Angelique And  stared at the blue sky as she lied on her back in the grass. She lifted her arm up and started to trace the clouds with her finger. She traced the outline of a rabbit and other things. There was even a cloud in the shape of a dragon. She smiled and then took in a deep breath and letting her arm fall back down to the soft green grass. 

“Angelique!” she heard her mother’s soft voice call out from inside their little cottage. 

Angelique sat up and stretched her long thin arms before jumping up to her feet ,her shoulder length brown curly hair flapping in the breeze. She blew her bangs out of her Hazel eyes before skipping to the little log cabin she lived in. 

The cabin only had one bedroom and no bathroom because her family couldn’t afford anything more. They were peasants after all. They were lucky to even have a home. 

She skipped up to the squeaky wooden door and pulled it open with great force almost falling over backwards when the door finally gave. It always stuck like this during the rainy season in the Kingdom of Nak. She discarded her small leather shoes at the front door and walked past the small living room and into the equally as small kitchen. She looked around for her mother and found her bent over into a sack of potatoes. 

“What did you need mother?” Angelique asked 

“I…” her mother said between shifting through potatoes and standing up straight once she found the ones she wanted, “I need you to wash the clothes while I make dinner before your father gets home.” 

“All right I’ll get to it then!” she said while running off in the direction of the wash bin, “Is the water warm?” 

“Yes!” her mother called back to her.

She hefted the wash bin outside and tossed the washboard in to the metal bin. Then she ran inside to her parents’ bedroom and dragged all the clothes out in to the bin. Then she proceeded to the attic where she took refuge. She walked up to the back wall and pulled on the latch on the wall until she heard it pop and the ladder to the attic slid down to the floor. She climbed the ladder until her head brushed the ceiling. She then undid the latch to the attic door and then banged on the door with her forearm until it exploded open and smacked against the floor of the attic with a solid bang. She then clambered through the small whole and into the attic. 

It was a very small space to live in but she loved it. Her bead with its homemade sheets and blankets sat in the far corner against the wall with the one window in the entire room. Next to her bed was a book shelf filled with books whose bindings were falling to pieces and mildewed. On top of the book self was the book she was currently reading at the time. On the other side of the room was a dresser next to a rickety wooden desk her father had made for her. 

She walked over to her pile of dirty clothes on the ground hunching over when the ceiling started to slope with the roof of the house. She gathered the various dresses and other bits of clothing and clumsily staggered over to the attic door. She leaned her head as far out to the side as she could so that she could see through the door to make sure that no one was underneath, then she let the clothes drop from her arms through the whole and down on to the floor of the house. She had done this many times in the past because the last time she tried to climb down the ladder with clothes in her hands she fell and broke her wrist. This time was different then all the others though. 

The clothes had fallen through the whole in the attic floor but they never hit the floor of the house. She peered down through the door and sure enough they hadn’t hit the ground, but there was nothing she could see that was stopping them from hitting the ground either. Confused she climbed down the ladder after them and gasped when her feet hit the floor and she turned around to see that she was right. Nothing was holding up the clothes. They were floating in midair! 

“What?!” she asked herself flustered by what she saw. 

“Mother!” She screamed starting to get frightened. She ran into the kitchen with her heart beating out of her chest calling her mothers name. 

“Angelique are you ok?” her mother called running out of the kitchen, “You didn’t fall of that ladder again did you?” 

“No!” Angelique breathed as she skidded to a stop in front of her mother, “The clothes! Their floating!” 

“What!? You didn’t hit your head did you?” her mother asked. 

“No!” she said before dragging her mother behind her. 

They walked briskly back to the scene of the crime and when they got there her mother gasped, clutched her chest and fell to her knees. 

“Mother!” Angelique cried as she tried to comfort her mother. 

“The only way this could happen is if a mage cast a spell on the laundry!” her mother gasped 

“What?” Angelique asked, “But there are no mages in this village! The only time that there are is when we have the Queen’s festival which only happens every four years!” 

Angelique glanced down at her mother’s face and saw a sudden flash of recognition spread a crossed her face. 

“What? What is it?” she asked bewildered 

“I have to tell your father about this…” her mother muttered 

“What’s wrong mother?” Angelique was starting to get worried now. 

“I have to tell the mages council as well...” 

“Mother what is it?!” 

Suddenly a piercing knock sounded at the door and they both went silent. Her mother got up slowly and walked cautiously to the door and opened it. 

“Hello Mrs. Dare,” said one of the royal guard mages, “We tracked a magical disturbance to your house. Is everything alright here? No one is hurt correct?” 

Her mother took a deep breath and said, “No one is hurt, just surprised and confused. Will you come in and tell me what you think of this?” 

“Absolutely!” 

Angelique followed the guards as her mother lead them to the levitating pile of clothing to find something even stranger. Instead of just sitting in a pile in midair they were floating and flying around the little room in a chaotic fashion as if the clothes themselves where distressed by something. 

“Wow!” the guard breathed taking in the floating clothing in wonder, “to think that a coming of age episode would happen in a peasant village!” 

“A what?” Angelique asked 

The guard turned to her and she watched as the other examined her with piercing green eyes. 

“She is definitely the source. She is definitely a Mage of some sort and a very powerful one at that.” The man with the green eyes said

“Wait I’m a mage?!” Angelique cried out. 

Her mother made a strangled squeak and the moaned with pleasure tears forming in her eyes.

“To think… My little girl is a mage!” she breathed 

“Wait, your joking right, this is a dream!” Angelique burst out. 

“No.” the first guard said before handing her mother an envelope, “This is the information for the elemental academy for magic. We’ll tell the headmaster about her. I’m sure she will be accepted. You must be proud.” 

“I am.” Her mother cried wiping tears from her eyes with a handkerchief. 

The Guards left the little cottage with Angelique swimming in excitement and disbelief.