Last of Saliems

Saliems, the so called "real mythical creatures", "supernatural humans" or "animals". To some even "aliens", "monsters" and "beasts"
Basicly humans but a little bit different. Humanish creatures with the ability to change their mass, or you could say shapeshift. Mostly into animals, by changing the growth of hair, bone structure, limb and other body part lenghts and coloring of thy skin or fur (or any other body hair).
These creatures have been always hated by humanity. To the point of almost going extinct. Only a few of them are left. What used to be a colony of hundreds is now down to maybe not even a hundred. These creatures used to be hunted so much, nearly all of them died. The 20th century, was the century of doom and death to the Saliems. Only a few survived and lived on to the 21st century. The last of Saliems are usually hiding. If any human saw them, they would most likely to be hunted down and murdered. With these conditions, how does little 14 year old Saliem female survive? With only ever having one friend left, another Saliem female of the same age Caren, after the fall of their clan after the humans found the c