Milo pushed one of the two massive doors open and slipped inside. The palace's library was huge. From either side of the doors and along all of the walls were towering bookshelves crammed with volumes and scrolls. Some were fairly recent and had been written by Milo himself, while others were older than Kida. He vowed one day to read every single tome. Right now, he was almost a third of the way through.

To the right of the doors was a podium that had a large open book on it with a magnifying glass and a quill resting on it pages. In a neat pile on the floor at the base of the stand were more books and stacks of notes. In the center of the room, facing each other, were two couches covered in cushions and throw blankets. Claire and Austin sat on one, and Kida was on the other. The two women were engrossed in a conversation and Dean was standing in front of one of the bookshelves, peering closely at the volumes.

Kida turned as Milo entered. She was wearing a large grin, clearly excited. "I was just talking to Claire about…What are they called again?" she asked as she gestured to Claire's pants.

"Jeans," said Claire.

Kida nodded. "Jeans. They are very sturdy and would be perfect for some of the hunts. The crystals heal almost any scratch, but these pants could prevent most of them from even happening."

Milo sat down next to his wife and held out his hand to Claire. "I'm Milo Thatch," he said as he shook her hand. Kida gave him a nudge with her elbow that was more playful than reprimanding. With an exaggerated sigh, he corrected himself. "King Milo. I always kinda forget."

His quirky lopsided grin was contagious and Claire couldn't help smiling back. "I'm Claire Hansen." She looked behind her. "That's Dean McIssac." To the buff young man she said, "Dean, what are you doing?"

He turned. "Uh, your shelves are very dusty," he said shyly. "They could use a good dustin'." He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a rag and began wiping off the offensive cobwebs.

"That-that's not really necessary," said Milo.

Claire laid her head in one hand and sighed. "Dean, for once in your life stop cleaning."

He looked like a big, kicked puppy. "But…" he started. He hated to leave a mess. "I'll be after getting it later." He sat down on the couch next to Claire.

Claire decided to continue the introductions. "This," she said, petting the one-eyed, old, black and white cat on her lap, "is Austin."

"Yo," said Austin, not even lifting his head. Milo stared at him in shock.

"He is a sort of pet?" asked Kida, not in the least bit perturbed by the speaking animal or Milo's babbling.

"I hate that word," groaned Austin. "I am not a pet. I am a confidant."

"Jiminy Christmas he talks!" Milo finally managed to yell.

This time Austin did look up at him. "No shit, Sherlock."

"Austin!" snapped Claire.

Milo gaped for several seconds, and then scowled and said, "Bad, bad kitty! We don't use that kind of language!"

If cats could look smug, Austin managed it with flying colors. Thousands of years ago, kings revered cats. They were thought to be gifts from the gods. This worshipping caused felines to have very little to no respect for royalty, which they soon considered to be underneath them. Although this worshipping and idolizing stopped centuries ago, the egotistical outlook on life has been genetically engrained in all cats. Austin was no exception. "Bite me."

"I'm so sorry Your Highness," Claire stammered.

"Please," said Milo, "don't do the 'Your Highness' stuff. And I'm just glad Fluffy never spoke."

Austin sniggered. "God I'm glad you didn't name me."

While Milo was still staring confusedly at the cat, Kida asked, "How did you get here? And why are you here?"

"I hate explaining this," Claire sighed. She cleared her throat. "First off, I am a Keeper."

"Of what?" asked Kida.

"No, no, no. With a capital K. Keeper. I am part of an elite—"

Austin sniggered.

"Shut up. I am part of an elite group who fights evil."

"So you're a warrior?" Kida looked impressed.

Claire had never thought of herself as a warrior. But now that she considered it…She shook her head. "Not quite, Queen Kidaka…Kidahga…Kidagashanga…Ki…"

"Call me Kida."

"Thank you. I get these summons, these urges to go to certain places. Once there, I find where something bad has happened or is about to happen."

Milo and Kida stared at her in bewildered silence. Claire could swear she heard crickets chirping.

"You see," she said, knowing there was absolutely nothing to look at, "when something really terrible happens, sometimes a hole in the fabric of the universe opens. Evil leaks outs."

"Let me get this straight," began Kida. "The universe is made of cloth?"

Austin chuckled. "Don't be so literal, Zena. It's purely metaphysical."

"Metaphorical, you mean," corrected Milo.

"Both," said Claire. "Imagine this: Life, the universe, and everything…"

"You totally stole that," said Austin.

"I don't care!" snapped Claire. "The whole universe is like one big tapestry of every single little happening, every little moment, every second, every life that comes into being, is in this tapestry as a thread." She grinned inwardly; she rather liked this explanation. "When bad happens, or when bad is about to happen, tears will form and evil leaks out. When these holes form, we call them accident sites. We are summoned to these sites and then we fix them, repair the hole, and we get summoned to someplace else. Do you get it?"

Milo thought about it and then nodded slowly. He was thinking about how Kida had been summoned into the Heart of Atlantis. He didn't feel comfortable mentioning that yet. "I think I do. So what summons you?"

Claire shrugged. "We call it the Possibilities. It's like—Well, I really despise using this term, but it's the best I can come up with—magic. Good magic. It tells us generally where to go, and we can use it to close the sites and for other things." Claire wasn't going to say how often she abused that privilege. "Emergencies only" wasn't a phrase that had much meaning to her. "I used it to escape that robotic lobster and it dumped us into your daughter's closet. But, the thing about it is that it doesn't tell us exactly what we have to do once we get to the accident site. All I know is I was summoned here, but I don't know where the hole is or if anything has been affected by it."

"So," said Milo slowly, "you're a Keeper?" He pointed to Claire.

"Yes."

"And you?" he asked Dean.

"Along for the ride, sir. Usually she doesn't let me go, but this time we didn't have much of a choice." He grinned. "Which means I get to help."

"No it doesn't," said Claire crossly. "You just do what you would normally do. Set back, relax, and bring me coffee occasionally."

"I saved the world once," said Dean with a smirk. "And do I get any thanks for it?"

Claire grinned playfully. "Of course you do." She turned to the royal couple. "Any more questions?"

Milo glanced at Austin. "What about—"

"I'm a cat," Austin said matter-of-factly.

"Right. Should of known that."

"Are all Keepers equally powerful?" asked Kida. "Are there," she frowned thoughtfully, trying to form the right words, "different types?"

Claire grimaced. This was always the worst part. She elbowed Dean, who was suppressing chuckles. "Okay, stay with me folks. There are two levels. The Keepers and the Cousins. The Cousins are the less powerful. Every generation is more powerful than the last."

Kida thought about this. "If you are a Keeper and each generation is stronger…"

Here it comes, thought Claire.

"Then your mother and father are Cousins?"

"Yes."

Milo looked disgusted. "Isn't that illegal in most states?"

Dean and Austin were laughing.

"No, I mean yes! Okay, my parents are not related. They are called Cousins because they sort of do what I do, but they are less powerful. Cousins don't roam like Keepers do, they tend to stay in one place and handle little holes in the general area. Now, Keepers are traditionally, for some reason I have yet to fathom, called Aunts and Uncles."

"You are your parents' Aunt?" asked Milo. "And your parents are your Cousins?" He grinned.

"Yes…Wait, you're not being serious! Quit making fun of me!"

"Okay, okay," said Milo, holding up his hands. "I'm sorry. So, Cousins are less powerful and Keepers are more powerful. You are a Keeper. You fix holes in the fabric of the universe. You are summoned to these holes. Am I right?"

"Right."

"Can we call you Aunt Claire?" Milo asked with his mischievous grin.

"No."

"Okay. Uh, do you have any questions for us?"

"Yeah. Where am I?"

"Atlantis."

Claire's jaw dropped. "You're pulling my leg!"

Kida shook her head. "We are not even touching your leg."

"It's an expression," Milo explained. "She thinks we're joking."

"Ah," said the queen. "No, you are really in Atlantis." She grinned. "I see Mr. Whitmore kept his word."

When Claire arched an eyebrow, Milo explained, "I'm not from here."

Claire looked from the tan-skinned, white-haired warrior to the pale, blond scholar. "I gathered."

"I came here on an expedition to find the lost city. That is, a huge crew and me came here on the expedition. The whole thing was financed and constructed by a billionaire named Preston Whitmore. He had been a close friend of my grandfather's." Milo got a wistful look in his eyes. "My grandpa taught me all about Atlantis and he said that there was a book called The Shepard's Journal that told all about the lost continent, even how to get there."

"Is it a lost city or a lost continent?" asked Austin. "Make up your mind."

Milo thought it would be wise to just ignore him. "Grandpa was pretty much shunned by the scientific community because he was obsessed with finding Atlantis." He looked hurt as he remembered this. "Whitmore made a bet with him that if grandpa could find the journal, then he would finance the expedition. Lo and behold, grandpa finds the journal off the coast of Iceland unbeknownst to me, I get called to Whitmore's several years later, and the next thing I know, I'm on a submarine leading a group of… people to the greatest archeological find in history."

Claire thought about this. "Why did they need you?" she asked. Quickly, she added, "No offense! I'm just curious. If they had a map, why were you sent with them?"

Milo smiled. "I know what you mean. The whole Journal was written in Atlantean, a dead language. I'm a linguist, so I've been studying dead languages for years. Plus, I was more obsessed than my grandfather was. I had been working in a museum's boiler room, plotting and planning proposal after proposal to ask for the funds to search for the missing book. It was after yet another rejection that I was called on by Mr. Whitmore and told about his promise and how his and grandpa's crew found the Journal."

"What happened to the rest of the crew that went with you?" asked Dean.

Thoughtfully and sadly, Milo answered. "There were many who didn't make it past the Leviathan, the creature guarding the entrance that you mentioned earlier, Claire. Among those who survived were Commander Rourke and Lieutenant Helga Sinclair; the cook, who we just called Cookie; the mechanic, Audrey Ramirez, the ship's physician, Dr. Sweet; Gaetan Moliere, who was in charge of geology and excavation, who we called Mole; Vinny Santorini, who handled explosives; and Mrs. Packard, the communications officer.

"Long story short, we got to the city and were amazed to discover that it was a living, thriving society. I had just expected some broken pottery." He smiled.

"I take it they went back home?" asked Claire.

"Most of them did," said Milo. "Helga and Rourke weren't so lucky. Mr. Whitmore made the others promise not to tell anyone about Atlantis, and it seems as if they've all kept the secret."

"Why wouldn't you want anyone to find out about Atlantis?" asked Dean. "I would imagine that you would want it to become part of the rest of the world, right?"

Milo and Kida were both silent for a moment and looked at each other worriedly.

"That is not exactly the case," said Kida slowly. "I would love more than anything for Atlantis to be as it once was, and to share with other nations, and to see the sun and the moon again..."

Claire smiled. "I bet it's pretty tough being stuck…Hold on a minute! 'See the sun and moon again'? Plato talked about Atlantis back in, what, four hundred…"

"Three hundred and sixty," Milo corrected.

"Three hundred and sixty B.C. And the sinking was before that. You're what, thirty?"

Kida pondered it for a second. "I am somewhere around nine thousand." She grinned.

"Wow," said Austin, "you're really well preserved." He glanced up at Milo and then at Dean. "What is it with four-eyed men and older women?"

Dean who, at twenty-one, was nearly eight years younger than Claire, blushed in embarrassment. Milo had a mortified look on his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Austin sarcastically. "I meant, what is it with overly sensitive, four-eyed men and older women?"

Claire just rolled her eyes, all too used to the cat's comments, and decided to continue the conversation. "Why do you age so slowly?"

"Children seem to age normally, it's the adults who slow down at a certain point," said Milo. "At least that's how I think it works from what I've seen. I'm still trying to figure it out. Why we age slowly…" He sighed worriedly and turned to Kida.

Kida looked down thoughtfully and bit her lower lip. After a silent debate she decided to tell them. "The life force of Atlantis is what keeps us young. It is also what nearly brought about our destruction. It is called the Heart of Atlantis, a giant crystal that sustains us. In return, we keep it protected as well."

"How?" asked Claire.

"When my people are threatened and there is nothing else to turn to, it calls upon a host of royal blood to merge with it. My father tried to use its power to conquer other nations. It backfired horribly and brought about the cataclysm that sank the empire. But my mother was called to it, protecting the city. Rather than it being destroyed, it was submerged. However, my mother was lost to us forever. If one stays merged with the crystal for too long, they become a part of it and cannot return. I was summoned to the Heart," she smiled inwardly at being able to make the comparison to Claire, "when Rourke and Helga tried to steal it."

"Are those necklaces just a small part of it?" Claire pointed to Kida's crystal.

Kida nodded. "These heal us and generally run most of the appliances, like the vehicles that we use."

"Amazing," whispered Claire.

"Yeah," yawned Austin, unimpressed. "Fascinating. If it's all the same to you, I'd like to get some sleep."

Milo blinked, lost in his own thoughts and looked up. "We've got a guestroom you can use for as long as you need, Miss Hansen."

"Call me Claire, and I'd really appreciate the room. I'm exhausted."

Milo nodded and stood up. "Great, just follow me then." He was somewhat distracted as they filed out of the library. Kida walked to his side and grasped his hand. The two exchanged concerned looks but said nothing.

Out of genuine curiosity, and to break an uncomfortable silence, Claire asked, "How long have you been here Milo?"

"Since nineteen…fourteen," he answered. "By the way, what year is it? I keep losing track."

"Two thousand, five."

He stopped and his jaw dropped. "Two thousand and five!"

"Yeah."

This took several more seconds to sink in. "Jiminy Christmas!

Austin sniggered.

"I'm a hundred and twenty-three years old!"

Kida put a hand on his shoulder and clicked her tongue. "Looking good."

After showing Claire, Dean, and Austin to their room, Milo and Kida headed back to their own bed. Milo was still frowning thoughtfully. He had been told so much in such a short time and was still trying to digest it all.

Milo shut their bedroom door and leaned against it and sighed. "I think Lucille's dreams and the Keeper are connected," he finally said.

"Why do you say that?" asked Kida as she pulled back the blankets.

Milo took off his robe, hung it up, and then sat on the edge of the bed. "Maybe not Claire, but this hole she talked about. Remember she said they occur where evil has happened? Maybe Rourke and Helga's attempted theft of the Crystal brought this about."

"But that was so long ago. Wouldn't this tear have happened by now?"

"Maybe it takes a long time." He stared down at his feet. Odd, he didn't look or feel any different, but one hundred and twenty-three years… He truly was part of Atlantis. Dragging himself out of his thoughts, he said, "Lucille told me that Helga was in her dream tonight. She said Helga's trying to warn her about something. How did she know about Helga? Do you think this evil could," his throat tightened and dread filled him with the thought. "Could this evil do anything to Lucille? What if we can't protect her? What if the Heart can't protect her?"

"I think the best thing we can do is sleep and ask Claire about this in the morning," Kida replied tiredly. She slid under the blankets.

"What if…" Milo said softly. "What if she's lying?"

"I do not think she would. I am not going to tell you not to worry. Trust me, I am afraid too, but we should get more answers first." She watched as Milo refused to budge. "I trust them, Milo. I would not sleep if I did not. I truly believe they want to help us. Please, get some rest. If something bad is going to happen, we cannot have a groggy king trying to protect the city." She smiled reassuringly and he smiled back weakly and nodded.

He lay down next to her. "It's not Claire and Dean I don't trust," he said too quietly for her to hear. It's Helga.

A/N: The line "life, the universe, and everything" is from Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. And I don't own Zena.