The Purple Monkey (Book 2 in SRMTHFG series)

15

I tell Markus everything, starting from Formless chasing me on Earth.

"And then we found you, and... yeah, you can probably pick up from there," I finish.

"Wow. That's... that's a lot to take in," Markus says quietly.

"You think?" I raise an eyebrow. "Imagine how much it was for me."

"It'd be pretty hard for someone learning that their mind was tainted."

"Oh, I hate it," I laugh. I pause for a minute. "I'm about to tell you something I haven't told anyone else; not even the Hyper Force."

"What is it?" Markus asks.

"I told myself that I'm tired of all of this. Not the Hyper Force, but Skeleton King. I hate him. I want him dead."

It's really quiet for a few minutes. Markus laughs.

"It's kind of hard to believe that this is the Chelsea that was scared of a human girl a few months ago."

I laugh too. "I know, right? No... no, that Chelsea is gone. I'm not scared anymore. Besides, after all of this, you really think I'm scared of Hillary?"

A red alarm goes off. We stand up and run to the common room. The monkeys, Chiro, and Jinmay are gathered around the monitor. Diagrams, monitors, cameras, and words written in Shuggazoom alphabet are on the screen.

"This is bad," Gibson mutters. My eyes widen when I read the screen.

"Oh. My. Gosh," I whisper. "Sparx, you can say it."

"Monkey doodle," Sparx exclaims.

"What is it?" Markus asks.

"Skeleton King," Chiro growls. Markus shakes his head. Yep, he knows how bad Skeleton King is now. Who wouldn't?

"He's attacking Earth!" I snap. At that moment, a message comes over the screen. It's static at first, then it clears to reveal Skeleton King.

"Hyper Force," he says, "I need to explain something to you. You have something I want, and when I tried to take it, you so rudely stole it from me. Unfortunately, you so desperately chose your own way of doing things, so I was forced to continue the hard way. So, my negotiation is simple: you give me the Siren, and I will spare the lives of humans on Earth."

"Never!" I yell, slamming my fist down on the control panel.

"Fine," Skeleton King snarls, eyes narrowing. "Have it your way. Let the war begin."