Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo
The Town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation when along came a man wearing pied (multi-coloured) clothing. He promised to rid them of the rats in exchange for payment in gold. The town eagerly agreed, and the man pulled out a musical pipe and lured all the rats away. When he came to collect his payment, the town refused him and in revenge, he again used his pipe, but this time to lure away their children. This fairy tale was taught to me as a caution to remind me to always keep a deal. To pay what's owed. But what if the piper isn't the victim, but the villain? What if what he always wanted was the children? This is one of the questions Pelayo grapples with in her novel, Children of Chicago. This novel takes the tale of the pied piper and turns him into a Bloody Mary-like creature that you can summon from the mirror, only instead of killing you, he'll get rid of someone else for you. Just give him a name and they're gone. But then he comes for his payment......