemed to be proud of it. It doesn't make sense that he would lie about why he was doing it. So I'm thinking someone did hire him and they probably impersonated Grams so he wouldn't find out who it really was. Remember, he told us this female warlock didn't want the murders traced back to her. The best way to prevent that is to make the person you hire believe you are really someone else. That way if they come looking for you they're actually looking for the wrong person."

"That's pretty smart," said Prue. "Except we have no way to find out who hired him and why."

"Maybe we do," said Leo. "There might be someone who can give us some answers.

"Who?" Prue asked.

"George," said Leo, "her Whitelighter. He would have known her even better than Prue did. And he would know of any supernatural events that you guys wouldn't have known about. You didn't know she was a witch, after all."

"Okay, that makes sense to me," said Prue. "Can you go talk to him for us? Find out if there's anything he knows that might help us?"

"I can do better than that," said Leo smiling.

Leo closed his eyes for several moments. He seemed to be thinking very deeply. Suddenly a figure orbed into the attic. When the orb was complete, a man old enough to be the girls' grandfather stood three. He was balding and was dressed in a white-colored robe. He smiled at them.

"Hello, Leo," said the man.

"Hello, George," said Leo. "I'm glad you could come. This is Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, the Charmed Ones. This is George Pouring. Your grandmothers' Whitelighter."

"Hello," said George, smiling at the girls.