In yet another of his dreams, Antonio's brothers appear. This time, they lead him to Rosie's house, joking and motioning for him to enter. Antonio cannot; he vows that he will preserve his innocence forever; he will become a priest. His brothers scowl and laugh at him: Tony is not only a Luna — he is a Márez; his wild Márez blood will someday burst forth — and even if he becomes a priest, a priest — because he is male — hungers to be fulfilled by a woman. The concept of innocence eludes the young boy; his mother has said that innocence lies in not knowing; the priest has said that innocence lies in understanding good and evil as God fills one's body at communion. In a flash of lightning, Ultima appears and tells Antonio that "in those hills [the lonely, wind-blown hills of the Las Pasturas llano] lies your innocence." Then she disappears, and Antonio longs even more fervently for answers to his aching questions.
He wakes and hears his brother Eugene shouting that he and his brothers must leave. They don't want to work on the highway with their father, and they don't want to follow their father's dream to go to California. They simply want to be out on their own. María cries and blames their father's wild Márez blood for their wandering, restless nature. Gabriel realizes that without his sons, he will never realize his dream of moving to California.
In the morning, despite their parents' pleas, Eugene and León leave. Andrew stays behind because he knows how deeply his mother suffers the loss of her two sons. Soon he and Antonio set out — Andrew for a job at a grocery, Antonio to school. On the way, they talk of loss; Andrew says that he lost his innocence in the war; it is too late for him to become a priest. Antonio again wonders about his own innocence and when he will suffer its loss.
