It was a dark and stormy evening by the time Milo and Julia reached their home. Because they didn't have any vehicles, the siblings had no choice but to walk home. Things were not going well for either of them, because Milo's proposal was rejected by the board, and Julia was called a 'feeble-minded and delicate woman' by Mr. Hartcourt.
"A woman? Yes," Julia grumbled as she and Milo came home, "But feeble-minded? No! If I had my way, I'd travel around the world and write up a brand-new edition of world history!"
"Julia, it's okay," Milo said to her as he put his hand on her shoulder, "I don't think you're feeble-minded. I think you're smart, and strong, and determined, and…"
"Thank you, Milo," Julia sighed; her expression was still disappointed as she continued, "Besides, what would I do without you?"
"Well, you'd probably run out of insulin to inject, and then…" Milo started before sighing with sadness; if Julia didn't inject insulin into her body every day, she would die.
Julia hugged her brother as Milo dug around in his coat pocket for a key. They entered an apartment building and then went down a hall to find their home. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day for the Thatch siblings?
The siblings soon arrived at their apartment, and Milo called as they entered through the door, "We're home! Fluffy? Here, kitty!"
"Kitty, kitty, kitty!" Julia softly called, looking for the cat.
As the two of them walked further into the apartment, Milo turned on the switch to a lamp, but no power came on.
"Hmmm," Julia wondered as she saw no lights coming on, "Must be a power outage."
Just then, lightning flashed outside and illuminated the whole room; Milo and Julia soon found themselves facing a mysterious woman. The woman had a slim figure, blonde hair under a fur hat, a sleek, black dress under a large fur-trimmed coat, and black gloves. "Milo James Thatch and Julia Marianne Thatch," the woman said as she looked at the siblings.
Julia and Milo were both shocked and confused at the same time. How did this woman get in here? "Wait… who-who are you?" Milo asked the woman, "How did you get in here?"
"And what are you doing in our apartment?" Julia asked with a defensive tone.
"I came down the chimney," the woman slyly said as she sat upon a chair and draped the collar of her coat down to her shoulders in a seductive manner, "Ho, ho, ho. My name is Helga Sinclair. I'm acting on behalf of my employer, who has a most intriguing proposition for you two. Are either of you interested?"
"Who's your employer?" Milo asked with a bit of scoffing.
Julia looked at her brother with concern and whispered to him, "Milo, I dunno. There's something about this woman that I don't trust."
"Oh, don't be afraid, my pet," Helga smirked to Julia.
"You're dealing with a thirty-five-year-old woman, here!" Julia snarled under her breath.
"Oh, I apologize about my sister!" Milo nervously smiled, "She has a few… issues." His smile dropped as he remembered what Helga told him and Julia about the "proposition." "Anyway, who are we gonna see, miss?" Milo asked Helga.
Several minutes later, Milo and Julia were riding in the back of Helga's car up to the gates of a stately mansion, while the thunderstorm continued through the night. As they entered through the gates, Milo and Julia looked up and saw a light post with a plaque that read, "Whitmore Manor". Both the siblings were amazed. "I wonder who lives here, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?" Julia wondered out loud.
A few minutes later, the car parked by the main door, and Helga led the Thatch siblings inside. A butler took Helga and Julia's coats, while Milo took his own coat off and hung it.
"This way, please!" Helga said to Julia and Milo as she led them to an elevator, "And don't trip on the Caravaggio!"
Julia cautiously minded where she stepped. Since she was diabetic, one wrong injury with her foot could mean serious trouble.
"Step lively!" Helga ordered the siblings, "Mr. Whitmore does not like to be kept waiting!"
Once they were all inside the elevator, Helga turned to Julia and Milo and told them, "You will both address him as 'Mr. Whitmore' or 'Sir.'"
"Yes, ma'am!" Julia said as she straightened her dress out a bit.
As Helga adjusted Milo's shirt and glasses, she continued, "You will both stand unless asked to be seated. And keep your sentences short and to the point. Are we clear?"
Milo nodded, swallowing hard.
"Yes, ma'am," Julia said, trying to sound dignified; she was actually very nervous deep down inside – not only for herself, but for her younger brother, too.
Finally, the elevator stopped at the lowest floor in the mansion. When the doors opened, Helga finished to Milo and Julia, "And relax. He doesn't bite… often." Then, she closed the doors of the elevator shaft and disappeared back upstairs.
Julia and Milo held hands as they walked further into the room. They looked around and saw many ancient relics and artifacts. Milo rolled his sleeves up and walked around with Julia until they saw a photograph of their grandfather sitting atop a fireplace. He seemed to be standing next to someone.
"Grandpa?" Milo wondered out loud.
"Finest explorer I ever met!" a male voice said.
Julia and Milo turned around and saw an old man with a silver beard, wearing a blue bathrobe as he twisted his leg while sitting on a mat. "Preston Whitmore," the old man said as he offered his foot to the siblings, "Pleasure to meet you, Milo and Julia!"
Milo shook Mr. Whitmore's foot, while Julia nervously grinned, "Uh, the pleasure is ours, sir!"
Whitmore used his other foot to snap his neck into place and asked the siblings, "Care to join me in a little yoga?"
"Um, no, no thank you," Milo answered, "Did you really know our grandfather?"
"We saw his picture up there," Julia added as she pointed out the picture of Thaddeus Thatch.
"Oh yeah! Met old Thaddeus back in Georgetown!" Whitmore said as he stretched his legs, "Class of '66. We stayed close friends till the end of his days!" He cracked some of his toe bones as he continued, "Even dragged me along some of his dang-fooled expeditions! Thatch was crazy as a fruit bat, he was – he spoke of you guys often!"
"Huh, funny," Milo said, "He-he never mentioned you."
"Yeah, I don't remember him ever talking about you in my life," Julia added with a shrug.
"Oh, he wouldn't," Preston said as he did a headstand, "He knew how much I liked my privacy." While doing his headstand, Whitmore's robe fell down.
"Oh my!" Julia gasped with a blush.
"I keep a low profile!" Whitmore grunted as he stretched his legs. He did some Tai Chi poses as he continued, "He brought that package to me years ago. He said that if anything would happen to him, I should give it to you guys when you were ready."
Preston handed Julia and Milo a wrapped-up package with strings tied around it. Milo undid the strings and unwrapped the package; when he saw what was inside, he gasped. It was a book with an Atlantean symbol on the cover.
Julia also gasped with surprised. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked with awe.
"It-it can't be," Milo said with astonishment, "It's the Shepherd's Journal!"
Neither of the siblings could believe that their grandfather actually had the Shepherd's Journal in his possession until his death!
Mr. Whitmore was downing two glasses of water when Milo turned to him with amazement and said, "Mr. Whitmore, this journal is the key to finding the lost continent of Atlantis!"
"Ha! Atlantis!" Whitmore laughed, "I wasn't born yesterday, kids!" He then went over to a changing divider.
"You have to believe this, sir!" Julia insisted.
Milo opened the book up and said, "No, no, no, sir! Look at this! Coordinates, clues… it's all right here!"
"Yeah, looks gibberish to me!" Preston said as he changed clothes.
Julia groaned with annoyance as she did a face palm, "You said you were friends with our grandfather!"
"Well, that's because it's written in a dialect that no longer exists!" Milo cried.
"So, it's useless!" Whitmore said as he put on a dress shirt.
"Useless?" Julia snarled as she frowned.
"No, no! Just difficult!" Milo said, "My sister and I spent our whole lives studying dead languages! It's not gibberish!"
"Ah, it's probably fake," Whitmore said as he came out, fully dressed in an evening suit.
"Excuse me?" Julia glared.
"Mr. Whitmore, my grandfather would've known if this were a fake!" Milo argued, "I would know. I would stake everything I own, everything that I believe in, that this is the genuine Shepherd's Journal!"
"Yeah!" Julia added, "Our grandfather was a highly intelligent man, and we believed in him! So, if you won't believe in me and my brother, good day, sir!" And she turned around, ready to leave.
"Julia!" Milo called to his sister.
"Wait a minute, Miss Thatch, don't go!" Whitmore called to Julia, making her come back; she still donned an annoyed frown. "Alright, alright," Preston said to the siblings, "About the Journal. What do you want with it?"
Milo stammered, "Well, I'll… I'll… W-we'll get funding. I mean, I'll… the museum…"
"They'll never believe you," Mr. Whitmore said.
"We'll show them!" Milo insisted with determination, "We'll make them believe!"
"Like you did today?" Whitmore asked, having heard about what happened at the museum earlier that day.
"Yes! Well, no!" Milo said, lost for words. Finally, he shot at Preston, "How did you… forget about it, okay? Never mind! I will find Atlantis on my own! Even if I have to rent a rowboat!"
"And I'm coming with you!" Julia said to her brother with determination.
Preston just smiled with contemplation. "Congratulations, Milo and Julia," he said, "That is exactly what I wanted to hear. But forget the rowboat, kids! We'll travel in style!" He pushed a button, and then a platform rose up in the middle of the table. It revealed models of a grand submarine, trucks, diggers, dirigibles, transport vehicles, and planes. "It's all been arranged," Whitmore continued, "The whole ball of wax!"
Milo picked up a model of a dirigible and looked at it closely. "Why?" he asked.
"And how come?" Julia added as she studied some of the other models with curiosity.
Preston looked at the siblings and told them, "For years, your granddad bent my ear with stories about that old book. I didn't buy it for a minute! So, finally, I got fed up and made a bet with the old coot. I said, 'Thatch, if you ever find that so-called journal, not only will I fully finance the expedition, but I'll kiss you full on the mouth!'" He walked over to a framed photograph and smirked as he picked it up, "Imagine my embarrassment when he found the darn thing!"
Milo and Julia looked at the photo of Preston wiping away his lips, with Thaddeus spitting after their bet. "Tell me you didn't French kiss him!" Julia said with disgust.
"No, I didn't," Whitmore smirked, "But I could have!" He regained himself as he continued, "Now, I know your grandfather's gone, kids. God rest his soul. But Preston Whitmore is a man who keeps his word!" He went over to the photo of himself with Thaddeus and shouted excitedly, "You hear that, Thatch? I'm going to the afterlife with a clear conscience, by thunder!" He pointed his cane up and laughed as he stood by the fireplace. But then he heavily sighed, "Your grandpa was a great man. You probably don't realize how great. Those buffoons at the museum… dragged him down. Made a laughing stock of him."
"I know that feeling," Julia sighed with a sad look before looking at her brother; she remembered how Milo's proposal was rejected by the museum's board of directors that day.
"Yep, died a broken man," Preston continued about Thaddeus, "If I could just bring back just one shred of proof… that'd be enough for me." He turned around and said as he changed the subject, "What are we standing around for? We've got work to do!"
"This is all so sudden!" Julia said, feeling speechless, "We've got a lot of planning to do, you see!"
"Mr. Whitmore, in order to do what you're proposing, you're gonna need a crew!" Milo added.
"Taken care of!" Whitmore said as he pointed his cane to an envelope.
Milo and Julia looked at each other with disbelief, and Milo stumbled a bit as he said to the old man, "You'll need engineers… and geologists!"
"Got 'em all!" Preston said as he got out files of all the crew members, "The best of the best! Gaetan Moliere – geology and excavation. The man has a nose for dirt! Vincenzo Santorini – demolitions. Busted him out of a Turkish prison. Audrey Ramirez – don't let her age fool you! She's got more about engines than you or I will ever know. They're the same crew that brought the journal back."
"Where was it?" asked Milo.
Preston showed a photograph of the crew posing with the Shepherd's Journal to Milo and Julia. "Iceland," the old man answered.
"I knew it, I knew it!" Milo cried.
"Good job, little brother!" Julia grinned as she hugged Milo.
"All we need now are experts in gibberish," Preston continued, "So, it's decision time. You can both build on the foundation your grandfather left you, or you can go back to your boiler room."
Julia thought long and hard about this decision. She and Milo were both great experts in languages, but this expedition seemed a little too exciting for her. But she wanted her brother and herself to be happy, so she nodded with determination, "I'm going on this adventure with or without you, Milo."
Milo was still in shock. "This is for real," he uttered.
"Now you're catching on!" Whitmore grinned.
"Alright… okay," Milo said, "But Julia and I will have to quit our jobs!"
"It's done," said Preston, "You resigned this afternoon. And Julia's been let off the hook, too!"
"Oh," Julia said with a little surprise.
"Um… our apartment," Milo said as he remembered his and Julia's home, "I'll have to give notice."
"Taken care of!" Whitmore said as he trimmed a bit of his beard with some grooming scissors.
"My insulins?" Julia asked, "I have diabetes, you know."
"I've practically a whole year's supply packed up for you!" Whitmore smiled at her.
"Our clothes?" asked Milo.
"Packed," said Preston.
"Our books?" Milo added.
"In storage!" Preston said before he spritzed some breath spray into his mouth.
"The cat?" Milo asked.
A soft meow was heard behind Milo and Julia, answering the question. Julia turned around and happily gasped, "Fluffy!" The cat had been hiding at the manor the whole time!
"My gosh!" Milo gasped as he petted his cat's fur.
Preston looked at the siblings and said, "Your granddad had a saying, 'Our lives are remembered by the gifts we leave our children.'" He smiled as he gave Milo and Julia the Shepherd's Journal, "This journal is his gift to you two." Then, he took the siblings' coats. "Atlantis is waiting," Whitmore told the siblings, "What do you say?"
"I'd say… this will be… an adventure!" Julia grinned as she took her beige coat and put it on.
"I'm your man, Mr. Whitmore!" Milo said as he took his coat and accidentally put it on backwards out of excitement, "You will not regret this! Boy, I'm so excited, I-I-I-I can't even hold it in!"
"I feel like a balloon about to pop with confetti!" Julia added.