The White Palace, used to be called the White House back then. Back then, the kings were called presidents and lived there too. And the queen is called the first lady. People voted for who'll be their king, I mean president and whoever it president runs for about four years, they could even kick the president out of his position through a vote. They ran things strangely back then. Odd times.

"The Masked Musician has arrived!" The butler announced.

"There's no one here," I whispered.

He sighed, shoulders slumping. "They're in the meeting room." He explained in a bored tone. "She will be showing you the way." He motioned to a petite maid who was nervous just looking at me.

She quietly led me towards the so called, meeting room. I gave her a small smile and she looked like she was going to faint. She opened the door to me and did a perfect curtsy.

I gave her a short nod. "Thank you."

I entered the room. There was a huge table that was yards long and wide. There were many grand chairs but only some of them were filled. Dozens of entries filled the table, but only the twins were eating it. The King stood at the end of the table, an the rest of the Bountyhood.

I took an empty seat next to Animalia and left of the Ashton and Trench, Burning Water. Double Death sat at the King's right side, having a conversation with him though no one else pays attention to it. Bloody Blades sat across from me with a bored expression and between The Magician and White Wolf. White Wolf was making a small snow tornado and The Magician was playing with his cards, having them float around him.

Animalia's eyes were focused on The Magician, she seemed intrigues by her powers.

"How do you always do that?" She asked.

The Magician was startled by her and his cards dropped to the ground. "Oh, I just- It's hard to explain..."

Animalia giggled. "Yeah, it's hard when I try to explain how my powers work too."

I heard a snore and saw Dream Eater was taking a nap on his chair. He wore a large midnight black cloak that covered every inch of his body. You couldn't see much of his face because his hood covered almost all of it, all you could see is his mouth that was sewn shut. I touched my lips, wincing at what it must be like to have your lips shut.

The Magician glared at Dream Eater and shot a card into his hood. His mouth, though sew shut, open wide open with the strings still on, and the card slipped into his mouth. There was a huge swallow and then Dream Eater slowly sat up. You couldn't see it but you could see what looked like two bright lights coming from the eyes.

"I do not appreciate you waking me up from my sleep, Magi." Dream Eater growled, not moving his lips once.

Magician grinned. "Well I don't appreciate you sleeping during  meetings while the rest of us have to stay awake, Dream."

Animalia sighed. "Couldn't you too just get along."

"Must I discuss the contents of your dream the other night of a certain... Assassin, Ms. Animalia?" Dream Eater questioned, his sewn lips pulling to a smile.

For the first time, Animlia's face turned dark. The sky outside started to get cloudy, blocking the sun. And Fidget and Mauja crawled under the table, whimpering.

"You gave your word that you'd stop looking into the Bountyhood dreams." Animalia snarled, her voice turning harsh like an animal.

"I said I'd do my best to stop. Dreams come naturally to me, it is not my fault I sometimes read them."

Dream Eater whole existence is a mystery. No one knows the full extent of his powers or even his potential. Some say he joined the Bountyhood because people intimidated him. No one even knows his age, he could be decades old, living off of people's dreams.

I placed my hand on Animalia's shoulder, trying to calm her down. Reluctantly she exhaled and the sun shown through the clouds and Fidget hopped back on my shoulder.

"You want a pastry?" Ashton offered Animalia, though his mouth was full of food and it turned out to a mumble.

Animalia smiled and took the pastry and ate it. Suddenly there was a black smoke that appeared on the chair next to Animalia. She didn't even flinch, but I was started and dropped my pastry on my plate.

"Yo, am I late?" Someone's voice asked, panicked. "What did I miss?"

Trench rolled his eyes. "For a guy who can teleport, you always seemed to be late, Act."

A figure appeared in the black smoke. It was then I realized it was Vanishing Act, the assassin with his power of teleporting at great distances. He had dark skin and had tattoo's all over his body. But his Branded tattoo was at the middle of his forehead that bore a strange symbol of swirls that marked him as a telporter.

Vanishing Act burst out laughing. "Great to see you too, Trent."

"It's Trench."

"Whatever," he then turned to me. "And who are you?" He asked, a smirk forming on his lips.

"I'm afraid we haven't met, I'm-"

"The Masked Musician, 19 years old, obviously female. Black hair, green eyes, and the height of 5'5". You've been a bounty hunter for three years, your first job was Blake and his 100 men which made you famous in Medieval America. Your-" Then he paused and stared at me. "How did you do that?"

I smiled innocently, "How did I do what?"

"You just blocked me. Not a lot of people can do that. I can't read you anymore. Got something to hide?" He asked with a mischievious smirk.

"I wear a mask for a reason. And I'm not going to blow off three years of work with your power of insight."

Vanishing Act became an assassin to be a spy. And he was an excellent one from the stories I heard. He can teleport anywhere in the world he'd like, and an look into people minds and see their memories their knowledge. He's the last person you want to meet is you hold dark secrets, like me.

Vanishing Act grinned. "If you weren't able to block me, I'd have already read your whole past. But sadly you can. I guess I'll have to wait until you have, your guard down."

I grinned back. "Well I hope you can read the dead, because it won't be until my death can you read my secrets."

"I'll be waiting," he said, excepting the challenge.

"Me too," Bloody Blades said, wearing a evil glint in his eyes.

I don't know if Vanishing Act and I were joking. But with the determined look in his eyes, I knew that I should have to watch my back in his presence.

King Nicholson cleared his throat. He wore his usual attire that I've seen in The Medieval American Post, a crisp charcoal grey suit that had medals hanging over at the front and a blue slash strapped across his chest. His golden jeweled crown sat at the top of his head, proudly over his graying blonde hair.

"I'm very glad you've all been able to make it today," he said very sincerely, but I knew in the tone of his voice that the topic will be serious. "But now onto serious matters."

I noticed he pressed a button from under the table. The lights began to dim and I heard a strange whirring sound. Everyone turned to the middle of the table. The floor began to vanish before my very eyes, Fidget took a pastry just when it was about to vanish. This was very high technology, too advance for my taste. Then a metallic ball came from the middle of the table, and projected a light that showed pictures. I held back a gasp, and straightened myself, trying to look professional.

"Some of you may or may not have heard or the rumors that been going around."

"What rumors?" Ashton yawned, and Trench elbowed him.

The King smiled, "My point exactly. Well I don't know for certain, but there have been reports of dead loves ones roaming the land."

Trench choked on his pastry. Animalia almost did a spit take. And the rest of us stared at the King, jaws dropped.

Double Death blinked. "I'm sorry, but I think I've missed heard. Did you say dead loved ones?"

"Indeed I have."

"And let me ask you," Bloody Blades said, leaning in. "Have you've been taking your meds?"

Many of the others gasped at the insult of the King, including me. White Wolf and The Magician only snorted and looked away. But the Kind sat there with a smile, as if he wasn't offended by the insult.

"I will you assure you, Mr. Blades, that I'm taking any medicines at the current time. But I thank you for your concern of my well being."

Ashton coughed. "Wolf, maybe you should give Blades some ice cause he just got burned!" He slapped Trench a high five.

Bloody Blades mouth twisted, but didn't reply. He calmly leaned back against the chair and glared at the King.

"As I was saying." King Nicholson continued. "We do not know if the facts are true or not. All we have are the witnesses saying they've seen their loved ones and other deceased people they do not know."

The King touched something and it showed reports, files and news articles of the topic. Some said about people rising of the dead, a necromancer Branded, and a hallucination plague upon us.

"And where did they see them?" Animalia asked, as she read a story of a girl seeing her mother who passed away months ago.

"Mostly in cemeteries," The King replied. "They'd visit their graves and see their loved ones just a few yards away. When they blink, they vanish without a trace."

"Freaky," Trench said.

"Cool," Ashton agreed, taking a look at an article about zombies.

"But they are only rumors," Vanishing Act said. "Who knows, maybe they just want their fifteen minutes of fame or on meds?"

"That is quite true," King Nicholson paused. "Unless even I too have seen a loved one."

Everyone was too speechless to ask the golden question. But the King did us the favor and answered.

"After listening to the reports, I was curious myself. I took a trip to the Washington cemetery to visit my dear father, King Alexander. I paid my respects and turned to head back home when I saw him." The King sighed, his eyes staring of to space. "He looked just like when he died, a dreadful car crash it was. I was so happy, I took a step towards him but he smiled then vanished before my eyes."

"My King," Dream Eater began, his hood turning towards the King. "Do you think maybe it was a Branded? Maybe it is a poor joke someone is playing, making visions showing people their loved ones? Even I know no one could possible be that sadistic, but you must think of the possibility." 

The King's nostrils flared. "Then how dare one does that to innocent people, having them imagine to see their loved ones as some game."

White Wolf snorted. "And what? Do you want us to comfort these innocent people?"

"No, this is a very serious matter," he said, calming down. "Even the MAG are getting nervous."

That got everyone's attention. The MAG nervous? Now that's something.

"Why will the MAG get nervous?" Vanishing Act asked, maybe hiding a smile to cover the fact he enjoyed knowing the MAG gets nervous. "It doesn't have anything to do with them."

"Or does it?" The King challenged. "Imagine a dead worker of the MAG, coming back to life. Holding secrets only the MAG to know, and even my father has risen. He holds our countries deepest secrets."

"Like Area 51?" Ashton asked, getting a bit excited.

"Area what?" Animalia asked.

He shrugged. "It's something in the old times, back then. There was this rumor by conspiracy theorists that-"

"We do not care," Bloody Blades snarled.

"But that's pretty serious, the MAG becoming worried I mean," I said. "The dead coming back to life might endanger out country."

"Aw," White Wolf cooed. "You want to be like one of the big kids? Wanting to say something to at least seem important?"

I glared at her. "Well at least I want to fill my duties and protect my country. Unlike you who takes this as some kind of game."

"Ladies," Double Death said. "Please let his majesty finish before the two of you fight this out."

"Some help you are," I said, wanting to shoot lasers at White Wolf. Maybe I should call my friend, Lazer Eyes...

"But before we can discuss the plan, like always, I am not forcing you to join this mission. I know you all have busy schedules and don't have time for this. So if you really don't wish to-"

"Sweet! See you later. Bye!" And Vanishing Act just vanished with a puff of smoke.

My jaw dropped and I turned to Ashton. "Could he just do that?"

Ashton shrugged. "The two of us did that loads of times. Sometimes the missions don't see that interesting to us and we just go."

"Though Act can get pretty cocky," Trench said. "He takes his duties less seriously that both of us. Which is saying something."

Then Dream Eater stood up, his black robes touching all the way to the floor. "To my greatest regret my king, but I find my powers will not be useful in this mission."

The King nodded. "That's a shame, Dream Eater. Thank you for your time."

He bowed, then grabbed his cloak and pulled it over him. Then he vanished in thin air, leaving no trace of him.

"His disappearances are always more freaky that Act's." Ashton muttered.

"The guy gives me the creeps," Trenton shivered.

"Well I'm glad he isn't joining in this one," Animalia growled. "The always gets on my nerves. Always sticking his cloak in everyone's dreams. I swear, if I see his face in one of my dreams ever again..." Her voice trailed off and she said nothing more.

King Nicholson sighed. "Well I'm glad the remaining of you stayed. It would be the shame if a majority of you left like the Hurricane Mission."

"The Hurricane Mission?" I asked.

"There were hurricanes turning up all over Medieval America. Turns out that some kid who's Branded with controlling storms couldn't control the his powers." Double Death said. "None of us knew it would be that easy. But we knew that our powers wouldn't be that useful, so we didn't take the mission."

"Sometimes even the best of us can't take the missions." Animalia explained. "It depends on the mission and what type of powers can someone take the missions. Like when White Wolf couldn't take the Volcano Mission."

She scoffed. "I only didn't take it because my skin I can't take the heat."

"Can't take the heat huh?" Ashton challenged, snapping his fingers lighting up a small flame. "A shame she didn't come. Would have done us all the favor and shriveled up in-" Trench elbowed Ashton to shut up.

"You only say that because that mission was a playground. And your brother didn't take the mission either," White Wolf snarled, her wolf growling at the twins.

"Enough," The King said, slamming his fist on the table. "Could we all just finish the meeting before you can all settle your differences? Now what I was saying- oh yes."

"This is one of the most serious missions all of you will face," The King said. "This is a threat to the country, to the government and the people. We do not know the purpose of this, and that is the thing the MAG is afraid of."

"So let me guess," Double Death said. "The MAG wants protection?"

 The Magician snorted. "So they're weapons and force fields aren't enough, huh?" 

"I'm afraid so," he said. "But not just that. You all must team up and spread out to find some more information among your fellow bounties and assassins."

"Partner up?" Trench asked.

"Yes," King Nicholson agreed. "I have looked at your files and have already decided your teams for the mission."

"Which is..."

"As usual, the Elemental Twins will work together."

"Like always bro," Ashton said, giving each other a high five that I could swear had both flames and water merged together.

"Bloody Blades and White Wolf seem compatible together."

The two of them smirked at each other, but didn't try to interject.

"The Magician and Animalia. I know the two of you aren't quite close, but I'm thinking that maybe you'll work something out."

Animalia took a deep breath. "Of course, my king."

The Magician nodded, nervously. "A great decision, King Nicholson."

"And that leaves-"

"Us," Double Death and I said in unison.

The two of us looked at each other not knowing what to say.

"Since it was Double Death who requested Ms. Mask to join the Bountyhood, it is only right for him to partner with him."

"I see," I muttered.

"You've made a point, your majesty." Double Death said, not taking his eyes off of me.

"Some point," I muttered under my breath.

I haven't updated in so long! Wow! Well I'm back thanks to the help of HarryThu! He had me update the book and here I am!

Well I don't have much to say, but more to write. 

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