Hello, everyone! My name is Ariel Axilas and OH MY GOD! Did the author just throw us a big fucking curveball at the end of the last chapter or WHAT?! Did any of you see that coming? 'Cause I'll be honest.....I kind of did, but not too much.
But let's start with the positives first. Celeste took Marle to have a palm reading, and.....shit. If you didn't know anything about palm reading before that chapter, then you sure as hell know a lot more about it now! Heart lines, head lines, lifelines, fate lines.....earth, air, water, and fire hands.....I didn't have the slightest idea about those beforehand. I thought all of that "hands" business was stuff that was solely for the Mage Aspects or some shit like that! It really shone a light on her life's journey up until this point, you know? How much she's changed since her childhood and how much the harsh realities of life have warped her psyche. As Herman and I could tell you—because, oh, I don't know.....we've fucking worked with her—she's so much more than just a twisted cop killer and the head of the Mastermind Conspiracy. She has been hurt. She's been hurt so damn much. And Celeste.....oh, my God.....here I was, thinking she was cool. But.....I guess that wasn't meant to be.
I knew I should've paid more attention to how Celeste was practically ogling Marle's appearance. How she wouldn't stop looking at Marle no matter how much she tried to shift the subject or discourage her. How could I have missed such a fucking obvious red flag?
And now.....we're all about to pay for it. All of us. So strap yourselves in.....because it's about to get wild. (Just as a reminder, these chapters—at least for the time being—are all from my point of view; that's me, Ariel Axilas a.k.a. Lightspeed. I'm present both in-universe as a character and out-of-universe as a narrator and commentator, because the author wrote me that way.)
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Marle Atkins has been knocked unconscious by that fiend's smoky incense. And the fortune teller shop owner Celeste—who's now revealed to be Daniela Acosta—is responsible. Practically the moment she alerts her team of Celestial Syndicate operatives to her successful apprehension of Marle, three such grunts stream into the central lobby of Celeste's Clairvoyance Shop through the "Employees Only" door that I saw when I came into the building for the first time.
They are very built.....and honestly, it's a damn shame. Had they not turned to crime, they probably would've made an absolute killing as swimsuit models on magazine covers. And I'm not just saying that 'cause they're all men and their build is practically chiseled as fuck. Their outfits as operatives consist of fitted brown pants whose legs slip into boots of a significantly darker shade of brown, and they have sleeveless black tops that are visibly struggling to contain their muscles. All three of them have black beanies on their heads, as well as thick black shades on their faces which shield their eyes but still allow them to have sufficient sight lines.
They pay no attention to Erica or Herman, instead taking a sharp left the moment they reach the center of the hub room and rushing towards the stairwell leading up to the shop's second floor. They run down the corridor that Celeste and Marle were initially walking down, then burst into the penultimate room on the left; inside, they spot Celeste on the side of the square-shaped table further from the door.....with an unconscious Marle on her right side, lying on the floor on the opposite side of her; the side closest to the door.
"Celeste—" one of the three Syndicate operatives begins, only to be sharply cut off by the shop owner.
"Don't use that stupid codename," she spits. "As far as you're concerned, I'm Daniela Acosta, wife of Angelo Acosta and the co-leader of the Celestial Syndicate. I've hated it ever since I had to adopt it for this undercover stint of mine. Still.....it's for my brother-in-law Xavier, so it's been worth it." She then gestures across the table to the unconscious Marle. "I present to you.....my choice for Xavier's new 'plaything'. We know he's been getting anxious back at the Celestial Compound, but his days of having to play all by himself are now officially at an end."
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Lightspeed: Drug Detectives
Teen Fiction~PARAGON CINEMATIC UNIVERSE: PHASE 4, BOOK 2~ *This novel serves as the 2nd novel of Phase 4 and a sequel to "Lightspeed".* "My wayward daughter was an impudent fool for not wanting to follow in our footsteps.....and now, she has paid the ultimate p...
