Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 21: Powers

AS SOON AS I was asleep at Bechtel, I was waking up in Caireen’s world. “This is so weird,” I said to Caireen as she picked me up out of the crib.

“What is?”

I sighed, “Not really ever feeling like I’m asleep?” I paused, “It’s like I live the life of a vampire, never sleeping.”

I saw Caireen flinch, “Please don’t mention those creatures… You are most certainly not like them.”

I raised my eyebrow, “Huh?”

“Vampires. They aren’t like that novel I saw inside your head, but they’re based on a real enough creature. They are nasty creatures of evil. I really have no desire to think of them,” she said. Then, she changed the subject as she changed my diaper, “It seems like today you started to at least get the point that you are a baby, though.”

I sighed, “I guess I don’t have a lot of choices.”

She nodded, “Good, the sooner I believe you believe that maybe I’ll work on helping you regain independence.”

I looked up hopefully, “Like changing myself?”

“That, and maybe an illusion for you to make yourself look like an average teenage girl?”

“Wait, what?!?!” I controlled my voice, “You can help me be a regular teenager?”

“No, but you can appear to be to observers. You can make your body appear to at least visually look like you’re eighteen or so. Really you’ll still be your same size.”

“Could I…”

“What?”

I thought for a second and tried to find the right question “Can I be touched and felt like that?”

She looked at me and sighed, “Not with the illusion I’m thinking of. It depends on the fact that the person is not trying to actually touch you. What you’re speaking of would be a physical shapeshift spell.”

“It is possible?” I asked hesitantly.

Caireen thought long and hard before answering, “Yes, Sofia; eventually, you will be powerful enough to change your body to some small amounts. However, I would advise against you ever trying anything that extensive.” Then, she paused, staring at me momentarily as if judging my maturity. She helped me put on a new dress, “The problem is that EFP of yours is likely to interfere if you do more than something that keeps you your current size. I would say at most you might have a one percent chance of being successful with transforming to adult size - even when you are fully trained in a few decades.”

I mouthed, ‘decades?’

She nodded at the silent question but continued, “You’re probably about eighty percent likely to make yourself look like some sort of hideous monster, though.”

“The other percent?”

“Something unknown, or nothing at all.”

I sighed, “So not really worth it.”

“No, not really.”

“But the illusion?”

“I’ll make you a deal. You go along with the baby treatment for a couple more weeks.” Then, she poked my nose, “Let that cute girl Camille and your other friends take care of getting you from class to class, changed, and drink out of a baby bottle in the cafeteria.”

I groaned at the last one, “sippy cup?” I suggested.

She shook her head, “Bottle - you know that you like drinking from them more than the sippy cups. This is about getting comfortable with the unavoidable truth that you are a baby.”

“Anything else?”

She looked at me briefly and said, “No, that’ll do. You do those things the next few weeks, and I’ll teach you those two spells.”

I reached my hand out with my pinky, “Pinky promise?”

She looked almost offended for a second but smiled and took my tiny pinky with hers, “Pinky promise.”

I smiled at that. The end wasn’t in sight, but at least there was a chance of me going on with life a little more normally!

“Okay, now that we’ve talked, let’s get breakfast before I want to teach you a few more things before the testing tomorrow.”

The next several hours, the baby routine continued, and she taught me a great deal about the principles behind magic and ley lines. By lunch, I felt like I had new ideas for working spells. She had also taught me some simple warding spells and how to detect them by the time I went to bed in her world.

“Good night Princess,” she said with a smile as she lay me down in the crib.

 
 
AS I WOKE up in the real world, I found myself already on the changing table having my diaper changed. “Those eyes do open!” Hannah cooed at me.

I sighed, “What time is it?”

“Six-thirty,” she said, “now that you’re awake, instead of me putting another diapee on you - you up for a shower with me?”

“How about by myself?” I suggested.

She shook her head, “You didn’t see the showers here yesterday. I don’t think you’ll be able to work them by yourself.”

“Oh,” I admitted. Then sheepishly, I asked, “aren’t there bathtubs?”

“Not yet… I thought Caireen might be able to help out with that one tonight?”

Caireen stirred and told me, ‘We can do that. You’re a baby… And babies really should have baths!’

I just nodded at Hannah. Then, instead of putting a new diaper on me, she wrapped me in a ‘Brave’ themed towel and sat me on the floor to walk. I held onto the towel and toddled behind her as she had a basket of shower supplies, a clean diaper, and her clothes in her hands. “What about my clothes?” I asked her as we walked.

“We’ll come back to the room and get you dressed,” she told me.

‘So, I’ll be sitting around watching her get ready and only be wearing a diaper,’ I sighed.

‘Remember what we talked about last night, Sofia,’ Caireen reminded me.

‘I know…’ I said, ‘Sorry, it’s not like I was always diapered and used to everyone seeing me naked. I am...? Was...? A teenager and we like our privacy.’

She didn’t say anything back, and we were in the bathroom. Other girls were naked and getting in and out of the shower, but just like with Camille, I felt nothing. I just sighed and followed Hannah to an empty stall. She pulled her pajamas and nursing bra off as discreetly as possible and hopped into the shower. I could see that she was full, but she didn’t seem to be leaking yet. ‘I would have thought she had to have been leaking by now?’ Hannah must have noticed me looking because after she flicked on a switch labeled ‘silence,’ she said, “I used the pump in the middle of the night and before I woke you up.”

“Oh,” I said.

“I didn’t want to wait until you finally woke up enough. Plus, I thought you might like to have a shower,” Hannah added.

I nodded, watched her press some buttons on an electronic screen, and braced myself to be hit with freezing cold water when she turned it on. But instead, the water immediately streamed out at the perfect shower temperature. “Wow,” I said as I stepped closer to her and the water.

She giggled, “Apparently, one of the rich kids in that initial class they were telling us about added this feature to the showers. They made improvements to each floor as they went through high school. The senior’s floor is supposedly absolutely amazing, thanks to them!”

Hannah took some body soap and put it on a loofa before handing it to me. ‘May I?’ I asked Caireen internally.

‘This isn’t one of the conditions, so go ahead,’ she said.

I smiled as I took the loofa and lathered up every inch of my body. In the meantime, Hannah did her hair. Once she had the shampoo and conditioner out of her hair, she took the loofa and used the body wash on herself. She picked up the shampoo bottle and said, “Close your eyes, Sofia.”

She washed my hair out gently and pulled the shower head down to rinse my hair free of the suds. Hannah turned the water off, reached for her body towel, wrapped her head in a towel, and then used my Merida towel to dry me. She wrapped me in it briefly and said, “Let’s step out into the bathroom, and we’ll get your diaper on you.”

I groaned but had already unintentionally peed a bunch in the shower. Without warning, Hannah pulled the towel away from me, laid it down on a bench, and picked me up to lay me down on it. She grabbed the diaper she had brought, lifted my legs, and quickly fastened the tapes before setting me down on the ground to walk with her to the mirror. Hannah picked me up and sat me on the counter to brush out my hair and blow dry it as she did the same to hers.

Camille walked in then and sleepily said, “Hi Sofia, hi Hannah,” and then trudged to the shower she seemingly got into on autopilot. Most girls in the bathroom ignored me or waved ‘hi’ to me as they walked past. One girl, though, stopped and stared at me as I stared back at her.

Though I wasn’t attracted, I could still know she was probably the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She must have been a high-level paradigm, and I swore I had seen her before somewhere. Then it hit me, I had! She was in one of Mom’s magazines. I was curious enough to read it one day and remembered an ad for makeup or something with her in it!

“You have to be the most beautiful baby I have ever seen!” the girl cooed as she came over.

I decided to maybe correct her there, “Hi, I’m Sofia,” I said as I held my hand out to her.

“You’re not really a baby?” the girl said, “I’m Anna, by the way,” she added to be polite.

“It’s kind of complicated. I was eighteen until a bit over a week ago.”

“I know how that goes…” she said. “I assume you were probably a guy too?”

I nodded, “You?”

“Yep! It took seven months to change into this…” she said as she motioned to her body.

Hannah finished putting her clothes on and said, “Hi, I’m Hannah,” to her.

“Her mother?”

“Complicated,” we said together and laughed.

“We used to be best friends pretty much,” Hannah said. “Sofia changed first, and then I changed when she was being chased by some assholes.”

Anna nodded as if that was the most natural thing in the world. “Well, I’d better get a shower. Sofia, you really should join the Aphrodite’s Club. Hannah, you would probably be welcome too. Sofia, you would make a fortune in modeling contracts and acting as a baby.”

I sighed, “So I’ve heard. I’ll look into it. I suppose being the model on the box of Pampers toddling around in nothing but a diaper isn’t any different than right now?”

She laughed, “It would suit you well, and you could make a ton of money.”

‘Money?’ I thought to myself.

‘Like you really need any….’ Caireen reminded me.

She was correct; as easy as she magically made anything that I needed to just appear… and most babies don’t really spend money themselves… I sighed as Hannah brought a toothbrush up to my mouth. I took it and brushed my teeth before she helped me rinse my mouth out and carried me to our room. “You ready for breakfast now?” she asked me.

I looked at her and nodded. Then, after I nursed her breasts, she put me into my miniature version of her school uniform. “You look adorable!” Hannah said.

I stuck my tongue out at her, “I’m waaaaay more than adorable!”

She laughed, “Oh no, Princess Sofia is going to turn into a conceited brat if I keep giving compliments.”

I glared at her, “I’m already there! Now can we get some solid breakfast?”

She laughed and said, “Just a minute, let me make sure I have your diaper bag stocked since I have a feeling that they’ll separate us most of today.”

“In that case, you might want to have your pump handy somewhere, too,” I advised her.

She sighed and patted a backpack on the bed, “already in there.”

I stood up and hugged her legs, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m the milk cow, and you’re the diapered baby… not sure which one of us has the most to complain about,” she admitted.

“I’m pretty sure I won that battle. You can still do all the things you want to do,” I reminded her as she helped me put a coat on and then did the same.

“And you can’t?”

I sighed, “At least not for a while. Maybe eventually…”

“That’s the most hopeful you’ve sounded?” She said as she put on her backpack, put the diaper bag on her shoulder, and picked me up.

“Caireen and I made a deal last night. Speaking of which, you have bottles, right?” I asked suddenly.

“Of course, what kind of mommy would I be without bottles for my baby?” She said with a giggle. “Why are you asking, though? You didn’t want to use one in public yesterday?”

“I made Caireen a deal that I would let others help me out in class, change me, and carry me as needed… and drink out of bottles in the cafeteria. In exchange, she’ll teach me what I need to know to maybe sort of be normal some of the time.”

“How?” she asked as we passed through the door to go outside. “It’s cold out here,” she said in her next breath.

“Yeah, glad you remembered the coats!” I said and looked around at the ground and the shallow older-looking snow. Then, for the first time, it really struck me that we were in Vermont and surely would be getting as much, or more, snow as in Los Alamos. As if the weather had heard me, I felt a snowflake land on my nose and looked up to catch one in my mouth.

“Earth to Sofia,” I heard.

“Oh, right,” I said and told her how Caireen offered to help me. She looked a little disappointed with the idea that I would be a bit more self-sufficient, but I think she also understood. We went to the table that had become our typical hangout and left her bag and my diaper bag sitting with Camille watching over them. She smiled and waved us to get food while she munched on some variety of oatmeal.

Once again, I loaded a plate high with food and accepted the incredulous looks of the students around me. Anna saw me and said, “Hi, Sofia! You need a hand with that?”

I shook my head, “I’m good, thank you, though.”

Hannah followed me behind, and we swiped our temporary cards before returning to the table with our food. Hannah had a baby bottle full of juice in her hand that she handed me, and I sighed before putting it in my mouth.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” Anna asked quietly as she sat down in an empty chair beside me.

“What?”

“Letting people know you’re a baby?”

I laughed, “I was worried about that at first, Anna, but trust me, there’s no way I can hide the fact that I’m a two-year-old who will never be potty trained.” I sucked from my bottle again and said, “At least I look like a normal baby like this…?”

She nodded.

The conversation around the table mostly centered around projects due that week and the classes students were working on. There were a few discussions about something called the Cube and midterms. I looked with an eyebrow raised at Hannah about that, and she shrugged. “I’m not sure if you’ll have to participate in the Cube or not since you have come so late. They may not make you take them until the spring,” Anna told us.

Then, everyone filled us in on what the Cube was. Apparently, with superpowered teenagers, they needed to teach us how to fight and survive. The Cube was the center of that achievement; apparently, it kept getting ‘better’ every year. We had a couple upperclassmen at our table who had been through it and told their stories. I shuddered a bit but knew I could probably actually hold my own in there. Our favorite bully walked in right then and glared at me. As she started to come over toward us, I could see in her body language that she still hadn’t learned her lesson. To discourage her, I changed her hair from carefully styled, loosely hanging about her face to two tightly braided pigtails. At the ends of the braids were giant bright pink and white bows holding them together. It was almost comical as she felt her hair change, pulled one of the ends of the braid towards her face to look at it, and then screeched loudly in anger!

“You know you probably shouldn’t taunt her,” Anna told me.

“Probably not.” I nodded solemnly but couldn’t help smiling and adding, “She’ll eventually try and spank me or something.”

Everyone at the table laughed, and Hannah looked at a clock in the hall and said, “Come on, Sofia, we need to get you changed and then get to Caduceus Hall for power testing.”

I grabbed my half-full bottle and stuck it in my mouth as she carried me out of the dining hall. I couldn’t help but laugh as Streaked was having her friends try and loosen the ribbons on her braids. I debated on undoing them, but they would fade away in another hour on their own. Maybe she’d learn her lesson about threatening Hannah or me in the meantime.

Hannah carried me to the bathroom she had used to change me yesterday and soon exposed my diaper by pulling up my skirt. “You soaked this, Sofia,” she told me.

“Well, I had half a bottle at the table, and umm…. that would have to be at least a bottle earlier?”

Hannah shook her head, “It’s probably more than that.”

I thought back as she wiped me with a cold wipe. It distracted me for a moment before I asked, “Umm… Hannah, just how much do you think I’m umm... drinking?”

She finished taping my new diaper on, “It’s way more than a normal baby,” she said.

“Huh?”

She sighed, “Remember I woke up early?”

I nodded.

“I looked up the normal amount for mothers on the internet… it’s like somewhere between twenty to thirty-four ounces a day.”

I thought back, “my bottles are like eight ounces?”

“Actually, ten, and you can fill them a bit beyond that.” She said as she washed her hands in the sink and looked down at me. “I used the pump this morning…” she sighed again, “I definitely am putting out more like that maximum daily amount of each breast each time. So far, I think I’m averaging thirty-two ounces per breast per time.”

My eyes must have been showing their shock as I realized that only because I’m a Mergent could I keep up with her load of milk! Over sixty-four ounces every time I was nursing?!? She could feed multiple normal babies and not even come close to emptying herself! ‘How are my diapers keeping up with that?!?’

 
 

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