Virgil was propped up in his hospital bed, his shoulder and ribs bandaged, when Will and Hanna arrived. They'd delayed their departures from the reservation by a couple of days while the FBI had interviewed them.
"You're looking good, Grandpa. Recovering nicely, I hear."
"Much better than yesterday, I'll say, and ready to go home."
"They said you lost a lot of blood," Hanna said.
"It could have been worse." He frowned. "I think you have a question for me, young lady."
"Yes, it's about Tablita Calderon. They haven't found her body. No wolf, either. Do you think she's still alive?"
"These powaqu are hard to banish, but that one, I say she's gone. They can't find her because the body was washed away down the arroyo by the storm. They might never find her."
"She was powerful and fooled a lot of people," Will said.
"I'm not impressed. You know, the problem with Double Heart and those other witches is that they work to deprive, hinder and retaliate rather than improve and heal. She was a bitter woman because she lost her husband and then your father rejected her. After that, she could no longer love, and her goal in life was to exploit. In Hopi, that behavior is called Koyaanisqaatsi. It means they are out of balance. They have forgotten who they are. They've lost contact with spirit, and it's a great shame."
Will had heard his grandfather use that word once before when he was talking about the condition of the world. He was about to mention that when Virgil continued.
"Yet, Double Heart had spirit beings on her side and she even tried to control them, like she did with everyone. But those beings were not so powerful as she thought. They were lower entities clinging to the earth plane, charred spirits of people who lost their way during and after their lives. Some of them didn't even know they were dead."
"How do you know all of that, Grandpa?"
"It came to me all at once when the wolf attacked me. The wolf not only bit my shoulder, but transmitted energy in the form of information, like a going away present. Only it was the witch who was going away, not me. Not yet."
"What will happen now that she is gone?" Hanna asked.
"The battle will continue. More witches will show up, even if the ones with Double Heart are driven away. The bad medicine that haunts the Hopi path won't die until we enter the Fifth World."
"When will that be, Grandpa?"
He laughed. "You are still full of questions. That's good, I suppose, but don't tell your grandmother I said so. It will happen in your lifetime. You will see it."
Virgil grew quiet, breathing deeply. His head drooped and he seemed to be falling asleep. Hanna glanced at Will and mouthed, "Should we leave?"
"Not yet," he mouthed back. Finally, Virgil lifted his head and blinked. He stared at Will as if seeing inside him.
"You're leaving soon, but you will be back as a student, a more advanced one. You will be interested in the Hopi way, but you will act like a man who studies bugs with a magnifying glass. You will be curious, but you won't think of yourself as one of those bugs. Then you will stay away for a few years, because you think you know everything."
Will was baffled, and at first didn't know what to say. "Do you mean I'll be like an outsider looking in?"
Virgil gazed off as if he was watching something in the corner of the room. "Double Heart recognized you, but it was too late for her. She realized that you were protected by spirits far more powerful than hers."
"I was? What do you mean that she recognized me?" he asked.
Virgil shook his head. "You don't know who you are, not yet. You think you do, but you don't. A time will come when you return to Black Mesa, and you will do so reluctantly. It will seem inconvenient. I don't know what brings you back here, but that will be an important time for you and many others. It will be the beginning of the Fifth World."
"What will that be like?"
Virgil laughed, holding his ribs. "You will see."