Gustav Gloom and the People Taker (9781101620748) by Kristen (ILT) Adam-Troy; Margiotta Castro

herself kneeling in a narrow, cramped little closet just as a panel slid down and locked everything in the library out.
    One tremendous crash later, the panel cracked, but held.
    Fernie shone her flashlight at the face of the boy who had pulled her into the closet.
    â€œHello,” said Gustav Gloom.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    WATCHING OUT FOR THE DINOSAUR POOP
    Despite its being the middle of the night, Gustav still wore a little black suit with a little black tie. Either he dressed up all the time because he had important business meetings all day, or it was the only thing in his closet and he had to use it for everything.
    Fernie knew that she should have been grateful for being rescued, but the past hour had left her so irritated that she had to spill some anger out in order to make room for actual thinking. So she put both hands on Gustav’s chest, shoved him angrily back against the wall of the closet with a
thump
, and yelled, “Those are the kinds of things you have slinking around your
house
?”
    Gustav Gloom wore no expression on his pale little face. “Yes.”
    â€œYour
house
? Really?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAre they your family?”
    â€œOh no,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to have them for family. They’re more like unwanted visitors.”
    â€œWhy don’t you just throw them out then?”
    â€œThere’s no point. They’d just come back.”
    â€œWho are they?”
    â€œI thought they told you. That’s the People Taker and his pet, the Beast.”
    â€œSo what on earth are you doing with a
People Taker
and a
Beast
in your
house
?”
    Gustav Gloom said, “Hiding, mostly.”
    Fernie felt her jaw fall open as if it had been held shut only by a little string and that string had now broken.
    â€œOr running away,” Gustav said. “That works, too.” He frowned. “You know, I never actually had any long conversations with him, but based on the way it worked out for you, it’s not something I’m eager to try. Why did you?”
    â€œBecause I didn’t know what he was!” Fernie yelled. “We don’t have People Takers where I come from!”
    â€œOf course you do. Where else do you think he started
taking
people from in the first place?”
    Fernie managed a very quiet, “What?”
    â€œOut there,” Gustav said, “in the world where you live, he was just a very bad man. He did bad things to people because he liked to. He called it
taking
them. I don’t know how many he
took
that way, but it was an awful lot.”
    â€œWhat did he do with them?”
    â€œNothing they appreciated.”
    â€œDidn’t they complain?”
    â€œAfter a while, they couldn’t.”
    Gustav seemed to be trying so hard to spare her the terrible details that Fernie decided she didn’t need to hear them. “Didn’t anybody try to stop him?”
    â€œOh, sure, lots of people. From what I understand, he only hopped our fence in the first place because the police and the FBI and a bunch of angry families were closing in and he needed a hiding place. But that was about the worst thing that could have happened, because after a few days of running around in here looking for a way out, he entered the wrong room and fell into the Pit, all the way down to the Dark Country where Lord Obsidian found him and put him back to work doing what he was good at.”
    This new name, Lord Obsidian, sounded even worse than the People Taker, but Fernie was not quite ready to explore that yet. “
Taking
people.”
    â€œUh-huh,” Gustav said.
    â€œSo he’s been doing this while he’s been hiding in your house.”
    â€œThat’s right. He goes out at night and goes looking for people to
take
. It’s his job, kind of.”
    Fernie remembered all the mysterious disappearances Mrs. Everwiner had mentioned. “Then why haven’t
you
done anything to stop him?