"Leo!" Aria exclaimed. "What are you doing here? How did you even know where I was?" She said, hiding slightly behind the door in hope that he wouldn't see how little she was wearing.

"I sensed you and came to see if you were alright. I've just had to drop your mom off at Phoebe's and she seemed pretty upset."

"I'm fine. What happened to her?"

"Aria, who is it?" Ezra called out, wondering what was taking so long. He pulled on a pair of pants and walked to the front door.

"He's a friend of my mom's." She told Ezra, before turning back to Leo. "What happened?" She repeated.

"I don't know, she just called me from her car and I took her straight to Phoebe's."

"Look, Leo, you really need to go." Aria panicked, not wanting Leo to be around Ezra any more than necessary. She was already sure he'd tell her mom unless she found a way to talk to him about it first. Besides, he'd told her last week that anything between a Whitelighter and their charge was confidential, right? So he wouldn't tell her mom, would he? "I'll call mom and see if she's ok." She said, trying to usher him out the door.

Leo gave her a look that said clearly that he knew she was hiding something. The guy she was with seemed a fair few years older than her, he thought, and he was sure he'd seen him when he visited Ella at work last week to let her know how Paige was progressing with her powers. "Excuse me, could you give us a moment?" He asked Ezra as he took a step outside the apartment. "We need to talk." He whispered to Aria once Ezra had turned his back.

"Later." Aria promised. There was no way she was having this conversation now, in front of Ezra.

"Normally I wouldn't interfere with what a charge gets up to in their free time but you know me and your mom have a history and I can't keep things from her about you."

"Don't tell mom yet. Just give us some time, please?" Aria pleaded.

"Ok but I still want to talk to you about this." Leo warned, feeling more protective over the young girl than most of his other charges. He knew he shouldn't but he couldn't seem to help himself. She was Piper's daughter. There was no way he couldn't feel differently before her when he still had such strong feelings for her mother and such love for their family.

He left without another word, taking a couple of steps away from the door so that he was sure he was out of Ezra's sight and orbing away.

"So who exactly was that?" Ezra asked once Aria has closed the door.

"It's complicated." Aria replied. "What if he tells my mom about us?"

"Do you think he will?"

"I don't know." She said. "He shouldn't say anything until after I've spoken to him about it, I just don't know if I can stop him."

"Well that's tomorrow's problem then." Ezra decided. "Now shall we put another film on?"

"I should probably call mom and make sure she's alright. My aunt must've told her about dad's affair." Ezra nodded and went back to his bedroom, giving Aria some privacy. Aria dialled her mom's number and waiting until it went to voicemail. Figuring she probably wasn't picking up because she was with Phoebe, Aria hung up the phone. She didn't want to accidently say anything on a voicemail message about her dad in case Prue hadn't told her.

"I have a job for you." The man in the black cloak snarled."I want you to kill the Charmed ones."

"The Charmed ones?" The other demon asked. "They don't exist anymore. Not after I killed the oldest witch."

"It appears they've been... reconstituted."

"How?"

"There was another sister, one not even the Elders knew about. I want you to kill her before she gets too powerful and then go after her sisters. The Charmed ones must be destroyed!" The cloaked man yelled.

Phoebe leaned back from hugging her sister and gasped, her face pale as she looked close to tears.

"What is it? What did you see?" Ella asked.

"Shax."

"Shax?"

"The Source has sent him after Paige. He knows the power of three is back."

"We need to get her and make sure she's safe." Ella decided, trying to keep a brave face despite the fact that the demon that killed her older sister was after them. If she let herself feel anything but hatred right now she knew she'd break down and wouldn't be able to vanquish him.

"I'll ask Leo to bring her here." Phoebe agreed. "That way when he comes we've got the power of three on our side. Hopefully we'll have a chance to say the spell and vanquish him for good this time."

"I can't stay away from the kids until he comes." Ella protested.

"But, honey, you don't want to put them in danger by leading him to the house. Plus it will give you a couple of days before you have to see Byron again."

At the mention of Byron's name, Ella felt herself about to break down again. How had such a lovely afternoon seeing her sister again turned so sour? Just thinking of him made her heart feel like it was being ripped to pieces over and over again.

"I can't stay here now. I need to get back, if not just to confront Byron about what he did. I feel like all I was doing was bottling it up, even when I was talking to him."

"And now you feel like you just want to go and yell at him and blow him up." Phoebe finished for her.

"Don't tempt me." Ella replied. "I need to try and figure out where we stand for Aria and Mike's sake."

"What about Shax?"

"As long as Paige stays with you there's a chance of wounding him with the spell. Then you can orb to me and we'll go from there. Right now I just can't be away from home, especially with the Source sending out assassins again. What if he sends someone to attack my kids while I'm here with you and Paige?"

"I suppose you're right. Unless we come and stay with you? Your house is plenty big enough and we'll have the additional power of the Nexus."

"The Nexus?" Ella asked.

"You didn't know? Your house is built on another Nexus. Come and look." Phoebe instructed, drawing up a map of Rosewood on her computer. She showed Ella the five points of the pentagram: water, fire, wood, earth and metal, all equidistant from her house. "I assumed that's why you chose the house." She commented.

"No, I had no idea we were living on top of a Nexus."

"Well, I guess everything happens for a reason. Maybe this is it. Maybe we need the Nexus now we have to defeat the Source and without the manor, this must be the universe's way of giving us the power we need."

"Ah crap." Ella commented. She didn't have time to voice her annoyance of how magic always seemed to find her, despite her wishes for a normal life, when her cell phone rang. She fished it out of her bag and noticed a missed call from Aria and a message from 'Unknown'. Deciding she'd call Aria later, if it was desperate Leo would've let them know, she opened the message.

More power? I think your sisters should come and live with you for a while if you want your daughter to reach her senior year. Kisses. –A

Ella let out a gasp as she read the text. 'A' was sending death threats now? There was no way she'd risk Aria's life for the sake of keeping her secret from Byron and Mike. She knew, if it came to it, they'd be able to protect everyone from Shax with four Warren witches in the house. Trying desperately to school her features so that Phoebe wouldn't ask about the message, Ella choked back the sob of fear that was brewing inside her.

Unfortunately for her, Phoebe had grown up with her and could tell in an instant that something was worrying her. Not that it was a surprise that her older sister was worried about something, but Phoebe could tell that this was something more.

"Piper, what is it? Let me see." She said, gesturing towards her cell phone.

Ella shook her head, letting the tears fall from her eyes. "I can't." She whispered.

"Don't make me cast a truth spell on you, missy." She tried to joke, hoping to at least get a laugh out of her sister and cheer her up a bit. When she received no reaction, Phoebe's expression grew serious. Something must be really bad if she didn't get a smile or even a reprimand from her sister for her comment. "Come on, honey, let me help you."

Reluctantly, Ella handed her phone over. Phoebe gasped as she read the message. "Who would say something like that? Do you know who it's from?" Ella shook her head.

"Aria and her friends have been getting messages too. Whoever it is knows secrets about us we don't want getting out and now they're threatening to kill my daughter. I can't... I just can't..." She cried.

"I know, sweetie."Phoebe said, pulling her sister into another hug.

"You can't tell anyone. I don't know what will happen now I've told you but I can't risk anyone else knowing."

"Of course not. I'll call Paige and ask her to orb over here and take us all back to your place. We don't want to give this 'A' any more reason to hurt you and Aria."

Ella nodded silently in agreement and Phoebe went in to the next room to phone Paige. Just then, Ella received another text.

I thought two could keep a secret if one of them was Charmed. I guess not. Now I'll tell you this. You ex-husband and your daughter now have another secret. I think you're going to want to find this one out soon, don't you? – A

What are Aria and Leo hiding? Ella asked herself, before quickly shaking herself out of it. She wouldn't go down that road. She wasn't rising to the bait this time. 'A' wanted a reaction and they wanted to tear her family apart but she wasn't going to let that happen. She'd fought demons and warlocks for half of her life, she could handle a couple of texts. Deciding to put her phone away and push it out of her mind before Phoebe finished talking to Paige, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down. It was starting to work until she heard the smoke alarm go off. Panicking, she put up her hands and managed to smash her glass, spilling red wine onto Phoebe's clean cream carpet.

"Shit!" Phoebe yelled from her bedroom. "I forgot about dinner." She said, running to the kitchen and pulling out something that looked like it was once a pizza but now seemed to have been cremated. While Phoebe put the burnt pizza in the trash, Ella froze the smoke alarm and set about opening up the windows without the constant ringing in her ears.

Phoebe walked back into the living room while Ella was opening the last of the windows. "I'm sorry about your carpet." She told her as they sat back on the couch, being careful of the broken glass surrounding the wine stain. "I'll pay for it to be cleaned." She offered.

"Don't worry about it. Do you really think me of all people could keep this carpet so clean without a little help?" Phoebe asked. "Let the object of objection become but a dream as I cause the seen to be unseen." She recited and instantly the stain and the smashed glass were gone.

"Personal gain." Ella commented.

"One little spell, I think they owe us that much. Besides, I've never had a problem with it before. Now I need to pack some stuff to take to yours." She said. "Will you be ok?"

"I'll be fine, I should probably call Aria back and let Byron know you guys are staying."

"Oh yeah, Byron." Phoebe said, as though the name disgusted her. "What are you going to do about him?"

"We'll talk once this has calmed down. He doesn't need to know that I know yet. Besides, I want to see if he's still seeing her before I decide where we'll go from here." She said rationally, although she wasn't sure how long she'd stay that way.

"Ok, well I'll just be in the next room." Phoebe said.

"I'm not a child, Phoebe. I'll be ok. Just be quick so you're ready when Paige gets here."

With that, Phoebe made her way to her room to pack some clothes and other essentials. She wasn't sure how long they'd be staying together but knew it would be at least until Shax attacked, which could be the next day, next week, or next month for all she knew.

Meanwhile, Ella was waiting for Aria to pick up her cell phone.

"Hi mom, is everything ok?" She asked.

"Define 'ok'." Ella muttered. "Prue told me what you told her this afternoon." She said.

"I'm so sorry, mom. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to hurt you and dad told me to keep it a secret but then 'A'..."

"Aria, sweetie, I'm not mad at you. I'm hurt and want to turn your father into a toad but I don't blame you or Prue for any of this. I actually wanted to tell you about something else, are you alone?"

"No, I'm with Emily." She lied.

"Emily? I thought Prue said you were with Hanna."

"Emily's here too." Aria said, thinking on the spot. She hoped that her mom couldn't tell she was lying like she usually could.

"Ok well I need you to come home soon. Something happened and your aunts are staying with us for a while."

"What happened? Is everyone ok?"

"We're fine. I'll explain when we get home."

"Ok. Bye mom." Aria said, before hanging up. She turned to Ezra. "I have to go, I'm sorry."

"It's ok, it sounded important." He replied, understandingly. Aria panicked for a moment, realising that Ezra had been able to hear what her mom has said. She thought back, trying to think of anything that could expose them but couldn't think of anything explicit.

"Yeah, I don't want my mom turning me into a toad as well." She joked, laughing off the only witch-related thing in the conversation. "Bye." She said, giving Ezra a kiss and letting herself out.