The Franklin siblings recovered in the next week, although Josh still had to be hospitalised so that his condition would be monitored. They were wondering where their parents planned to send them for the rest of the winter season.

Finally, Mr Franklin told the siblings that they would be living with a friend of his for a while. "I know that this might be hard for you," he said. "He has two kids of his own, but he said that he won't mind having you five stay for six weeks. There's only one spare room, so there might be a lot of room sharing."

"I don't mind," said Victoria.

"Me either," said Annie.

"Easy for you two to say," said George. "You two already share a room."

"How far away is it?" asked Betty.

"Pretty far," said Mrs Franklin.

"What about school?" asked Victoria.

"You can share the other kids' tutors," said Mrs Franklin. "You can go back to your old schools when you come back."

"Will you two be coming too?" asked Annie.

"No, but we will visit during the weekends," promised Mr Franklin. "In fact, you will be going to the countryside. Isn't that exciting?"

Nobody was sure. Victoria was an Enid Blyton fan and liked her Famous Five and Malory Towers books, which made living in a countryside or boarding school fun, but those books were terribly old fashioned and were set in a time where mobile phones don't exist. She was certain that her parents would go livid if she did half of the things George from the Famous Five or Alicia from Malory Towers did.

"Well, we just have to grin and bear it," said Betty light-heartedly. "Come on, it might be fun."

Victoria sighed. "All right," she said. "But only because I don't want to be buried underneath an avalanche."

"I have never been to a countryside before," said Annie. "It sounds fun, but I will miss all of my friends."

Betty told Josh about the planned trip when she visited him. "Josh, we are going to the countryside. Isn't that exciting?"

However, Josh seemed the least excited for the trip. "Me no want to go," said Josh. "Want to stay at home."

"But we can't stay at home," said Annie.

However, Josh was being ridiculously stubborn about it and nobody could change his mind. But as he was the youngest, he had to go along with what his parents said.

A few days later, Victoria and Annie packed their stuff into Annie's Hello Kitty suitcase. Annie made sure to pack her favourite stuffed polar bear called Everest and Victoria packed her stuffed puppy called Licky. The reason for that was because it's tongue was always sticking out.

"I'm scared," said Annie. "What if the kids don't like us?"

"They will like us," said Victoria. "And even if they don't, you have me to look after you."

Annie smiled. "You are an amazing big sister," she said. "It was so silly of me to be so hateful to you when you first started living here."

Victoria hugged Annie. "Ready to go?" she asked. "We can't be late for our train."

"Yeah," said Annie.

The two sisters went out of their bedroom, ready for a new adventure with their other siblings.