Ultima quickly settles into the family's workday routine but takes sufficient time to teach Antonio about the herbs and roots she uses for her medicines; she also tells him that his spirit shares in the spirit of all things—including that of the river. Until now, Antonio has been afraid of the soul of the river.
One Saturday night, a drunken war veteran, Lupito, kills the sheriff, and Gabriel joins the sheriff's posse at the river. Antonio secretly follows his father and hides in some brush, where he sees the wild-eyed Lupito, holding a pistol and crouching close to the river bank. The deranged veteran screams a warning about Japanese soldiers when he realizes that the men have discovered him. The sheriff's brother says Lupito should be shot, that he is an animal; Antonio's father says that they should use reason, not force. Lupito rises, fires his pistol into the air to draw their fire—and is killed. Terrified, Antonio watches Lupito die, gasping and asking for Antonio's blessing.
At home, Ultima calms the frightened boy. Later, in a dream, he announces to his three older brothers, who are fighting far away in World War II, and who boast of their Márez blood, that it is necessary that he, seemingly only a Luna, like their mother, join them as they leave to build a castle on the other side of the River of the Carp; only he can "lift the waters of the muddy river in blessing" for their new home.
Suddenly, Antonio hears a lonely, chilling, unearthly howl, and his brothers cry out that it is the dreaded witch of the river—la llorona—seeking Antonio's soul. Then they cry that it is Lupito—wailing, as his soul washes downstream, still seeking Antonio's blessing. Antonio defies his brother's fears and, swinging a dark priestly robe across his shoulders, commands the river to allow his brothers to cross and build anew.
Next morning before mass, Antonio's soul is filled with questions that seemingly have no answers. How can his father take communion when he has been an accessory to Lupito's death? Is he, Antonio, indeed destined to become a priest, a key figure in the peasant-farmer lifestyle of the Lunas? Why does his father value his Márez hopes and dreams more highly than his mother's Luna ideals? Why do some people say that Ultima is without sin, while others whisper that she is a witch? Confused about his mother's and father's antithetical concepts of worth, and confused about evil, the existence of God, and forgiveness, Antonio joins a group of rowdy boys who are gathered outside the church.
