Heading toward the main road into town, Antonio encounters Tenorio, who curses him and tries to run him down. Foiled by the boy's quickness, Tenorio tries to trample him, but Antonio jumps down an embankment and hears Tenorio galloping away, vowing to kill Ultima's owl, the spirit of "the old witch." In a moment of epiphany, Antonio realizes that the owl is indeed the protective spirit of Ultima; it is her soul. She must be warned.
Ahead of him, he sees the lights of town, the familiar juniper-spotted hills, and the lights within his home. Pedro's truck pulls up to the house just as Antonio notices that Tenorio is near the juniper tree. Antonio cries out, and Ultima calls to her owl, which swirls above Tenorio. A shot is fired, and Tenorio picks up the body of the dead owl, dancing and howling that he has won. Another shot rings out, and Tenorio jerks his head and clutches his stomach; over by the trucks, Uncle Pedro is holding a pistol.
Antonio wraps the owl in a blanket and rushes to Ultima, who is lying in bed. Ultima tells him that her owl is not dead; it is simply flying to a new place, just like she herself is getting ready to do. The owl was given to her by an old man to be her spiritual bond to the harmony of the universe. She was to do good by healing the sick and showing people the path to goodness. Harmony will return with the deaths of Tenorio and herself. She accepts death because she accepted working for life. Antonio is to clean out her room the next day, burn her medicines and herbs, and bury the owl beneath a forked juniper tree.
