Dante had somehow turned Nowhere into content.

It wasn’t even hard. The town did most of the work. Cute shops, clean streets, seasonal decorations, and just enough charm that if he framed it right, people online loved it. Dante just knew how to sell it. Good lighting, decent angle, a caption that made everything sound more interesting than it actually was, and suddenly people cared about a town they’d never heard of.

Which was how he ended up outside Intriguingly’s. People kept bringing it up. Followers, locals, even a couple teens who had laughed when he asked about it, like they already knew he wouldn’t go inside. That alone was enough to make him do it.

So here he was. From the outside, the place looked like a normal antique shop. Old sign, dusty windows, way too much stuff crammed into the display. It should’ve looked charming.

It didn’t.

“Okay,” Dante muttered, checking himself in his phone. “If this ends badly, just know this was for content.” He hit record. “So apparently this is the weirdest shop in Nowhere,” he said, slipping into influencer mode. “Which is impressive, because this town treats a bake sale like a major event. It’s called Intriguingly’s, which already sounds like a bad decision, and I’ve had multiple people tell me not to go in, so obviously now I have to.”

He stopped recording, uploaded it to Insta, then adjusted his bag, and stepped inside. The bell above the door rang. Inside was worse. Dim, crowded, too many shelves packed into narrow aisles. Everything looked like antiques. Mirrors, jewelry, silverware, perfume bottles, dolls, of course there were dolls. It smelled like dust and old wood. There were people inside browsing. 

Then the voice started. Dante didn’t need anyone to tell him that was Mr. Imp. He stayed quiet, listening as the rules got listed off. Then he said not to open the back door. And by pointing it out, Dante’s eyes went to it automatically.

It looked normal. Just an ordinary door down a short hallway. No lock. No warning sign. Nothing dramatic. But now it had become the most important thing in the room.

After the little speech ended. People went back to pretending everything was fine.

Dante stepped further in. “Qué lindo,” he muttered. “Super normal.” He moved toward one of the displays, keeping his expression easy. Some of the stuff was actually nice. Rings laid out on velvet. Old perfume bottles. Fancy silverware. Of course the creepy place had good taste. But the entire time, his eyes drifted back to the door they were told not to open. That was the part he didn’t like. Not the rule. The fact that everyone else was clearly trying not to care about it.

Dante pulled out his phone again. He opened the camera, keeping his voice low this time. “So. Quick update,” he murmured. “The vibes in here are awful, everyone’s pretending not to care about one specific door, and I’m starting to think the locals may have undersold how weird this place is.” He glanced toward the hallway again, then back to his phone. “If I stop posting after this, assume I made a bad decision.”

He ended the clip. Didn’t upload it. For a second, he just stood there, phone in hand, staring toward that damn door. Still telling himself he wasn’t going anywhere near it.