Bridget Owens

**Bridget "Jet" Owens** is a minor character in Practical Magic, and one of the main protagonists of The Rules of Magic. Secondborn, she is the younger sister of Frances and the older sister of Vincent. She is portrayed by Dianne Wiest in the film adaptation of Practical Magic.

## Appearance

From the day she was born, Bridget had inky black tresses which led to her being nicknamed Jet. While visiting her great-aunt Isabelle in the summer of 1960, she came to possess a magical beauty, causing many boys to fall in love with her. However, after a taxi accident on her seventeenth birthday, Jet's face was marred by a long scar. Her long dark hair was cut short in the midst of her grief. Later, at the funeral of her younger brother Vincent, Jet's hair turned snow-white and remained that way till her death.

## Personality

Jet is as shy as she is beautiful. As a young girl she always seemed to know what other people were thinking. Unlike her sister, she wanted to be in love. However, following the deaths of Levi and her parents, she becomes more cautious later in life.

## Biography

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

#### **Early Life**

Bridget was born the summer of 1945 in New York to James Burke and Susanna Owens. Like her siblings, she knew she possessed something that made her different from everybody else, and often defied her mother's strict rules to test her capabilities. At school, she was often picked on by other girls for her demure nature.

#### **1960**

Jet and Vincent accompanied Franny when she was invited to stay with their aunt Isabelle for the summer after having turned seventeen. Jet grew to love Magnolia Street and enjoyed taking care of the garden, intrigued by the story of Cousin Maggie who was turned into a rabbit. She also found a black kitten and cared for it, naming it Wren.

It was also there that her beauty grew to fruition, similar to that of Vincent's. A number of local boys came to Magnolia Street in attempts to woo her, with most driven off by Vincent. But four boys died, as their attraction to Jet instigated the curse, with two being struck by lightning while out with Jet and Franny, and two committing suicide.

This momentarily shook Jet until she met Levi Willard, son of the town's reverend. They instantly had attraction for each other as he walked her home from the boys' funerals, bonding over their parents' strict rules. Levi stated how much he wanted to visit New York, to which Jet invited to come so she could show him around. Despite experiencing how real the curse was, she was determined to see Levi again.

With the end of summer, Jet and her siblings returned to New York, having drunk the courage tea given by Isabelle. She continued to correspond with Levi, eventually going behind her family's back to meet up with him in the city. They walked around all night, visiting popular locations, and only departed early the next morning when they realized how late they were up. Upon returning home, Jet ran into her siblings in the hallway, about to go looking for her. She confessed to having been with Levi all night, defending her attraction to him. When their mother Susanna appeared, demanding to know where her daughter was, she slapped Jet upon hearing Levi's last name, forbidding her from ever seeing him again, nor to love anyone.

Despite the harsh blow given by Susanna, Jet kept seeing Levi, including an instant where she met him at the Bethesda Fountain, giving him The Scarlett Letter as a present. However, they left forgetting the book by the fountain, where the Reverend found it, as he had been following his son. He wrote a threat about not allowing a witch to live on the page under her handwritten dedication, and mailed it back to her.

Levi was forced to stay within the town by his father, but Jet didn't falter from the separation or the warning. Instead, she asked Vincent to deliver a letter to her beau by joining their school's band concert north of Boston. Levi received the letter, and became more cautious in his lies to escape to New York.

#### **1961**

In the spring of the following year, Jet became jealous of Franny's acceptance to Radcliffe, seeing it as her sister escaping their parents while she was stuck to defend herself from them. Her bitterness motivated her to wish that Franny would never leave for college, but upon seeing how happy everybody was, she tried to will the wish back. It was too late.

Months later, on Jet's seventieth birthday, her parents treated her with tickets to a Broadway show and dinner at the Russian Tea Room. Despite their doting, Jet insisted on attending a sleepover at a classmate's house that night, though it was actually her and Levi spending a night at a hotel. She managed to get passed their questioning, and took a cab to the Plaza Hotel where Levi was waiting for her. Before they could go to the hotel, Susanna and James appeared in their own taxi, having followed their daughter there upon hearing her give the driver the wrong address. They chased Jet and Levi down the street, yelling after her, until the taxi slipped under an unseen puddle of oil, causing the vehicle to swerve and crash into Levi, killing him and her parents almost instantly. Jet was also hurt in the accident, but survived with a gash around her face and broken ribs.

Jet became grief-stricken after the incident, having lost both the love of her life and her parents because of her. The trauma caused her to loose her gift of sight, preventing her from ever reading another's mind. A ghost of her former self, she became withdrawn and sobbed whenever nobody was around. Isabelle took in her and her siblings for her parents' funeral at the family cemetery, where Jet attempted to act normal upon reuniting with April and meeting her infant daughter, Regina.

Knowing that Levi's funeral happened the same day, she was desperate to visit his grave, sneaking out of the house and catching a taxi. Isabelle followed her to the vehicle, and together rode over to the town's cemetery. There, they met the Reverend, who was also inconsolable due to his son's death. He calmed down, however, upon seeing Jet collapse to the ground from her grief taking over at seeing Levi's tombstone, and helps Isabelle carry her back to the taxi. They drive to the Reverend's house first to drop him off before going back to the Owens house.

The siblings return to New York, where Jet spends most of her time in her room to cry over the tragedy she brought forth. Eventually, she cut her hair short, threw out all but her black clothes, and dropped out of high school. Isabelle sent Wren to their house to help cheer up Jet. The young cat made Jet feel a bit better, but did not cure her grief.

Eventually, Franny decided it was time to move, as their money was too low to keep their childhood home. Jet accepted this, but wasn't happy when she found out Franny declined her acceptance to Radcliffe in order to take care of her younger siblings, thus fulfilling her dark wish. Packing her mother's china and clothes, Jet and her siblings moved downtown to an abandoned store, where they set up their own business selling potions and herbs. She excelled as a worker there, but often broke down around her siblings, as they still had the sight and she did not, reminding her of the accident.

#### **1962**

On Easter Sunday, Jet took a walk around Central Park, finding a hippie gathering in a meadow. There, she took acid and began going on a trip where time past faster than she could comprehend. She wandered around until finding the Alchemtry Tree, where she believed she saw Levi. Realizing he was never there, she attempted to drown herself in the Gill, but was unable to due to her witch physiology preventing her from sinking underwater. She returned to their Greenwich house, where Granny confronted her about her suicide attempt. She made her promise not to do it again, though Jet already was planning on a way that would successfully drown herself.

Gathering the necessary items to drown herself, Jet returned to the Plaza Hotel, wanting to do it in the room that she was supposed to share with Levi that fateful night. A bellman she encountered earlier knocked on the door, having piecing together what she was about to do and couldn't live with the knowledge that he would have allowed her to do it. She sobbed, explaining her story to him. Introducing himself as Rafael, he shared that he also didn't want to fall in love, having grown up with a struggling single mother. Jet, seeing a new opprotunity, asked him to sleep with her so that she could fulfill her original goal with Levi. He agrees, and tells her to keep her eyes open so she could see him as Rafael and not Levi. They make love, and Jet finally gets some comfort over losing Levi. She thanks him, and tells him that they will never see each other again. She returns the next morning to Granny, who is upset that she wasted money at the Plaza Hotel while they are struggling to maintain their store. Jet only smiles, saying it was worth it. Despite this, the two continue to see each other after, as he feels responsible for her.

Jet spends the next few years working at the family store, engaging with customers and giving free advice. She also is reunited with April and Regina in 1966.

#### **1967-1968**

While recovered greatly from her grief, Jet still visited Isabelle and Levi's grave often. One moment included laying beside his grave when the Reverend appeared, causing her to flee to the Owens house. However, about a year later, she finally conversed with him, visiting his house where they cried together over the loss of Levi.

#### **1969**

Jet and Vincent received a call from Franny, who was at the Owens house with the dying Isabelle. Both immediately traveled and helped take care of her in her final days. Jet reminded Franny that she was Isabelle's favorite, and deserved to be the heir to the house and its belongings. However, after Isabelle passed, the sisters decided to leave town, locking up the house with no intention of returning.

Later that winter, Jet and Franny learned that Vincent was the first ticket drawn in the deployment to Vietnam. Both sisters knew that he would suffer if he hurt anyone over there, so they decided to give him a small dose of wolfsbane to make it appear that he had asthma. Taking him to the center for inspection, they waited for him until it became clear that Vincent was gone. A letter arrived a week later, explaining that he had been taken to a mental hospital after his physical exam came out clean, showing he had been lying about the asthma, and him declaring that he was a homosexual and a wizard so he couldn't fight.

She, Franny, and William devised a plan for him to escape with William's ticket and passport to Germany, which went without a hitch. They were, however, unable to make contact with him in fear that it would lead the government to finding him.

#### **1970**

A year after Vincent fled, Jet and Fanny received news by Madame Durant that Vincent had died in France. The sisters and William flew over to attend the funeral, only for William to disappear after, revealing that Vincent faked his death to be free from being caught and spend the rest of his days with William. Unlike Franny, Jet understood why her younger brother planned this and did not go to look for him. After returning to her hotel room, she saw that her hair had turned white during the funeral.

Once she returned to New York with Franny, Jet agreed it was time to close their store and move to the Owens house, as it no longer felt like a home without Vincent. Selling their shop and apartment, they moved to their ancestral home and worked alongside each other as the Owens witches, selling spells for the local women.

#### **1971-1998**

Jet became happier living in the Owens house, frequently spending time with the Reverend as close friends. She also met up with Rafael as occasional lovers, but turned down his proposal, saying that marriage was not for her. Jet was even a bridesmaid for Franny and Hays' wedding, wearing a beautiful green dress.

#### **1999**

After Haylin's death, Jet comforted her sister as she mourned, claiming she could not love anyone else. At that moment, the sisters recieve a call from a four-year-old Sally telling them that their parents had died and she and her younger sister Gillian were going to stay with them. Franny and Jet picked the girls up at the airport in Boston, taking them home to the Owens house. Jet took an instant liking to Gillian, seeing how similar the young girl was to herself as a child.

### The Book of Magic

Jet, in her eighties, realises she has seven days left to live.

## Powers and abilities

From a young age, Jet possessed the ability to read the minds of others, often without meaning to. This was an ability she was not particularly fond of and which she later lost after the death of first love Levi.

Similar to Vincent, Jet possesses a type of magical beauty that enchants young men. Her beauty comes into fruition during her visit to the Owens house in the summer of 1960, with her black hair and lips becoming notable marks of her great beauty. As a teenager, many suitors tried to visit her on Magnolia Street until chased away by Vincent. Four of these young men died as a result of the curse, with two dying from a bolt of lightning and two committing suicide.

Later in her life, after recieving the sight once again, Jet found she was able to revive dying flora.

## Relationships

### Frances Owens

Franny is Jet's older sister and her more serious counterpart. The two are best friends and have stuck together throughout the decades.

### Vincent Owens

Vincent is Jet's younger brother whom she adored, viewing him as a precious gem that needed taking care of. When he disappears, Jet doesn't worry for she is certain he will finally be happy.

### Levi Willard

Levi was Jet's first love. The two met at a funeral for two local boys and were instantly attracted to each other. His father, the Reverend, and her mother did not want them to see each other upon learning of one another due to their family histories, leading to the two pursuing their relationship in secret. On Jet's seventeenth birthday, Susannah and James caught her and Levi together and chased them down in a taxi, resulting in a car accident that claimed Levi's life as well as their own. This left Jet in a depressive state for a long time, almost to the point of attempting suicide, but eventually she recovered.

### Rafael Correa

Jet and Rafael began their relationship after Rafael prevented her from committing suicide in the hotel in which he worked. Every month they would meet in the same hotel room, never admitting their love for one another, until years later after Jet realises she has merely seven days left to live. She spends part of her last days with Rafael, finally confessing her love for him.

## Trivia

* In June 1960, Franny had turned seventeen the month before and it is noted that Jet will turn sixteen next summer. This means she is fourteen going on fifteen when they visit Aunt Isabelle.