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 9: Playtime

I WOKE UP in the castle crib with Caireen standing over me.

“There’s my baby girl,” she said with a smile.

“Hi,” I said timidly.

“Let’s get you changed and going for the day!” She told me with a smile.

She changed the soaked diaper and then dressed me in a pale-yellow dress before setting me down on the ground facing a giant dollhouse. “Okay, I think it’s time for you to start learning to play.”

“Umm?” I said, “Huh?”

“Take one of your dollies,” she told me with a smile.

I looked, and many cute and lifelike dolls were sitting by the house. They seemed far more realistic than I imagined appropriate for this period; they were very anachronistic with the surroundings. Finally, I picked one that looked like me, with red hair and green eyes painted on her face. I was surprised to see she was like Lily’s nicer dolls, and her eyes opened and closed as I picked her up or lay her down. She had on a pretty green dress similar to mine. I sheepishly looked under her skirts; sure enough, she had a diaper on too.

“Okay, now you have to name her!” Caireen said with a smile.

I thought for a moment about some Irish names I had come across when researching who Caireen was the other day. I also thought about my code name and said, “Emie.”

“That seems perfect,” she praised me in a voice like she was talking to someone my apparent age. “Okay, for the fun part, let’s practice changing her clothes.”

I looked over at the box and saw there were other outfits there. I wondered, though, if Caireen meant this to begin my training. I pictured a dress similar to the green one but fancier and with tights. I kind of willed it to be so, and the dress I imagined was now on Emie!

“Well, aren’t you a quick learner!” Caireen said as she leaned over and squeezed me into a hug. That night she had me practice changing Emie’s dresses to other period-appropriate ones and more modern baby clothes. After hours, she finally had me try working on her hair. I was starting to feel tired when she said, “I think it’s time for bed here,” with a smile.

“Am I actually getting sleep in the ‘real’ world?” I asked sleepily.

“Yes, Sofia, you are.”

“Can I do this stuff there now?”

“I think you can safely. Stick to clothes on dolls and hair on dolls for now, though. The last thing you want to do is mess up your sister’s hair like you did Emie’s a bit ago!”

I blushed as she changed a wet diaper, thinking about the tangled mess of hair - Caireen had to help get it back to normal. She then held me in a rocking chair and rocked me to sleep with a lullaby.

I WOKE UP on my own when I heard Dad moving around the house to get ready to work. I smiled as I realized that Caireen had brought Emie into the real world for me, and she lay next to me.

This was the first time I had woken up on my own, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I tried saying, “Mommy? Daddy?” Quietly for them to hear. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up my sister early if we could avoid it.

Finally, I couldn’t help myself anymore; I reached up to the rail of my crib with a short hop and pulled myself over like I had a wall yesterday.

‘You are so going to get in trouble for this,’ I heard Caireen sigh.

‘I’m not really a baby...’ I told her.

‘I know, but will your Mom appreciate the difference?’

‘She’s going to need to; how else am I going to get out of bed at school?’

I heard her sigh, and I decided to just face the music. I opened my door quietly and walked downstairs, where dad was reading the paper.

“Well, good morning Sofia…” he thought for a second, “how did you get out of your crib? Your mom is still in the shower.”

I blushed but decided to spit it out, “I climbed out.”

He sighed, and I could tell he was mentally trying to decide what to do. “Well, we didn’t say you couldn’t do that. Be ready for your mom to get mad about it, though.”

“Mad about what?” Mom asked from behind me.

“She climbed out of her crib,” he answered.

I turned towards Mom. “I’m not really a baby mom, and it was way smaller of a climb and jump than what I was doing yesterday.”

She picked me up, and I worried I would get a spanking. She sighed, “I guess we’re going to have to get used to finding a balance between you being a baby and not being a baby, huh?”

“You’re not too mad?” I asked, kind of scared.

“I probably should be, but you’re not a regular baby. Of course, this would be the sign we needed to get you in a big girl bed or spank your bottom if you were. Since Caireen doesn’t really want you in a regular bed, maybe…?”

I trembled, “Please, no?”

Mom smiled and tickled me, “Like I said, you’re not a regular baby. At least if you get hurt, you’ll get better quick. Don’t expect to come crying to me about it, though!”

I smiled, “Okay.”

She felt underneath my nightgown and said, “I guess I get an early start on diaper changes today, huh?”

“Please?”

Mom changed me into a knit dress that had a few tiers of ruffles on the skirt. Lily had one similar that she wore all of the time. As if Caireen had felt like there should be some sort of constant joke with my name, it had a picture of Sofia the First on the front.

“Okay, shall we get breakfast?” she asked as she sat me down.

“Umm… can you actually get Emie for me? I left her in my crib by accident.”

Mom looked in the crib and saw my baby doll, “She’s beautiful,” she said. “Where did you get her?”

“Caireen gave her to me in the castle last night. I guess she decided to bring her with me to the real world.” I hesitated but then said, “Watch this!” I changed her dress into one identical to mine.

She grimaced but said, “Cool. I actually think I liked the other one better,” she said.

“Okay,” I said and changed it back.

“This ability doesn’t work to change your diaper?” Mom asked.

I sighed, “I asked Caireen that last night. It works exactly like that in theory, but she’s blocking me from it.”

Mom carried me down the steps and then let me down on the ground, and I walked on my own to the dining table. “Pancakes?” Mom asked.

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

“Well, it’s worth celebrating that you’re up before the afternoon!” She said semi-sternly.

She sat me on the counter a few minutes later, and I stirred the ingredients. She had to stop me before I went too far in mixing it; my extra strength had a practical application of helping me stir faster! She paused long enough to wake my sister up and bring her down in a nearly identical dress to mine before actually cooking the batter.

“We twins!” Lily said when she saw what I was wearing.

I giggled, “Sort of; I’m taller!”

“Well, Mommy said I’m heavier,” she said.

Mom laughed, “That’ll be the only time in your life I think I’ll hear you brag about being heavier, Lily!”

“Well, it’s the only time in my life I’ll probably still be taller than her, too,” I told Mom.

“I get taller than you?” Lily asked me.

I sighed, “Lily, by the time you hit your next birthday, you’ll probably be taller than me.” Then, I added, “You’ll grow up, but I’m always going to be a baby.”

Her eyes widened, and she must have grasped that wasn’t normal because she toddled over and hugged me. “I love you, even if I bigger! You bestest brother sister ever.”

I smiled and hugged her back. Mom put us in our high chairs and then put bibs on both of us. I watched her cut up Lily’s pancake after putting some syrup on it, and then she did the same with mine. “You don’t have to do that...” I grumbled.

“Shhh…” Mom said with a smile, “If you complain too much, I’ll feed you!”

I gulped and just ate the mutilated pancakes. Mom had given me a stack of three that I quickly finished before also finishing the sippy cup of milk she had given me. Mom attacked Lily’s face with a baby wipe and mine as well. “You two go play; I remember someone made a promise last night.”

I nodded and said, “Come on, Lily, let’s go to the playroom.”

I stopped for a moment, though, and Mom seemed to have read my mind because she had a pacifier ready to go that she attached to my dress with a clip. “This way, you can’t lose it!”

I blushed and sucked on it.

“Mine, Mommy,” Lily said. She produced it, and I had a feeling Mom was wondering how she would get the baby sister to break a habit her older sister would never break.

As soon as we hit the playroom, I let Lily take the lead. She ended up deciding we should have a tea party that morning. She made sure to teach me how to play right. I had fun following her lead. After a while, I amused her by changing the clothes of several of her dolls with magic. I also let her play a little with Emie. It was strange because I had to fight a peculiar possessiveness I felt about her.

Mom came down and watched us off and on through the morning. She changed another messy diaper on me during the morning and a wet diaper on Lily, but mostly just let us play. When lunch came, she made us wash our hands and gave us PB&J sandwiches.

“Okay, nap time, girls,” Mom said as she lifted Lily out of her high chair and came for me.

She changed us and let me have my cell phone and Emie in my crib. I had several messages from Hannah and Jacob, and some other friends. I responded to Hannah and Jacob, telling them they could come over that afternoon. With Hannah, we debated how I should tell Jacob. Still, a couple of his messages from last night made me wonder if he hadn’t already put two and two together.

I couldn’t help but think back to last night when I asked Caireen about changing my diapers the same way as the clothes. As soon as she said I would be able to, I tried. It was pretty funny when I suddenly ended up with this weird not-diaper thing hanging half off my body, and the rest of my clothes went away too.

‘I said you would be able to, not that I would let you yet.’ She had said, laughing. ‘I think given your situation, size, and lack of potty training, it would be best if you get used to being taken care of for a while...’ Then, as if to emphasize that it was a bad idea, I felt urine trickle down my legs without the diaper to collect it.

I tried to argue and negotiate with her for twenty minutes, but in the end, I ended up with another diaper and outfit and put back to play some more with the doll’s clothing.

‘I know you think I’m being unfair,’ Caireen said.

‘No...’ I said, ‘I guess I don’t mind Mom changing me. I wouldn’t even freak out too much over Hannah changing me later. It’s the thought of going to school with all these superpowerful kids and being unable to handle something like changing my poopy diaper.’

‘I promise you it’ll work out.’

‘I hope so...’ I told her.

After an hour or so of playing games and surfing the internet, Mom came in. “Didn’t feel like a nap today?” Mom asked.

I shook my head, “I think I still have the circadian rhythm of a teenager. Or mostly, at least.”

“Are Hannah and Jacob coming over?”

I nodded, “I’m guessing they’ll be here in an hour?”

I let her pick me up from my crib and walked downstairs with her. I decided since I was going to Bechtel, there was no point in doing my homework. Apparently, I was going back at least two grades anyway, so what was the purpose? I turned on the TV and used a streaming service to find ‘Sofia the First’ episodes. I watched a couple with my sister, but I usually did homework and ignored it. Somehow, I thought it would be wise to actually know what happens in the show!

Three episodes in, my sister had joined me, the doorbell rang and I knew it would be my friends. “Lily, would you please give me and my friends some privacy for a while?” I asked.

I could tell she wanted to be annoyed, but I was really proud of her. She said, “Sure, I play downstairs!”

I would have hugged her, but she ran downstairs so fast I couldn’t catch her. I instinctively knew my pacifier was still in my mouth and decided to let it dangle from the clip instead. ‘On second thought...’ I pulled the clip from my dress and the little purse I had my GEID in from that other space. I looked in the bag and easily fit my pacifier in.’

‘That’s my baby girl!’ Caireen praised me.

I smiled.

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Thank you for reading! Please press the ‘Like’ Button if you’ve enjoyed it! Comments are always super appreciated as well! In fact they’re sooooo appreciated, I’ll post a chapter again tomorrow night instead of waiting the extra day if I can just have two people comment today!

If you're someone who must finish a good story 'now,' consider purchasing the full book on Amazon Kindle! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTBTTGX1 I will be posting a chapter about every other day until the complete 62 Chapters and the Epilogue are reposted.