Gravity Rises (S3)

PP: Part Fifteen

Candy Chiu was bored. Her mother had insisted that she stay in the house today, but there was nothing to do here. For one, there was no internet or TV cable — it had been down for a while, even before all this craziness with the barrier around town and the sun jumping through the sky. There also weren't many books in the house that Candy could read; Mom had a fair amount of books in Mandarin, but Candy wasn't good with Mandarin, and they didn't have many books in English. So Candy reread her small collection of comic books, even though she was more focused on how she wanted to go outside than she was on the comics.

And Mom was acting weird, too. All jumpy and nervous. Every time Candy asked what was wrong, Mom would just smile and shake her head and go back to looking worried. Candy couldn't tell if she was jittery because she was happy or because she was anxious. Maybe both. It was strange behavior for Yingtai, and Candy didn't like it.

That afternoon, Candy was hanging upside-down on the couch, trying to read a comic book through the blood rushing to her head, when the doorbell rang. She paused, glancing around her comic book at the door. Who could that be? Nobody came out of their houses these days, not since the gravitational anomalies. Candy hadn't seen her best friend Greyson in days.

Usually, Candy would just call her mom to the door, but she wanted to see who was there. It would be something to break up the monotony of today, at least. So she flipped herself upright and went to the door.

"Candy, wait," Mom called from behind her.

Candy stopped just in front of the door. "You expecting anybody?"

Mom came up right beside Candy, took a deep breath, then nodded to the doorknob. "Open it." She looked more nervous than she had all day.

Candy shot her mom a strange look. Then she pulled open the door.

And came face to face with a monster.

Head like a bull, with big curved horns. Torso and arms like a human. Legs like a bull, with a knee-length skirt around the waist. This was a minotaur, the bull monsters Candy had read about in her comics. Most people would jump back when suddenly faced with a large bull man, but not Candy. Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. "Woah," she said.

"Jiā lēi," Mom said, her voice full of relief. "Did it work?"

"It worked," the minotaur said. His voice was a normal baritone, not like a monster at all. His eyes flickered to Mom, but they mostly stayed on Candy. She stayed still, trying to figure out what was going on. Who was this guy? Did Mom know him?

"You're here to stay, then?" Mom said. She sounded like she was about to cry.

"Yes," the minotaur said, and he seemed just as emotional.

Mom gestured for him to come in. Candy stepped back as the minotaur squeezed his large body through the door. Looking at him from farther away, Candy frowned. Wait. Something about this guy. . . Something about him was familiar. But she couldn't remember ever seeing him in her life. Maybe he just reminded her of a character from a comic book?

As soon as the minotaur was safely inside the house, he embraced Candy's mom. Yingtai wept in his arms, and he held her close.

Candy just stared at them. This seemed. . . really familiar. What was going on?

The embrace didn't last for long. They pulled away and turned to Candy. "Mei Xing," the minotaur said, using Candy's real name. He knelt down in front of her so he could be at about her height.

"Who are you?" Candy asked.

He stared back. There were no tears in his eyes — could bulls cry? — but he still seemed just as emotional as Mom, who now had tears streaming down her face. "My name is Caleb," he said slowly. "I'm. . ."