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.

---

---

 

---

 
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 33: Traps

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, I was pleased to see Hannah awake in bed and apologizing to her while crying and apologizing to me. “I was so stupid, Sofia!!! You could have died!”

I shook my head and got a little loose of her grasp, “Hannah, even if it had hit me, I wouldn’t have died.”

“What?”

“Regeneration would have taken care of that even if it had hit me in the head,” I told her.

“But…”

“I was more worried about you getting the shock you did from me,” I told her honestly. Then, after about a half-hour of apologizing to each other, her doctor came in.

“I’m glad to see you’re awake, Hannah. I’d like to keep you overnight for observation just to be safe, though.”

We both groaned, “What about Sofia?” she asked.

“Well… umm…”

“I’ll go back to the dorm Hannah. I’ll get Camille to help me tonight,” I told her.

As I said her name, she came running in, “We just heard! Are you okay, Hannah?”

She groaned herself. About an hour later, it was decided that I would return to the dorm, and I was to ‘mind my babysitter,’ Hannah told me quietly. Before I left, I nursed to help her out before Camille carried me home to the dorm. When we returned to my room, I had a very leaky diaper.

“I hope Hannah can come back tomorrow,” she told me.

“Why?”

“Well, as much as I like babysitting you, my family is supposed to meet me in New York City for Thanksgiving.”

“Wait… New York City, really?” I said a little incredulously. “They’ll let that trip happen? Even after…?”

She laughed, “They long ago decided it doesn’t matter where students go for a break; it’s inevitable they’ll get in trouble.”

I nodded but thought I had heard of the issues with Mergents in New York City on break, even when I was back home. But, of course, that was before I heard about the stories from much closer sources!

“Where’s your key?” She asked me.

“In here,” I said as I pulled my purse out and tapped my rarely used ID card on the door lock to open it.

A moment later, she had me lying on the changing table. “Sorry, sweetie, but this outfit has had it for now,” she said as she pointed out the wet spot on the romper from where my diaper had leaked.

I shrugged, “Not the first time.”

All of a sudden, she squealed and started treating me like I really was a baby. “Who’s the cutest little baby ever!?!” She said as she taped my diaper shut.

I groaned but let her have her fun. “So, I guess you’ll get to see your baby sister over break?” I asked her.

“Yep! Can’t wait to see her too!”

I smiled and sighed, “I wish I could see Lily.”

“Maybe you could get your parents and Hannah’s parents to come for Christmas Break? They could stay in the Village?”

I shook my head, “I think I’m going to be undercover then…?”

“What?”

“Didn’t I tell you about yesterday yet?”

“No?”

She sat me down on the floor and sat cross-legged across from me. “So?”

“Well, the first day we met with Mrs. Hensley, she asked if I would want to let any of the CIA or FBI recruiters through.”

“Makes sense; you’re like the most perfect espionage tool ever!” She said with a smile.

I nodded, “I said the FBI, though, which Caireen approved of because she figured we’d be good for helping out with kid’s cases.”

I saw Camille’s eyes narrow a little in concern. “So, did you meet with the FBI yesterday, then?”

“Yeah, and signed up basically for something like a JROTC program.”

“That’s cool, so you’ll have a job when you graduate?”

“With better pay and at a higher level, depending on if I finish college first, too.”

“So undercover over Christmas?”

“They have some daycare they’ve been watching, I guess, and haven’t been able to get anyone employed there to investigate. But, of course, as a baby, they shouldn’t suspect me.”

She nodded, “So what’s the crime?”

I told her, and I watched her face turn white, “Sofia, that’s really dangerous. What if…?”

I shook my head, “Between my magical ability, Caireen as a help, and the other abilities I have, I’m not really worried about it. They’ll have backup for me, too,” I reassured her.

“That’s still scary. I can’t imagine sending a baby in…?”

I shrugged, “I’m not really a baby, though, am I?”

I watched her face change, “No, you’re not… are they going to give you any lessons before you go in?”

“Huh?”

“Sofia, how old are you supposed to be?”

“Well, my GEID says eighteen months…? They said maybe twenty to twenty-two?”

“Okay, we’ll call you eighteen for argument; most eighteen-month-old babies only have about 10-20 words at most, they say.”

I nodded, “I know…?”

“What do they play with?”

“Baby toys?” I suggested.

She sighed, “Okay, let’s look in this toy chest and see what’s right for you to play with in the daycare!”

Before I knew it, she had a cloth baby doll, baby care accessories, a ‘speak and say,’ bead maze toy, and a few other ‘age appropriate’ toys. “Okay, let’s figure out what words you can say.”

I groaned. Twenty minutes later, Camille had written down a list that started with ‘mama,’ had ‘diapee,’ ‘baba,’ ‘owie,’ and some other fundamental words, including ‘no.’ I looked at the list and groaned, “what do I use if it’s not on here?”

“You make up nonsense, baby sounds. Didn’t you ever do that as a kid?”

I shook my head, “I’m sure I did, but I don’t remember it. I kind of remember the sounds Lily made last year...?”

She helped me to play for a little while before the knock on the door happened, and our housemother Mrs. Lang came in. “Well… umm… Sofia, I just came by to see if you would be okay tonight without Hannah?”

I looked at her and smiled, “I have my babysitter here; I’ll be fine.”

“You sure?” she looked at Camille.

“Yes, ma’am, we’re taking the opportunity to help Sofia learn how to blend more for something she has coming up.”

“Okay then,” she said. “Camille, Hannah told me to tell you that there is milk in the fridge for Sofia.”

I blushed a bit, then, “Got it! Thanks!” Camille responded.

“Baba?” I asked her as I was thirsty.

“Aww…” she said. She walked over to the small fridge in the corner and opened it.

“Wow, she wasn’t kidding when she said there was milk in here?”

I looked, “Whoa!” I said, seeing pouches of milk filling nearly every shelf inside there.

She grabbed a pouch of milk and poured it into a bottle. “How does she heat these up?”

I started to say something but instead smiled at her and babbled nonsensically.

“Well, why am I asking you, huh? Mommy just normally gives it to you right from her, huh?” She smiled at me. “Guess I’ll just have to use some magic?”

I watched her chant something and could tell how she had used her magic to do it. Then, she picked me up and carried me to the rocking chair. She put the nipple in my mouth, and I nursed contentedly on the milk that was the perfect temperature that it came out from Hannah.

I didn’t intend to sleep, but it happened anyway.

 
 

IN THE CASTLE, I was woken up oddly. Something wasn’t right as I stirred in my crib. I opened my eyes and wet my diaper as I spied a threat.

“Ah, did the little baby wake up?” Rosemerta asked.

“Why? Do you want to sleep in my crib?” I asked nervously.

“No, thank you, Princess,” she replied as she stepped toward me and pointed a silver dagger at me.

I debated what to do since I couldn’t get out of the crib alone. Caireen would come if I cried, but there was enough of a teenage boy still in me that the idea of crying before this monster felt wrong. “What are you going to do?” I asked instead as I tried to buy some time.

“Well, before King Camulus wanted you kidnapped and unharmed. After what you did to me last time, though, he’s willing to let me harm you a little… even said I was welcome to take a bit of your manna as a souvenir!”

My eyes blazed as I stared at her, “Come and get me then!” I told her while I initiated my shield spell.

“Sounds like a plan,” she said as she stepped forward with the dagger, trying to stab me over the top rail of the crib.

Suddenly there was an explosion of light, a boom, and Rosemerta was explosively flung across the room. Caireen must have done something with the crib to ward off Rosemerta. Unfortunately for the crib, though, it seemed to have been a one-time spell that destroyed it, leaving me standing on a tiny bit of rubble. So I drew in manna and began a binding attack Caireen had taught me in the last few days. I was pleased to see golden tendrils wrap around her stunned body.

“No!” She screamed. She began to try to shape into a bat again, but the tendrils locked around that smaller form. I toddled over to a small table that a vase with flowers sat on, emptied it out, and walked towards the writhing bat. I carefully used a nearby toy block to help push it into the vase just as Caireen and twenty guards entered.

It was almost comical as they stood there looking around in shock. Finally, Caireen being the goddess she was, figured out what had likely happened before anyone else, and she came over to me. “Baby, are you okay?!?”

“I’m fine! Your ward against Rosemerta worked like a charm!” I told her with a smile. “The only thing I had to do was that binding spell you taught me. She was silly and tried changing into a bat, so I put her in this vase.”

I had put on my best look mommy at what I did face. She picked me up and squished me with a tight hug for a moment. Caireen looked into the vase and said, “Bring that creature down to the throne room for judgment in one hour. Do not let anyone come near it.” Then, she created an additional cage wrapped tightly around the vase to ensure she was contained. I could sense that if anyone other than her tried to open it, bad things would happen.

“At once, Your Majesty,” one of the guards said, taking six others with him as he left.

“The rest of you, please guard outside and see that we discover how the creature made it back into the castle. That feat should have been impossible!”

There was a chorus of groveling as they left, and Caireen looked at me.

“Well, Princess, you did very, very well there!”

“Thank you,” I told her.

“I guess we have work to do now, so let’s get you fed, changed, and ready for the trial.”

Caireen took the time to nurse me, fed me some mashed fruit, and then changed what was, by that time, a very wet and messy diaper. Next, she dressed me in a formal dress that matched the one she was wearing in color but clearly said I was a baby with a high waist style. With the petticoats pushing the skirts way out, I felt ridiculous. Still, I also knew I had to be ridiculously cute! The tiara on my head, plus the matching dresses, told anyone who looked that I was her heir and daughter.

She carried me to the outer door of the throne room and said, “Count to sixty and then follow me.”

I wasn’t alone; ten guards encircled me to form a complete ring of protection. As I counted in my head, I couldn’t help but think about how close I had once again been to me being kidnapped. More than anything, I couldn’t believe King Camulus would be stupid enough to send the same failed vampire to come and attack me. Indeed, he had to know that Caireen would set up wards specifically for her?

Something about this smelled worse than my diaper had a while ago. I began looking around and stiffened as I noticed something very wrong with the armor the guards were wearing. Her guards were all armored in an expensive Mithril chain mail that had been gifted to her army long ago. These guys all had simple steel chain mail except for one.

‘Shit!’

I decided it was better to play along for the moment, so other than taking the time to charge my shield, I just said, “Open the door for me, please.”

The one soldier I recognized as legit followed the order and held the door open. “Right this way, Your Highness.”

“Thank you. By the way, Sir, I like how shiny your chain mail is compared to everyone else’s.”

I watched his eyes narrow as he took in what I had seen. “Run, Princess!” He screamed as he drew his sword.

I debated about standing and fighting for a moment, but he pushed me through the door and stayed on the other side to buy me time. Not wanting to waste his life, I ran as fast as possible down the hallway to the throne room.

Caireen watched me come down the hallway running and had a smile that quickly turned to fear. I heard the sound of the armored figure bearing down on me and decided this was as good of a spot to fight as any. I turned, planted my feet, and surged three ley lines into a bolt of energy straight at the man. Happily, he dropped, but seven other soldiers followed him down the hallway. I quickly used a spell I’d learned to make fire and sent a stream of it racing down the hallway toward the seven. With that, I turned to run to Caireen’s arms.

“Mama!” I found myself screeching and mentally beating myself over the head. ‘Seriously? Did you need to officially make her another mother?’ A voice in my brain argued, ‘You nurse from her breasts; she’s a mama.’

Three last stragglers tried following me in the final steps but were cut down by soldiers loyal to Caireen.

“What the Hell happened?!?!” Caireen screeched angrily.

“I think it was a trap to get us down here,” I told her.

“Rosemerta was just a ploy?”

I nodded, “Where is she?”

“In here, Your Highness,” another soldier said and pulled the sheet off the cage. The vase was tipped over to where we could see inside…

It was empty!

 
 

Thank you for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button if you’ve enjoyed it! I’ve had a few posts without any comments at times, and I would really really really appreciate it you would leave one! I do really appreciate the Kudos button, but please consider leaving a comment if you’re reading? I will fully admit to feeling neglected when there’s none…? (Pretty Please? With a cherry on top?!?)

I will be making an adjustment to my posting schedule and posting Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday for the remainder of the chapters.

If you're someone who must finish a good story 'now,' consider purchasing the full book on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTBTTGX1 I will be posting a chapter about every other day until the complete 62 Chapters and the Epilogue are reposted.