You plunge behind the backdrop and confront the machine that's supposed to lift the tidal wave up to tower over the stage. It's producing grinding noises, but its gears aren't turning.
There's no time for subtlety. Something's jammed in the gears. If you throw the whole thing into reverse, maybe it'll spit out whatever it's choking on. Now, where's that lever?
You slam down the lever. The mechanism groans, spits sparks, and then ejects a piece of someone's torn costume, which you frantically tug free. You give the mechanism a shove in the proper direction, and the tidal wave slides smoothly up to loom high above the backdrop, throwing actors into shadow for a moment until the lamps are rearranged, including one blue lamp designed to give the effect of sunlight gleaming through dark water.
The audience gasps at the spectacle.
You've got the audience fascinated. If your heroes can survive this, they can survive anything. But it's becoming clearer that they can't survive this.
As the second act draws to its close, the lamps are shuttered, and for a moment, the stage goes completely dark. You don't remember this bit in rehearsals. The darkness feels like a chill fog all around you, something you can almost touch. Or something that can touch you. You can hear the sound of your own heartbeat too loud in your ears. Any moment now, you're expecting to feel an icy hand settle onto your shoulder.
Then the lights rise, and Diar strides out onstage, improvising frantically. She delivers a speech you remember as being from a comedy about disguised lovers wandering in a wood.
Rodric is supposed to be onstage. You look about for him and find him standing pale and shaking in the wings. He seems paralyzed with terror. Nichol and Matty are both trying to prod him onstage.
"Can't," Rodric says. "There are things out there. I saw them, don't tell me I didn't see them!"
"I should have known something like this would happen," Matty says. "Actors are the very worst. Next time, write me a play without any actors."
"Come on, Rodric," you prompt feverishly.