“You’ll have to leave. This place is strictly no trespassing.”
Circe generously waited for the man to remove himself from both her glade territory and her sight, but he only continued to crouch over the side of her favorite mountain spring and observe the crystal clear, bubbling water. She clenched her jaw.
“And now you have about three seconds before I turn you into something with no opposable thumbs.” She pushed back the sleeves of her robe and summoned her staff from the ether with a swish of a hand. She caught the wood in her grip and promptly pointed the bejeweled head at the intruder. “Two.”
But instead of springing away in fright at her threat, the man scuffed one sandaled foot into the grass before rising with a long, contented sigh. He turned around, and Circe became as still a
