A/N: First and foremost, I want to apologize for the insanely absurd amount of time that it took me to get this chapter out. Writer's block is absolutely the worst thing EVER, and when that's combined with an extremely stressful Summer Semester, this kinda stuff occurs. Thankfully, I am over one of those humps and I present to you Ch. 6 of Under Her Spell. I hope you enjoy this latest installment, and please know that I will not keep you waiting an insane amount of time for Ch. 7; as a matter of fact, if you could please take the time to vote on the poll on my page, Ch. 7 will come along much more smoothly, so VOTE! Thank you to all the readers, new and old, who have either reviewed, put me/the story on their favorite list, on their alert list or whatever. You are greatly and truly appreciated.

Disclaimer: As always, all of the characters of the Twilight Saga are owned exclusively by S. Meyer and her publishing company. I only own the original characters and the plot.

With that said, on with the show!

Chapter 6

EVIE'S POV

"… I need to go HOME!"

As soon as the last word left my mouth, the blinding light and tiny ropes that had transported me to the beach were back and once again, I was suspended in midair. However, when the ropes snapped this time, I landed (albeit a little bit shakily) on my feet.

"I was beginning to wonder when you'd get back," I heard my mom say as I shook my head with my eyes closed, trying to regain my bearings. I felt Mom put a hand on my shoulder and guide me a few paces before pushing me down into what I assumed was a chair. My mind suddenly went into overdrive. How long have I been gone? Did Mom really just see me pop back in? Why is she so calm? And more importantly, what the hell is going on?

"Evie…Evie, baby, calm down, everything's okay." Apparently, I had begun hyperventilating and Mom was now rubbing circles on my back trying to get me to calm down. Rubbing my eyes, I was finally able to clear my vision and see that I was in the kitchen, sitting at my small kitchen table. "The first time's always a bit of a doozy. You'll get used to it," she continued. That got my attention.

Mom made her way to the chair next to mine and sat down. "What do you mean? What exactly am I supposed to get used to? What the hell is wrong with me?" I said, the questions coming out a lot faster than I'd intended.

"Evie, nothing's wrong with you…" she started, but stopped when she got a look at my arm. "Except for that. What happened to your arm?"

I looked down at my arm and was almost surprised to see the cut there. In all the confusion, I'd completely forgotten that I'd even gotten it, and I was relieved to see that it hadn't bled all that much; just a small line of blood that would probably scab up soon enough.

"I got cut by a shell. But don't change the subject. What the heck is going on?" Mom waved a hand dismissively.

"A shell? I'm assuming you went to a beach then. Although, it seemed you were heading for Bella with that scream you let out—"

Something inside me snapped just then. I was tired…tired of the mystery, the dismissals, the secrets, all of it.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" I shouted, standing up from my chair and grabbing my mother by the shoulders. "Would you stop?"

My mother gave me a surprised look and her eyes blazed. It seemed as though she was fighting against herself to hold back from putting me in my place for acting that way toward her, and although I knew subconsciously that I should be very, very afraid and that I should probably try to get a hold of myself, I didn't care.

"Stop skirting around the damn issue, Mom, and just tell me! What. The hell. Is wrong. With me?"

The fire in my mother's eyes grew. "Step back, Evie, and calm down. I'll explain everything but if you don't step back right now, I might be forced to kick your ass first," she said in deadly calm voice. I did as she requested and went back to my chair, forcing myself to sit down so that Mom wouldn't kill me right then and there.

"Much better," she said, her voice never betraying that deadly calm. "Now, as I've been trying to tell you, there is absolutely nothing wrong with you. It's perfectly normal— " She paused as I raised my eyebrow. "Well, normal for us, anyway. In fact, for quite a while I thought that you were going to end up like Charlie and that would not be normal," she said with a chuckle, obviously trying to lighten the tension. My confused and serious expression must've reminded her of the gravity of the situation because she immediately got back to business.

"Thankfully, that isn't the case and your power is finally coming in. And judging from the little trip you took today, I'd say you take after me…"

I couldn't help it; I had to cut her off. "Wait, my power? I take after you? And what's not normal about Charlie?" For once in the entire time that my mother and I had been discussing this, she didn't look exasperated or like she wanted to kill me. As a matter of fact, she looked almost giddy. Giddy and relieved. She took a breath.

"Yes, Evie," she said patiently, sitting down in the chair directly across from me. "You have a power…a power that is almost identical to mine. Over time, your power will grow and change and you might even get another one." My mind raced back to the accurate déjà vu. We might already be over that bridge, I thought as my mother grabbed my hand.

"Evie," she said, her eyes flickering over my face, an unspoken question in them. "You're a witch."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence and I searched my mom's face, hoping that this was all just some crazy dream and that soon, I would find her hovering over my head telling me not to waste the day. When that didn't happen, I did the only thing I could do: I laughed.

"You—you can't be serious!" I exclaimed, struggling to breathe as my laughter overtook me. "There's no such thing as…" I paused as my laughter turned rough and raspy from lack of oxygen, only continuing when I'd managed to suck in enough air for the pain in my sides to decrease just a bit. "…Witches. Ha, mom, you need to get real. Witches," I said again, not wanting to believe that I'd just been taken by my mom. When she didn't join in my laughter several minutes later, the impact of her words hit me full force and I sobered up. "You can't be serious," I whispered, my jaw dropping to the floor.

Mom looked at me with a somewhat bored—no, irritated and bored—expression and she leaned forward. "I have never been more serious about anything in my life. Evie, think of what happened today; it's the only logical explanation," she said, her voice low.

"Logical? There's nothing logical about this, Mom. There's no such thing as witches! You seriously expect me to believe that I have some sort of weird power that makes me poof from here to Washington and back again? This is all just a dream. A really weird, really bad dream!"

"I felt that way too when I found out. But the reality is, you've always been around magic, ever since the beginning."

"Bullshit," I scoffed, a flurry of emotions coursing through me. "I think I would've noticed if I'd been around magic my whole life. I mean, come on; as we've seen today, it's not that freakin' easy to hide."

"You're right; it's not easy at all, but it's done, not just to protect ourselves, but to protect the people around us. If they knew, it could unleash worldwide panic and place them in insurmountable amounts of danger." Apparently, I still had a look of utter disbelief on my face because she continued on, an almost smug tone taking over her words. "Just because you never knew about it doesn't mean you weren't around it. I'm sure if you think about it, you'll see."

I wracked my brain for a few minutes and when I couldn't think of anything, I let her know as much by letting out a growl of immense frustration. A smirk made its way to my mother's face and as I glared at her, she simply let out a laugh.

"I can't believe you don't remember," she said. My face must've been a mask of confusion because her face softened. "Do you remember the soccer games from when you were younger?" she asked, reaching across the table and cupping my cheek affectionately for a minute. I nodded and she let out a smile. "Didn't you find it odd that sometimes, I wasn't there, and then, the next second, I was there, with Grandma by my side? Or how Grandma always knew when you were about to get into trouble?"

My eyes widened as tiny pieces of my childhood that I had discarded into the deep recesses of my mind suddenly blew back out and invaded my conscious mind, falling into place like a completed puzzle. Suddenly, all times that my grandmother had conveniently had a first aid kit right at her side when I came in from the backyard with an injury, or the countless times that she'd caught me sneaking out (or seemed to always foil my plans for sneaking out by loading me down with errands) made sense. So did my mother's utter nonchalance when it came to running late for everything. If you could teleport everywhere, why worry about being late?

"So Grandma could see the future?" I asked, just to be sure I was on the right track.

My mother's eyes sparkled as she nodded. "You see? Magic's always been around you…you just never noticed it until now." As my mother's face broke out in a smile, I couldn't help but grimace. She seemed so happy about this. Shouldn't I have been happy about this too? I mean, it's not every day that you get told that you have magic powers, but somehow, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was more of a curse than it was a blessing.

Mom must've noticed my grimace because the happiness in her eyes dimmed a bit. "I know this is a lot to take in, sweetie. But I promise, the more you learn about magic and your power and how to control it, the more you'll be able to appreciate your gift."

"It's not that I don't appreciate it, Mom. It's just…after all that happened today, I'm not so sure I'm the one to handle this."

Mom looked at me skeptically. "Of course you can, Evie. That trip you took…I know it was scary and confusing, but that always happens. Just because you got a cut," she said, pausing to point at the long cut, "Doesn't mean you're not the one to handle it." I put my face in my hands and let out a groan as my mother let out a questioning huff.

"You think this is about a stupid cut? I wish it was just about a cut. You don't even know the half of it." I rubbed my face, praying that all the stress that I was feeling would melt away. No such luck.

"Enlighten me, then. What is it that's got you thinking that you can't handle your gift? Your destiny?" I locked eyes with her at that last bit, and fear gripped my heart. What if I had already done irreparable damage by showing Bella my gift? Had I already put her in more danger than she was already in, without knowing it, like Mom had said would happen if normal people knew about our gift?

A touch of my mom's hand on my arm ripped me out of my thoughts. "Honey…I might have a power, but it definitely isn't mind reading. I can't help you unless I know what you're thinking." As I shooknervously, my mom gave my arm a squeeze. "Baby…help me to help you. Tell me."

It wasn't long before the whole story started flowing out of me—the déjà vu (which shocked the hell out of Mom; apparently, if you got more than one power at a time, it meant that you were destined for great things), the falling incident at school, what I'd seen about Bella, actually saving her, everything. "I just got so fed up that I started yelling, telling her that all I wanted, all I needed was to go home," I said, nearing the close of what seemed to me an epically long rant. "And next thing you know, I'm here. And…well…of course, you know the rest." I began rubbing my temples as my mother let out a breath, and I waited for her to say something. Dear God, she probably thinks I'm the biggest fuck up in the world. She must wish I'd never gotten these powers. Hell, I wish I'd never gotten these powers. Damn it, I can't—

"Evie? Evie! EVIE!" my mom shouted, shaking me and effectively taking me out of my reverie yet again.

"Wha—what?" I said, genuinely confused.

"You were about to hyperventilate again. Are you sure there's not more to the story than what you've told me?"

I shook my head as if doing so could clear out the thoughts that were plaguing it. "No…everything I've told you is all there is to the story. It's just…you're probably damning the fact that I even got these powers now, aren't you?"

My mother looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I'm not! Look, Evie," she said, a small sigh escaping her lips. "I may not be happy about the fact that you exposed yourself, but mistakes happen, especially when you don't have any idea what's happening to you or how to control it. This is only the first mistake of the many that you'll make while learning to perfect your craft." She stood and went to kneel in front of me. "No one comes into the world—be it human or magical—knowing exactly what to do or how to do it…trust me, I know. The only thing we can do now is learn from the mistakes that were made today…and do some major damage control."

Half an hour later, I had showered and changed (yet again), fully prepped to head back to Washington. I had a thin backpack with two days worth of clothes, toiletries, and my cell phone strapped to my back, listening to my mother as she rattled off last minute instructions as I stood in the living room.

"Remember, Evie, if Charlie asks, just say that you needed to get away and that you'd been planning to surprise Bella for weeks, so you figured now was the best time. Tell him that I forgot to call—he'll certainly believe that."

"I know, Mom. Jesus, you've told me like 20 times already," I said, rolling my eyes in exasperation. Instead of responding, she gave me a withering look which I deliberately ignored. "Why all the secrecy, anyway? I mean, you've given me the all clear to tell Bella, and he is your brother after all."

Mom got a funny look on her face. "Well…uh, I try to keep Charlie as far away from the magical world as possible." She paused, and then, it seemed as though something clicked in her head because her expression relaxed. "Besides, if Charlie knew about why you'd popped in, he'd flip. That's one bit of family drama that does not need to be going on right now," she added hastily.

Something about what she said—no, how she'd said it—struck me as odd. Suddenly, I was reminded of what she'd said when she was telling me what I was: …For quite a while I thought that you were going to end up like Charlie and that would not be normal. "Mom? Does Charlie not have powers?" Her eyes widened, but before she could ask me why I'd asked, I reminded her of what she'd said.

Mom sighed. "I was hoping that your freak out would've made you forget that." Instead of replying, I tapped my foot, eager for an answer. Finally, after a long pause, she spoke.

"Charlie...well, Charlie took after our dad a lot…and that includes being completely 'human' if you will." I tried to hide my surprise as she made air quotes when she said human. "He knows a bit about magic, mainly from accidentally seeing Grandma or me using it, but he shies away from it usually."

"Why?" I asked.

Instead of answering me, however, Mom glanced at the clock. "That's a story for another time. You've been gone for a while, and we don't need to worry Bella any longer; if we do, she might start talking and this is one cat that can definitely not be let out of the bag…at least not for everybody," she said. I merely nodded in understanding. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," I replied, trying to keep any and all shakiness from my voice. My mom stood back and we stood in absolute silence for a minute or two. "Please don't tell me I'm going to have to start screaming to go back," I said, realizing that I wasn't going anywhere.

"What? Oh, no, no of course you don't. If anything, the screaming helped you focus fully on your target. That's the main goal; focus completely on your target and you'll get directly to where you have to be. Usually, it helps to know where you're going so that you can think of a private place to orb into. Think you can do that?"

I nodded and hugged Mom quickly before taking a breath and straightening back up. Closing my eyes, I focused completely on Bella and on Washington, or more specifically, on Jacob's living room. The now familiar light and feeling of suspension took over and I silently thanked God that I had some control over the crazy-ass power that I'd been 'blessed' with.

As I felt myself being lowered, I suddenly remembered that Bella and I hadn't been alone in Jacob's living room; the only time that it had been just us had been when I'd borrowed Jacob's room to change. I threw all my energy into remembering the layout of the bedroom, praying that I could get myself there in one piece (I didn't want something Harry Potter-ish happening to me with one half of my body in the living room and the other half somewhere else). Thankfully, I felt myself rising again and a moment later, I was landing.

Upon opening my eyes, I found that I had landed perfectly in the center of Jacob's room. Thank the Lord; I didn't land on my ass. As I dusted myself off slightly, the door of the room swung open with a loud BANG. Startled by the loud noise, I yelped and jumped a foot in the air, knocking myself off balance. Unable to right myself, I fell with a hard thump onto the wooden floor.

"Son of a bitch!" I swore as Bella made her way over to me. "That has really got to stop happening!"

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, her eyes scanning over all of me in utter disbelief.

"I'm just peachy, Bells. Because falling over and busting your ass feels amazing." Bella looked into my eyes for a moment, upset at having pissed me off with that ridiculous question, before realizing that I was being sarcastic again. "Seriously, though, I'm good. Might have a bruised butt and not be able to sit for a week, but I'm good."

Before Bella could respond, Jacob's firm voice cut in. "Good. Cause you have some major explaining to do."

A/N: There you have it! We finally have an explanation for what's been going on with Evie, and from the looks of it, a little bit of trouble on the 'keeping it a secret front.' Please R&R, because reviews=love. And once again, thank you to all the readers, new and old, who are enjoying this story and keeping it alive. Special shouts out go out to Jacob's Lala and XORainbowTeardropsOX for being amazing and being my second set of eyes. Once again ladies (and gents) PLEASE VOTE on the poll on my PAGE!