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 10: Friends

MOM WALKED TO open the front door, and I decided to stand behind her.

“Hi, Mrs. Hammerstein, may we see Nick?”

“Come in, Jacob,” Mom said instead.

“Is he okay?” Jacob asked.

“Hi, Jacob, Hannah,” I said as I came out from behind Mom when the door shut.

“Hi, Sofia,” Hannah said. She couldn’t seem to help herself. She leaned down, picked me up, and squeezed me in a hug. I hugged her back before she said, “Come on, Jacob, we need to talk.”

“Let’s go to my room?” I suggested.

“Your room?” Jacob asked but dumbly followed. “Hey, this is Nick’s room. Why is it a nursery…?”

Hannah sat down on the floor with me on her lap.

“Jacob, this sort of is still Nick’s room, but you were sort of right on your guess that I was a Mergent…?”

“Holy shit! Nick?!?!?!?” He said, finally getting it. “What the Hell happened to you?”

“I emerged,” I said, “unfortunately, my body decided to play a trick on me.”

He looked around intensely at the crib and changing table, “So you’re a girl?!? And, like a baby now?” He asked, “Not just in size?”

I sighed, “I’m no longer potty trained and have a bonding with a goddess who prefers I continue to act my appearance for a while.”

“Diapers?”

“Unfortunately.”

“That sucks!” He thought, “Hannah, why aren’t you shocked?”

“His parents needed a babysitter for Lily when he changed. They were a little bit panicked for some reason,” she said with a smirk and squeezed me against her tighter. “It was kind of impossible to hide it all from me.”

“How come you didn’t tell me before?” He asked.

“Honestly, I’m scared to let anyone know about this! The fact that I let you know to come over was a big step, Jacob.”

“So, did you get any superpowers?”

I smirked, “Yeah, I did.”

“I mean, besides super stinky diapers.”

I momentarily wondered if I hadn’t gone again, but he was joking. So in revenge, I decided to turn his socks bright pink and add some white ruffled lace.

“That’s not fair,” he told me, looking down.

“I think they’re cute, Jacob,” Hannah said.

“Change them back, please?” He begged.

“Or?”

“Umm… tickle?”

I squirmed against Hannah, “Oh no, you don’t,” she said. “She’s all mine.” Then, suddenly, she started tickling my sides from nowhere, and I couldn’t help but giggle non-stop until she finally gave up. Unfortunately, my dress had ridden up during the tickling and my very soaked diaper was on display.

Mom came in just as it was ending. “I see you three seem to be doing okay.” Mom said and hesitated before adding, “Umm, Hannah, seeing as how I assume you just helped her make that wet diaper, would you mind changing her?” With that, she walked away, and I found my mouth open.

“Well, your mommy’s right,” she said, and I was up in the air before I knew it. She carried me flat in her arms outstretched in front of her. “You know, I think you’re lighter than a lot of one-year-olds I’ve babysat.

I blushed.

“How much do you weigh?”

“Twenty pounds.”

“I’m going to the restroom; I’ll be right back,” Jacob said, clearly not wanting to be present for my change.

“Wow, that’s light!”

Hannah sat me on the table, “How do we do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re my best friend turned into a two-year-old baby. Do I treat you like your sister when I’m changing her diaper, or do we do this differently?”

I shrugged, “Caireen seems bent on me getting used to embarrassment and diaper changes. Change me the same way you do, Lily.”

She smiled, “Okay!” The next moment she had me laid back on the table and used the strap to keep me from going anywhere. She pushed my dress back up to where she could see my diaper, “Wow, you’re one soaked baby girl!” She said, using that mommy’s voice all girls have.

My thumb found its way to my mouth then, and she noticed. She reached underneath the table, “Here, why don’t you use your paci,” she said with a smile and put it in my mouth. I nursed it as she undid the tapes of my diaper and pulled it out of the way, setting a new one in its place. She wiped me really well, powdered me, and then taped the new diaper on. The next part was a surprise as she suddenly blew a big raspberry on my exposed belly button.

I giggled.

“Oh, do we have the giggles again?” She asked as she tickled my feet a little. Hannah undid the strap, pulled my dress back down, and then picked me up and held me in her arms. “You do realize you’ve stolen my heart at this point?”

I looked at her, slightly confused, “You have got to be the most adorable baby girl known to mankind. I so want to take you home with me instead of leaving you here!”

I knew she was joking, but a part of me would have been okay with that too. Jacob came back in then once he determined the coast was clear. The three of us sat back down then. “So, are you going to go to preschool now?” He asked, trying to start up the conversation.

“No, silly, I’m going back to high school!” I told him.

He laughed. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

“I’m going back to high school.”

“You’re joking, right?” He paused, “I know LAHS is weird, but even that would be too much for us.”

I laughed, “I am going back to high school, just not here.”

“Where are you going?” Hannah asked nervously.

“There’s a private school in the Northeast just for Mergents. It’s some sort of superhuman high school, I guess…?” They both gaped at me for that. “Anyway, they said I might have to be a sophomore again… or maybe in junior high for the rest of the year after Christmas. They’re supposed to get me through all of their placement tests then to figure that out.”

“A sophomore again? Or back in junior high? That sucks!” Jacob said.

I nodded but said, “It beats daycare?”

“I don’t know, naptime, playtime, snacks - daycare was pretty sweet,” he said.

I laughed, “I guess… of course, at this rate, I’ll probably find out since I’m not going until after Christmas. Mom occasionally has to drop Lily off at daycare and do some errands and things. Especially with me no longer being able to babysit her.”

“I’ll babysit you two if you need one,” Hannah said.

“We’ll definitely be taking you up on that, Hannah,” Mom said behind me, making me jump. “Are you two staying for dinner?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind?” Jacob said.

Hannah nodded, “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Let your parents know, though,” she told them.

“Will do.” I heard them answer in stereo.

I watched them both pull their cell phones out and text their parents. Of course, neither parent would be surprised by them being at my house. My new appearance…

“Hannah, have you said anything to your parents?” I asked nervously.

She looked sheepish, “I told my parents… They promised to keep it a secret, but I was worried they might ask some really embarrassing questions until I had no other choice.”

I just nodded, “I don’t see how you could have kept it a secret.”

“That being said, my mom really wants to see you!!!” She laughed.

I stuck my tongue out at her.

“Sofia, you realize you’re just like all of the other paradigm girl models, right? You’re just the ideal baby model!” Hannah said while I shot her daggers. “No, seriously, have you thought about it? You would be like their perfect toddler model since you could behave and listen to directions so much better!”

“So, what you’re saying is that I should be modeling Pampers?”

She laughed at me, “If it pays, why not?”

“I don’t think so…” I said. Although, in my mind, I had to admit that money is nice though...

We talked about things other than my new status as a baby. Hannah told me that my missing-in-action situation was hurting the flute section - apparently, they were lost without me. There was absolutely nothing I could do on that front, unfortunately. I hadn’t even had a chance yet to see if I could still play a piccolo. However, I had no doubts that holding a regular flute would forever be beyond me now.

“Dinner is ready, guys,” Mom said to us.

“Okay,” Hannah said in stereo with me. I had been sitting in her lap for a while, and she stood up and picked me up simultaneously. “You are so light!”

“How light is she?” Jacob asked.

“Here,” Hannah said and handed me towards him. It was like a deer caught in the headlights; the idea of holding a baby scared him to no end! Not to mention that I used to be his normally tall teenage best friend.

“Umm…”

“Boys!” Hannah huffed. “Here, put your arms out and let her grab around your neck. You grab her right here along her waist.” She made sure he was holding me right, and I made sure I could use a death grip to hold onto his neck if I needed to! “See, how hard is that?”

I giggled.

Mom must have heard some of it, too, and she took a picture of him holding me and standing there with Hannah. Three musketeers and all that…

Mom had made nachos for dinner. For those of you who may be thinking about those gooey things with fake cheese you get at the movies, that’s not what I mean. Instead, mom makes them with corn tortilla chips, some refried beans, lots of shredded beef, and real grated Colby jack cheese. The meat is cooked in plenty of red chile-based sauce, so it has a bite.

Much to everyone’s amusement, I insisted on my’ me size’ silverware.

“What? I really hate eating with my hands!” I said to them. I still had to touch my food some, though; the stuff doesn’t stay on the chip. It was a good thing she’d insisted on the bib, though. My more petite mouth made it much more challenging to eat with big chips than it used to! I forced myself to continue eating the meat even though it tasted as spicy as a ghost pepper to me now!

“How are you still eating?” Jacob asked in shock after my second plate.

I blushed, “I don’t know. It’s not like it adds any weight to me…?”

“I wish I could eat that much and not gain weight,” Hannah said.

“Me too,” my dad affirmed.

When I finished eating, Mom let me down from the highchair. I think she was trying to help me be discreet, but just like the last couple of days, Lily pooped first, and I was right behind her. I sighed and scrunched my face up.

“I’ll take one of them,” Hannah offered.

“Umm, thanks,” she said and Mom looked at me. So I just went ahead and pointed my head towards Hannah as okay. “Which one do you want?”

“I’ll take this stinker,” she said with a maniacal laugh and picked me up in such a way as to avoid smushing the mess anymore. I was getting upset, she could tell, so she pushed a pacifier into my mouth. “There, that’s better,” she said with a smile, teasing my nose with her finger.

I always knew Hannah was great with Lily because she liked her, but now I know how great she is with babies. She got me changed and kept me giggling the whole time. Before pulling the tapes down, Hannah had blown some raspberries on my belly. She tickled me to make me smile around my pacifier. Then Hannah cleaned me up quickly and never once made a disgusted face about it. She did make some fake comments about me being stinky. Well, sort of fake, you know what I mean. I’m sure it did smell! For some reason, the smell of my poopy diapers didn’t bother me.

She had just finished washing her hands and thrown the dirty diaper away, and I hugged her.

“Thanks,” I told her.

“Anytime, Princess,” she told me. Then, she looked at her cell phone, “I guess I need to get going home. If I can find a ride out here, would you mind if I came out again sometime this week?”

“You want to?” I asked, amazed.

“Sure, you’re still my best friend.”

As they were walking out the door, Mom caught Hannah. “We’re going to Albuquerque to go shopping for some things on Saturday. Would you be able to come and help with Sofia and Lily? It was nice having an extra set of hands for diaper changes today,” she smiled. “And I’m sure Sofia wouldn’t mind some time with a normal teenager.”

“Sure,” she said, “I’d love to. Let me just check with my mom.”

“Let me know, and we’ll pick you up on the way out of town.”

“Cool,” she said. “Bye, Lily, bye Sofia.”

As they left, Mom approached Lily and me and grabbed our hands. “Okay, girls, bath time!”

It was soon bedtime, and Mom once again gave me a bottle of warm milk. “I guess with your regenerating, I don’t have to worry about tooth decay,” she said as she kissed my forehead. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to break your sister of her bottles and pacifiers, though, with you around.”

I pulled it out of my mouth for a moment, “Just wait until I go to school?”

“That means getting through Christmas and your grandmother complaining about how her kids were done with bottles and diapers before they were one!” She laughed, and so did I.

“Have you told them about me?”

Mom shook her head, “They’re supposed to come down for Thanksgiving… I think it’s best to tell them in person.”

“And Grandma Wendy?” That was mom’s mom. The other two were Dad’s parents.

“Well, she wants us to go to lunch on Saturday…?”

“Oh…” I said. I sat up and hugged her as well as I could. Mom’s mother was her only family left, as her dad died when she was just a little girl. The biggest problem with her mom was that she was nearly a Sanguis Primum member with her rhetoric. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Mom shook her head, “No, but you’re my baby girl, and if she can’t accept it, then that will finally be it,” she said. Mom grabbed the bottle from my hand and pushed the nipple of the bottle back into my mouth. “You don’t worry about any of that, sweetheart; I promise you’ll be safe.”

She didn’t read me a story that night; instead, she held the bottle for me, stroked my hair, and sang a lullaby.

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