III.

Eerie.

No…

Ethereal, yes. Ethereal.

It wasn't the first time Penny had been in the woods, she was an avid jogger. She loved to run. She often ran through the makeshift paths through the trees, mostly in the summertime, but still. The woods, they always felt welcoming…free. But now, she felt as if she was being watched. It unnerved her.

She lost the sight of his red flannel shirt a while ago, and while she knew it was sensible to turn back, she felt like she couldn't. She was compelled to keep walking, something was pulling her forward and it wasn't her feet. Something in the gloomy October air was calling her name. It was coating her body in familiarity and warmth, like a fleece blanket that just finished a cycle in a dryer. Her eyes were glazed over, and she moved without thinking.

Subconsciously, she started fidgeting with the gold band on her ring finger. No, she wasn't married. Though, it didn't hurt to wield the ring as if she were, to get rid of drunk guys hitting on her. As a child her mother had given her the ring, placing it on her ring finger and telling her it was an heirloom. Passed down from her great great grandmother. The ring was gorgeous, yet simple. It was a thin gold band, engraved on it were vines interweaving with each other wrapping around the entire band. In the center was a medium sized ruby, it kind of reminded her of the ruby on the necklace back at the store.

She hadn't taken it off since it was placed on her finger. It felt like it belonged there. However, she did pick up the habit of fidgeting with the piece of jewelry whenever she got anxious or nervous. Kurt had once asked her to remove the ring, as if it offended him. She refused, because how dare he ask that of her? She only met him when she was twenty-two, and by then she had the ring on for the better part of ten years. She scoffed, rolled her eyes, and walked away from him. But Kurt was persistent, and she believed that's when he became abusive. It was the first time he hit her.

He had sworn to never do it again, but Penny never did turn her back to him again. Since then, she was twenty-three when that happened, three years passed, he had only raised his hand to her a handful of times. She knew it wasn't anything to brag about, but it still sounded a lot better than other females she knew.

Snap!

Penny turned quickly, her hearing sharp. Though, nobody was there. Penny sighed and dropped her head, she was being paranoid and not to mention creepy. She just followed a man she didn't know into the woods, who knows what kind of man he was? What possessed her to even do that. She frowned deeply, she hadn't been acting like herself since yesterday morning and she didn't like that.

She moved to start walking back, she was determined to get her life back to the way it was. No more being obsessed with this blue-eyed man.

"You're a far ways out from the path."

Penny stopped instantly, she recognized his voice. She only heard it for a short period of time, but she could recognize it anywhere. It sent a chill up and down her spine, and made her knees feel like Jell-O. She turned slowly and saw a few feet in front of her was the man who plagued her thoughts mercilessly. He stood there, arms folded over his chest as his eyes gave her a one over, before he bent into a squat and picked a wild flower off the ground.

"I could say the same for you," she bit back.

She had no idea where that came from, but something about him brought a fire out of her. She felt a need to argue with him, no…not argue but challenge. Being near him, without the confinements of her workplace or his friends, she felt like she had to assert her dominance. As if he could easily take her down and tower over her with supremacy.

Where the hell did this come from?

It was like he read her mind, because he was now twirling the flower he picked between his fingers. "A snapdragon," he said simply before taking a few tentative steps towards her, his eyes never left her own curious ones, "It represents graciousness and strength," he told her. He broke eye contact once he was a few inches from her, and looked at the pink and green flower, "Wonderful traits to have," he concluded before placing it behind her ear.

Penny felt her heart speed up at the action. He had barely touched her, merely skimmed her ear and she was already heating up at the cheeks. She looked away from him, finding her sneakers much more interesting than his gorgeous iris'.

"What brings you out here, Penelope? Surely you weren't following me for the hell of it."

His tone was teasing, but she still felt embarrassed. So, he had known this entire time she was following him? She saw him hesitate to reach out and touch her, but he settled with his hands buried into his jean pockets. "I'm only teasing, Penelope."

That triggered something in her, "How do you know my name? I never introduced myself to you, and I wasn't wearing a nametag." She narrowed her eyes at him. He smirked at the sudden line of question, truth be told he was waiting for her to even ask. He shrugged, "I saw your sketchbook on the counter, your name was writing on tape. Wasn't hard to put that together."

She couldn't call him out on his lie, because she wasn't sure if he was even lying. Her sketchbook did have her name on it, though she didn't remember if it was on display for customers to see or not. She just nodded her head slowly, "So do you have a name, mystery man?"

"Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper."

It was a simple name, and honestly, she was expecting something a lot more complicated than that. Something dark and mysterious, but she supposed this was real life and not a young adult novel. The name fit him, the more she thought about it, but it rang familiar. "What?" He asked her curiously, noting the look on her face.

"Your name just sounds familiar to me, I read a book about a George Cooper earlier today." She noted his eyes darken as she spoke.

Sheldon shrugged his shoulders, "Must be a coincidence."

The couple fell into a silence, but she couldn't say it was awkward. She knew he was a stranger, and for all she knew he was a murderer. So, she knew the reasonable way to feel would be…scared, she should be nervous around this man. Though, she couldn't help but feel the complete opposite.

Something in her told her that he wouldn't hurt her, it wasn't his intentions. She felt safe. It alarmed her. She didn't feel safe around her own boyfriend, who she lived with, but with this man…this prefect stranger, standing in front of him staring into his eyes…she felt like she could take on the world. Something animalistic in her started to stir and it made her uncomfortable. It felt like her blood was heating, and her body started to vibrate. Suddenly, she was hyperaware of everything around her, the trees, the birds, the grass…every single blade of gra—

Penny gripped her forehead, suddenly the sun became too much, and her eyes were taking in everything around her, things she wasn't aware of before. Quickly her eyes started whipping around in panic, tree, grass, flowers, leaves, sky, bug…lady bug, ants, dirt. She could hear everything.

Look at her, she's remembering!

No, she isn't!

She is, it's happening…transform, Penny, transcend!

Sheldon!

Sheldon!

She doesn't look too good!

Where were the voices coming from? There was nobody around besides she and Sheldon. His mouth hadn't moved, and neither did he. He stood still, eyes on her as she gripped her head in pain and spun around in alarm, soon it became too much, and she hunched over and fell to her knees. Folding into herself.

Help her!

She'll be fine, leave her be.

No. Help her!

Help her!

The last thing she vividly remembered was looking up and seeing Sheldon tower over her, before bending at the knee and scooping her up bridal style. As soon as they touched, she felt a jolt of electricity run through her body. She felt her chest expand, as if attempting to take in more air than her lugs could manage, and her heart began to beat rapidly as if she were running as fast a cheetah. The electricity traveled through her limp body and she felt it shoot through her arm towards her fingers—as if it settled into her ring. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it, but she swore the red ruby on her ring was glowing a fiery red. Her eyes glazed over, and before they closed her head lolled to the side and she looked over his lean shoulder.

There she saw five giant wolves all in a variety of colour, walking behind Sheldon eyes on his back, as if he were leading them.

Then the world went black.