by Dakota Banks
Maliha popped a freshly-picked and cleaned olive into her mouth from a bowl nearby. As she thoughtfully chewed it and looked out over the waves, something else tugged at her heart.
Hmm…I could spend some time gathering seashells on a particular stretch of Australian beach.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m pleased to bring you Sacrifice, the second adventure of Maliha Crayne and her friends. I hope you’ll find Maliha’s story rich in emotion, suspense, action, drama, quests, friendship, and love. It’s the kind of story I love to read, full of conflict and moral dilemmas, and I’ve done my best to convey all of these elements to you.
I’d like to thank the readers of the first book in the Mortal Path series, Dark Time, who responded so enthusiastically and encouraged me to continue the exciting quests Maliha faces.
My agent, Jill Marsal of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, provided valuable feedback that kept me on track. I’d like to thank her for working with me. Diana Gill, Executive Editor at Harper Collins, took what I put down on paper and helped me shape it into the book I had in my mind. For this and in particular for your patience and understanding: Thank you, Diana.
I’m grateful to my husband, Dennis, for those long breakfasts and all those notes on napkins that got me through the tough spots.
About the Author
Growing up in a converted 1890s funeral home, complete with blood gutters in the basement floor, fueled Dakota Banks’ interest in the paranormal. She’s no ghost whisperer, but she keeps an open mind. She’s fascinated with both archaeology and the paranormal, especially when the two intersect, as they do in Mortal Path.
Dakota is a member of the Horror Writers Association and the International Thriller Writers. She lives in a St. Louis suburb with her husband, two sons adopted from Peru and Ethiopia, and a couple of cats who keep her writing on track.
Visit her website at www.dakota-banks.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
DARK TIME
Praise for Dakota Banks’s first MORTAL PATH novel
“A passionate, fascinating story packed with action and history.”
DAVID MORRELL, author of The Brotherhood of the Rose
“A novel to be savored for both its edge of suspense and the pure joy of its storytelling.”
JAMES ROLLINS, author of Altar of Eden
“Seductive, sophisticated, and imaginative.”
STEVE BERRY, author of The Charlemagne Pursuit
By Dakota Banks
Mortal Path
Book 1
DARK TIME
Book 2
SACRIFICE
Credits
Cover art by Don Sipley
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SACRIFICE. Copyright © 2010 by Dakota Banks. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
First Eos paperback printing: September 2010
EPub Edition © July 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-200885-5
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com
