This is a very long story, and I've already written most of it. The catche is, I won't post anyomre of it until someone posts something. So, if you want to find out what happens next, put something down.

The Chronicles of Claudia’s Adventures
Book One: Devlyn

Chapter One

Claudia was sitting on the rooftop that was accessible from her room in the orphanage. She looked out over the dingy landscape that was London. Beside her was a little sparrow, Claudia’s only friend in the world, named Smoky because he disappeared like smoke. She didn’t have any friends at her old school because too many strange things happened to her. When she was in first grade, a short man, who was about as tall as she was then, came to her class because her parents were out of town. He grabbed her by the arm and started dragging her out of class without the teacher’s permission. The tiny man was kicked out of the school, and Claudia was berated by her teacher for paying someone her age to come and take her out of class. Then in second grade, a really tall woman came and took Claudia out of the class because her parents had disappeared. After her parents were gone for three weeks, Claudia was put in an orphanage. Bruce, a boy in her class, never let her forget those strange people who came and took her away. “You’re a danger to society, that’s why they want you to leave.” was one of the things he said.
Claudia was pulled out of her daydreaming by Smoky, who was jumping around and chirping. He hopped to the ground and looked back at her. Claudia was very curious about this new behavior, so she went down and followed the little bird. He led her into the slums of London, where an unruly man stood on his doorstep and watched her follow the bird. He led her to the abandoned part of London, where there was supposed to be a rancorous old man who ate the pets that ran away. Smoky hopped onto the man’s doorstep and looked at Claudia, expectantly. Claudia nervously knocked on the door.
The old man answered the door with a scowl on his face. When he saw Claudia, his face lit up. “It’s been too long since you’ve been to my house. Last time I saw you, you were just a little baby.” The old man gestured her into the house. Once she stepped inside, she scrutinized the old man. He was wearing a florid Hawaiian shirt and corduroy pants. He seemed debonair and benign. He wasn’t rancorous at all. Claudia turned to the house and was amazed. The room she had stepped into was very commodious with an arched ceiling and several paintings on the wall. The hallway was very long and several doors were leading from it. The old man led her into one.
This looked like the man’s den. Several sofas were centered on a large fireplace. On the mantle were pictures of a group of people. The walls were made of a dark wood, making the room seem a lot darker than the hallway she had just left. The man sat down and asked her to do so also. She obliged.
“I hope you like the new renovations I’ve made. The house wasn’t big enough to support all of us.” The man looked fondly at the pictures on the mantle.
“I’m sorry sir, but who are you? How do you know me?” Claudia was asking the questions that had been running through her head since he said hello.
“You don’t remember me?” Claudia shook her head. The old man frowned for a moment, and then resiliently exclaimed, “Well that will add to our lessons won’t it?” Claudia smiled weakly. This whole conversation was very enervating for her. The old man was gazing at the pictures again. He stood up and walked over to them. “Here are your parents. They put more effort into our work than anyone else.” The man pointed at a young couple. Her mom was very beautiful and elegant, while her father was homely.
“Sir, you never answered my questions.” Claudia said, pointedly.
“Right sorry. My old mind wanders around and I think I’m going deaf. You can call me Devlyn. Your parents and I were part of a group that was fighting for the survival of magical creatures.” Claudia thought she was hearing things.
“Magical creatures? I thought they were made up, you know, like in fairy tales.”
“No, my dear. They exist. You are living proof. You’re an elf. Well, you’re only half elf. Your father was a human. The only full human in our group. You don’t have to look at me like that.” Claudia was gaping at Devlyn.
“I think I should go to sleep.” Claudia wanted time to think about what she had just heard. Besides that, she needed to get back to the orphanage.
“Wonderful. There is a room waiting for you upstairs. I will take you to it.” Claudia’s expression must have revealed her feelings because he told her that he had called the orphanage and explained that she was going to stay with a rich uncle. He left the room. Claudia, surprised by this sudden exit, followed. “You are going to stay in the same room your mother did while she was in training.” Devlyn left and shut the door behind him. Claudia saw a night outfit lying on the bed. She picked it up and put it on. She turned out the light and lay down.
Devlyn seemed very astute in Claudia’s mind, even if he was a little off his rocker. He appeared to be a man of integrity, but it was still too early to tell. He seemed too eager to share his sagacity. She didn’t realize how tired she was, until a wave of exhaustion swept over her and she closed her eyes.
Claudia slept long and hard, and when she woke up, the sun was streaming through the window. She hadn’t looked around the room much. The bed was a four-poster bed with a burgundy silk canopy that drew to a close. She pulled back the curtains and saw a large bedroom, with a mahogany dresser in a corner, and a tall bookcase in the other. Claudia got up and went over to the washbasin to clean up. She was in the middle of dressing when someone knocked on the door.
“Hurry up, you’re already half an hour late.” Devlyn’s voice rang into the room. Claudia finished dressing and stepped into the hallway. This hallway was much like the first one. She walked downstairs, still half asleep. “I have abrogated all of your relationships at the orphanage and the school.” Devlyn announced as she entered the sitting room. He had a stack of books lying on the side table. Those books were much older than any she had ever seen. All of the sudden, a short man walked into the room, ignoring Claudia, and started talking to Devlyn in a low voice.
“Garthfen, I don’t believe you have met young Claudia. She’s Adreinn’s and Luke’s daughter.” Garthfen nodded in her direction, then turned quickly and started talking about someone in a place that Claudia had never heard of or had any hope of pronouncing. “Yes, I’ll get back to you on that, but right now I’m teaching this young girl where her people came from and who she is. Good-bye.” Devlyn said all this very coolly, and Claudia could tell that Devlyn and Garthfen didn’t get along. Garthfen sulked off, mumbling something under his breath.
“Now, about your lesson, I want you to look at these books.” Claudia picked up a book from the side table and opened it. The book was not written in English, but some ancient rune system. Claudia stared at the first page for a moment, then said,
“Sir, am I supposed to read this?”
“Don’t tell me your parents never taught you how to read this language, the language that is widely known by every magical creature across the globe.” Devlyn looked taken-aback. “I must grant your parents clemency, for they must have wanted you to be able to communicate with the canngars. Still, I did expect you to have seen this before.” He looked very calm and placid.
“Sir, what are canngars?” Claudia stuttered over the last word.
“Canngars are non magical creatures, like humans and regular, non talking animals.” Devlyn assumed that this would make sense to Claudia because he continued explaining to her what the language was. Claudia was very confused, but she tried her best anyway. “The discovery of these books I must impute to your father. He went around the world looking for these books. That’s how he met your mother. She was living in Greece, where the book you are looking at now was found. Your father came through there and came in touch with the magical creatures that lived there. Your grandmother, Grennette, was the leader of the elves in Greece. Your father and grandmother had been in contact before, when all of the leaders had to come together when World War 3 began.
“Your parents were on the same mission, though sent by two different groups. Your mother was sent by the elves. Your father was, of course, sent by us. They met at my house. Your father was bringing one book back and your mother came to steal the ones that he had found. I was asleep in this chair and the books were lying on the side table. They came in and I guess they were fighting over these.” Devlyn gestured to the books. “They fought for a long time, yet they never succeeded in waking me up. My hypothesis is that your mother capitulated and backed off. Your father woke me up. Your mother was still standing in the corner, looking defeated. Your father was very flushed and he was breathing heavily. I asked who your mother was and he introduced her as a friend, which seemed to surprise her. I whispered to him that he should take his friend somewhere special. He grinned and they left the room together. I don’t think they left each other’s side after that. Your mother had to come and take didactic time with me, so I was able to see them often. That was back when she was still a novice.” Devlyn was caught up in his reminiscences.
Claudia was slow to ask, “Did my parents know the man that was in here?”
Devlyn looked confused for a moment then said, “No, no. His name is Garthfen. He is the leader of the dwarves and they’ve been having some trouble lately, but this is inconsequential to you right now. Are you hungry? I didn’t feed you last night and it’s already… Great Scot! It’s nearly 10:00! You haven’t eaten breakfast yet! I’m going to go whip us up some ham and eggs.” Devlyn attempted poorly to make Claudia forget about the dwarf that was in there. Claudia sighed and followed Devlyn into the kitchen.
After breakfast, Devlyn ushered Claudia into the room to continue with her lessons. Devlyn picked up the first book and pointed at the cover. “This says, ‘The Booke of Mystic.’ This one describes the world from which your mother came. You see, the elves did not always live in England, nor did any of the other magical beings. They were run out of their homeland to come live amongst Canngars. There is only one portal to that world now, which I will take you to later on, when you learn how to read write, and speak this language. In this book, there is a translation of our language into English. It might get confusing, but I assure you, it’s easy once you know it.” Devlyn placed the book in Claudia’s arms. She opened it up and a surge of emotion ran through her. It was an ebullient feeling of joy. She looked down at the page and the words were moving. One word moved in here and another there until a message was formed on the page. It read: ‘Hello, my child.’ Claudia stared at those words. Devlyn looked over her shoulder and gasped. “I’ve never seen a book do that before,” he quietly said, in an astonished voice. Claudia picked up a pen and began answering the message. ‘Hello. Who are you? How do you know who I am?’ As soon as she put the pen to the paper, the words began to move again, but they went back into their normal places.
Devlyn stood up. “Well I think that’s enough of books for you today. Let’s see how you do on inter-magical relations.” Claudia looked at him, puzzled. He walked out of the room with a sly grin on his face. Claudia got up and ran after him. Devlyn was standing at his back door that was at the end of the entrance hallway. There was an out-of-place doorbell next to the door. Devlyn gently pushed the doorbell and a bunch of jumbled-up, discordant notes reached Claudia’s ears. The door opened slightly and a small grotesque head poked into the crack.
A goblin was staring into the hallway of Devlyn’s home. He looked up at Claudia and Devlyn and impatiently said, with a lot of acrimony, “Well?” Devlyn smiled down on the small creature and handed him five strange coins. The goblin opened the door wider and Claudia was able to look into the room. They were standing in the doorway of a large practice field. Devlyn stepped inside and motioned for Claudia to follow him. To Claudia’s eyes, it was controlled pandemonium. Everywhere she looked, there was another strange creature to see. There were fairies and elves and goblins and dwarves and centaurs and one or two giants. One haggard human was among the crowd. He walked forward to greet them.
“Welcome Devlyn. Who is your new guest?” His gaunt eyes were now upon Claudia. Devlyn spoke up,
“This is Claudia. She is my new student. Her father was Luke.” The man looked down with interest now.
“I hope you will allow me to cajole you into meeting a few friends of mine.” When Claudia acquiesced, she was immediately steered towards an elf. This elf had a particularly lugubrious air about her. “Claudia, I don’t believe you have met your mother’s friend?” Claudia stared at the woman now. This was her mother’s friend, her closest companion. She looked at her and suddenly saw a resemblance between her and her mother’s picture of her and her friend. They had the same eyes and ears. Suddenly Claudia felt a blow to her back. She whipped around and somehow sent a wave of air towards everyone so that they all froze. Devlyn remained unfrozen.
When Claudia looked at him, he said, “I have learned that it is better to have a shield that is impervious to magic on when I come here with a new student.” Devlyn made a sweeping motion with his hands and everyone returned to their normal state. Now, however, they all looked at Devlyn. “I want to introduce to you a new student of mine. Her name is Claudia and she is half-elf, half-human. She has not gained control of her powers yet, so don’t provoke her.” Devlyn smiled pleasantly, which was a paradox as to the warning he just gave. They continued with their practices as if they had been incessant. Devlyn walked over to a tree and motioned to Claudia. Claudia did a double take when she saw the tree. She was in an enclosed practice field. There was a roof. How could a tree grow inside an enclosed space? Claudia walked hesitantly over to Devlyn.
“How …” Claudia paused to think of the right words to put into her question. Devlyn smiled again and bade her to look at the tree. She started from the ground up. The roots were gnarled and twisted. The bark seemed unusually smooth. She put her hand on the trunk and another surge of emotion swept over her. She lost awareness of the world around her. Voices spoke to her telling her of great things that would come concerning her, and then many dark visions came to her, and she saw all the dark things that would happen because of, and to, her. She saw a flash of light and then she saw her older self weeping over someone’s body. In another vision she was standing at the same cliff looking at two guards pushing a man with long grey hair over the edge. She glimpsed the man’s face and thought it strangely familiar. She felt a hand upon hers and her conscience came back to her. Devlyn’s hand was holding her wrist and she was sitting on the ground. She looked up at Devlyn’s face and was shocked. Devlyn was the old man falling over the cliff in her vision. She became very scared and immediately started telling Devlyn all that she had seen.
Devlyn was frowning in concentration. “In all my years of teaching, I have never seen or heard of this happening.” Claudia continued telling Devlyn what had happened and she got to the part where Devlyn was falling over the cliff and she didn’t tell him whom it was. She was quickly led away to the furthest corner of the room to delineate her visions. There were a few outdoor tables and a long, wooden bench. She was handed two pieces of paper: one to draw on, the other to write on. She was very capricious in her style of drawing and writing. In some visions, she was able to draw with a lot of detail and some she was not. The visions of the cliff were drawn with great detail, except for the old man’s face. After she had finished, Devlyn came in and inspected her work. He stood for a long time looking at the picture of the man on the cliff and mumbled a few words. Claudia felt something penetrate her mind and search through the visions until she saw the old man again. The old man’s face was the main focus of the memory now. The penetrant was immediately withdrawn from her mind. Devlyn picked up the picture and showed it to Claudia. The old man’s face was shown clearly now, and it was of a great resemblance to Devlyn. Devlyn’s real face was ashen.
“Did you see me in this vision?” Claudia nodded. Devlyn seemed lost for words and he plopped down on the ground beside her. “Which perspective did you see this from?” Claudia recalled the memory and looked around. She was chained up among a number of other creatures. There were two guards behind her. Claudia opened her eyes and immediately told the old man. “So the dark agents win.” He muttered this almost too quietly for Claudia to hear it. Devlyn looked up with more energy and remarked that it was probably something to overlook, though it should be monitored carefully if it happens again. His voice was much more cheerful than his expression.
Claudia looked up at Devlyn and asked, “If it is something to condone, why should we pay close attention to it?” Devlyn slightly smiled.
“Ah, that’s an infinite paradox, isn’t it?” Claudia looked confusedly at him. Devlyn moved suddenly and startled her. “Oh I’ve just remembered! Your mother bequeathed this to you once I thought you were ready. I noticed that you stayed reasonably calm when you were connected to the tree.” He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was a folded up note on old parchment. Claudia began to open it, but Devlyn stopped her. “Not until you think you’re ready.” Claudia pulled back and began to open the note again. “Do you really think you are absolutely ready for whatever is in that note?” Claudia lowered her hands, looked at the note longingly, and then slipped it into her pocket. Devlyn smiled down upon the young girl. “Good choice.” Then he turned and walked back out the door. Claudia hurried after him.
They got back into the practice field and were greeted by an enormous tumult of noise. Devlyn irritably crossed to the door that they had entered into and sulked out, Claudia rushing to keep up. “Stupid idiots. They are so wound up in their fanaticism over the new supposed ‘hero’ who has come to save the magical creatures that they don’t even stop to think that he isn’t the chosen one.” Devlyn huffily stomped out of the room. Claudia was now slightly jogging to keep up with the long, angry stride of the old man.
“Devlyn, can we return to your home now? I want to have time to ponder over what I have done and seen today.” Devlyn, still fuming, acquiesced. They walked back to the door that led back to Devlyn’s house. They stepped into the hallway. His house looked very banal compared to the place they had just left. Devlyn turned to walk into the den, but Claudia called after him. “Can I see the book that I looked at earlier?” Devlyn disappeared into the study room. He came back into the hallway where Claudia was waiting with the Booke of Mystic under his arm. Claudia grabbed the book from him and ran up the stairs to her chamber. She opened the book to the page about Canngars.

Canngars are easily entertained beings with human characteristics, but no magical ability whatsoever. They have belief in a supreme being because that is the only way they can explain what happens in the world. We, however, know better.

“Blasphemy” muttered Claudia. She stopped reading and turned to the page on which her mother had written her a message. On the top of the page it talked about how living people could communicate with the dead and the ways in which you could. One of the ways was writing back and forth through a book, which meant the most to the dead person while they were living. The bottom of the page was blank, but words were crammed against the side. The words began to move again. They spelled the words ‘Hello again, my child.’ Claudia was a little freaked out, so she wrote a quick little message back: ‘Hello.’ And put the book down on her bedside table.
Slowly, the day’s events repeated over again in her mind. She saw the words changing. She saw the practice field and her father’s friend. She saw herself shoot air (‘Was it magic?’ Claudia thought) in one direction. She saw the visions. She saw Devlyn’s face when he found out what she had visions about. She saw the fans jumping around like maniacs. And she saw the book again. She placed a hand on the book and had one more vision.
She saw herself placed on a seat, high above the others. She was being carried through a city and people were screaming her name, looking up at her with adoration. One face stood above the others: a man she did not recognize. His hair was wild and his arms were rippled. He had wavy black hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen.
Unconsciously, Claudia’s hand slipped off the book and the vision slipped into her dreams.
Someone yelling downstairs woke Claudia. She got out of bed, quickly pulled her robe over her pajamas and went downstairs. The dwarf, Garthfen, was jumping around in the den, yelling at the top of his low, gruff voice. “Y’should be sending her to the elves for training. It’s what I would o’ done if she had displayed magical powers under my care! I know y’think that because she is half canngar, that she should be trained like one. I know that y’didn’t know about her powers until yesterday, but I would have asked Lanore about it as soon as that happened.”
Claudia slipped into the room, quiet as a mouse. “Excuse me, Garthfen sir, but I am not an elf. Devlyn has done a wonderful job so far and I have no intention of going to the elves for training.” Garthfen looked surprised at her. Then recognition came over his face.
“Y’must be the girl we were yelling about. I’m sorry if I woke yeh.” Devlyn smiled at her from behind Garthfen.
“Yes, my friend. This is Claudia. As you can see she has no intention of leaving and if she does not want to, I will not make her. And, if my opinion counts, I do not want her to leave either.” Garthfen turned sour.
“It is not right to connect with your pupil.” Saying this, he stomped out of the room and slammed the front door closed.

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Harry Potter fan, unless they kill Hermione, Ron, or Ginny.