Chapter 97: Ninety-Seventh

"Stupid!" Merwyn groaned and fell back in the sofa he'd taken to lounging in while watching the 'feed'. "Stupid humans. Grah."

Emily blinked and made her way to his side, warily glancing between the image of the maze gauntlet and the fae himself. "Merwyn, what's wrong? What happened?"

He gestured at the projection as if she ought to know what he was indicating.

"They're all failures. How can they all fail?"

Adrien frowned. "...Fail...? But how can that be possible? Isn't the purpose to have the key succeed?"

Merwyn sighed. "That's how it should be...but all of them have failed! None of the tests have worked. As if none of them are the key at all..."

The fae trailed off into a murmuring whisper, and a frown marred his beautiful features.

Emily frowned and looked between Merwyn and the image.

A slow bubbling panic grew in her chest.

"Wh...what...?" She shook her head. "But...but I...we did- the sensing-"