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 36: Plaza

I SUCKED ON my pacifier as my stroller was pushed down halls they obviously had gotten to know before we arrived. An elevator ride later, we were pushed down to a set of adjoining rooms. Sadly, it wasn’t THE suite! I saw a portable crib in one of the rooms and knew I would be sleeping in it. Looking at it, I couldn’t help but notice it was plain compared to my others!

“Cassidy, why don’t you go potty?” Camille’s mom asked as soon as we got in the door.

“Cammy help?” She said as she dragged her sister towards the bathroom in the other room.

“Mom, Sofia’s diapers and stuff are all in the bag,” Camille said.

“I figured,” she told her with a smile as I was lifted from the stroller and placed on the couch. Camille’s mom laid out my changing pad and laid me back on it. “So, Sofia, how are you doing? Your mom is worried about you.”

I smiled at her, grateful for a chance to not pretend for a few moments while Cassidy was elsewhere. “I guess I’m doing okay. It’s really weird not being with Hannah right now… and missing my family for Thanksgiving is already making me feel a bit lonely.” I realized that was the first time I had admitted that.

She nodded as she wiped me gently, “I hope you’ll think of us as your extended family this week. Have you ever been to New York?”

I shook my head, “No, I’m really excited to see things.”

“I hope we’ll be able to see a lot of those things this week! We came here to visit with my sister’s family - they live in the Upper West Side, not from here, right along Central Park. So we’ll go to their apartment for Thanksgiving Day. Tomorrow we’ll go out to Ellis Island and Liberty Island so you can see the Statue of Liberty. Hopefully, tonight we’ll be able to go ice skating.”

“Cool!” I told her. “Do they make ice skates small enough for me?”

“If they don’t, I’m sure you or Camille can magic some up?” She smiled as she finished dressing me and Cassidy walked in. She simultaneously pushed my pacifier in my mouth as she picked me up. “Were you a good girl?” She asked her.

“Yes, mommy, I peed and pooed!” She pointed towards Camille, “Cammy saw me!”

Camille smiled and looked at me, “Is Sofia all clean and dry now?”

I held my arms out to her, and she grabbed me from her mom and hugged me. “Yes,” I told her.

Before I was forced to do any more acting, her dad reappeared from somewhere and said, “Everyone ready?”

After an elevator ride downstairs, we went to the Eloise shop. They had left the stroller upstairs, and Camille carried me and the diaper bag for a few moments before I wriggled, saying, “Down!”

I walked up to a display of cloth dolls and instantly fell in love with them for some reason. “Aww…” Her mom cooed above me as Cassidy also joined me.

“Mommy?” She asked.

“I don’t know…?” She said with a smile. I watched her also take and look at the tags for ages and thought for a moment. Her eyes latched on mine for a moment.

“Pwease?!?” Cassidy begged.

She would probably have gone into a total toddler meltdown if she hadn’t said, “Well, I guess I’ll have to buy one for all three of my little girls, huh?” I looked up at her and noticed Camille was beaming - apparently happy not to be left out. A few other items were picked up, like some books, before we checked out, and I was once again carried by Camille’s mom while holding the doll.

“Thank you,” I told her.

“You’re very welcome,” she said as she hugged me, “what are grandchildren good for if you can’t spoil them!”

Apparently, dinner was to be in one of the hotel restaurants that night. Her dad had reservations, and we were quickly seated with just a couple glares from the Maître D. A highchair was brought over for me. Still, Camille’s mom held me instead of putting me in immediately, “Cammy, can you give me one of her bottles?”

“Sure, mom,” she told her. I watched as she reached into the bag, found one of my milk bottles, and discreetly performed a quick spell to heat it. “Here,” she told her.

Her mom seemed surprised that it was warm and glanced at her. She sat it on the table before us while the waiter took our food orders. I wasn’t asked, and I guessed I would have to share with her mom. Camille stopped the waiter, though, and asked, “Can we get an extra plate of pasta for my niece,” she said, pointing towards me.

“Certainly,” he said and walked away. Camille’s mom shifted me into the crook of her arms as she popped the cover off the bottle. I watched as she instinctually tested it on her wrist before pulling my pacifier from my mouth and replacing it with the bottle. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was and ravenously nursed. Camille had passed over a bib she used as a burp cloth when I finished.

I was cuddled for a moment before finding myself strapped into the high chair with the bib around my neck. I became a spectator as Camille’s dad, whose name I discovered was Jack, began pressing her about how things were going. “So, how are your classes going?”

“Good,” she answered as she nibbled on a piece of the bread left at the table. Camille’s mom, Ashley, passed me a smaller part after giving one to Cassidy. Cassidy sat in her booster seat, quietly coloring a coloring book her mom had handed her.

“Just good?” her mom asked.

Camille sighed, “I have extra help all the time, you know… it’s really not that hard for me.”

‘Hmm… I really should talk to Camille more about being an avatar,’ I thought to myself.

‘She is a very similar young lady,’ Caireen replied.

“How about friends?” her mom asked.

“Well, Esmie and I…” I sat on the sidelines and was entertained to hear about Bechtel from her eyes. Of course, she didn’t tell any secrets or anything ordinary people who weren’t at Bechtel shouldn’t know. Still, she had plenty of stories I’d yet to hear.

As the conversation petered off, her dad asked, “So, any boys?”

I watched her nearly choke on her water right then. Thankfully for her sake, she was saved by food being sat down in front of everyone. Camille’s mom directed them to put my plate in front of her and Camille. I really wanted to just bring out my silverware. Still, I knew if I was trying to pretend to be eighteen months, I probably wouldn’t be that coordinated. So instead, I let Camille and her mom trade turns feeding me the small alfredo plate.

Annoyingly I was still hungry when I finished the plate. Unfortunately, the idea of a baby my age finishing the dish wasn’t typical. Two plates would just paint the Mergent picture on me. So I found my pacifier hanging from my shirt and began nursing it, hoping it would help my hunger.

“She’s a really good eater!” the waiter smiled. He had a very grandfatherly way about himself.

“She didn’t eat much for lunch today,” Camille told him.

“Yes, I remember my daughter used to skip a few meals and then suddenly eat. Toddlers never make sense!”

Camille’s mom laughed, “My kids have all been the same way!”

Camille picked me up out of the high chair and felt my diaper. “Mom, we need to change Sofia. Should we go upstairs to the room or find a bathroom down here?”

“Why don’t we go upstairs, change her, and grab their strollers. Then I thought we could stroll down 5th Avenue towards Rockefeller Center.”

“Any chance we could go up to the top of Rockefeller?” Camille asked.

Her mom shook her head, “Not tonight; I think we can do that tomorrow - we bought tickets for everyone this morning.”

“Cool!”

I sat contentedly on her hip as she carried me back upstairs while her mom held her sister. Camille wasted no time laying me on the bed on my changing mat. Cassidy had quickly been taken potty before she climbed on the bed next to me just as she pulled the second tape from my diaper. “She’s poopy!” she told her.

“Just a little,” Camille said, agreeing.

I hadn’t even noticed, but I just turned off caring about my embarrassment. Babies my age don’t do anything else, and I had to get over that. Once she had a new diaper on me, she ran to the bathroom to pee and wash her hands. Cassidy played with her new doll, and I wondered where mine was. I looked and saw it peeking out of my diaper bag, so I pulled it out and held mine too.

Cassidy was miming changing a non-existent diaper on her doll. I was about to pretend to copy her when Camille returned, and her parents pushed our strollers. “Come on, baby, let’s put you in your stroller so we can go for a walk!” Camille cooed.

I let myself be threaded into the stroller’s harness and let my pacifier drop. “Baba!”

“Oh, are you hungry still?” She asked me with a smile. It sounded like Cassidy wasn’t going into her stroller as quietly as I was.

“Pwease,” I told her.

She dug around in the diaper bag and handed me another warm bottle, and we were off. Along the route, we somehow mixed in with a tour group whose guide explained that the city was laid out on a grid and very consistent in spacing. I listened to him explain that the saying ‘New York Minute’ meant how long it took to walk a block.

I quickly grew bored sitting in the stroller since I could only see so much from down there. I squirmed a bit, and Camille checked on me as we were stopped at a street waiting for a crosswalk. “Uppie!” I told her as I pulled my empty bottle out of my mouth.

She sighed, “I’ll get you out when we get there. Only a few more minutes, I think…?”

I groaned as she put the pacifier back in my mouth and took the empty bottle. I sulked a little as we walked down the street. I could see this gigantic church looming over the road when she finally pulled me out of the stroller and placed me on her hip. “Daddy, can you push her stroller?”

Of course, since I wanted out, so did Cassidy. The crosswalk allowed us to cross, and I watched us near a Lego store! “Can we go?” I whispered to Camille.

“I knew you were going to say that…” she said quietly.

“Mom, I need to get a gift for a friend at school. May we stop by here real quick?”

Her mom looked at her and then at me. I blushed a little, but she smiled and said, “sure!”

That led to a walk around the store and the fantastic displays there. Finally, we walked out of there with a set of Duplo blocks for Cassidy, a second set for me, and then a big Disney Princess castle set for Camille’s ‘friend.’ I was all smiles as I was deposited back into my stroller and buckled in. Before I knew it, we were now at Rockefeller Plaza and walking towards the skating rink. Her dad picked me up from the stroller while her mom carried Cassidy. Camille managed the strollers and headed to rent some skates with tickets. It turns out this was planned for quite a while, as I learned while waiting that only a hundred and fifty people were allowed on the rink at a time.

Camille leaned the stroller back to being almost a bed and then quickly lay me in there before covering the stroller with a blanket. “We need to change your diaper before you go out there,” she told me.

“I’ve never ice skated before,” I told her quietly.

“You’re a baby; why would you have?” She smiled at me.

After a quick and discreet diaper change, she laced the skates onto my feet, and I was carried over to the ice rink. Here, I learned Camille was almost as much of a novice as I was, but her mom was a master! She was soon teaching Camille, Cassidy, and me in turns. I fell on my butt several times and, for once, was grateful for a diaper as it cushioned my fall. One of the times, a nearby teenage girl came over and said, “Oh, is she okay?”

“She’ll be fine,” Camille said from a few feet away as she tried to get to me.

I just smiled, “I good!” I stood shakily back up and started skating again. With my short height and Mergent powers, it wasn’t like I would be hurt! With that realization, I became the fearless toddler I had seen on ski slopes for so much of my life.

Camille became frustrated that she couldn’t keep up, calling, “Sofia get back here!”

Her mom laughed at her, “I’ll go get her.”

I had been so focused on getting faster and faster that I hadn’t noticed Camille calling my name. So it was a bit of a shock when I was suddenly picked up and hugged, “You’re a natural!”

I smiled when I realized who it was, but for a moment, I almost panicked. Finally, I returned the hug around ‘Grammy’s’ neck and quietly asked, “You grew up skating?”

She nodded as we skated back towards the others, “I was competitive with figure skating until high school.”

“Cool!” I told her. “How come Camille, is so bad?”

“She’s always been scared to go ice skating and would scream as a kid if I tried on the rare occasion we were near a rink. So finally, I gave up,” she shrugged a little.

We had just made it back to the edge of the rink where Camille held onto the rail when I caught a massive flash of an explosion destroying the Statue of Prometheus above us!

 
 

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