Haha... I'm sorry :) I've had the busiest week and I just couldn't be bothered writing this. I wrote the first 1,300 words on paper but only typed up the first 400 words onto the computer. I typed the rest+ finished the chapter in the past hour. And I don't know if i'll update this story tomorrow or in a week. Or maybe in 6 days. I've just been so busy this week, what with working monday, tuesday and thursday, and then having band on wednesday and mother's day shopping on friday... and man, I was so exhausted. Had so much homework to do and everything. But once again, sorry :) Enough excuses, I proudly present to you chapter nine. Unfortunately I drawled on a little bit and then I didn't end up at the place I wanted to be. But ah well, I'll get there in chapter 11. For now, it's time to write the next chapter of changing their fate! ... but before I do that, I must go mother's day shopping once again!

Vortex of Deception

Chapter Nine

As soon as both his father and the portal he had conjured up had disappeared, Danny decided that it was a reasonably good time to use his ghost powers. Earlier, it would have been hazardous but now that Vlad was no longer in the same world as Danny, he concluded that it was relatively safe. He didn't bother to transform into his ghost self – Vlad had told him that his powers were accessible even while in his weak human shell. There was only one obvious problem – the strength of his powers was diminished. But Danny didn't need an excessive amount of power to turn himself invisible.

He was careful to keep from making a sound as he snuck out of the bizarre room – although he couldn't be viewed by the eyes of humans and robots alike, he could still be heard. He hadn't thought to ask Vlad about the possibility of him having an ability that muffled his sound and Vlad hadn't thought to mention it. But even if there was such a power, Danny knew that he was unable to summon it – yet.

Once he had retraced his steps to the training room, Danny decided that it was a decent time to retain visibility. But once that small feat had been accomplished he grew uncertain. It was only barely time for him to eat lunch. He had hours upon hours of free-time and nothing time consuming to entertain himself. He wanted to snoop around the house for hints of dirty secrets and scandals but with Vlad suspicious he wasn't altogether sure that that was a good idea.

It's so hard to call him father or dad, Danny realised with a start. It just feels so… unnatural.

He decided that for the time being he would wander hopefully towards the kitchen in search of something to sate his hunger. His stomach was rumbling dangerously loud – he was surprised that it hadn't given him away while spying on Vlad. After he had found something to eat he'd surely think of something that would keep him occupied for at least a few hours. The thought of returning to his room to watch television seemed so drab.

It took only a short time to reach the huge kitchen. He scoffed at the size every time that he entered – it was bigger than even the bathroom. He was alarmed to see that the kitchen was abandoned – there wasn't a single living being in the entire room. Not even a Veronica – or Maddie – Bot, eagerly awaiting his arrival. It was also quite surprising that there wasn't a single chef in sight – he had been sure that they'd been given strict orders to remain in the kitchen at all times. Despite the fact that he'd only been to the kitchen a few times after he had woken up, never had it been so deserted.

Perhaps there was a fire or something…

He decided that for whatever reason that the kitchen was empty, he would bypass it. It could be a hazardous zone. Another reason why he walked past the kitchen was that he couldn't have his midday meal while it was empty – he had no one to serve him. He wasn't quite sure how to prepare or cook the food that he wished to eat. Vlad would most likely tell him that cooking was one of the many skills he'd lost during his five year coma. Either that, or Danny had never successfully cooked a meal in his life – after all, he had servants to do all of these chores for him. Why would he have bothered to learn to complete such mundane tasks?

He could remember the exact path towards his bedroom. He didn't even have to stop to recall the images – instead he just let his feet do the walking. He let them take control and lead him back to his room. His eyes roamed the walls for anything that could possibly bring back a lost memory or two of his. It wasn't until he saw a giant widescreen television aligning the wall that Danny stopped walking. It wasn't even because he recognised something or it had brought back a long lost memory – oh no, it was because of the words that were printed in big, black, bold letters upon the monitor.

Red Alert! Subject Daniel has been registered as vanished. To learn more on this alert, please press the centre button…

Intrigued, Danny searched for the centre button. As mentioned, he found it in the centre of a small control switch at the bottom of the television. There were only three buttons – a yellow button, a white button and a pale blue button. Danny followed the orders of the screen and promptly pressed the white button.

This is a high alert, the monitor read. It requires ALL employees, servants, and robots to drop ALL of their assigned tasks. Their new task is to find the subject. This task must be completed within the shortest amount of time possible. Once subject Daniel's location has been determined, it is required that EVERYONE BUT the one to find subject Daniel returns to their regular duties. If subject cannot be located, a scan must be completed of the area within a 300 mile radius. Subject Daniel must be found at all costs. Penalties for failure to retain subject are severe. It is crucial that he is not set free.

As Danny read through the instructions his jaw dropped in horror. He reached the end of the explanation with only one thought in mind – he was subject Daniel. He was a subject. That meant that he had absolutely no freedom whatsoever while inside this house. The Veronica Bot must've appeared outside the training grounds to find that there was no Daniel in sight. She would have waited for a minute in case Vlad and Daniel were late, but once Vlad was sighted in the control room Veronica must have given the alarm. It was as if Danny was a prisoner in his own house. It was his main priority to found out exactly why this was.

Danny had been spotted. It wasn't as if he had tried to hide or anything; he'd just avoided those who were in search of him. After all, he didn't exactly know what they would do to him once he was found. There was one thing that he knew for certain, though – the Veronica Bot would trail him once again. She wouldn't let him out of her sight at all in fear of failure and severe penalties. He had wanted to search for suspicious rooms such as the earlier one that Vlad had entered, but with the Veronica Bot watching him so closely that would be impossible.

Surprisingly, the encounter went fairly well. Danny didn't get hauled off to some cramped, dripping cell while screaming his promise for revenge. Instead, a passing male servant just pressed a small button on the wall and began to converse with Danny.

"Young sir Daniel," He began as his eyes roamed the room for inspiration for an interesting topic. "How have you been feeling lately? Have you recalled anything? Is anything or anyone in this house familiar to you yet?"
Danny decided it would be best and least conspicuous if he continued to conversation. "Unfortunately, the only person familiar to me is Vl… I mean, my father." He corrected himself hastily. He had to remind himself that he was trying to remain inconspicuous during this conversation.

"Such a shame," The man looked as though this news personally affected him. The thought was preposterous. "Say, would you care for a relaxing massage? You look to be sheerly exhausted."

Danny suppressed a groan of longing as the servant made this offer. He would have loved to have a wonderful, tension-relieving massage but unfortunately he couldn't afford to waste his time on such luxurious activities. Although he had plenty of it – time, that was – he needed to look for evidence of suspicious activities concerning his father and the rest of the household. And besides, he had no idea whatsoever of the time that Vlad would return to the house. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm afraid I must decline." He apologised sincerely.

"Daniel!"

It was the Veronica Bot. Perhaps I could destroy each and every one that is sent to me… Somehow, Danny didn't think that that would work out. Vlad would question him about his reasons for destroying things that cost so much money. He would also ask why he was being so violent. How would Danny respond to those questions?

"Yeah, you're keeping something from me and with these robots following me I can't sneak around to find out the truth"? He knew straight off that it wouldn't work.

"I have been looking for you, Daniel," She informed him with a smile. Her expressions betrayed nothing of the panic – that must have been programmed into her – when she had been searching for him. Her very robotic life had been threatened. "You just disappeared."

"Yeah, sorry." Danny was trying to be polite but he knew that he didn't have the time to just stand around and talk to a robot all day. "When I left, you weren't there so I went to the kitchen, and no one else was there so I made my way this way. I don't know. What was going on?"

"Oh, it was nothing." Her tone of voice informed him that she would not accept any more questioning. "So what is it that you wish to do for the rest of the day?"

Danny had had an idea. He had realised that the Veronica Bot never entered his bedroom. She was possibly under strict orders when it concerned his personal space. So if he went into his bedroom, he could easily turn himself invisible and walk right on out again. Of course, he wouldn't transform – the house could be rigged up with ghost detectors for all he knew. After all, in this house you had to expect the unexpected. A lot of crazy things had happened since Danny had woken up, and he knew in his gut that these things were not normal.

"I'm just going to go to sleep. I've had an exhausting morning."

Danny closed his door on the robots face before he sighed with relief. She hadn't offered to go into his room or to tuck him into his bed. Instead she had bid him goodbye just outside his door and had embraced him warmly. He had gone rigid at her touch – it was smooth and metallic – but had encircled her in his arms to rid her of any suspicions she might have. He was glad to be free of her company.

It wasn't as if she were the worst thing in the world to hang around with. She made cheery conversation and stayed silent at exactly the right time. But he couldn't think of becoming friends with a robot. It was programmed to do Vlad's bidding and was probably giving him reports on Danny's behaviour. Besides, she wasn't alive. Danny just couldn't bring himself to feel comfortable in her presence.

He pulled a few clothes from his drawers and scattered them around the floor. Then he put some bundles of clothes beneath his bedcovers – they would stall anyone who thought to enter for a few minutes. It could give him a few more crucial minutes worth of searching. It could also save his butt. It looked like he had truly gone to sleep.

He inspected the room quickly to make sure that it wouldn't give him away upon first glance. He then realised that with all the clothes on the ground, it would be strange if there weren't any shoes to be seen. After all, if he hadn't put his clothes away, why would he put a pair of shoes away? Danny was glad that he had noticed that. He placed a pair of worn-looking shoes near the couch before turning invisible and stepping out of his bedroom.

I absolutely hate the Veronica Bot. I don't know why, but I just really do hate her. I think the male servant will play a greater part in future chapters but I'm not so sure. I can't remember where I left my plan so I'm semi stuffed. After all, the book that has my plan in it also has the plan for changing their fate... but I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing. Okay, so guys, it'd be nice to hear from you once in a while. Care to submit a review via that button that I KNOW you can see? Because I just couldn't be bothered writing this story this week and if you say something about the chapter, it might make me write a little bit faster. After all, I haven't written very much of this story. One day I'll find out exactly how much. But i've still got at least 20 chapters to go. I have a feeling that this will be my longest story to date. Anyway. Enough of the chit chat. :) I hope you enjoyed! Yummm, green cordial... iced coffee is better though...

REVIEWS, PLEASE!?

Love from my foot is asleep...