The Weight of a Legacy

Chapter One

"Chris! Get your ugly butt out of my face!" I screamed at Chris who is trying to adjust the air vents above us. "I have been sitting in this van all the way from Northern Michigan to the middle of nowhere Montana. It is the middle of June, and I am dying of heat already. I do not want to die from smelling your butt too!"

"Oh, Crabby! You know that all of the girls want this piece of ass!" as Chris slapped his butt before sitting down again.

"Well I am your sister and definitely do not want anything to do with your ass. And if you call me Crabby again, I am going to dropkick it all the way back home!"

"My baby sister couldn't harm a fly!"

"Try me!" as I slapped him along the side of the head.

"You are on!" Suddenly, Chris turns around and begins to fight me.

"Christopher Matthew Schmidt and Anastasia Kirsten Schmidt Nielsen!" my mother yelled. "I expect more out of the two of you! You guys are 23 and 20 years old, and you are to act as such. I know that we all have been stuck in this van for over 24 hours, but the Verbeck pack is only about four hours away."

"That is too far!" screamed Catharine.

"Not you too!" complained Emily.

"I need to go to the bathroom!" cried Edward.

Caroline yelled, "You better not pee in that bottle again!"

"What if dad doesn't stop again! When a man needs to go, he needs to GO!" Ed retorted.

"Why is everyone screaming! I am trying to sleep!" Jacob yelled.

"Everyone stop yelling!" my dad barked. "I will make another pit stop in about 10 minutes, Edward. Jacob, you can go back to sleep. Caroline, stop complaining about your brother, and that goes for the same for you Emily. Catharine, honey, we are very close. We only have a little bit longer. EVERYONE needs to be on their best behavior when we arrive at the Verbeck Pack. You guys are representatives of the Nielsen pack. Remember that..."

"Other packs look to us differently since we are part of the oldest pack... We know..." all of us replied.

"Good! Once we make a pit stop, we will almost be there. Once we move into our cabin, don't forget to ask the Alpha's family if they need any help with setting things up."

"Ok..." mumbled everyone.

..................................

As soon as we were back in the van from our pit stop, we are on our way to the Verbeck Pack. This is so we can attend the International Werewolf Committee Meeting or IWCM as it is commonly referred to. It is a two-week gathering, where all of the alphas and heads of different packs gather together. At the end of the two weeks, there is a sparring tournament of the future alphas to determine where the convention will be held next year, and last year Tobias Verbeck won the final round. Another thing of the IWCM, it is also when all of the eligible elite wolves have the opportunity to find their mates after the Welcoming Ceremony. This is my first year of eligibility.

In the van, we have my parents George Schmidt, who is 45, and Lynnette Schmidt Nielson, who is 42. My dad is the pack doctor of the Nielson Pack, and my mom is on the counsel at the pack. She is the reason why we have to be in a van for almost 30 hours. The oldest out of us seven children are Chris and Emily. They are both 23. Chris is lined up to be the next gamma of the pack, and Emily just graduated to warrior status. They are both still looking for their mates. The next oldest is myself, Annie and I am 20. I recently finished what humans would call "werewolf college," and I majored in werewolf war history and logistics. The middle child of our family is my brother Jacob, and he is 19. He is currently training to become a tracker of our pack. Next is the other group of twins, Caroline and Edward. They are 16 years old. Ed wants to train under dad to become the pack doctor, and Caroline wants to go into teaching. Lastly is the baby of the family, Catharine, and she is only 13. Right now she wants to be a Luna, but deep down I think she would be an amazing tracker.