BEJEWELED ★ CONNOR STOLL

THREE

APHRODITE'S CABIN IS A dream come true.

    It's decorated in a million shades of pink and red, with gauzy white curtains separating the common areas from the beds. Plush rugs warm the hardwood floors, and sun streams through the windows. It's a life-sized Barbie Dream House, complete with Barbies and Kens littered throughout the space.

    Tilly Beaumont is grateful to be friends with one of Cabin 10's occupants. She does Satyr Yoga with Evangeline Donnelly three times a week, and while they dont't hang out much outside of class, Tilly has managed to secure an invite for tea.

    Evangeline crosses the narrow open space between the coffee bar someone had built years and years ago—rumor has it that Silena Beauregard had had her then-boyfriend, Charles Beckendorf, construct it—and the couch where Tilly sits, handing her a steaming mug of chai.

    "So," Evangeline begins, sitting down next to Tilly and leaning back against the arm of the couch. "What's going on with you and Baby Stoll? He walked around all day last week with your name scribbled on his forehead."

    A smile stretches across Tilly's lips, painted the same shade of garnet that had stained Connor Stoll's forehead the day after she'd snuck into the Hermes cabin. "Just a friendly prank war. Nothing to write home about, but..." her eyes twinkle, the tiniest hint that she isn't the sweet Georgia peach the others stereotype her as. "I wanted your help, actually. Me and Lucy had an idea."

    Evangeline's brow quirks up. "Lucy Nakamura with an idea? Gods help us all."

    "I know, I know. But it's a good idea, I think." Tilly shrugs, taking a long sip of her tea as her gaze scans across the cabin. "Is there any way one of y'all can do some sort of love curse thing on him? Make him fall in love with Argus, or something."

    The laugh that bursts from Evangeline is genuine and sharp, and she slaps her hand over her mouth to quiet the sound. "Gods, that's good. You're a little evil, Beaumont. Anyone ever told you that?"

    Yes. Sutton had called her a hellspawn several times throughout her childhood—lovingly, of course. No one outside of the Beaumont family has even thought to call Matilda evil, though. Cavity-inducingly sweet, maybe, but never evil.

    "Can you do it? If you can't, not a big deal. But I think it would be funny, y'know?" Tilly watches as the steam from her chai rises into the air and catches the light streaming in through the windows.

    Evangeline's red nails come into her field of vision. She's sticking her hand out for Matilda to shake.

    "You got a deal, on one condition." Evangeline's smile is plotting, conniving. "You have to let me set you up on a blind date."

    Tilly's eyebrows rise in surprise. "And what if I have a boyfriend back home, Donnelly?" She asks, equally conspiratorial.

    This catches Evangeline's attention. "Oh, my gods. Do you?"

    Matilda has had a year and a half to get used to the feeling she gets when she talks about what happened on that last day in Georgia, and she can smile sadly now instead of bursting into tears at the thought of losing her old life. "I did. His name was Nolan. We started dating my freshman year of high school."

    As if being a child of Aphrodite can give you insight into someone's dating history, Evangeline nods knowingly. "You broke up to come here, right?" All it takes is a slight tip of Tilly's chin, and it's like Evangeline knows everything. "I'm sorry, Tilly."