"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Alfred protested. "Dude, I get that you're like the Grim Reaper in Billy Joe Armstrong couture, but come on. She's like, twelve years old".
Nico shook his head. "You have no idea what she is? Come on, man. You're the spirit of America, you should see she's clearly-"
"Not of this time," murmured Maria. "I'm the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, so I know a lost spirit when I see one"
Laura sobbed. "I just want to go home"
Alfred held her hand. "We'll get you home, kiddo, just you wait"
"I wouldn't make promises I can't keep," warned Nico. "The dead are pouring back into the land of the living and if I don't put them back in, this chaos will only get worse."
"The dead aren't the disease, Nico, they're a symptom. The Hegemony must be behind this"
Nico cocked his head. "The Hegemony?"
"Let me give you the short version," said Alfred.
Nico shook his head in disbelief. "It all makes perfect sense," he said, "but that means this is all bigger than we previously thought…"
"We?" asked Kiku.
"My sister Hazel told me about the increased monster sightings and the dead dropping by uninvited. The last time that happened, it was with Gaea and the giants, so naturally, they were alarmed, and I was sent to investigate. Just when we thought it was all over after Apollo and the Triumvirate…"
"Between nations and demigods, anything is possible," said Maria. "I think we're meant to join forces"
"Polisaiads…" Nico murmured.
"That's what Gaea called us, yes," said Alfred.
"It means the spirit of a city-state, or a nation. Annabeth once speculated the existence of such spirits, after she studied the tulpa phenomenon in Tibet and connected it with the way gods drew power from belief. Until tonight, you were all but a wild guess…"
"I'm glad you have refuted the null hypothesis," said Kiku, "but we must see Laura-chan to safety. She says her family is somewhere around here. Can you help us?"
"We can, if we work together. Alfred, you contain every American in you. With my shadow travel and your natural perfect bearings of your own territory, we can jump right into Laura's family. Everybody hold hands"
"Sounds like a plan. Okay, let's do this. Laura?"
"Anything to see Ma and Pa again"
The five held hands and immediately focused on Laura and her family. Dark shades enveloped and swallowed them, and they were gone.
Alfred felt his entire body evaporated and whooshed by the power of the winds. They were traveling in a land of shadows, perhaps the void between spaces. Alfred didn't want to think about that because that was a place where monsters lived. But other than that, he had never felt so fucking ALIVE. The sensations were sharp and clear, and she could see Maria, Kiku Laura and Nico travelling along him, also in eerie gas form.
"Let's do that again," said Alfred.
"I knew you would say that. You are so like Percy,"
"You think?" said Maria. "I'm thinking a quirky Jason is more apt"
Nico shook his head. "Jason would drop dead before he would ever say 'fuck'".
"As the son of the Underworld, do you see Jason often?" asked Kiku.
Maria cupped her hands over her ears. "I refuse to be spoiled until I read ToA"
"Every now and then. He nags me to get more sleep and stop staying up late all the time. He's not reincarnating anytime soon. He wants to wait for his friends at Elysium"
"Where are we?" Asked Maria.
"Home," said Laura happily. "Look. There's our house."
Alfred stared in the direction Laura was pointing and his jaw dropped. The house, really a claim shanty, stood near the lake that shone like silver under the Moon. Inside, he could smell delicious things cooking, things he hadn't had for dinner in a very long time.
"You're that Laura…"
"Yes, Laura Ingalls. It can be a bit confusing since there's another Laura living in town and I- Oh we should get inside"
Laura knocked on the front door and was immediately welcomed by her family, who were worried sick. They also let in the four immediately"
"Oh, we can't thank you enough for seeing our Laura home." said Ma. "Do please stay for supper, it's much too dark outside now."
Nico was very uncomfortable, Kiku saw that. They were kindred spirits in being shy and unable to function in too cheery a group. Kiku grabbed hold of Nico's arm. "I get that this is all very wrong," he said.
"This is like one of those horror flicks with the creepy suburban white family from the 50s" muttered Nico. "But how do we break it to them that they've all been dead for almost a century?"
"We'll find a way, Nico-ni. Oops, wrong Nico"
The supper came straight out of the past. Fried gamebirds, potatoes, pickled veggies, and cornbread. Alfred ate ravenously.
"You folk don't come from around here," noted Pa. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you're tourists from the Orient."
"Uh, yes, sir. I'm Maria, I'm from the Philippine Islands. My friend Kiku is from Japan, and Nico is from Italy. Alfred Jones here is our friend and benefactor, and he came to help us start a new life on the frontier"
"Well, it takes all sorts to make a world, and I'm sure we could use the smarts of the Japanese and the… well, I daresay I've never met a Philippine Islander before."
"They're making strides in literature." Said Ma. "Why, I once heard they have a gentleman there who rivals Twain and Tennyson in prose and poetry"
"That would be Jose Rizal, ma'am, and yes, I am also an aspiring poetess, though I write under a male pen name"
"Sensible, if you wish to reach a broad audience," said Ma. "Some folks will never really get used to the notion of a woman taking up a pen."
"I imagine the consternation a century from now, when all those silly men get around and find out their poets were women," said Pa.
They talked about a lot of things. Mary, the eldest daughter, asked Nico about Italy and the beautiful arts scene there, and of course Nico, who had not been to Italy since childhood and a few visits recently, had to make things up on the fly. Alfred and Pa teamed up in singing songs that kept everyone lively and gay. Kiku taught Carrie and Grace, the younger daughters, to play a Japanese game for little girls, but Laura sat with Maria as she regaled her with stories of women on the front of the Philippine Revolution, such as Melchora Aquino and Gabriela Silang.
"I imagine what a chore it would be to cook for an army day and night," murmured Ma. "And I can understand Mrs. Silang's decision."
"If Pa got held prisoner by Indians, Ma would ride a wild horse into battle and lick those Indians herself" said Laura proudly. Ma blushed and told Laura to be quiet.
"Yes she would," Maria beamed. "They don't call her the Spirit of the Western Frontier for nothing"
You could hear a pin drop a second later.
Alfred realized it all at once, but it was Pa who broke the silence.
"Now, see, I knew something was wrong, and by gravy, I'd like to know what's really going on here"
"Charles, please, don't yell, they're our guests." Ma pleaded.
Alfred explained quickly and their reaction was even more explosive than the Madrigals or Nico. Which was understandable, neither was told they were already dead.
"Oh, Pa," cried Mary. "How can it be? I don't feel dead at all"
"It's some cruel fluke of Nature," explained Nico. "The dead are coming back to the land of the living because of the chaotic effects of the coming war with the Hegemony"
"We were told to seek out the Spirit of the Western Frontier. That's the title they gave Caroline Quiner-Ingalls. Your family is loved and remembered by all Americans. And right now, America, that is, me, is incomplete. There's still a little piece of me that's missing, and maybe, you guys are the key to finishing the puzzle"
"I don't get it," said Maria. "What made the Ingallses so special, anyway? There were like, hundreds of other families in the pioneer era. There's something we're missing here."
"I think I can answer that," said Nico. "You see, the Ingalls are a legacy."
Pa seemed to shift uneasily at this information.
Nico continued. "Why do you think the Americans mostly succeeded in turning prairies into farms? Some god was at work helping the settlers move westward. One of the Olympians is the ancestor of many of those green-thumbed pioneers."
"But which god…" Maria stopped. "Oh, I have an idea…"
"Charles Ingalls is… was… a demigod. A son of Demeter"