Betty couldn't find Victoria anywhere in the backyard. Where on earth was that girl?

Eventually, she saw the colourful girl sitting in the park near the house. Betty sat next to her.

"Why did you run off, you silly girl?" she asked. "Everyone was worried about you."

"I... I did something awful."

"You only set the oven too high. Anybody new to baking could have done that."

Victoria said nothing. Betty sighed.

"Look, it was an accident. Nobody was hurt. We can redo everything. Baking and cooking has mistakes sometimes."

"But I could have burnt the house down."

Betty sighed. "Victoria, you're too kind. And you're too hard on yourself. You should relax a little. I know that you didn't mean to do anything idiotic."

Betty combed Victoria's hair with her fingers. Then she braided Victoria's hair. Then Victoria spoke.

"I think that the reason my real parents didn't want me is because I'm a burden. I'm a little clumsy, and I want to be involved in everything. Nobody understands me at all."

"Well, you now have four siblings who care," said Betty. "Now we should be heading back inside. The others might send a search party for us."

So for the next hour, the three sisters tried to clean everything up. But they weren't very successful. Annie even tried to eat a little bit of the burnt cake, but she found the taste so nasty that she had to rinse her mouth out and Betty scolded her for trying to eat burnt cake.

It had started snowing outside. Victoria hoped that it wouldn't be too heavy and the whole family could go outside and play in the snow.

Everyone finished cleaning up and had lunch, which were just sandwiches. After finishing lunch, Betty looked outside again and gasped.

The snow was piling up quickly. Despite the heater, everyone could feel the temperature dropping.

"Everyone, bundle up," said Betty. "We're in for a cold afternoon."

An hour later, everyone was shivering underneath blankets, jackets and scarves. Betty called her parents, who told her that they were in a traffic jam.

Josh started to cough and sneeze, so George fetched the thermometer for him. He had a temperature of 37.8 °C, so he was put to bed.

"I'm scared," whimpered Victoria.

"Don't worry. We will all stick together," said Betty.

"It's freezing," said Annie.

"Just stay calm," said Betty.

But it was clear that the storm won't clear up anytime soon. And to make matters worse, the electricity went out.

"Oh no," said George.

"We're going to freeze to death!" said Annie.

"Nobody's going to freeze to death," said Betty, trying to ignore the stabbing cold. I'll get Josh. The rest of you put on more layers. We need to be as warm as possible."

However, it was impossible to stay warm in cold weather. Betty knew that they needed help, so she called 911 for help.

"Okay, help us on the way," she said as she carried a coughing Josh. "I'm going to give Josh his medicine. Just move around to stay warm."

However, that was easier said than done. Despite moving around, nobody was getting any warmer. In fact, it seemed to get colder.

"I'm tired," said Annie as she laid down on the sofa.

"No, don't go to sleep," said Betty. "You might freeze."

Annie opened her tired eyes. She wasn't the only one feeling sleepy. Victoria felt her eyelids closing, and George kept yawning. Josh had fallen asleep, but his body temperature was burning in spite of the cold weather.

"Nobody go to sleep!" said Betty. "Try to stay awake. Sing, talk, or anything! Just don't sleep!"

"I can't," slurred Annie. "Too tired..." She started to snore.

"No, don't sleep!" Betty tried to shake her awake, but her frozen fingers could hardly move her.

Victoria tried to fight the fatigue, but her eyelids were growing heavier. Even Betty could hardly keep her eyes open.

George succumbed to slumber next. Betty tried to walk around, but eventually collapsed and passed out the moment she hit the floor, with Josh still asleep in her arms.

"Hello? Anyone there?" came a voice. Help had arrived!

As fast as her tired body would allow, Victoria moved to the front door. It was frozen shut. "Help, please," she whispered. "I can't..." She felt herself collapsing.

She heard voices, but her tired brain couldn't register them. Her eyelids became too heavy to hold open, and she let them close, drifting into slumber.