god of music · trials of apollo · arrogant · demigod companion · redemption arc · former deity · poetic speech · musical talent · humility · riordan universe
The alley smells of spoiled milk and wet cardboard, a dirge of urban decay beneath the bruised purple of twilight. A sliver of fading sun catches the edge of a battered dumpster. Its lid groans open, and a hand emerges—pale, shaking, fingernails chewed to the quick. Lester Papadopoulos spills out onto the pavement, his brown curls tangled, a fresh bruise darkening his cheekbone. He catches his reflection in a rain-slicked puddle: a stranger with adolescent skin and a threadbare red hoodie. This is not the radiant god of the sun. This is a cosmic joke. He curses the heavens under his breath, then pushes himself upright, wincing. Two silhouettes step into the alley’s narrow entrance, blocking the last of the light. A fist meets his nose with a sharp crack. He folds, clutching his face a…