The big questions now are who is this Betty Brown and where has she come from. She has obviously ‘captured’ Frank Deere. How did she do it, and why? What is motivating her? Betty has been a bit of an enigma up to now; however, as we delve into her past, things may become a bit clearer.

If you haven’t read the previous stories about Cindy, Bobbie, and the rest and how they arrived where they are now, you should probably read them. Start with An Incremental Journey, Cynthia and the Reluctant Girlfriend, Cynthia and the Dumpster Diver, Cynthia and the Moment of Truth, Cynthia and the High School Years — Parts 1 & 2 & Bobbie and the Glass Ceiling.

I have researched the Spell’s—R-Us Universe diligently and cannot find anything that violates it, other than that The Wizard is a bit kinder and gentler than sometimes reported. Don’t get me wrong. Given an opening, The Wizard could resort to some of his more ironic and nasty transformations. I’m sure that could happen at any time.

Holly did an outstanding job of fixing my punctuation errors and occasional wanderings into gibberish. She does a great job figuring out what I really meant.

This work is copyrighted by the author and any publication or distribution without the written consent of the author is strictly prohibited. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of the characters to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Chapter 10 — Making Betty Brown

Childhood had not been kind to Betty Brown. Her mother, Alice, was a trophy wife; the third marriage for an important banker. As trophy wives go, she was probably ‘past her prime’; however, she’d ‘cleaned up’ pretty well. Some expensive cosmetic surgery, courtesy of a previous husband, helped considerably.

The pregnancy was unplanned, and not the result of the relationship of her mother and her husband. Too much alcohol and other illegal substances made such a fog of her memory, that she wasn’t sure who Betty’s father was. She had a hazy recollection of some very passionate moments with one, or was it two or even three, guests at a party. There might have even been a woman or two involved. Regardless, she was pregnant. There was no question that her husband was not the father. Testicular cancer had removed that possibility several years before. Due to some good drugs and hormone treatment, he was still able to perform, but his ability to father a child was moot.

Fortune did smile on the yet unborn Betty; if only it meant that her mother didn’t terminate her pregnancy. Gaylon Brown was wary of the possibilities if he died prior to his wife. There was a well written prenuptial agreement that specified in the case of infidelity on the part of the wife that the wife would be excluded from any inheritance. That would go to several children from previous marriages.

If there were any children conceived during the marriage, but born after his death, the paternity of the child must be determined. If the child was his offspring, then the child would share in the inheritance. If the child was not his, there would be an allowance of $5,000 a month to take care of the child until the child reached the age of twenty-one. In Betty’s case, it could be proven beyond a shadow of doubt that Gaylon Brown was not the father. He was sterile.

Gaylon Brown was not a young man, and the past cancer, divorce proceedings, and age had taken their toll. He died quietly in his sleep. As the divorce had not been finalized, his widow received an allowance similar to the one Betty had received. The money was not even close to what would be needed to continue her lifestyle.

The need for excitement and money drove Alice Brown to seek out old haunts and friends. Some would say she was very good at what she did, and there were a few old acquaintances who would indulge her with the drugs she was beginning to crave more and more, in return for a quick tryst in a back room or in the back seat of a car.

At three and one-half years, Betty Brown was an orphan. Someone had provided Alice with an exceptionally good grade of heroin, and her death was probably as peaceful as could be expected. The administrator of the Brown estate placed Betty in a children’s home run by a religious order.

There is an old saying: as the twig is bent, so grows the child. This was definitely not the case with Betty. She grew against the wind. Betty was a bright young girl who, as yet unknown to her, had inherited the magic genes from her mother and unknown father. She was an opinionated and willful child, much to the consternation of the sisters of the order. By the time she was five, she had both physical and mental scars from the frequent canings she received that were intent making her see what God’s way truly was. What Betty did learn was that it was a cruel world; one where deceit and wiles were the best ways to get ahead.

On top of all the misfortune and cruelty, several other things worked against Betty. She was not an attractive little girl. She was myopic and had to wear thick lenses. Her teeth were large and crooked in her too small jaw. She also had a serious overbite, and had developed a serious stutter, something that is much more frequent among young boys than young girls. All in all, things did not start out well for the young Betty Brown.

When she was about ten she began to realize that she had some powers, powers that she realized were best kept hidden from the sisters of the order.

“Sister Mary-Joyce, I need to go to the bathroom.”

“You should have done that during the last recess.”

“But, I didn’t need to go then.”

“Silence, you should have planned better.”

“But, I need to go now.”

“I’ll not allow back talk in this class. Stand in the corner and pray to God that you will learn better manners.”

“But, I will wet my pants. I need to go now.”

The sister grabbed Betty by her upper arm and practically threw her into the corner. “You will stay here until you learn to control yourself and respect your elders.”

Betty would carry the physical bruises for more than a week; however, she would also begin to believe in herself. ‘If I wet my pants, I want Sister Mary Joyce to wet hers, too.’ The inevitable happened. As much as Betty tried to hold it in, it became too painful. She finally relaxed and let the urine flow. There was a sense of physical and mental relief. Betty didn’t break down and cry, and it would be many years before she would ever cry again.

Betty’s predicament did not go unnoticed by the other girls in the class. “Sister Mary-Joyce, Betty wet her pants.” Sissy Atwell was not one of Betty’s friends, and she took pleasure in seeing that Betty had humiliated herself in front of her classmates.

Sister Mary-Joyce reached for the hardwood ruler that was always present at her right hand side of the desk. She was going to beat some respect into the ill-mannered little girl. She never got the chance. As she stood, a sensation transmitted itself to her brain. Her bladder was suddenly very full, and without any thought to the contrary, Sister Mary-Joyce released the contents, much to her horror, and much to the delight of many of the little girls she had terrorized over the years.

Sister Mary-Joyce fled the classroom, leaving a wet trail behind her. Betty walked out behind her and returned to the room she shared with three other ‘inmates’. It was the last class of the day.

By that evening, word had traveled through the students about Betty’s accident; however, it dimmed in respect to the talk about Sister Mary-Joyce.

Betty found that she was able to will the sisters and administration to ignore her transgressions, if they really were transgressions. She also found that she was able to make her fellow students and tormentors ignore her. The teasing stopped. The jokes about her stuttering lessened, and as a consequence, her stuttering became less and less. She felt a couple of her fellow students had been kinder to her than the others, and she saw to it when she could, that the wrath of the sisters did not descend on them.

As the awareness of her powers increased, she attempted to manipulate the sisters even more. She went as far as turning in a blank paper for a test, while strongly suggesting that she get a perfect score. She did; however, she also realized she needed to learn; that getting the highest grades without gaining knowledge would do her no good. She studied hard and learned a great deal. By the time she was in high school, she was genuinely the best student in her class.

Regardless of the fact she was in an all girl school, there was much discussion about sex and boys. There were some rigidly controlled, tightly chaperoned dances where the girls would meet with boys from a nearby Catholic boys’ school. The sisters patrolled the dance floor, loudly admonishing any couples who might be getting a little too close. Betty didn’t have to worry about it though, as few boys would ever ask her to dance. Things did change in her sophomore year when she discovered she could encourage the boys to ask her to dance.

She couldn’t do anything about sex, though, as she was never in position to be alone with a boy, and her influence didn’t seem to have any permanent affect beyond the dance floor.

By her junior year, she was able to get the orthodontic help she desperately needed. It helped a bit; however, the administrators of her funds would not allow her to get some of the additional cosmetic surgery she needed to correct her receding chin line. That didn’t happen until her college years.

Her powers continued to develop; however, she discovered what she could do only by accident. A mentor who could have helped her in the development of her powers might have been able to do a lot; unfortunately, the world of magic didn’t have a clue that she even existed. She had only herself and her environment as teachers.

It was her sixteenth year when she discovered an advantage she had over men. The bishop was visiting the school as he did every year. In addition to his ecumenical degrees, he had a doctorate in education, and he prided himself for his ability to make sure the young ladies and young men under his care would continue their education in the direction he thought best. He would interview all the children about their career desires, and while doing so, would encourage as many as he could to seek retreat in the church as sisters and priests.

The bishop was not a bad man in any respect of the word. He was not a pedophile. The thought that some members of the church would molest and take advantage of the young children in their parishes was abhorrent to him. His parents had been so strict about sex that he had grown up in fear of any sexual relations. He had sublimated his sex drive through the church, and was basically asexual.

Meanwhile, Betty had discovered that she might be able to read minds. She began to pick up thoughts from her roommates, and from some of the faculty. The thoughts were especially strong if someone had experienced an especially emotional event. Not all of the girls at the school were residents there full time. Some spent the week there, and would go to wherever home was on the weekends and holidays. One of Betty’s roommates fell into that category.

Michelle Wheatley had been home for the weekend, and the emotional blast she was radiating when she returned on Sunday evening almost knocked Betty over. Michelle had had sex, not once, but several times, and it had been fabulous. She would never talk about it, but every time she went home she was getting plenty from a boyfriend.

Betty made up her mind then and there that she was going to experience sex as soon as she could. There were several problems, though. Betty was under eighteen and had no place to go to on holidays and weekends without an escort from the school. There was not a chance she could find a willing partner. The fact that she was not attractive made it that more improbable that she could find someone.

The solution presented itself to her when she had the counseling session with Bishop Davison. He was in his early 50’s and a surprisingly handsome and fit man. He was also very tractable. She basically hypnotized him and took control. She wiped out 40 years of sexual repression with only a few pushes, and in a few minutes was straddling his thighs. She offered her little breasts to him and within a few seconds he was eagerly suckling her engorged nipples. The act was not that pleasant the first time; however, it showed promise for the future. At the subconscious level for him, the act was fabulous. She could sense that immediately.

She blocked his memories of the encounter, but left a suggestion that he needed to see the best student in the school again. Their second and third couplings were much more satisfying. She left him with the thoughts that perhaps having sexual relationships with women was really what God intended a man to do.

Bishop Davison left the church a few months later and married a widow twenty years his junior. She’d had two children and they had three more of their own. He would always say that he had a revelation in a dream about what man’s true purpose was. He could never remember what actually happened.
”ƒ
Chapter 11 — Betty Initiates Her Plan

Betty was accepted as a freshman at Princeton on her own merit; however, she was also able to get a substantial scholarship. As she was not a local resident, she had to live in a dormitory for the first year. She found a nice apartment after her freshman year, and became a New Jersey resident. She also purchased a late model used car. Monetarily, the dealership broke even; however, the salesman had a long-lasting smile.

She wasn’t sure of her major, and would not declare it for two years. Her graduation from high school had coincided with her eighteenth birthday. She was a free, but insecure young woman, and she had three years before her allowance was cut off.

Her liaison with the now defrocked bishop had truly opened her eyes to the pleasures of sex; however, it did nothing to improve her ability to get along with her fellow students. That would improve greatly over the next few years, but in an artificial way. She now had a plan.

Her powers of persuasion were increasing, and by the Christmas break of her freshman year had acquired a first class breast augmentation. The doctor wrote it off as testing a new procedure. The facial reconstruction was much more difficult, and had to wait until the following summer. Once the bruising and swelling went down, no one recognized her. The surgeon had done an outstanding job. She was becoming very attractive physically.

The summer between her sophomore and junior years was a major turning point in her life. Finding the book of spells had been a revelation for her. She had gone to the local flea market, and for some unknown reason was pawing through a stack of books one of the vendors had on display. The book seemed to call to her almost literally. At first, she thought it was a cook book, but it didn’t take much reading to determine there was much more to it than that. In light of what she had discovered about her own powers, she felt that probably some credence could be given to the book’s contents. There were other people, apparently just like herself. It was just that she had never found them; at least, not yet.

Not only was the book about magic, the book itself was magic. She determined that right away. The first few chapters seemed to discuss and reveal spells that she had already been using. The neat thing was that there were lessons on how to create shortcuts. There were also some variations on spells she already knew. Well into the second chapter, things became a bit more complicated. There were levitation spells, and spells on how to alter the perception of things. There was also a section about finding and training a familiar.

One thing that was extremely frustrating was that she could access only about five percent of the book. It was as if the other pages were fused together with static electricity. The pages would slide freely across each other, but she could never separate them. At the end of the each of the first two chapters there were series of exercises. She did the Chapter 1 exercises rather quickly. She had been doing this sort of thing for several years, and each exercise had a little box with a check in it.

In Chapter 2, there were a number of exercises where the little box was not checked off. She was able to get a couple more checked off; however, she could not make any progress beyond that. That was when she decided she had better read the chapter in more detail.

The answer to her difficulties came rather quickly. The last couple of sections of the exercises required a familiar. She had remembered a bit about familiars from some movies she had seen, and books she had read when she was much younger. This book added considerably more to her knowledge. Familiars were usually a small animal that formed an association with its partner. Familiars did not necessarily have to have a magical origin; however, that did make the process quicker. The witch, wizard, sorcerer, or sorceress would form a symbiotic relationship with the familiar, and the familiar would act as an amplifier and focuser for the magic. Once an animal became a familiar, it would usually be able to generate magic on its own.

Familiars became very intelligent and anthropomorphic in a sense. That is, they took on many human characteristics, but did not lose the characteristics of their species. They were usually telepathic and were multilingual. The domestic cat was the most common familiar; although dogs, monkeys, and other small mammals were known to be familiars.

Betty had never had a pet, and she wasn’t really sure what she should get. All the evidence she could gather suggested she was a witch, and she had determined that she was going to take it as far as she could. If that meant she needed a familiar, she was going to find one.

For her, the logical place to find a familiar was a pet store. She probably would have done much better had she gone to the local animal shelter; however, things worked out rather well for her as it was. She entered the pet store and was immediately assaulted by the aroma common to most pet stores: a combination of pet food, dogs, cats, other animals, and animal wastes. Her mind-set had her looking for a puppy or kitten. She never got that far. Near the front of the store was a covered plastic cage about six feet in diameter near the store entrance. Inside the cage were some little critters, the likes of which she had never seen before. Their bodies were about eight inches long, and they had short little fur covered tails. They had rather large eyes, little rounded ears and a pointed snout. Several of them were roughhousing; a couple more were rolled up in tight little balls, napping. As Betty watched, one of the little wrestlers broke away from its mates and came over to the edge of the cage, obviously checking Betty out.

“May I help you?”

Betty turned to see a sales associate approaching.

“Yes, what are these cute little things? They look like weasels.”

“Well, they are related to weasels. They’re ferrets. They used to be used to hunt rabbits. When they’re awake, they’re pretty active, but they do sleep a lot.” Looking down at the wall of the cage, she noted the one that seemed to be checking Betty out. “Would you like to hold one? This one seems to like you.”

“Sure.”

The sales person opened the top and reached in and gently picked up the little ferret. “They’re about four months old. The babies are called kits. An adult male is called a hob, and the female is called a sprite.” She gently passed the little critter to Betty. It immediately started checking Betty out. It sniffed her arms and then quickly climbed up her arm to her shoulder, where it started sniffing her neck and ear.”

“That tickles,” Betty giggled. “What is that smell?”

“They have scent glands. They’re related to skunks, polecats, and otters. When they get excited, they might release a bit of scent. If it’s a problem, a veterinarian can remove the glands. It’s a pretty simple procedure.”

“So what do they eat?”

“They are strictly meat eaters. Cat food and dog food work for most. They also love raw meat like chicken and rabbit.

“They make good pets and will live eight years or more. Say, I think this little boy really does like you.” The little ferret had draped itself across her shoulder, and seemed to be napping. “They can be potty trained, but they’re not like cats; however, they can learn if you make an effort.”

Thirty minutes later, Betty left the pet store with several bags of supplies, a cage, and a half grown ferret. They bonded immediately. Training him to use the box was a non-event. He took to it immediately. She named him Marvin and he was the first real friend she had ever had.

He sat on her shoulder while she worked at the computer, and seemed to read along with her when she was studying the book of spells. The first time he ‘mind spoke’ to her was a shock to both of them. Betty was working on one of those logic puzzles where you had to get the numbers one through nine in the proper array.

‘That doesn’t go there. You’ve already put one of those in the other corner.’

“What? Who said that?”

‘I did, but I didn’t say anything. I can’t talk. That thing, what do you call it, doesn’t belong there.’

“That’s a seven, and I see what you mean.”

‘What am I doing talking to a ferret as if he really were telepathic? This is ridiculous.’

‘Betty, I am speaking to you. I found out I could do it a couple of days ago. I think I am learning to ‘really’ talk, too.’

Marvin’s ability to actually vocalize appeared rather rapidly. Soon, they were practicing the lessons together, and had actually advanced to another chapter in the lesson book.

Betty had never been happy with her breast implants. They looked good, but just didn’t feel right. She was surprised to find some lessons that would allow her to alter her appearance. It was an involved process that required her to remove her implants. She didn’t have the power to remove them through magic, so she returned to the doctor who had originally done the surgery.

“Why in the world would you want to do this? They are perfect.”

“I’ve decided the natural way is the best, so I am going to grow my own.”

Of course the doctor didn’t believe her, but she insisted, and threw in a quickie just to make him more tractable. She had learned some minor healing spells and the effects of the trauma were gone in a few days. The alterations to the bone structure of her face had involved relocating some of her own tissue, so she left that area mostly alone. She made a few adjustments to how she wanted to appear, and implemented the magic. It took several months, and was a bit uncomfortable at times. Her breasts became quite sore for a while, as did her jaw. She also became a natural blonde. Her new growth matched what the hairdresser had done.

She did have one problem. She couldn’t do anything about her eyes. There were spells that might allow her to change their color; however, there were also warnings that that spell should not be practiced without supervision, as blindness might result if the spells were improperly cast. That was the only warning she needed.

She didn’t have to cast any spells to alter her sexual appetite. She was not insatiable. Quite to the contrary, the sex act became quite satisfying physically; however, something was missing. Her partners were physically satisfying, but inadequate as far as satisfying her emotionally.

She decided she needed someone a bit more mature in a relationship, and started looking around. She remembered Professor Deere. She hadn’t thought much about him, as he was considerably older than she, (he was 25), but she remembered more than once that she had caught him looking at her in a way that indicated he found her attractive. She decided he was going to be the one, and set about getting ready to capture him. The trouble was he was no longer around.

It was the second part of the summer session, and she knew that he didn’t teach; however, she had frequently seen him around the area of the Physics and Chemistry Departments. She had encouraged several students from those departments. She found that in general they made better lovers. They seemed to be a bit more appreciative than the jocks, who felt they were doing her a favor.

So, where was Professor Deere? She did a little digging, and found that he had taken a few weeks off and had gone to his home in Connecticut. It didn’t take much to get his address. She had it all figured out. She would ‘just happen’ to run into him. She would strike up a conversation before ‘encouraging’ him to ask her out. It would be easy. He would ‘fall’ in love with her, they would marry, and she would become the wife of a rising young physicist. They would move to California where they would live in luxury. She would manipulate things discretely, and they would never have to worry. She might even decide to have a child some day: then again, maybe not.

Then that bitch showed up and ruined everything. Well, she would take care of her and her friends. That shouldn’t be any problem at all.

She followed the couple to New York. The fact they were making love thirty minutes after they arrived, pissed Betty off. She was going to have to take some serious steps. It might take several days, but she would fix things. There was something odd about the girl. Betty could sense something that almost made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She had no idea what it was; however, she found it impossible to read the girl’s mind. This was the first time she had ever encountered anything like this.

She really got mad after he took the girl to the opera. He had manipulated her into Tiffany’s and then proposed to her and gave her a fabulous ring.

‘I will take that ring from her tonight. I will go to their room and put them under a sleep spell. I will erase her memory of him, and I will do the same thing to her family. I will fix his mind and his family’s minds. They will forget all about her.’

The sleep spell worked, but not very well. It had been easy to get into the hotel and their room. They had obviously been making love and had fallen asleep, naked on the bed. ‘My goodness, he’s good looking! I had no idea he was that well endowed. She certainly is good looking, too. Well, if that’s what he likes, I’ll make some more changes.’

She tried to take the ring off the girl, but she couldn’t seem to grasp it. When the blue stone started glowing, she decided she would just have to wait. There was something very strange about that ring.

‘Why can’t I read her? I’ve never seen this before. I wonder what it means?’

Betty was in for the biggest surprise in her young life.

Now that we have learned a bit about Betty’s background, it has become a bit easier to understand her motivation. Now we are going to have to find out how Betty is to be defeated, if that is actually going to possible. Betty has done a lot of damage. There is something that should be apparent to past readers of this series. Things generally work out for the best.