A/N: Things have been tight yet again, so updating/writing has been quite scarce. I hit a couple dry spells trying to write, and I came up with some lovely blank pages. So if you're waiting for Eva's Story or The Battle for Bennett, they will be coming. I promise I will not abandon them. But, I have happily found inspiration for When All Hell Breaks Loose!

So, a MASSIVE thank you to readers and everyone who reviewed, favourited, and/or followed! It means the world to me! Keep up with them; they help me to get inspiration and update quicker! ;)

So without further adieu, here's When All Hell Breaks Loose! And like the story and chapter title suggest, things are about to get, well, a bit intense...

Enjoy! :)

Rikki, Bella, and Cleo zoomed through the endless blue ocean. Racing towards Mako Island, the three flipped and intertwined with one another. They swam through schools of fish and the breathtaking coral, not even bothering to stop for a moment. Rushing to get the finish line, the girls gave it their all and sped in through the underground opening that led to the moonpool.

"I win once again." Rikki boasted as usual, surfacing in the pool. Cleo and Bella were close behind her, but Rikki didn't want to see it that way.

"Oh, please. We were right behind you the whole time." Bella calmly replied.

"And you two put up a decent fight." Rikki smiled and began to tease Cleo. "You've certainly improved, Cleo. At least I didn't forget that you were behind me."

"Hey, hey, hey. You watch what you say there!" Cleo exclaimed. "I'll make Bella turn you into mermaid gelatin."

Bella looked at Cleo strangely and held up her hand. "Interesting, but I don't think I ever agreed to that." She paused, thinking about it and started to laugh. "Although—" Rikki gave Bella a death stare, but she continued laughing. "Alright, never mind then."

"You know what I think the real problem is?" Rikki began. "I think Cleo here is just jealous."

"On the contrary!" Cleo shot back. "I think you're just trying to count all your wins before Emma comes back. Because let's face, we'll all lose races to her again."

Rikki sighed, but couldn't help but smile. "I don't know… she may have some stiff competition."

"I'm with Cleo on this one." Bella gave in. "I think Emma's got you beat."

"What?!" Rikki exclaimed. "Bells, you haven't even met her yet!" Her face was full of shock and betrayal. Deep down, she knew Emma would beat her. But, of course, she could never admit to that.

Cleo and Bella exchanged looks and burst out in hysterical laughter. "I know. We just wanted to bust your ego on this one. Cleo put me up to it."

Still laughing, Cleo put her hands up in defeat. "I'm sorry, but I just couldn't help it. We both know that you don't want to lose to the swim chap."

"'Swim chap'? I'm assuming this was before her mermaid days?" Bella questioned as Cleo and Rikki nodded in response.

"In all honesty," Rikki began, "I kinda miss Em. I mean, it's been so weird without her."

"I agree." Cleo replied. "And Bella, you've helped complete our family. Once Emma comes back, everything will be perfect."

"You're not gonna throw me out when Emma returns, right?" Bella's voice was quiet but easily had a concerned tone.

"How could you think like that?" Rikki was in shock. "Of course not! Like Cleo said, you're a part of our family now. We wouldn't trade you for anything."

"You could never replace Emma, Bella. Nor was that ever our intention. You both mean so much to us and I wouldn't give you—or Emma or Rikki—up for anything."

"What she said." Rikki said with a smile.

Bella smiled and gushed, "Aw, thanks you guys! I wouldn't give you guys up either."

"Together forever!" Cleo cheered.

"Oh, stop. We're getting too corny now." Rikki moaned.

"But we were having a moment there!" Cleo protested.

"Yeh, well, I'm so glad we reestablished the sisterhood of mermaids, but I'm kinda getting hungry." Rikki paused. "Say, Cleo, do you have those chocolate ice cream bars?"

"Um, yeh, I think dad bought them the other day." Cleo said. "Why?"

"Last one to Cleo's is mermaid gelatin!" Rikki cheered diving under the water and racing out.

"No fair!" Cleo and Bella yelled and raced after Rikki.

Lewis didn't even think twice about looking back at the marina. No matter how hard he accelerated the motor, it didn't seem like he was going fast enough. Whatever was back on the marina—Lewis wasn't even sure of it himself—had truly left him disturbed and shaken. What did it want with him? A chill rolled up and down his spine at the thought of it wanting to hurt Cleo or Bella or Rikki. But how? There was no way this threat was real. His brothers, or even Rikki, could have been behind the prank. That was all it was, Lewis reassured himself. It was only a prank.

Putting his hand on his head, Lewis came to the realisation that his fishing hat was gone. He sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to catch anything without it. It was his lucky hat after all. But, under the circumstances, he knew he would survive without it for now. It would merely be waiting for him once he returned to the marina.

He finally stopped the boat in the open water, completely isolated from the mainland. Without a doubt, he knew that he desperately needed that. Smiling satisfactory, he put his trusty lure on his fishing rod and cast it out into the open water. This was definitely the peace and quiet he needed. If fishing couldn't put him at ease, he was afraid that nothing could. Lounging back on the boat, Lewis patiently waited for the fish to take hold of his lure.

After a few minutes, the rod began to tug forward. Jumping up, Lewis hooked the fish and began to reel it in. However, the fish started to give him a hard time, and Lewis pulled the rod back with all his might. Lewis heaved and grunted through his teeth, "Must be a big one."

Finally, Lewis triumphantly reeled the fish in and it landed on the boat. However, to Lewis' disappointment, he hadn't gotten a fish at all. It was a large pile of seaweed.

"Wait a second…" Lewis observed the seaweed carefully. There was something underneath the mound. He individually took the strands of seaweed off to reveal the object. With that, Lewis jumped back, nearly toppling over the side of his boat. His eyes dilated with fright and he was instantly rendered speechless. He could have sworn his heart had skipped a beat.

Throwing everything into the boat, he raced back to the mainland, completely frightened by what he had seen in isolation. As fast as he could, Lewis jerked the motor's pull start and sped off again. His eyes were set on returning home, but they couldn't help and stare at the soaked fishing hat he knew he had left behind at the mainland.

Rikki was sitting on Cleo's counter, eating a chocolate ice cream bar. Licking the last of the cream from the stick, she smiled. "I love these things, Cleo."

"We've noticed." Cleo remarked and Bella got up from the couch to hand Rikki a paper napkin. "And you've been eating me out of house and home ever since."

"Yeh, yeh, yeh…" Rikki mocked, throwing the stick away.

"Wait until Emma gets back. She'll be putting you on a diet." Cleo teased, settling down on the couch.

Rikki rolled her eyes. "Great. And she'll make me do the homework that doesn't exist."

"So she's like one of those uptight people?" Bella guessed.

Cleo shrugged. "You learn to love her. Seriously."

"We're fire and ice." Rikki smiled. "Literally."

"Ah, so I'm assuming gelatin and water will act as the peacekeepers?" Bella asked.

"Precisely." Rikki grinned, reaching into the box for yet another ice cream bar.

"We'll bring them down, Cleo." Bella whispered as the two exchanged looks and high-fived.

"Hey!" Rikki chimed in protest and Cleo's phone beeped.

"Who is it?" Bella asked in curiosity.

Opening the message, Cleo squealed in excitement. "Ooh, it's Em!" She read the message. "'On my way back now. I need to see you guys. I'll be there as soon as I possibly can'."

"This is kind of exciting." Bella admitted.

"We need to catch up on heaps of things." Rikki began. "The tentacle, the comet, the crystals, the moonpool—which I don't think she'll be too happy to hear about."

"Who would? I didn't even transform there and I hate looking at how wrecked that place is." Bella replied.

Cleo was silent, looking at the message with a perplexed expression. She turned to Bella and Rikki. "Guys, take a look at this." The two peered over Cleo's shoulder to look at her phone. "According to the date here, the message was supposedly sent three months ago."

"Three months ago? That doesn't make sense." Rikki began. "The message would have been sent to you way before now. Emma would have been here."

"The one we got earlier is from three months ago too." Bella looked at Emma's previous text. Her expression became concerned. "That can't be good."

"I just don't get it." Cleo mused. "Why did we get this message now?" Just then, another message from Emma popped up.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Cleo shut her eyes and handed the phone over to Bella. "Here, you open it."

"Cleo…" Bella tried, pushing it away.

"Just do it!" Cleo exclaimed as Bella hesitantly opened the message. She didn't say anything.

"Well?" Rikki asked, waiting for the message. She watched as Bella's face whitened. "Bella, what is it?" Her voice became full of worry.

"It's from the day after the other messages." Bella swallowed uneasily. "And all it says is help."

Lewis' heart leapt with joy when he first saw the docks in the distance. And this time, there were more people around the area, which gave him the reassurance that he wouldn't have to be there by himself. Everything would be alright, he told himself, and it's all over.

He silently cursed at himself when he saw a small brown box near where he docked his boat. Lewis did not want to go anywhere near it, but it would be daunting whether he opened it or not. He shuttered. After all that he had gone through, Lewis genuinely did not know what to expect.

Carefully stepping out of the boat, he looked down at the box with a damned expression. It read in large capitalized bolded letters: LEWIS.

He knelt down and listened for any sound that might be coming from the box. He managed a small grin. There was not a ticking sound coming from inside the box. But that didn't help his case. Whatever could be inside that box was probably just as bad as a time bomb. He could feel it.

Sighing heavily, Lewis slowly began to open the box with sweaty palms, taking cautious movements. Suddenly, Lewis ripped the box open quickly, no longer able to proceed with such precaution. But there was only one sheet of paper that read in bold letters: I'M BACK.

Removing the sheet of paper from the box, he revealed the box full of printed photographs. Lewis' heart skipped a beat. He began to pick them up individually, but the pictures were repeated multiple times. Sorting through the pictures, Lewis found only four different ones: one with his boat and Will's headed towards Mako; Rikki, Bella, and Cleo sitting at a booth in the café; him and Cleo at a picnic on Mako; and the one that frightened him most of all—the girls with tails at the moonpool. All of the photographs had been taken recently, since many of the rocks and crystals still lay near the moonpool.

Feeling uneasy, Lewis carefully removed the pictures from the box, crumpled them all up, and threw them into the ocean. He watched the ink become smeared by the salt water and soon the pictures were nothing but a worthless wet blob. At least no one would ever be able to retrieve them again.

Now all he had left was the box. He decided he could toss that away later, so he threw the box into the boat. It landed with a small thud as if something was left inside of it. Curiosity took Lewis over and he once again opened the box, wondering what he had missed.

To his surprise, he found something silver. Interested, he picked it up and saw it was one of the lockets that Max had made. The pictures inside the locket were inside: one side with Rikki, Emma, and Cleo and the other with Louise, Julia, and Gracie. The chain and clasp were broken however; it was as if someone had ripped it off of someone's neck.

Lewis observed the locket more closely. His eyes widened when he saw the jewel cracked and chipping away. His heart raced when he finally realized that the jewel was white.

Fear had paralyzed Lewis. The locket belonged to Emma.