HISTORY & EVENTS
Hope grows up with her parents in a cave after a tornado destroys their previous home. At first, her family appears relatively ordinary, but Firey begins disappearing every night. Leafy and Hope become concerned and eventually go looking for him. During one of these searches, Hope discovers Firey standing beside a corpse. Terrified, she runs away and loses her way back to the cave. She is frightened that Leafy will not believe what she saw.
Hope has a close relationship with Gelatin, who is like a second father to her. Gelatin is a scientist and inventor who cares about Hope and Leafy, and even wants to support Firey despite his worsening behavior. Hope eventually learns that the experimental dart that changed Firey was stolen from Gelatin's laboratory. The dart's effects cannot be reversed because too much time has passed. Shortly afterwards, Firey arrives at the lab and orders Leafy and Hope to return home. When Hope stands up for her mother and tells Firey to stay away from her, he becomes aggressive, grabs her, and throws her against a wall. Hope loses consciousness.
When Hope wakes up, she finds herself in a strange place called the Sanctuary of the Dead and the Forgotten. There she meets DewDrop, a caretaker who looks after the people living in the Sanctuary. DewDrop calls Hope One of a Kind because Hope is unusual: she can enter the Sanctuary while still alive and can return to the living world. The Sanctuary is normally a place where people go after they die, and those who arrive there cannot permanently return to life. Hope is an exception to the usual rules.
Hope eventually wakes up back in the cave on August 25, 2014, after having been unconscious for two days. She tells Leafy that her experience was only a dream, keeping the details to herself. However, Hope discovers that whenever she falls asleep, she is brought back to the Sanctuary. If she wakes up while there, she must fall asleep again to return. This unusual connection between the two worlds becomes a regular part of her life.
While living in the cave, Hope overhears Leafy and Gelatin discussing a pregnancy. They talk about possible names: Flicker if the baby is a boy, or Ardor if the baby is a girl. Hope later meets her new baby brother, Flicker, who is affectionate toward her and begins calling her name. Hope is happy to have him, although she has a strange, uneasy feeling about what may happen.
During another visit to the Sanctuary, Hope hears a voice calling her. Later, she reunites with Flicker there, meaning that he has died and arrived in the Sanctuary. Hope also meets Pin, who tells her that Firey killed her while she was carrying her child, Badge. Badge is also in the Sanctuary and becomes Flicker's best friend.
On September 1, 2014, Leafy tells Hope that Flicker has died. Hope says goodbye to him and tells him, "See you in the Sanctuary." Leafy does not understand what Hope means, because she does not know about Hope's connection to the place.
Hope wishes that Leafy could see the Sanctuary for herself. She asks DewDrop whether living people can visit, and DewDrop explains that they can come as Visitors. Hope wants her mother to meet Flicker again, so Leafy eventually visits the Sanctuary. There, she reunites with Flicker, meets Badge, and learns how to see the living residents.
Hope and Leafy spend time together in the Sanctuary, but Hope eventually realizes that they are trapped in the cave. She notices smoke and discovers that the forest is on fire. She becomes worried that Leafy may have gone into the burning forest.
On September 17, 2014, Hope and Leafy are caught in the forest fire. Firey appears and threatens them. Hope tries to protect her mother and confronts him, determined not to let him hurt Leafy.
