



It is an hour or more before the ifrit comes, thrusting and grinding into Salim’s mouth. Salim has already come twice in this time. The jinn’s semen tastes strange, fiery, and it burns Salim’s throat.
Did I make snow?
Did you make snow? Well, if you choose to believe you made snow, then you get to live the rest of your life believing that you can do things that are impossible. Or you can believe it’s a delusion.
No, see, delusions feel real, okay? That’s why it’s a delusion. None of this feels real. It feels like a dream. What a beautiful, beautiful thing to be able to dream when you’re not asleep.
“So we grow together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet an union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded on one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;”
- Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream