Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Welcome, all. Dan Antion‘s Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. To join the fun, pick one of the doors that were submitted as inspiration for the challenge and write. It doesn’t have to be a story — write anything that door image inspires in you.
The inspiration door I chose for today’s story is one of my own. It’s an illustration I made for A Peril in the Vines. So, my “story” today is actually an excerpt from that book. Below, a historian tells our heroes about his encounter with the strange young girl who becomes central to the mysterious events of the book.
The Girl Behind the Door
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Yes, it was an atrocity story, but I haven’t the heart to talk about those details. It could have been even worse, but maybe it isn’t at that. As a matter of fact, those Ottoman soldiers got a little dose of their own medicine. You see, they were headed for that church. When they got there the whole thing blew up like a bomb hit it dead center!” Voisin finished with a shout.
“Oh!” Clover cried, startled by his sudden increase in decibels.
“Yes ma’am. There’s a turnaround for you,” he added. “Strange, don’t you think? The Young Turks had created a special organization, which in turn organized killing squads or ‘butcher battalions’ to carry out, as one officer put it, ‘the liquidation of the Christian elements.’ They didn’t even spare the children,” Voisin said, but paused for a gulp of his whiskey.
The historian’s story, and the obvious effect the experience had on him, even years later was evident. It made Daphne wish for a stronger drink than the glass of champagne that remained untouched in her hand. The ambassador visibly collected himself and continued.
“Well, at first, I thought those Young Turks had been celebrating and had monkeyed round with their own explosives,” he picked up his story. “As it turned out, they didn’t have anything of the sort with them. So, I ask you, what should a bunch of nuns know about dynamite or bombs?”
“Bushwa!” Phineas exclaimed. “Yes siree bob, that’s odd alright.”
“I interviewed several of the Turkish villagers in the area about the matter. There were still some Armenians around, but they weren’t about to come out of hiding. According to them it was a bonified, first-class modern miracle. They laid it all to a little gypsy girl. Not in a bad way, mind you. To hear the villagers tell it, the child was a budding saint,” he paused to gauge the reaction of his audience.
Daphne’s hand had involuntarily gone to her stomach when a cold knot of foreboding settled there. She forced her hand to her side. To mask her unease, the medium asked an unnecessary question.
“Not in a bad way, you say?” she repeated as she tried to collect an array of emotions.
“Do you mean to tell us that the little gypsy girl set that big bomb herself?” Phinny broke in excitedly” and Mr. Voisin chuckled fondly at his enthusiasm.
“Ha! No, young man. That’s not what I mean. Well, actually, in a way she did, but not in the way you mean,” the ambassador spoke confusingly, and Phineas looked about to burst. “Perhaps you’ll understand it, Miss Moultrie, considering your gifts. The locals said that the child went into trances, and that she saw visions. They said she was responsible for the whole thing.”
♣ ♣ ♣
End of excerpt.
♣ ♣ ♣
♣ ♣ ♣
Of course, here’s the obligatory shameless self-promotion.
A Peril in the Vines
Universal Purchase Links
A Peril in the Vines
e-book: relinks.me/B0DS4G7RSD
Paperback: relinks.me/B0DS69GJDV
A Medium’s Peril full series link: relinks.me/B0CG2SXX24
♣ ♣ ♣
This post is part of Dan Antion 6th Annual Thursday Doors Writing Challenge (TDWC). Click the blue link for more information about the challenge and how to showcase your stories.) Fortunately for me, Dan’s rules for the writing challenge are wonderfully flexible and include any sort of creativity.
This blog is entirely human-written. Furthermore, the author expressly prohibits any entity from using this publication for purposes of training AI technologies to generate text. No part of this work may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
All images are either the property of the author, or used with permission, or from free sources.
Copyright © 2026 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene
All rights reserved.
Teagan's Books 