I'd tried to write down lists of magical logarithms, and phone numbers, and then just my name, over and over. We all had. I picked up a pen and attempted to write "Amal" and then "Salt" on the page. My pen formed the letters, but a millimetre above the surface; when Cally took it from me and tried, she couldn't force it into the sweep of the C without it leaping from her hand.

Are you still looking, silently?

In this episode of the Strange Horizons podcast, editor Anaea Lay presents Iona Sharma's "Nine Thousand Hours."