Free Falling Between (The Vaettir Serial, #1) by Sara C. Roethle

Prologue
    I felt hot breath on the side of my neck. At first I thought it was a dream, then the bed shifted as someone climbed up beside me. Fully awake now, I froze. There were two of them, and one had his or her face only inches from the large artery in my neck. The one who had climbed onto the bed shifted a little closer to my feet.
    The one near my neck took a deep breath, and then the presence lifted away. I let out a squeak of fear that turned into a scream as suddenly both figures grabbed onto me. The one on the bed grabbed my feet as the other pulled me up by the arms into a vice-like embrace. A large, masculine hand clamped over my mouth to stifle my scream.
    They began moving me towards my bedroom door as I thrashed my body as much as possible. I only succeeded in straining my back as the figures carried me effortlessly through the house and out of the back door.
    There wasn't enough of a moon outside for me to make out who was carrying me. The small stars twinkled serenely above me as I was carried into the woods that bordered my house. I gave up on my thrashing and let my body go limp, but it didn't slow my attackers anymore than my previous strategy.
    We continued deeper into the dark woods. My attackers ran gracefully through the foliage even though they each held one end of a human being. Eventually we came to a stop. I felt dizzy from moving horizontally so quickly, and so didn't immediately react as I was lowered to the rocky ground.
    It felt like I was on a raised mound of earth. The soil had recently been turned, and soaked into the back of the tee-shirt and underwear I'd gone to sleep in. My panicked breathing brought in the scent of damp earth and growing things while my two captors hovered over me. I tried to sit up, but hands instantly pushed me back down. Something slithered across my arm, and I instantly thought snake .
    My heart pounded in my throat as more things slithered over me. I thrashed around against the restraining hands, but withing seconds I was covered in slithering objects. As I became more and more covered, some of the objects started reaching up towards the sky like tiny hands trying to grasp the moon. The spindly creatures unfurled towards the dim light. It was then that I realized that I wasn't covered in snakes, they were vines. I was glad that the things weren't snakes, but being slowly engulfed in living vines did nothing to ease my panic. I began to fight against them with increased desperation, but they only bound me tighter until I could no longer move at all. I saw one last hint of stars as the last vine covered my face and obscured my view completely.

Chapter One
    M y eyes snapped open as I sat up in bed with a deep, aching breath. The last thing I remembered was vines encasing my body and pulling me down into the earth. The bed I was in was not my own. My bed was back in my small house where I lived alone. It had been a long time since someone had been in that bed with me. I hadn't expected for it to finally only happen when someone decided to kidnap me.
    This unfamiliar bed was one of those four poster beds with a canopy. I reached out and touched the nearest post. The wood was thick and obviously expensive. My distorted reflection looked back at me from the dark, gleaming wood. What I could see of my long, dark brown hair was a total mess. I looked back into my blurry blue eyes numbly.
    I shook my head. I had to get out of there. My feet slid to the edge of the burgundy comforter as I lowered myself to the ground. The floor and surrounding walls were made of strange gray stone that made me feel like I was in some sort of castle.
    A crackling sound caught my attention. I jumped, ready to fend off my attacker, then realized the sound had come from the simple stone fire-place in the far wall. My first thought was that perhaps fire could be used as a weapon, but I had nothing to wield it with. That was just like my attackers to not leave me a torch.
    “You're not supposed to