Sherlock Holmes: The Gate of Oblivion. Volume 1

«Moriarty, you built your cell according to the laws of Euclidean geometry,» Holmes tossed the quartz in his palm.«But the light of the Silver Moon, passing through the windows of this tower, is refracted at an angle that you did not take into account. Your «ideal» structure has a blind spot.

Holmes threw a piece of quartz into the corner of the cage, where three black lines converged.Something impossible for the magical world happened: instead of an explosion, the sound of a tuning fork was heard.The quartz came into resonance with the Silver Moon, and a ray of light, passing through it, hit exactly the node of Moriarty’s structure.

The black lines trembled and began to crumble, turning into ordinary soot.

«Geometry does not tolerate errors, Professor,» Holmes left the disintegrating cage.«And your pride just created one.»Moriarty stumbled back towards his desk, his breathing coming in short gasps.Perspiration appeared on his forehead. He looked at the crumbling cage with the expression of a man who saw how two and two suddenly became five.

«How…» he hissed.«This calculation… the refraction of light through natural quartz… it should not have worked in a magical vacuum!»