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 3: Homecoming

I LOOKED AHEAD at the road from the seat and noted that it was weird to be unable to move as much. I did feel safer, though, from a collision this way. I couldn’t believe how small I was now… I sat sucking on the pacifier more without noticing for a few minutes and decided to experiment by pulling it out of my mouth. I held it in my hand to reassure myself that it wasn’t going anywhere.

“Tired of sucking on that?” I hear Mom ask from the front looking at the camera monitor we had for the backseat.

“Experimenting…” I told her.

“Huh?” Dad asked.

I sighed, “How long I can resist sucking on a pacifier. I assume this is what a smoker feels like while trying to quit.”

“It’s that bad?” Mom asked with concern.

“Not if it’s in my mouth,” I said grimly. Trying to change the subject, “So I’m the same size of clothes as Lily now?”

“Well, not diaper-wise,” she said.

“Huh?”

“You’re lighter and skinnier… you’re actually a size smaller there.”

I groaned, “I am taller than her, at least.”

“For now…” Dad said quietly.

I glared at the camera in case he looked at the monitor screen. I managed to last with the pacifier out of my mouth until we pulled into our driveway nearly thirty minutes later. Something about arriving home sent anxiety to my brain. The outside was covered in seven inches of snow or so. I tried to pop the latches on the harness, but I couldn’t quite make my fingers hit it from the right angle. I had just decided to try using magic when Mom opened my door and swatted my hands from the straps. “I’ll get that, honey.”

I sighed. “I’m not really a baby…?”

She raised an eyebrow and said, “I know you’re not… but how about we pretend the rules for your sister apply to you until we get testing done Monday.”

I groaned! Mom didn’t spank Lily for much, but getting out of her car seat on her own had nearly caused an accident a couple months ago. They had been very strict about not messing with her buckles after that!

“What day is it anyway?” I asked with a sigh. “Was I just out the one day?”

“It’s Thursday; you were only unconscious for about seven hours.”

“So, three days?”

“What, you can’t last that long?” Mom teased but looked concerned.

I shrugged, “I don’t know, actually.”

“Well, let’s go inside and let Hannah off the hook from your sister. Your dad is going to drive her home.” She had picked me up, and I was easily able to cling onto her and my teddy bear at the same time as she held her hand below my bottom. I could feel that my diaper was squishier than it had been a moment ago, but I hadn’t felt any sensation of going.

“Can you please change me too?” I asked.

“Did you go again?” she asked me.

I nodded as Dad opened the door for us. “I don’t know when either,” I said with a frown.

She tickled my chin, “No frowning! If you can’t help it, you can’t help it. We’ll deal with it,” she said with a smile and then kissed the top of my head and carried me upstairs. Hannah and Lily had just come from the basement and followed us there. Lily was climbing up the stairs as best she could.

‘Great, that’ll be embarrassing,’ I told myself as I considered how I would be climbing the stairs the same way. ‘The baby gates are taller than me now, too,’ I sulked as mom carried me up the stairs.

The most embarrassing experience was when I was laid down on Lily’s changing table a few moments later. Mom didn’t hesitate or give me any warning as she put the strap over my chest and began pulling at the snaps at the crotch. I saw Hannah watching, and then she turned away guiltily.

As painfully embarrassing as being naked with a wet diaper was, I decided I had to say something to help with the awkwardness. “So... Hannah… are they planning on there being school tomorrow?”

She looked back over at me, and I realized it had to have been hard to understand around the pacifier. So my hand pulled away the pacifier, and I repeated it.

“Probably, unless we were to get more snow.” She said.

“Can you turn in my essay if I can get it done?” I asked.

“Umm… sure.” She said.

“I have calculus done, too,” I said as I felt mom rip the tapes open on the old diaper.

As if she finally understood that it was okay to look and talk to me, she came back toward me. “Did you figure out that last calculus problem?”

“Sort of,” I said as I tried to distract myself from Mom grabbing my feet in one hand and lifting my bottom while pulling the wet diaper out from underneath. “My dad and I think there’s a mistake. So he helped me solve it as far as possible, and then I also solved it with the corrected problem.”

“Think you can help me with that before he takes me home?” She asked me.

“Sure,” I said as Mom finished taping the new diaper on me. I had done my best to ignore the powder she had used and the whole experience. Especially the embarrassment I was fighting with one of my best friends watching! Mom snapped the crotch of my overalls back closed and set me on the ground. “Now?” I asked.

“I guess,” she responded, and we went to my room.

Mom called, “Lily, where are you? Let’s change your diapee too while I’m at it.”

My backpack was lying on the floor, and I unzipped it without any problems. Hannah looked at the book I was about to grab and was going to offer to carry it.

“I’ve got it,” I told her with a smile.

“That book weighs like a quarter of your weight, though,” she started to argue.

I picked it up like I was still her size. “I may be the size of a baby Hannah; I may even never be potty trained again and need a pacifier...”

Suddenly I felt tears coming to my eyes, “Where is my paci…?” I started, but she reached down and put it in my mouth. The tears quickly went away, “Fanks,” I said around it with a sigh.

“This sucks!” I said. “Anyway, I’m strong!” I told her with a smile that made its way around the shield.

She shook her head and had a seat on the ground with me. Hannah had grabbed her backpack, too, and we sat down to talk about it. As we were finishing, Lily came in after Mom had finished changing her and pulled at me. “Play with me, Nicko?”

I looked at Hannah and winked, “I guess now that I’m a baby, I get to play more?”

“All da time!” Lily said and kept pulling at me.

“See you later, Hannah,” I told her, knowing she would leave now.

She hugged me before I let Lily lead me down to her room, and we played for what seemed like a few minutes when Mom picked us both up. “Come on, dinner time, you two,” Mom said.

“Aww…” I heard Lily say and realized my voice joined hers.

She took us to the bathroom, where she picked us up to wash our hands before carrying us down to the kitchen. Lily’s high chair had been joined by another. “You get chair like me!” she said excitedly.

I sighed. “I’m too short for a regular chair now, Lily,” I told her. “Couldn’t I use a booster seat, though?” I suggested to Mom.

She looked embarrassed, “I don’t think we even thought about that… Would you mind for now?”

I grimaced but said, “Okay.”

Mom put Lily down in her chair first and handed me to Dad. I groaned a bit as Dad buckled the seatbelt and put the tray in place. Mom put one of Lily’s bibs around her neck and seemed to look at me for whether or not she needed to put one on me.

“Nicko bib?” Lily asked.

I shook my head, “I’m a big… girl; I shouldn’t need it.” I said to Mom as much as Lily.

Mom nodded, “I know you’re still eighteen, really… we’ll try it.”

I sighed in relief. Dinner was a piece of pizza, and I asked, “Mom, may I have a fork and a knife?”

She looked at me skeptically but brought me a regular size fork and knife. I hated eating with my hands, especially pizza, something my mom had no idea where I had gotten from. I noticed my parents trying not to watch me as I gripped the too-large silverware in my hands. I still had the coordination to make the cuts, but they were too big. I thought for a moment and decided to try something.

I pictured the lines I had seen earlier back in my mind, and I could see them on everything again. I visualized the silverware being back to a normal proportion for me, and with a quick flash, they were!

“What did you do?” Mom asked nervously.

“Same thing I did to make the bear’s dresses,” I told her with a smile and used the correct size utensils to cut a piece of the pizza off. From my new perspective, the single piece looked like half a pizza. “May I have a drink, please?” I asked her.

She looked at me and shook her head. I watched her go to the cabinets, where she grabbed a pink Disney Princess sippy cup for me and filled it with juice from the fridge. I looked at her like, ‘really?’ but she smirked. “You’re going to have to get used to using sippy cups in this house, sweetie. I learned long ago that it was a good idea until you were about six!”

I sighed, “Whatever,” and took a drink. It really was okay, I didn’t mind the girly cup, but I hated having another reminder of my new situation. ‘How bad is a sippy cup compared to a pacifier addiction?’ I asked myself. With a sigh, I returned to eating my meal and had the pizza devoured before my sister managed about half of her much smaller slice. I finished the juice too. “May I please have more?” I asked. They avoided actively staring at me and were surprised I finished the food.

“You need more?” Mom asked.

I shrugged, “I’m hungry, I guess.”

Even I was a bit surprised as I finished the third slice a while later and finally began to feel full. “You’re going to be sick later, Sofia!” Mom said to me as she unbuckled me from the highchair.

“Maybe, maybe not… I’m not really three…”

“No, you’re really more like two, sweetie,” she said to rub salt in the wound but had a smile on her face.

I turned around and looked at my sister standing next to the couch. I watched as she bent her legs for a moment and knew what she was doing. Sure enough, when she stood up, she smiled and looked happy. I was just getting ready to wonder if I would be in a similar state when I felt something warm coming out of my rear end. I realized I was standing with my knees bent and stood back up, shocked. Meanwhile, my sister sat down, and I swear it looked like she was smushing it all around.

Mom came up from behind me, “Smells like I have a poopie pants around here,” she said.

I just started bawling.

I felt her pick me up and try to soothe me for several moments. It made it worse, though, because she accidentally smushed some of it against my butt when she picked me up. Finally, she carried me upstairs and said, “Lily, come on! You’re poopy too! I need to change you and your sister and put you in the bath.”

I bawled uncontrollably and barely registered anything until she laid me back on the changing table. She gently unsnapped and pulled the coveralls off my body to expose my shirt and the diaper. I felt her undo the tapes and was surprised that this time I didn’t smell the terrible scent I usually did when Lily pooped her diapers. She gently opened the diaper and began wiping me clean. I was surprised when she sat me back down on the ground without putting another diaper on me.

“Ni… Sofia, would you please go wait for us in the bathroom?” Mom said.

I couldn’t do anything but nod at that point. Then, I walked into the hallway bathroom and realized everything seemed big. The toilet was like a giant chair in front of me. Even if I was potty trained, I knew it would be tough to get up and down it all the time. The tub had begun to seem shallow a long time ago; now, it looked like it could swallow me easily. I stood there until Mom came in with my sister on her hip.

Lily looked at me, “You have vageena too?”

I sighed. “Yes, I do,” I said.

“But Nicko was boy?” Well, my sister certainly was as intelligent as the rest of us.

“I’m not anymore,” I told her.

“You girl just like me?”

“Yes, Lily, just like you now,” I told her, “but I’m still the same Nicko you’ve always known, but call me Sofia now.” Mom listened as I watched her fill the bathtub and add bubble bath.

She looked at me, and I could tell she was trying hard to think. “You sistah instead of brother?”

I shrugged, hating the fact that I was naked right then. “I guess so, Lily,” I told her.

For whatever reason, that excited her. “Yay, I have sistah!!!!” She suddenly jumped and hugged me. I returned the hug and couldn’t help but notice she was nearly the same height. An inch difference in size wasn’t that much, and it was clear she was bigger. I was careful when I hugged her, though, knowing my new strength was dangerous.

“Okay, my little princesses, arms up in the sky like a ballerina!” I groaned but lifted my arms up and let her pull my shirt off after she had taken Lily’s off. I watched her pick Lily up, plunked her gently in the tub, and then she did the same with me. As much as I didn’t want to take a bath with my sister, I couldn’t help but enjoy the playtime with her. Mom pulled out some of her toys, and we ended up squirting each other and drawing on the walls with bath markers alternately while Mom washed us and our hair.

She was very gentle as she washed my hair. “Close your eyes, Sofia,” she told me gently. Then, I felt her dump several cups of water over my head before massaging shampoo into my hair. It felt pretty good, and before I knew it, she said, “You can open them now,” just in time for my sister to squirt water in them!

Before I could retaliate, she pulled the plug from the tub and said, “Okay, let’s get you both nice and dry and ready for bed!”

“Do I have to go to bed?” I asked her.

She shook her head, “Not yet. Your father and I need to talk with you first.”

I thought that going to bed might be the better plan! Lily looked like she might whine, but Mom told her, “Sofia will go to bed soon. She’s still older, so she has a later bedtime like before.”

Lily looked at her and said, “Okay.”

Mom wrapped both of us with towels and then sat Lily on the counter. I watched her take a blow drier and dry her hair while brushing it out. I noticed her wince a couple times as Mom found a ‘snarl’ as she’d learned to call the tangles in her hair. Finally, when she was done, she carried her to her room and said, “Sofia, come with me. We’ll come back and do your hair.”

She picked Lily up and sat her down on the changing table. I watched her give her the pacifier she loved and suddenly felt that craving for mine again. I groaned and found my thumb in my mouth before I could even think about my hand moving to my mouth. Lily was dressed in a pink blanket sleeper and sat on her bed. “Next princess,” Mom said with a smirk.

I put my arms up, and the towel fell down. Mom placed my naked body on the table and quickly diapered me before pulling my thumb out and replacing it with another pacifier. I suddenly found myself relaxing from the feeling of it inside my mouth. I shook my head, ‘This is going to get old...’

I had to at least give myself credit for making it from dinner through my bath without it, though. Mom asked, “Should I dress you?”

I shrugged, “Do you want to?”

The smile on her face and the gleam in her eye was enough answer. She dressed me in one of Lily’s other purple sleepers. Mom sat me down, “Your dad is downstairs if you want to go watch TV with him until I get Lily to bed.”

I realized dad must have brought her bottle up already as it was sitting next to the rocking chair. I felt my jealous monster roar again then, but I nodded and said, “Okay,” and began walking down the hallway.

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