12 Gavadiol Comes of Age

Maxwell Sorrentino could not sleep. He lit a pipe and sat up in bed puffing away. The boy was a man now. He could see the fire in his eyes. Eyes so much like Helena. "I have tried Helena," he whispered in the dark. "I have tried to keep my promise to you. I have tried to keep him safe the best way I know how." He blew a long blast of smoke out of his mouth and nostrils and dangled the pipe in his hands staring steadily out at the forest. Gavadiol was out there somewhere. Sorrentino was not bothered though. The lad knew how to take care of himself. He had ensured that. "Helena I fear I may have made a beast out of him." He continued whispering. Somehow, it just felt right to whisper. "Helena I fear I have failed him. I have failed you. I only wanted to teach him to survive." Sometimes, Sorrentino wondered if Helena could even hear him at all or he was just rambling to himself. Deluding himself that the woman he had lost so long ago was still out there watching him, to see if he