Susanna Owens

**Susanna Owens** was the mother of Franny, Jet, and Vincent Owens. A strict and foreboding figure, she forbade anything associated with witchcraft and magic.

## Appearance

Susanna was terribly chic at all times, wearing black and gold sunglasses even on cloudy days and moonlit nights. She wore designer clothes straight from Paris and her signature scent was Chanel No. 5.

## Personality

A strict, serious woman, Susanna is a witch who strongly rejects and opposes anything associated with witchcraft. Despite this, she still utilises protective enchantments.

While she is well-meaning in her intentions, she often lets her resentment get the better of her, to the point of becoming cold and antagonistic. Susanna is very restrictive of what her children can and cannot do. Motherhood had been a trial for Susanna who was not suited to domestic life. She was a terrible cook and seemed puzzled by all household duties.

Outside of the family, however, she is seen as a popular socialite, often going to parties with her husband and flaunting the latest fashions.

## Biography

### ***The Rules of Magic***

#### **Early Life**

Susanna Owens was raised in a small town in Massachusetts. A difficult child, she was sent to two different boarding schools before going to live in the Owens house for her seventeenth summer. After this, she moved to Paris where she became friends with Madame Durant and fell in love with a man before he passed in a sailing accident. The incident left Susanna heartbroken and she chose to reject her witch heritage and vowed never to fall in love again. Susanna later moved back to the United States and married a psychiatrist named James Burke with whom she had three children: Franny, Jet, and Vincent.

#### **Normal Life**

Susanna adjusted very well to New York, becoming a influential party-goer along with her husband. They often went to parties and clubs to socialize, and were seemingly wealthy enough to throw elaborate parties at their own place and send their children to the prestigious Starling School. However, their money was a front as Susanna and James had to hide their lack of money through many means, such as Susanna convincing store clerks to give her credit. While a flawless socialite to the elite class, Susanna struggled with housewife and motherly duties despite her remarks about how happy she is with her children. She once had a hired woman to do the work, but fired her a week later after catching her teaching the children how to use a Ouija board, which she threw into the fireplace.

Adamant to preserve her new life, she forbid everything associated with magic, their family history, and the town she left behind. This did not absolutely work, as her children were aware that they were different. Despite this, she still uses witch superstitions, such as throwing salt over her shoulder, and hides red shoes in her closet.

#### **1960**

Susanna received a letter from her Aunt Isabelle, inviting her eldest daughter Franny to stay at Magnolia Street for the summer as per custom of the Owens right of passage. Despite James' and her own protests, she agreed only in that it was a formal invitation, and refusing it would be bad. She then decided to also send Jet and Vincent along to keep an eye on Franny.

When they returned at the end of the summer, Susanna becomes more concerned about their activities in order to know if they are practicing magic. However, she does not catch them, as they work hard to deceive her and their father, and attends the Halloween party as Marilyn Monroe with James.

Yet the next morning, Susanna notices that Jet is missing, and interrogates Franny and Vincent on her whereabouts. When they reveal they don't know, she brings out a bowl with melting butter in it, indicating that someone, most likely Jet, is in love. She agrees with James that their visit to Massachusetts was a mistake, and refuses to call the police believing they won't help find Jet since she's abnormal, much to Franny and Vincent's shock. Upon finding Jet in the hallway with her siblings a bit later, she demands to know where Jet was. Her daughter answers that she was with a boy named Levi Willard, to which Susanna smacks her hard across the face, sending her head to smack against the wall. Susanna goes on further, forbidding Jet to ever see Levi again, threatening to send her to boarding school, and grounds all three of her children so that they will learn never to love someone. When questioned about her relationship with their father, she tells them that she doesn't love him in a way that will instigate the curse, keeping him alive to have the normal life she has now. She returns to the kitchen and admonishes Granny for having birds around when Lewis the crow comes in.

Soon after, the Burke-Owens family is visited by April, much to Susanna's disapproval. She allows her distant relative to stay with them until after breakfast the next day, but shuts down April's recollection that Susanna was difficult and rejected being a witch.

#### **1961**

By spring, Susanna had seemed to be in a better mood, congratulating Franny for her acceptance to Radcliffe. Yet when Franny later tells her and James about the deathwatch beetle, she agrees to being wary.

Having forgotten about the Levi incident, she rewards Jet for good behavior by doting on her by buying tickets to Broadway and reserving dinner at the Russian Tea Room, unaware that her daughter had been sneaking around to be with Levi. That night, Jet begins to leave for her hotel stay with Levi, lying to Susanna and James that she was staying with a schoolmate for a sleepover. However, upon hearing Jet give the cabbie driver the wrong street name, they got another taxi and followed her to the Plaza, seeing her with Levi. Susanna yelled at Jet to get over to her immediately, to which Jet and Levi bolted away. Susanna ordered the driver to not let them escape, yet as they drove behind the couple, the driver did not see the slick oil on the road, causing the taxi to slide out of control. The taxi hit Levi on impact, killing him, the driver, James, and Susanna instantly.

Susanna was buried in the Owens family cemetery alongside James. Her children, Aunt Isabella, and relatives from Boston and Maine attended their funerals.

## Powers and abilities

As a witch, Susanna probably shared many of the same abilities as her aunt and children. However, she refuses to use them to have a normal life. However, she does practice witch superstitions, like checking to see if someone is in love with a butter in a bowl, wearing blue for protection, and stuffing packets of lavender in pockets.

## Relationships

### Frances Owens

Susanna's oldest daughter, she is considered the rebellious child, often daring to question her mother's enforcement of rules. She believes Franny needs constant supervision, leading to her sending Jet and Vincent to the Owens house as well. However, according to Madame Durant, Susanna loved her daughter, believing her to be the most beautiful child ever.

### Bridget Owens

Bridget is Susanna's second daughter. While she dotes on Jet when she acts favorably towards Susanna's wishes, she does not hesitate to punish Jet for going against her excessive demands for normalcy. Susanna slapped Jet upon the latter revealing she went on a date with a Willard, and followed her along with her husband to see if she was actually going to a sleepover at a friend's house. However, Susanna's determination to control and punish Jet excessively is what caused the taxi crashed that claimed the lives of not only her husband and Jet's beau, Levi, but also herself.

### Vincent Owens

The youngest of Susanna's children, he is her only son and most likely her favorite, as she imposes less restrictions onto him than on Franny and Jet. This may be likely due to his magical charm, but this doesn't prevent Susanna from restricting Vincent from learning about his witch heritage.

### James Burke

James is Susanna's husband and father to her children. She does love him, but isn't in love him as to protect him from the Owens curse so that she may live a sophisticated, normal life. Despite not being romantically involved, they often agree with each other about the lives of their children, and work together to reshape Franny, Jet, and Vincent as ordinary kids.

### Isabelle Owens

Niece to Isabelle. Susanna dislikes her aunt, who embraces her identity as a witch and maintains the Owens house. However, she begrudgingly allows her children to stay with Isabelle as is the tradition of every Owens girl.