"Go."
The single word was enough to make James' features screw up with confusion in that moment. Go? She wanted him to leave, after all she'd told him, he was being cast out as if this was nothing.
Her words that confirmed her nonsensical wishes met his ears only a moment later, and James paused for a moment, trying to decipher if she was serious, but Circe's face was nothing short of serious. He was not to come back until he was sure of what he wanted, and surprisingly, James could agree with that.
"Okay." James replied, standing from the side of the bath. He knew in that moment that there would be nothing until he made a decision, and whatever his decision would determine whether he saw the witch again. That much made him feel... not so good about himself. But James still wasn't ready to decipher his feelings, not yet. Too much had happened too quickly.
And they both needed time.
Without another word, James twisted on the spot, the soft sound of apparition filling the room for a moment. Where once stood the potions professor was nothing, and a hundred, maybe two, miles away, James landed in his own home and collapsed on the sofa of his apartment. Mind racing, heart heavy, and with a mountain to climb before he'd have any idea of what he had to do.