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 4: No Magic

BEING CARRIED SO much today, this walking business was almost a novelty! At the stairs, I held back a feeling of panic at looking down the tall staircase! I grabbed the rail tightly and took it one step at a time before making it down. I looked back up and wondered how I would deal with those regularly!

I could hear the TV on in the downstairs living room and walked over there. My dad was sitting in his recliner and taking a drink right then. I thought about just walking over to the couch and having a seat, but he opened his arms and said, “You want to come sit in my lap?”

I had been so jealous of my sister that I couldn’t turn that down! I started running and realized a problem as soon as I jumped into his lap. I was moving faster than I should have been. He said, “Oomph,” and I looked to ensure he was okay.

“I’m so sorry, Dad! Are you okay?!?” I asked, suddenly afraid I had hurt him.

“Thankfully, you missed the jewels, sweetheart. I’m fine,” he said and hugged me to reassure me. “You need to be really careful, though. You look like a baby, but you’re definitely not a normal one!”

I returned the hug and leaned into his arm to watch the TV show. It was a new episode of one of the CSI spin-offs I didn’t usually watch. I didn’t tend to spend much time watching TV between practicing and doing homework. Then, it suddenly occurred to me, “If I’m stuck like this, I’ll never be able to play flute again!”

Dad hugged me, “I’m sure we’ll figure something out. What about piccolo?”

I smiled, “I bet I could do that!”

“Well, maybe we’ll see about getting one for you for Christmas.”

We sat there for about ten more minutes until Mom came down. “Already a daddy’s girl?” She asked teasingly.

I tried sticking my tongue out at her before realizing something was in the way. I pulled my pacifier out, stuck my tongue out, and then put it back in my mouth. She laughed and came over to pick me up from Dad’s lap. Then, she proceeded to start tickling me without any warning!

“Stop…” I giggled.

“Okay…” she said. Dad turned off the TV and came and joined us on the couch.

I sighed; this was going to be one of those conversations. “Okay, so what do you want to talk about?”

“A lot of things,” Mom said gently.

“Well... start talking,” I said.

“First off, I think we’re going to have to have some ground rules here, sweetie,” Dad said.

“Like?” I said and pulled the pacifier from my mouth. I had to force myself to hold it in my lap.

“Well, for one, until you get some training, I think no magic in the house would be a good one to start with.”

I looked at him skeptically, “Why?”

He sighed, “Look, some of my work - which you know I can’t talk about - involves some of the after-effects of energy output from mergents. We particularly study those that use so-called magic power. We’ve been trying for the last decade to isolate the physics principles that have to be at work behind ‘magic.’ We have a few magic users in our group that help us out. Unfortunately, I’ve heard too many horror stories about them learning to use magic, making sprites, and destroying things.”

“Sprite?” I asked.

“They’re kind of like creatures… but come in all sorts of shapes. Normally they start wandering around destroying things and wreaking havoc anytime they appear.”

“Oh,” I said. “Will I be able to learn from someone here?”

Dad shrugged, “We’ll know more on Monday. There’s a school that a lot of other...”

He hesitated, so I added “Mergents,” for him.

He grimaced and nodded before continuing, “go to back east. I’d probably have you on the plane next week if you weren’t two years old. I’m not sure if they would be willing to have a student who basically needs a daycare, though…?”

I hit him lightly on the leg. Or I thought it was light; he winced. “Sorry, Daddy, are you okay?”

“Yes, but that will probably leave a bruise. You’re going to have to be really careful, sweetie!” He told me.

I felt some tears in my eyes at that.

He stroked my hair gently, “We’ll get through this, I promise you.”

“So, what else?” I asked Mom.

“Well, I think when we’re out, you need to pretend to be a normal two-year-old.”

“So, tantrums, pooping in my diaper at random points, sucking on a pacifier...?” I sighed, “I have the second and the third down, at least.”

“It wasn’t random, at least. It was after dinner, just like Lily,” she said with a smile. “If we had put you on the potty in time, you might have gone there.”

I smiled but shook my head, “I might have by random chance, but I can’t feel when I’m going or need to go at all! Lily will probably be out of diapers before I am again.”

She squeezed my leg gently, “It’s okay, though; that’s not the end of the world.” Mom hesitated but said, “No, I also mean things like using a bib, like your sister, definitely sitting in your car seat, high chairs, etc.”

“Why?”

“Well, partially to protect you,” Dad answered.

“Huh?”

“Look, and especially until Monday when you get tested, the EPC is a powerful government agency that could come and take you away if something funny happens. Then there’s Sanguis Primum; while they don’t have much of a presence in Los Alamos, there are a bunch of those nutjobs in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.”

I nodded at that. Even among ‘norms,’ I’d heard horror stories of the Emergent Protection Commission officers committing horrible acts against Mergents. The Sanguis Primum members took racism to a whole other level from what I had seen. “Okay, I get that. Do I have to be a complete baby here, though? Can I please have time on my computer and maybe keep up with my school stuff or something? I enjoyed playing with Lily tonight, but I’m still eighteen in my mind.”

Dad nodded, “I don’t see any reason why not. I think we may have to move your computer to another room, though, and give you another bed and redecorate.” He hesitated, “It doesn’t have to be too girly, though.”

I took a moment and decided to say, “No, it can be girly; that’s fine. Can we maybe decorate it with Sofia the First stuff? Since you named me after her and all. I mean, they made a TV show about me. Shouldn’t I have some of her stuff?” I winked at Dad.

“Why do I get the feeling the girl part of this isn’t upsetting you?” Mom asked gently.

‘Here goes nothing,’ I thought to myself, “Because…” I felt my breath shake, “Because it doesn’t,” I felt a tear roll down my face. “It’s a dream come true.”

“You wanted to be a girl?” Dad asked in surprise. His tone was still gentle.

I nodded, “Since I could remember, I thought I was one, but I had the wrong parts. Now I have the right body… well, sort of.” I grimaced and told them how I’d been scared to ever say anything to them. I knew I was transgendered, and becoming a girl was a dream come true! “Being a baby again really wasn’t in the plans, though,” I finished in tears.

“I think that you were focused so much on the simple pleasures of Lily’s life, though, that you kind of got stuck on it then,” Dad told me softly. Then, he leaned over to me and hugged me. “I love you. Never forget that.”

Mom joined in the hug and said, “So do I, sweetie; whether you’re eighteen, two, or one hundred, I will always love you.”

“I love you too,” I said to them and was glad I had parents like these.

We stayed there for a few minutes before I asked, “May I go to my room and get on my computer?”

Mom looked at me for a moment before nodding, “You may. Let me check your diaper first, though.” I grimaced as Mom felt the crotch of my diaper and said, “A little wet, but I think it’ll hold until bed.” She smiled at that.

“You could ask me to check it myself, you know,” I told her. My privacy already felt invaded during the changes.

Mom looked embarrassed herself, “I’m sorry sweetie, I… I guess I’m just used to checking your sister.”

I nodded. I guess I checked Lily all the time, too, since she didn’t usually tell us when she was wet. “I’m sorry; I guess that’s natural for you,” I told her and hugged her.

I then hopped off the couch lightly and headed to my room before the conversation got any more awkward. I took the stairs a little faster this time. They still seemed gigantic, but I didn’t feel the fear of them. I had to climb up my computer chair awkwardly to get into it before discovering I couldn’t just sit and reach the keyboard. I hopped down and let the chair go as high as possible before climbing back. I could sit on my knees and just reach everything pretty much. I noticed my cell phone there and saw Jacob had sent me a slew of messages starting with, ‘Hey, do you want to hang out?’ at first to really worried ‘Where the hell are you?’ messages.

I sighed.

I opened my phone’s unlock screen and sent a text to him. ‘Sorry, bro, got… sick. I’m going to be quarantined at home for a while.’

I sent a message to Hannah simultaneously, ‘Thanks for watching my sister earlier… and… thanks for being my friend.’

Hannah responded first, ‘You’re soooo cute now! You do realize that?’

I turned red, ‘I know...’

‘So what are you going to do now?’

‘I don’t know. I’m supposed to pretend to be two anytime we’re out and about. If you run into us somewhere, go ahead and let loose your maternal instincts I guess.’

‘lol, I’m sorry Nick.’

I paused before sending, ‘It’s okay, but it’s Sofia now… might as well get used to it. I need to go. I’ll ttyl’

‘Ttyl (-:’

I was just about to start browsing the internet when Jacob responded. ‘Dude, are you okay?’

I sighed, ‘Sort of… look, I’ll talk to my parents and maybe you can come over with Hannah Tuesday for us to explain.’

‘You’re acting like you emerged or something...’

‘Tuesday,’ I told him.

‘Okay, I’ll take the hint. I need to go; Mom is yelling at me.’

‘ttyl’

Putting my phone aside, I opened the internet and typed ‘Mergent’ into Wikipedia. Of course, everyone knew ‘about’ Mergents, but I never thought I would turn out to be one. I searched one website after another, looking for information. One of the first articles I read about were those with ‘Paradigm’ abilities.

‘Paradigm talents often manifest into super strong, super-fast, and super-beautiful Mergents. Little is known about how this trait is passed on, but those who receive this form of emergence tend to be the most ‘super’ of the variants. Nearly every high-level Paradigm Mergent will have a strong EFP that will guide and shape the Paradigm’s appearance. The most powerful will find that they may not even be able to cut their hair without it instantly growing back to maintain their ‘ideal’ form.’

I groaned as I read about EFPs or Emergent Form Patterns that controlled a high-level paradigm’s body appearance. It seemed like the higher level of a Paradigm you were, the more it could change you. I read a few accounts of gender change before, but it seemed like it wasn’t all that common. I didn’t find many examples of anyone getting younger, and none to my age.

I looked at the clock and saw it was almost ten, figuring my mom would be coming in soon. I looked around my room and saw my new black belt hanging off my dresser. I wondered if I could even still do those forms. Curious, I jumped off my chair, moved to the center of my room where there wasn’t a lot of clutter, and began moving through the basic warmup forms and worked to the ones I’d performed last night. Surprisingly I felt like I was even more nimble and sure of myself. The only thing that seemed to be holding me back was the stupid diaper. Until I managed to lick potty training again though I would have to get used to it, I was afraid.

I had just run through the final form when Mom came in. She looked surprised to see me in one of my forms - well, I’m sure it looked a little out of place. “Practicing?” She asked.

“I wanted to see if I could still do everything,” I told her with a smile.

“You can?”

“Uh-huh!”

“That’s great, sweetie.” She came over and kneeled down to give me a hug. “Look, I know you’re probably not a fan of this, but your father and I are tired, and I think it’s time for bed.”

I just nodded, “I understand. Can you change my diaper?”

Mom said, “That was just what I was coming to do!” Mom had my sister’s diaper bag and a changing mat that she laid down on the floor next to me. In next to no time at all, she had my sleeper feet off, my wet diaper peeled off, wiped bottom, powdered, taped the new one on, and had me redressed.

“You would think you’ve been doing that for the last two-and-a-half years or something?” I told her.

“Well, I had my three years with you before!” She picked me up and started to set me on my bed.

I felt embarrassed, but I pulled the pacifier out of my mouth and asked, “Umm… Mom… my?”

She looked at me strangely, “Yes?”

“I know this may sound kind of weird… but could you put me to bed like you do, Lily?” I felt my face flush a bit.

“With a bottle and a story?” She asked, kind of surprised.

I just nodded and put the pacifier back in my mouth, my face now fiery red.

“Sure, sweetie,” she smiled, “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

Mom disappeared downstairs and came up with one of Lily’s bottles filled with warm milk in one hand and a book about Rapunzel, one of Lily’s favorite stories. “You don’t have a rocking chair in here,” she started to say, but suddenly there was a pop, and one appeared where a bean bag I had on the ground was. “I thought we told you no magic?”

I looked up at her in fear, “I didn’t mean to, Mommy. I didn’t do what I did earlier at all!”

‘You didn’t, I did,’ I heard in my head. It was the voice of the lady from last night.

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