Time passes. The recruitment drive occurs after John Escott has been enrolled for two and a half weeks; a witch in a USADI uniform peers at Bella and appears about to ask her something before Bella asks if she'd be so kind, as long as she's here, to have a look at her good-luck-charm (this is what the quartz was for) and see if it's any good. The witch examines the charm, determines it the likely source of any magic Bella's giving off that she's noticed, and hands it back saying that it's reasonably well done but she hopes Bella didn't pay more than thirty dollars for it. Bella has gone three days without casting any spells prior to the drive, and enchanted the charm just before that, for just such an eventuality.

Going without magic makes her irritable, especially by day three, and maintaining a poker face with the uniformed witch takes about all she has. She hustles to the Witchnook after school to get fixings for a pick-me-up; the USADI drive is over with and no more witches who might want to draft her are going to encounter her anytime soon.