Drug Cultivation and Manufacturing
Willow was in the back yard of Luz’s house working in the little garden she had made. The best way she could think of to help with the rising costs was to use her talents to grow vegetables and fruits to eat instead of buying them at the store. Thanks to her exceptional skill, she was able to grow multiple types in a small area without having to wait that long for the actual edible parts of the plants to mature.
The only down side was that even a plant track witch as strong as her could only do so much in a small yard while keeping it small enough that no one noticed that plants were growing much faster than they should. She estimated that at most she could provide only half the produce they needed, they would have to take care of themselves.
As she worked, Hunter came out of the house and towards her looking nervous and holding a backpack. “Hi Willow, I might have either solved a few of our problems or increased them drastically.”
Willow just smiled at him. “Congratulation, you are now officially Luz’s brother.”
He just smiled a little at that before shaking his head repeatedly. “No, I mean it. I found a job for you that would make a lot of money for you growing things.”
Willow stood up at that and looked at him wide eyed. “Really? What do they want me to grow?”
He then started looking a little nervous and mumbled “illegal drugs.”
Willow had to strain to hear him. “I’m sorry, could you say that again? I could barley hear you.”
He then closed his eyes and just blerted out “Illegal drugs, OK?”
Willow just stood there while just staring at him in shock. “What?”
“Look, I was tailing Jacob and trying to find out where he lives so we could deal with him before he threatens any of us again. While I was hiding behind a dumpster, I overheard two people complaining about the local supplier being arrested and his plants seized. The other said they would be hard to find anyone willing to grow the plants under the radar and sell to them before the supplies they already had ran out. After they mentioned the prices, they would be willing to pay for it, I came out and mentioned that I knew a gardener that could get them some fast.”
Willow then narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you just sign me up to join a drug ring without asking me first?”
He then buried his head in his hands. “Yes, and you are fully in the right to kill me if you want to. But before you do, could you at least look at the prices they are willing to pay?”
Hunter then handed over a small piece of paper with a few figures on it. Willow then started to read it as her eyes slowly widened.
“This much? I could completely pay off the food bills for all of us, and have enough left over to make a bigger garden!”
She then sighed and lowered the paper. “One problem though, I can only effect plants so much. I can’t just make my garden produce what they are asking for, I need either a living plant or one of its seeds before I can even think about production.”
Hunter blushed a little at that. “I, may have already solved that problem.”
She just gave him a look. “What did you do.”
He then slightly opened the backpack and showed the insides to her.
“I found a van holding some of the plants and caused it to crash into a storm drain, spilling the contents into it before grabbing one. Even if they manage to recover all the others, they will just assume that this one was just swept away in the current.”
Willow then looked at him and smiled. “Thank you. Now we just need to figure out where we can grow them without anyone else finding them. I’m thinking behind the shack.”
“Actualy, the people I got the prices from said that the last guy using special lights to simulate sunlight so he could grow them in the basement.”
Willow frowned. “Even if we had those lights, which we don’t, I don’t feel comfortable cutting them off from the real sun and just feeding them a fake substate. We can just have Gus make an illusion around them to disguise them as a flower bed if need be.”
2 days later with the new plants
A old frog with orange skin was busy watering his avocado tree saplings and inspecting them for signs of disease or pests. So far they had taken well to Amphibia’s climate but he was still worried about something coming along and destroying the newest editions to the farm.
Not those plants
The small garden behind the shack had flourished under Willow’s green thumb. She estimated that she would be able of giving some samples for Hunter to pass along in about two more days.
Luz was helping her take care of the plants right now, putting the skills from the plant track classes to good use.
“You should talk to those kids to see if there are other markets you could grow into.”
“Really Luz?”
“What, there are plenty of other plants you can sell to rake in the green. You should defiantly try branching out from just making one.”
Willow raised her right hand and extended her finger. “If you make one more plant pun, you will be wearing a leaf gag for the rest of the day. I don’t care if it exposes us, it will be worth it.”
Luz just smiled innocently. “What, can’t a gal help her friend blossom into her full potential?”
Willow then twirled her finger and a vine quickly wrapped itself around Luz’s mouth and gaged her. Luz responded by trying to tear it off and glaring at Willow while mumbling.
“I warned you Luz. But you are onto something. I will have to talk with the kids Hunter met about that. And we have to figure out a way to give these to them without anyone tying it back to us. The last thing we need is the police taking an interest in us.”
Dinner the next evening
Camilla had just sat down to eat with her much larger family when she noticed something about Willow. She was smiling a lot more then she had been a few days ago.
“Well don’t you look like a sunflower today. What happened?”
Willow shot her a look, but the effectiveness was hampered by the smile on her face. “You are defiantly the women that raised Luz. But you are right, I am happy. I was able of getting a part time job as a gardening assistant at the local collage. I can start this Saturday and work on weekends. Between the job and the small gardens, I have here and at the shack, I should be able of taking care of all the food bills.”
Camilla was surprised to say the least. “Willow, you don’t need to worry about the money. I’m the grown-up, that’s my job.”
“But we are worrying. I can help by growing the produce and I love doing it. If I find a way to do what I love and help the people I care about, I will do it. You and Luz have done so much for us, I just want to help you back. Is that so wrong?”
The debate continued on for a while before Camilla conceded, not wanting to get everyone worked up during what should be a relaxing dinner. The debate also had the side effect of making her forget to ask about how Willow was planning to deal with not having any documentation to allow her to work.