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 29: Old Friends

I GRABBED THE textbook for the course from my bag before Camille placed me into the chair. I was actually pretty happy I could sit in relative comfort for this class. It was a good thing because as much as I liked her, she was definitely a voice that would make me sleep if I wasn’t awake! However, I seemed to become the object lesson as she discussed gathering manna.

“How do you do it...?” she paused, “Anyone?” Camille’s hand was up, but she called on me, “Sofia?”

I grimaced, “Well… I can sense the ley lines, and I just use them for the power.”

I heard a couple intakes of breath around the room. “You only mean minor ones, right?” A girl that looked a little bit catlike asked.

“Umm… Not really? I haven’t found one I can’t tap yet…?”

“What do you feel around here?” Mrs. Cranther asked inquisitively.

“Well, there’s an artery going through a big one right underneath Friar Hall. It passes close enough to here, I can easily tap it…?”

“Let’s not do that just yet…” she said hastily. “Hmm… If what you say is true, you will never suffer from a loss of manna you can’t recover from.”

“Camille, how were you going to say…?”

The topic shifted from me, and I quickly gathered that the most powerful would only grasp the smaller veins, not the main arteries. I kept getting stares through the rest of the class, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I had pooped my diaper again. Eventually, we were told to work in our groups on a set of questions at our table.

“Camille… Why was everyone staring at me?”

She looked around and then back at me, “Umm… Sofia… Most people can’t do what you say you do to collect manna. The ability to tap into minor ley lines isn’t unheard of, but very rarely has anyone been able to say they can tap into a mainline like you mentioned.”

“Oh…”

She smiled at me, “That just means you’re cooler and more powerful than others.”

“It means I’m more of a freak…?”

Caireen mentally spanked me, but I just shook it off.

“Sofia, you’re not a freak… Well, not any more than the rest of us!” She said with a smile. She reached over, grabbed me from the highchair-like seat, and sat me in her lap. “Okay, let’s get this done!”

Camille was a great person to work with; she was easily the most brilliant person in the class. However, towards the end of the lesson, her voice changed, “You are going to be an interesting little girl to be around.”

“Who are you?”

“You should know by now that names are dangerous,” she said.

“You are one of Queen Solana’s sisters, correct?” Caireen asked, taking over.

“Yes, I am, and I know who you are as well,” she said before Camille’s voice changed.

“Well, that went well…” she said in her normal voice.

“Yeah,” I said as well. “I guess we know each other…?”

She shook her head, “the great thing about having an avatar spirit attached is all of the information you get…” she paused, “the tough thing is all of the baggage!”

I smiled, “it’s even more awkward with mine… maybe we can talk mor

e privately later,” I said as I looked around and saw Mrs. Cranther coming our way to check on us.
She smiled, “so I think that’s about it with this question?”

She surreptitiously checked my diaper at the end of the class and carried me down the hallway and off to our dorm. We met up with Hannah in our common room, “Hey, Hannah!”

“Sofia!!!” She said excitedly, and afterward, “Hi Camille!” I felt my eyes narrow and found myself quickly captured in her arms.

“I missed you so much,” she said as she squeezed me tight.

“Umm… I missed you too,” I told Hannah.

“Sorry… I don’t know what is wrong with me...?” She said, suddenly turning red with embarrassment.

“You’re a new mother with separation anxiety,” Camille and I said at the same time. Her tone was joking; mine was resigned.

I hugged her around her neck, and she said, “Thanks Camille for taking care of her.”

“No problem, I’ll meet up with you at lunch?”

“Sure, we’ve just got to take care of a few things first, and then we’ll be over at the Friar Hall.”

“Sounds good, bye Sofia,” she said and waved at me with a smile.

“See you in a bit,” I called after she tried to maintain some maturity.

Tough to do when you’re being carried back to your room to be breastfed…

 

‘LUNCH’ AND LUNCH progressed quickly and without incident, leading to my handoff to Camille again for Magic I. With each non-traditional class, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly behind all my classmates. The three months they had before we came had obviously been packed with valuable information. My worry, of course, bled through to Caireen.

‘Sofia, don’t worry about it,’ she reassured me.

‘How can you say that?’

‘What did Dr. Raspin say was the principle behind manna?’

I thought back and repeated, ‘Manna is free energy that flows through the universe and can be tapped for magical spells….

‘So, what are you worried about?’

‘What do you mean…?’

‘You have a perfect memory now, Sofia! Worst case scenario, you have to sit down with your books and your friends’ notes over Thanksgiving Break and read them. Then, you’ll have perfect responses on tests.’

‘As long as it’s just regurgitating! If I have to use it…?’

“Sofia, here’s Hannah; I’ll see you later, Princess,” Camille said with a hug as she passed me over.

“Huh?”

“In la-la land, huh?” Hannah asked.

I just nodded and looked over her shoulder at the passing students. She patted my back reassuringly before shifting me to her hip. From there, I could at least look forward. Many students waved at me and smiled; some obviously did not know yet that I wasn’t a regular baby. Before long, though, Hannah walked through the doorway to our Power Exploration class. I felt her check my diaper briefly as she sat me down with a smile and whispered, ‘it should be okay through this class.’

I was glad something was okay throughout the class… Right away, I realized that we were behind in the material and that the course was not the most interesting one I would have had. Once again, I found myself being the object lesson of the teacher, though, as they began talking about powers that day and how power and significant changes came into play. As far as the class was concerned, though, I had been a teenage girl a week ago…

At the end of the class, Knag met Hannah at the door, passing me off again. “That diaper’s a bit wet if you don’t mind changing her on your way?” Hannah asked.

“Sure!” she said with a smile. I could see her face, though, and could tell she was nervous about it.

I giggled, “It’ll be okay; I’ll help you if you get stuck - it’s just wet.”

She squeezed me slightly, and we found a bathroom on the way to class. I helped her by handing her a new diaper, wipes, and a changing pad from my bag. She picked me up nervously and set me on the table to change me. It took about four minutes longer than it should have, but she had me out of the wet diaper and into a new one without too many corrections!

As soon as we walked in the door for the class, I could see the word was definitely out from the teachers about me as there was a bland high chair sitting next to the seat that Knag took. Powers Fundamentals, in general, seemed like it could be interesting. Still, I could only groan in dismay at how far behind everyone I was. ‘I’m going to have to read every moment of the day over Thanksgiving Break!’ I complained mentally.

‘Yeah, but it’ll be okay,’ Caireen reassured me.

When she passed me off to Volango, I was aching to do something other than sit still. Apparently, babies don’t like to sit still all day? She helped me quickly change a slightly damp diaper before Caireen helped me into my gi she had created the day before. Instead of carrying me out of the locker room, she held her hand out to me that I reached up to take. She led me to where the other students lined a mat.

I took a similar stance and waited for Sensei Kwon to appear.

“Good afternoon, class. Before we begin today, I would like to introduce a new student who has joined us. Some of you met her briefly yesterday. Emerald, would you please come here?”

I stood and bowed to him respectfully, “Yes, Sensei Kwon.”

“Emerald may look like a baby, but she is like many of you, having changed significantly when she emerged. Therefore, I expect there to be no differences expected towards or from her than anyone else in the class.”

“Yes, Sensei,” the other students responded.

“Very well then, today…” he began our class much as I had back home in Los Alamos. Still, there were definitely differences in the way he taught stylistically. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the course as he took us through some techniques I knew slightly differently and had us practice. Volango partnered with me for many of the exercises before he started having us spar.

Much to my opponents’ surprise, I could give as good as I got with most of them. Only the speedsters like Celer seemed to be able to easily outmaneuver me. Sensei Kwon began stepping in then and instructed me how I could find other advantages there. It was the one class of the day that, when it ended, I was genuinely disappointed!

After changing out of my gi, I found Hannah waiting outside the locker room. She gave me a big hug, “I missed you!”

Seeing her tears, I said, “I missed you too, but see, everything is fine!” I smiled at her.

She didn’t dilly dally on returning to the room quickly, nursed me, changed me, and then headed to the Friar Hall for a quick dinner of solid food. “You two better get going,” Camille advised us shortly after we sat down. I sighed, threw another fry in my mouth, and then stood up.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Hannah asked worriedly as she zipped up the coat I had put on when we came to dinner.

“Yes, Mommy,” I told her quietly so no one else could hear.

I thought it would feel odd, but oddly it felt normal to call her that. Her eyes welled up, but I hugged her and said, “I’ll see you after class!”

In theory, I knew where this class was since it was near where I had my testing for magic powers. However, I wasn’t sure of the exact room location. So I kept walking around and jumped when I heard from behind me, “Sofia?”

I turned and saw Cate coming towards me. “Hi, Cate.”

“Where are you going? Why are you alone?” She asked somewhat worriedly.

“Mythical Fundamentals,” I told her, “you?”

“Same thing! Let’s see if we can’t find you a seat near mine!”

With that, she led me down one last corridor and held the door open. Caireen gasped a ‘really?!?’ as she saw the teacher. To her credit, the teacher seemed to do the same thing, and I let Caireen take over, “How are you doing Artemis?”

She hesitated a moment, “I’m doing well, Caireen. I never thought I’d see you bound to a human… but somehow it seems fitting you would find a baby to bond with; you always did show them way more affection than I ever understood.”

I actually felt Caireen blush at that, “It’s been a surprise to both of us. I’m going to let Sofia retake control. She has questions, but I’ll try to answer them later.”

“So, you’re my new student, Sofia?” Artemis asked me a moment later.

I sighed, “Yes, ma’am, it seems you and Caireen know each other.”

“Yes, we do, but it’s been a good relationship, so don’t fret.” She smiled at me. “I see you know Efferous; why don’t you sit next to her?”

I smiled, moved to the table, and just went ahead and duplicated another of the raised chairs that seemed more comfortable than the other chairs right next to Cate. “That’s got to be awkward,” she said quietly.

“You have no idea!” I responded.

The class itself was genuinely intriguing. I flipped through the textbook and frowned when I saw a page on vampires. I read things about them that I now knew from first-hand experience. I shuddered and stopped flipping through the book, and paid attention.

 
 

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